Date: 2018-09-19
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

To prepare for my thru hike I decided to drive the 4 hours from my house near Charleston, SC to the Foothills Trail once a month.  I will start my hikes at Table Rock State park and then hike as far as I can toward the trail¢s terminus and then turn around and hike back.  In my opinion this is the most beautiful section of the trail and has the steepest climbs. I will be experiencing a variety of weather conditions from hot and humid to cold and wet.  Each hike will be an opportunity to test my equipment and fitness.Foothills Trail. Table Rock State Park South Carolina19 to 23 September 2018:Itinerary and lessons learned19 September: 12 miles from the trailhead to a stealth secret spot.20 September: 18 miles to the Toxaway River21 September:  22 miles. I had planned to continue on the trail 16 miles towards the Bear Camp Creek campsite. Part way there I stopped to talk to 2 hikers that were thru hiking the trail the opposite direction from Oconee State Park.  One of the guys was an AT section hiker that told my how to use my Ursack correctly. He also mentioned that about 2 miles down the trail there was a nest full of angry hornets. I guess a bear was digging into their log and they were pissed.  I hate hornets. I had a hornet fly up my running shorts and sting me in my privates. I had to pull my shorts down to limit the damage. Luckily there weren¢t any families around. He also mentioned that Copperheads have 2 breeding seasons and September is one of them.  They had encountered at least 5 Copperheads on the trail the stretch of trail I was headed to. Two of them seemed to be mating within the roots of the trail. I thanked them for this information and hiked on for about an hour. As I was nearing the hornet nest location I decided that I have learned everything I needed to learn from this trip and isn¢t wasn¢t worth getting stung  by hornets or bitten by a Copperhead. Especially because these were the first hikers I¢ve seen in 2 days. So I decided to turn around and hike back to the secret spot I stayed at the first night.I was excited for this challenge because if I made it it would be my first 22 mile day.Lessons learnedClothes: My hiking clothes stayed saturated with sweat and stink. I planned on testing out several items to see how well they work in the humidity.  I normally hike in lightweight runner shorts that have a liner. I usually carry 2 and rotate them like most people do with socks. Rinse one out and hang it from my pack to dry while I wear the other one.  At night I¢ll wear the clean one to bed and use it to hike in the next day. Everyone raves about Exofficio boxer briefs so I bought a pair on sale to test out. These did not work for me. They were comfortable enough but the did not dry out quickly.  I rinsed them off in a river around noon and they were still wet when I got to camp. I hung them up on a line and they were still wet in the morning and they stunk so bad I had to put them in a plastic bag. I also learned not to place my washed socks to dry on my front backpack straps.  My ULA Circuit has bungee type straps for attaching water bottles to your shoulder harness. I¢ve always placed my socks to dry on one strap. This way I wouldn¢t have to worry about losing them off the back of my pack. Well this method works great in the arid southwest but it sucks in the humid southeast.  The socks I had rinsed off in the river were getting soaked from my sweat and ended up being wetter and smelled worst than the socks I was wearing.Water: I¢m testing out different methods for collecting and filtering water.  We normally use the 4 liter Platypus gravity works system. We usually carry 1.5 liter Hydrapak bladders that we fill up directly from the gravity system.This is a great system for my wife and I but isn¢t efficient for one person.    I tried to use one of our old 1.5 liter Hydrapak bladders In lieu of the 4 liter Platypus dirty bag. It worked alright but I think I will try a Sawyer Squeeze next time. I like carrying my water in 75ml SmartBottles. I keep one on my chest strap and one in my pocket.  With this heat I was going through 750 ml of water an hour. I would stop every 2 hours, filter water, camel up one bottle and then carry 2 water bottles to the next stop. I had to carry 3 liters 3 miles to my first nights campsite which is a dry camp. Sleep system: It was so hot that I didn¢t use my sleeping bag and simply slept in my silk liner.Food storage: Normally we carry BearVault 500¢s with us to practice for the Sierra where they are required.  I bought a Ursack AllMitey to use on the AT. It weighs more than a normal Ursack but it will also protect against mini bears.  The first night I hung it PCT style in a tree. The next day I talked with an AT hiker that also had an Ursack in he told me you are just supposed to tie them off to the tree.  I guess I misinterpreted the directions of the Ursack website because and I paraphrase the hiker: ¢Why pay that much money if you still need to go through the hassle of a bear hang.¢Vlogging:  I tried taking videos of the trail. I liked doing it but I stopped because it messes with my hiking rhythm and takes too much time.  I find that my hiking style is similar to my running and cycling style. I like to get into a comfortable pace at a certain heart rate and stay in that zone.  I still enjoy my surroundings but I get annoyed if I have to constantly stop and start. I also think it uses too much battery. Ticks: Walking through the high brush gets me thinking about ticks. Luckily I¢ve only had one tick get on me in my many years of hiking this trail.  Whenever I pass through an area with tall grass or shrubs I constantly stop and check my legs for ticks. I use Picaridin lotion for prevention.Silk blazing: The spider webs were horrible.  I rarely saw anyone on the trail so it was up to me to clear the trail of spider webs.  It was hard to watch the trail for trip hazards because I had to keep scanning ahead for spider webs which seemed to be located at eye level.  I eventually learned how to spot them and used my poles to knock them away at the last minute. I wasn¢t able to see them all and I frequently was covered in webs. Luckily I only had about 5 spiders land on my arms. One landed on my face. Gross. I was constantly wiping webs and dead bugs from the webs off my arms, face and hair. I washed in the streams to get them off. Night lighting.  I have a rechargeable Black Diamond Revolt headlamp.  It works great for walking around but I find it annoying for chores inside my tent.  We have a small lightweight solar lantern that I will bring next time as the days get shorter.Cold soaking breakfast. At home I make a breakfast concoction using chia seeds, protein powder, flavored oatmeal packet and instant coffee. At camp I add water to a Talenti ice cream container add my breakfast ingredients, put the lid on and shake.  I place it in my Ursack overnight. In the morning I have a tasting and nutritious pudding like meal. This method saves time and fuel. I add the coffee to give me my caffeine fix.Night creatures.  During this time of year the forests come alive at night with the chorus of night creatures.  The first night I enjoyed the frogs, insects, and owls entertaining me. The creepy sounds of sticks snapping and the scurrying noises of small mammals is a little concerning the first night on the trail.  The more miles you put in and the tireder you are the easier it is to get to sleep. I was woken up by a blood curdling screech one night, I yelled at the creature to shut up, turned over and went back to sleep.