30 Miles on the Pinhoti NRT

I was fortunate enough to have all of Labor Day weekend off and planned a great trip with two other hiking buds, Two Speed (TS) and his hiking dog Barney from Marietta, GA and Eman (E) from Nashville.

Our itinerary was 30 miles from Burns Trailhead south to Shoal Creek Ranger Station.

We hiked in the short distances (less than 2 miles) to Choccolocco shelter Friday evening.
That evening we sat around chatting and catching up on our stories (aided by adult beverage) and watched the bats come alive and buzz by our heads as we sat on top of the dam near the overflow basin. We all turned into our respective sites around hiker midnight.

As dawn broke, scrambled to the top of the dam to see the sun rise over Choccolocco reservoir. It was such an inspiring sight to see the sun beams breaking through the clouds and hitting the water. There was a fine steamy mist drifting across the lake that resembled a sheer curtain gently waving in the breeze.

As I finished my picture taking, I noticed TS was already packed up and heading down the trail. I got myself together, ate breakfast and headed out too. I saw E’s food bag hanging, so I could only assume that he was still abed.

The sun rose on Saturday just as usual in Alabama, getting hot quick. If it were not for the leaf cover, we most certainly would have baked!

**tangent** I carried two bottles of bottled water in the short distance (don’t ask why because I don’t even know!) instead of filling my pack bladder. I did this partly because I knew that within a mile or so, we’d hit a reliable water source and I would filter my water from there. When I came to this source, I did what every good hiker does… dropped the pack, dug out the filter, and began pumping water into the currently empty bladder. (I was using a newly installed filter adapter that has a quick connect on the mouth piece so that I did not have to pull the bladder out from the bowels of the pack itself.) I went through the motions, pumping just as happy as could be that I was on the trail and not at home with ringing phones and tv blaring. After a while, I glanced at my pack seated on the ground leaning against a tree and noticed that it did not appear to be getting ‘fatter’ from the bladder filling. Then I noticed that my pack appeared to be peeing. In an instant, my mind flashed back to the day before when I was inserting the bladder into the pack. I checked it out thoroughly. There was not any holes in it. What was wrong?! News flash! You forgot to screw on the main fill cap! I immediately dropped the filter, opened the pack and proceeded to pull out every last thing, particularly aiming for my bag, which was on the bottom of course. This whole scenario transpired in 3/100ths of a second. All things fixed, screwed on, repacked and hand smacking the forehead… I got over my stoopidness and headed down the trail with fresh water.

Early Saturday afternoon, we arrived at Laurel shelter. We were all soaked in sweat and whining about the heat. Before we even unpacked, all of us, Barney too, were sitting in the stream in front of the shelter! Where’s the camera when you need it! We remained here for the better part of an hour before setting up our camps. Nothing spectacular to note this evening, just good conversation with good people.

Sunday E noted his knee was not feeling too well. We decided to hike on to Pine Glen Campground and reconvene there for lunch and see how he was feeling then. Throughout the morning, we had spread out, but nearing Pine Glen we were all hiking about the same pace with TS leading us down the trail and handling spider web duty quite well! All of a sudden TS made a gasping sound and slammed on the brakes. As E and I neared, we saw a beautiful king snake lying across the trail. TS didn’t appear to want to handle the situation and E was just kinda zoned out. So I took it upon myself to try to gently prod the reptile off the trail so that we could pass. I touch the fella near the tip of the tail with my Leki. Nothing. Touched him again. Nothing. Deep sigh. I moved the tip of the Leki towards his middle and had to fully lift the sucker off the trail, placing him in the brush about two feet away. The guys passed as I kept an eye on the slender black serpent. As we walked on, we discussed what had just happened and I promised that I would never tell a soul that the girl had to handle the snake because the boys didn’t know what to do… ; )

At Pine Glen we stopped for lunch and water. E decided it was not work risking further injury and not hiking again and stayed at the campground for the night. I was to return tomorrow afternoon and pick him up. Im sure he didn’t like making that kind of decision, but in the interest of his health, I think it was the right thing to do.

TS and I continued on and arrived late afternoon at Lower Shoal Shelter. It was just as serene as I remembered from my thru-hike in 2007. Two streams converging right in front and the peaceful babble that only nature can make from these waters. I was ready for a nap as soon as I heard these sounds. As I pitched my hammock alongside the water, I noticed evidence of an armadillo all around me. I made sure to hang high enough so as not to be brushed on my underside by the ‘possum on a half shell in the early morning hours. The evening was great, frogs singing to each other, a distant owl hooting and TS flatulating while seated at the wooden picnic table so thunderously that it could be felt on the opposite bench. This event caused an unending round of laughter from me! 9:30, its bed time.

Sunday morning, TS and I were up, fed and out of camp at 730am. We had 8 miles to cover to our cars, go get E and return to Oxford for some well-deserved BBQ! The trail was pretty good to us today. Not too much up, not too much down. That is until we neared the end. The approach to Birds in the Pines campsite was a climb and a steep one at that. We paused only briefly here and pushed on. There was no rush, we were making good time and still enjoying our hike, but we moved on anyways. As we dropped down towards the trailhead, I could only think that in a few hours, I was going to have to turn on my cell phone, be in traffic and return to all the daily things I run to the woods to escape.

Arriving at our cars, I looked at the time. We had covered the last two miles in only 45 minutes! I know that’s nothing special for a lot of people, but I know that my average hiking speed (elevation gain included) is 2 MPH. We had knocked of a full 15 minutes! As we got situated and ready to go get E, a train passed the trailhead. They apparently saw us too and were kind enough to blast the horn in short tiny bursts. We gave them the thumbs up and they gave us a couple toots back! : )

Up the forest road to get E, back to Oxford for BBQ and sharing of stories (and stories that are not to be shared) we all left fully satisfied from good food, good hiking and good friends.