Took a week off to go camping. My youngest son met me at the Yates Place Hang on Saturday where we ate lots of food and stayed dry in our hammocks during the rain Saturday night. Always good to meet old friends and hopefully make some new ones. Of course Sam was busy making friends with everyone, especially if they would share food with him.
Sunday AM we left for the Foot Hills Trail in SC. Rained most of the way down there but the rain cleared up by the time we got there and we had a great view of the foothills. Spent the afternoon going thru my gear to set aside the stuff I would not need ( cold weather clothing ect ) and to go thru my son's gear to weed out duplicate gear he would not need.
Spent the night at Oconee State Park. Monday AM we drove up to Bad Creek Access and saw how rugged the area is and decided we did not have enough time to do the whole trail so we would just do a section hike from Bad Creek back to Oconee SP. Went back to Oconee and drove to the Foot Hills Trail Parking area to leave one car. Saw three cars had been broken into Sunday night. A park ranger and two SC police where there investigating. The park ranger said they are not allowed to put up lights in the parking area. Maybe they should do a trail camera or install a video camera with internet feed. Filled out our hiker registration form.
We then drove back to Whitewater Fall parking area and started our hike at 11 AM. Sam was carrying his own Ruffwear pack with his food and tent. The pack did not slow him down in the least and he always wanted to be on point.
The trail was more rugged than I thought with all the switchbacks and all uphill so we were going slow. We did come across a group of 4 hikers and Sam had to make friends with them. About three PM it started to rain. Luckily we were at the top of the mountain and saw a good camp site next to the trail with a great view so we stopped and set up camp. I took some Tylenol PM and took a nap. Woke up just before sunset and the rain had stopped. Found enough dry wood to make a small fire. Once the sunset we had a great view looking east and the lights in the distance looked like a Xmas tree on its side all lit up.
Only got down to low 40's and could hear the wind blowing around us. Sam would not sleep in his tent and kept walking under my underquilt and knocking it to one side. I would readjust the UQ and be warm again until Sam decided to walk under my hammock and knock the UQ to one side again. Had to be quiet when opening the zipper on the hammock because if Sam heard me, he came over to stick his head inside my hammock to see what I was doing. Otherwise I was nice and warm.
We got up and were on the trail by 9 AM. Came across a spring where we filled up our water bottles. We kept looking for the NC/SC sign along the trail but never saw it.
When we got to Sloan Creeks Crossing we decided to end the hike. My son had some massive blisters that were making it hard to walk and my right hip was on fire. My son went and got his car and we drove back down to Oconee where I got my car and we sadly headed home.
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