Date: 2018-11-06
To: Foothills Trail Shakedown Hike.
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

6 NovemberI voted in the midterm election and then drove 4 hours to Table Rock State Park.  I didn¢t get started hiking until 1:30. My goal was to make it the nine miles to the Cantrell Homestead campsite before dark.  I got there just in time to set up camp and filter water before it got dark. I found out that I don't enjoy Knorr Teriyaki rice. 7 November.  My goal was to hike the 21 miles to the Toxaway River campsite. I wanted to get there before dark  I got to the campsite around 4. I took a refreshing cool stream bath and felt so much better. I didn¢t rinse my clothes because I knew that they wouldn¢t dry overnight.  While I was sitting at a picnic table eating dinner I noticed that my phone kept getting drops on it. At first I thought my nose was dripping. I finally figured out that it was drizzling so I quickly put everything under the tent vestibule and used my umbrella to finish eating at the picnic table.  Earlier in the day, I had talked with a DNR officer about all of the bear hunters that I came across last month. He told me that the hunters had harvested 130 bears last month. There are only 3 other campers in the area. They got here by kayaking. 8 November. My goal today was to hike 9 miles to the Horseshoe Pasture River and then turn around and come back.  I needed to get there by 11:30 so I could get back to Toxaway by 3:30 which would leave me plenty of time to enjoy camp. The forecast was for rain this morning and all day tomorrow.  It started drizzling so I dropped my pack and took off my pants so they wouldn¢t get wet and put on my poncho .It felt good to hike in shorts again. Of course it stopped drizzling about 10 minutes later an didn¢t rain until later in the evening. after that. I¢m here by myself. The sound of the river is all I hear. 9 November. Toxaway River to my secret spot. 18 miles. I woke up to a drizzle. It had rained steadily last night. I put on my poncho, grabbed my umbrella and went out in the drizzle to get my food bag (Ursack). I ate my cold soaked breakfast and packed up my gear inside the tent. I¢ve been practicing this during dry mornings. The only awkward thing about packing up inside a one person tent is rolling up the NeoAir sleeping pad. It started to rain again so I put on all of my rain gear before getting out of the tent. I put my umbrella over my backpack to keep my pack dry while I took the tent down and packed it away. The tent pad was covered with puddles. Luckily I had picked the highest spot on the tent pad that had a slight slope. I quickly took down the tent trying to keep the inner dry. I tried to squeeze water out of the tent as I rolled it up to put it in it¢s stuff sack. I stored the tent outside my pack. I was glad that I¢ve been practicing putting on my poncho. I got my pack on under my poncho without getting too wet. I hooked up my umbrella and felt Immediately drier. I had my Marmot Precip rain jacket on to keep my arms dry.  I left all of the jacket zippers open for ventilation. On my bottom I was wearing running shorts and my ULA rain kilt. The temperature was in the lower 40s all day and I felt comfortable hiking in the rain in this system. I never overheated. I actually found myself enjoying the rain and on occasion I would stomp in the deep puddles on the trail and laugh out loud like a child.I was concerned about how I was going to poop in the rain.  Luckily the urge to go held off until there was a momentary pause in the rain. I filled up by bidet with water from a stream and hiked off into afield to do my business.. All went well until I started to cover up the cat hole and then it started raining again. I didn¢t have my rain jacket zipped up so I got a little wet. Once I had my pack poncho on and put my umbrella back up all was good. It was actually fun hiking in the rain and not getting soaked from rain or sweat. The rain finally stopped around 2pm. It was still cold and overcast. It was like walking in the clouds. It was windy cold and misty at my secret campsite. The inside of my tent completely dry and the outside was mostly dry.The weather cleared up after midnight. The skies were clear the stars were out and the temperature dropped down to the lower 30s. 10 November:  Secret spot to Table Rock State Park. The next morning I felt fine in the cold 30 degree temperature.   While hiking toward Sassafras Mountain I must have hiked into a cold spot because my fingers were hurting. Not just my fingertips but my entire fingers. I had to walk with them stuffed in my pant pockets to get them warm. Lessons learned.I purchased a ZPacks Arc Haul to replace my ULA Circuit.  I wasn¢t planning on getting a new pack until I could prove myself worthy after I completed the thru hike. I was washing out the Circuit and noticed many small holes were developing in the fabric.  This is no fault of the pack which is well made. I believe the BearVault I have to carry in the Sierra rubs the fabric and weakens it. The InReach takes a long time to communicate in ravines.Tent pads with a hard sandy base don¢t make the best tenting sites. My rain system works great.The clothes that I wore during the 30 degree morning were adequate for breaking camp and enjoying the sunrise while eating breakfast. I wore my hiking clothes with down jacket for insulation and my wind jacket to break the wind.  On my bottoms I wore my Enlightened Equipment wind pants over my hiking pants. Before I start hiking I stow my down jacket and wind pants in my pack. If didn¢t II would overheat within minutes. This system has worked down to the mid 20¢s in the Sierra.  Practice, practice practice.Happy hiking, Silver Streak