Greg (member Lazy Squirrel) and I set of from Pensacola last Tuesday for the gorge.
Day 1- We parked at table rock and did our first day hike up to the top at about 10am. We had the amazing view all to ourselves. We hiked back to the parking lot and gathered our gear and set off for the chimneys. The wind was about 20mph constantly so it was nice with the cool weather. Originally we were going to visit the amphitheater but it was closed so we headed to the Cambric trail. We had intended on camping the first night at saddle camp but the high winds concerned us since we had originally expected slightly warmer temps and had brought quilts rated in the 30-40 degree area. We decided that we should head down the Cambric and do the river crossing before dark. The Cambric trail was "difficult" to say the least lol. The river crossing was about waist deep and anything that got wet was immediately numb in a bad kind of way. We camped on the west side of the river that night.
Day 2- We packed up and started out at about 9-10am. We traveled down past the Daffodil Flats (not in bloom unfortunately) and soon we took off south bound on the MST and was introduced to the hellish trail named "Lead Mine". We talked to some volunteers that showed us the new bypass trail that they are currently working on for the Lead Mine trail. Lastly, we went down to the MST river crossing. We crossed there at a cold knee deep and slippery area. We camped on the east side this night.
Day 3- We packed up at about 9am and we started up the trail to Shortoff and I quickly began to appreciate the switchbacks that we were not using lol. We camped at the MST Ridge campsite this night due to exhaustion.
Day 4- We started at 6am and headed to the chimneys arriving just as the rain was starting. We made it to the Table Rock parking lot before the weather got worse.
Things that we learned:
1) A black diamond is a double diamond to us lol
2) Bring higher calorie food. My self dehydrated food did not provide near enough calories for the adventure
3) The Zoleo satellite communicator (SOS beacon) lost signal for a few minutes at the Lead Mine trail but had signal for my check ins and texting everywhere else
4) The near freezing temp water is definitely a quick way to get hypothermia and end up in a bad situation quickly if you fall in
5) We tested out new Jetboil Stash cook systems and used very little fuel. Greg boiled 11 cups of water and heated three tortillas and only used 25g of four season MSR fuel. I boiled water for five meals and one cup of hot chocolate and used 35g of the same fuel. I used more fuel because I near boiled freezing water (two meals) in the morning for breakfast.
Items damaged:
1) Greg and I both wear Merrell Moab 2 shoes. His sole final came loose on one shoe and mine has started. Mine have lasted me a few years of occasional hiking.
Bookmarks