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I decided to take my dad out for an overnighter this past weekend to test some new gear and chip away at my section hike of the Foothills Trail. On my last trip I had planned to hike from Table Rock to Canebrake over three days, but we ended up bailing out at Laurel Valley access due to injuries amongst the party. I had expected this section to be somewhat easy based on several videos I'd watched of other hikers. Hoooooo boy was I wrong.
Here's my gear list for this trip. I am pretty proud of having gotten my base weight minimized on a winter trip with expected lows in the 20s and 30s.
- Warbonnet Eldorado
- 20 Degree Wooki UQ
- 0 Degree Revelation TQ
- Dutchware Poly Straps
- Warbonnet Minifly
- Titanium Stakes
- DIY G4 Style Backpack
- Nitecore NU-25 Headlamp
- Cascade Mountain Trekking Poles
- Helinox Chair
- DIY Reflectix Coozie
- Evernew Titanium Pot Stand
- Trangia Spirit Burner
- Toaks 750mL Pot
- Trangia .6L Fuel Bottle
- Aquafina 1L Bottle
- Sawyer Squeeze Filter
- CNOC 2L Water Bag
- REI Wool Gloves
- REI 650 Down Jacket
- North Face Fleece Jacket
- No-Name Solar Battery Pack
- 4-Pack of Hot Handz
Total base weight around 14lbs. With food and water I ended up around 16lbs total.
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Day 1:
We hit the trail around 10:30 and right out of the parking lot you have to climb a very steep set of stairs, then a very steep hill, then some more stairs, and so on for a total of around 900' of ascent over the first 2 miles. I won't say we were absolutely thrashed at the top but there was quite a bit of huffing and some puffing too. Flatrock Campsite is here at the top and provides a pair of very nice benches to rest on and catch your breath, and there's a creek 50 yards before that. Once you reach 2400' on Flat Top Mountain the trail meanders up and down about 100' either side of that contour for the next mile before descending towards Virginia Hawkins Falls.
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If you have questionable knees like we do, the descent down into Laurel Valley can be a bit tricky. There are several very steep sets of wooden stairs, and some of the steps look like they might break away at any moment so extra caution is truly necessary in this section. We climbed down 500' to Laurel Fork Creek where the trail levels off for a while. Just after the bottom of the climb is a very small campsite that's not marked on any map or mentioned in the guide book. It's not quite bit enough for hammocks I don't think, but it was more than adequate for a nice lunch break. We ate Pizza in a Pot for lunch which is one of my favorite trail meals, and enjoyed the sunshine and the sound of the creek while a large group of day hikers passed by going the other direction.
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Another mile or so and several creek crossings over brand new wooden bridges brings you to a long but gentle series of steps down to Virginia Hawkins Falls, which is very pretty of course. Just beyond the falls is a large campground that could accommodate two or three groups of folks. I will definitely be making a trip back for this campsite alone. We called this section South America because between the rhododendron/laurel and mossy rock outcroppings it has a very jungly feel to it.
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Down in the valley is perhaps the most psychologically challenging portion of this section. I say that because the trail blazers will have you walking along a nice, wide, flat, gently graded logging road for a hundred yards or so, then for no apparent reason divert you up and over a steep hill or through a deep creek over slippery rocks and all the while you can see the beautiful logging road running gently along beside you. Just when you think you've had enough the trail rejoins the road for another 100 yards or so. The forest is very beautiful here even in winter and while the valley is deep it is oriented East to West so you get sunlight most of the day. Compared to the hike up and over Flatrock Mountain this section is pretty easy and we made good time from Virginia Hawkins Falls to the campsite at Laurel Fork Falls. All told it took us just over 5 hours to get from the Laurel Valley parking lot to Laurel Fork Falls. The guidebook says to plan for 6 hours, but we were consciously trying to go slow and careful and took quite a few breaks so I think you'd have to be darn near crawling to take 6 hours.
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The designated camping area at Laurel Fork Falls is large and there are at least three separate areas you can camp in and have some distance from other folks. The primary campsite is perched right on top of the falls and there are numerous warnings that people have died from being careless in the area. There is a ton of room for tents here but finding a spot to hang a hammock was a bit challenging and I ended up with a somewhat longer hang than I think is ideal but it worked out. There are two different firepits with proper benches so you could theoretically fit two groups in here if you wanted to. There are bear cables as well which just makes things so much easier. From a couple spots at the site you can even see all the way down to Lake Jocassee.
One important thing to note about this site is that it's at the very narrow mouth of the valley so there is a very strong wind tunnel effect. We got to camp just before sundown and the wind was strong enough to turn my hammock and tarp both into kites a few times while I was getting setup. Once the sun went down the wind died down somewhat but there was still a very steady (and very cold!) breeze all night long and into the morning. In hindsight I didn't pitch my tarp at all low enough and I was broadside to the breeze which went right under my hammock the whole night and made for a cold sleep. I believe the temps got into the high 20s and I had a few cold spots under me where I just couldn't get my underquilt adjusted right. The topquilt saved the day (or night rather) and I slept no worse than I do at home on a lumpy mattress. I would definitely recommend folks wanting to camp here in the winter time to either bring a much bigger tarp, pitch it very low, or find a more sheltered hanging spot than the one I chose. Live and learn!
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I had a Mountain House Beef Stroganoff for dinner, and my dad had the MH Lasagna with Beef and both were delicious! I'm not usually a fan of Mountain House but we both agreed these two meals were good. We had a small fire as it got dark. Times like this I really appreciate having the Helinox chair because after a day of carrying a pack my poor old back just isn't comfortable on a bench. Once it was truly dark the stars came out and wow what a show! I haven't seen that many stars since I was a kid and it left me speechless for a long time. If it hadn't been so windy I probably would have left the tarp in its sleeve all night. We turned in around 9pm and there was just enough AT&T signal to get a goodnight text message out to my family back home.
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