One last trip...

Well, that is one last trip before I take a break to plan for the "big trip" to the Linville Gorge at the end of October! Saturday morning I am heading just north of the South Carolina Boarder to Gorges State Park in Sapphire, NC. I will be entering the park on Frozen Creek Road and hiking the Cane Break trail for 5 or so miles to the eastern side of lake Jocassee.

The forecast ( http://tinyurl.com/6f278gh) is looking great for views of the sunset over the lake. Also, the temps should be down in the 30's Saturday night, which will finally give me a chance to check out my cold weather hammock setup. I have been waiting for this since I acquired this setup over six months ago!!!

If you are interested in seeing where I'm heading, a map of the park can be found here:

http://www.ncparks.gov/Visit/parks/gorg/pics/parkmap.pdf

I will be home Sometime Sunday. I will have photos and videos up as soon as possible! STAY TUNED...

Happy Trails

~ Jeremy

Backpacking the Chattooga River

This past weekend, September 17 - 18, 2011, I parked my car at Ridley Fileds parking area On Hwy 28 in South Carolina just before you cross Russel Bridge. I hiked South/southwest down the Bartram/Chattoga river trail.

Ended up Doing a little over 9 miles the first day with some backtracking and one or two wrong turns. There are a couple tricky turns so you have to make sure to keep your eye out for trail markers (gold diamonds). I stayed on Warwoman creek Saturday night before hiking about seven miles back to the car Sunday.

It was a real pleasure to hike and I got the added bonus of running up on Turkeys both days along the trail. I only saw one other person over the weekend. He was fishing up near Russel Bridge

The temperatures and weather were excellent!! Highs in the 60's and lows in the 50's.


Hope you enjoy the picture and videos as much as I enjoyed getting them!

-Jeremy

Photos

 http://s294.photobucket.com/albums/mm104/jmcwatty_2008/Bartram-Chattooga%20River%20trail/

Video Part 1

Video Part 2

Labor Day weekend 2011 in the Linville Gorge

There was a hell of a storm that blew in Friday night about 30 minutes after I got there... I was set up at one of the pull off camp sites on Kistler. The wind was unreal. The trees were bending enough to get me nervous enough to ride out the main part of the storm sitting in my car. Very pleasant night after the storm blew through.


Saturday I started down Pinch In around 10:30 am. The sun was beating down on the exposed Ridge Line and it was very humid. Once I reached the tree line, I took around an hour to cool off and hydrate....

Sunday was much of the same going back up except clouds were starting to push in so I stopped about half way up for around 2 hours to wait for the clouds to block the sun. Along with the clouds, a nice breeze came as well... I went through about 4 liters of water going up. Because of the humidity my Shirt looked like I had just jumped in the river fully clothed when I made it to the Trail Head... I nick named Pinch In Hell with a Trail on my way up

It was absolutely awesome though and I enjoyed every minute of it... even the miserable parts! For me personally, I believe I will be staying away from the Exposed ridge lines during the summer months.

Photos can be found here: http://s294.photobucket.com/albums/mm104/jmcwatty_2008/Linville%20Gorge%20-%20Pinchin%20trail/

Summer is coming to a close...

That's right, and I couldn't be happier. For me,when the temps start to cool in the Carolinas, My outdoor excursions increase!!!

This weekend I will be head to my second favorite wilderness area. The Linville Gorge...

I will be leaving Greenwood at approximately 4pm Friday. I will drive up to the Gorge where I will camp at one of the pull-off campsites on Kistler rd. Saturday I will park my car at the Pinch in Trail head and descend the trail to the river where I will be meeting Friends to lollygag and chillax for the day and night. Sunday I will ascend Pinch in. From there I will be driving up to Old Conley parking area and will be making my way to Lost Dog camp. Finally Monday, if everything goes as planned I will be meeting three guys that I met from linvillegorge.net for some exploring and trail work before heading home sometime in the afternoon.

I may have a Cell signal at times and I will try to get text messages out when I can.

Hope everyone has a Great Labor Day Weekend!!! Stay tuned for a trip report!