Caroline Gilmore
Hiking down the steps at High Shoals Falls at South Mountains State Park, Connelly Springs, was part of intro to backpacking program.
In October, I signed up for the November session of Joe Miller’s Intro to backpacking program. I hadn’t backpacked since 1976.
Launched in the fall of 2014, Miller’s program consists of three full-pack training hikes of increasing distances and a three-day, two-night graduation backpacking trip to a North Carolina state park. The cost of the four-week program was $75, but was offset by a discount on camping gear and $35 gift card from Great Outdoor Provision Company.
I met Miller and seven other program participants on the first Sunday in November at William B. Umstead State Park in Cary for the first training hike. We were supposed to show up with a full backpack. My pack weighed 36 pounds.
Before the hike, Miller went over what to bring on a trip and how to pack a backpack. We emptied our packs on picnic tables and reviewed what we had packed. After the review, we hiked part of the Company Mill Trail, descending one mile to a creek and ascending one mile back to the picnic shelter. It rained during the hike, but didn’t rain hard or long. Afterwards, I revisited the contents of my backpack and got my pack down to 30 pounds.
The following Sunday, the second training hike was held at the Cole Mill Access of the Eno River State Park in Durham. We hiked two miles on the Bobbitt’s Hole Trail to a campground and pitched our tents. My borrowed ultralight one-person tent was a cinch to set up, but was by far the smallest tent I have ever used. We reviewed the setup, design and features of all the pitched tents, broke camp and hiked two more miles.
The final training hike was held the next Sunday on the Falls Lake section of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail (MST) in Gorman. We hiked about 1.5 miles, but were halted in our tracks by the submerged access to the footbridge that traversed Falls Lake. We prepared and ate a hot meal and then hiked another two miles around the MST.
On Wednesday, Miller held a planning session in Raleigh for the graduation backpacking trip. He reviewed what we would be doing on the trip and discussed the implications of the weekend forecast. The forecast called for lows near 30 degrees and highs in the 40s or 50s. This was 10 degrees colder than I had anticipated, so I had to rethink my clothing layering system.
Before I left for the trip Friday, I weighed my backpack once more—32.8 pounds. I drove the 180 miles to South Mountains State Park in Connelly Springs, registered as an overnight camper with the park office and used a civilized restroom one last time. I was supposed to meet Miller and four other program participants in a parking lot at 3. I got there late and was worried that I had missed the group. I waited several minutes and started hiking the 1.2 miles to the first night’s campsite. Within a few minutes, I ran into Miller who was coming down the trail to meet the late arrivals. I hiked up to the campground by myself.
When I arrived at the campground, several people from the earlier group were there and a fire burning in the fire ring. Located in a valley meadow, the Shinny Creek Backcountry Campground was bordered on one side by a large stream and consisted of four campsites, each with a fire ring, picnic table and unlimited firewood supply, and two outhouses. I surveyed the field, selected a relatively flat spot and set up my tent.
We started cooking dinner when it got dark. I prepared a pouch of dehydrated penne pasta with marinara sauce. The pasta was a little crunchy, but the sauce was good. Later on, we enjoyed s’mores over the camp fire. I turned in around 7:30 and tried to sleep but it got very cold—down to 28 degrees. Sometime after midnight, I got up and put on a merino wool shirt. It kept me a bit warmer, but not warm enough to sleep. Dawn and sunshine were welcome that day. When I took my tent down, there was ice on the inside of the fly.
We broke camp around 10 and, after taking some group photos, began hiking at 10:30. We planned to hike 5.5 miles to Saturday night’s campsite, but early on, we came to the point where we were supposed to cross Shinny Creek. The water was running very high and fast so Miller selected an alternative route that did not involve crossing the creek without a bridge.
The hiking was mostly uphill. Two guys, a 13-year-old and a very fit man who was a couple of years younger than me, invariably led the way; I usually hiked a little behind them and by myself. The rest of the group was behind me. We took breaks at major trail intersections and waited for the rest of the group. We stopped for lunch along the trail, hiked some more and arrived at Fox Trail Campground early that afternoon. I estimate we hiked 4 miles in total that day
Located on a hillside meadow, the campground consisted of three campsites and an outhouse. The meadow was surrounded by woods where we collected firewood and downhill from the meadow was a stream where we could filter water. I selected a site and set up my tent. We prepared dinner around dusk. I rehydrated a pouch of chicken teriyaki that was pretty good. It didn’t get as cold as the night before so I was able to sleep.
Sunday morning, I awoke around dawn and boiled water for oatmeal. After a leisurely breakfast and water filtering session, we broke camp by 9. We took some more group pictures and hit the trail by 9:30. We hiked mostly downhill on leafy old logging roads that provided some terrific vistas, passed through lush forests of rhododendrons and arrived at the top of the 80-foot High Shoals Falls. We descended alongside the falls through a series of stairs and eventually returned to the parking lot where we started. We took some more group photos and offered our thanks and goodbyes.
After the trip, I wrote Miller, “Thank you for a wonderful, challenging weekend. I was so worried beforehand about getting through the program and the weekend in one piece and in good stead. I feel a great sense of accomplishment having gone through your program.”
He replied “I think easing into backpacking with the training/skills session takes a lot of the …‘concern’ out of backpacking for newbies. It’s truly not about how many miles you can cover in a day, it’s about escape — and being prepared for what that entails.”
I couldn’t agree more; I found the backpacking experience to be an incredible escape from the everyday world and a wonderful challenge in self-reliance.
Training Hikes For Backpacking
As soon as I registered for Miller’s Intro to Backpacking program, I started climbing the four flights of stairs at work a couple of times a day.
The next week, my two dogs and I went to Chimney Rock State Park in Chimney Rock, NC. We climbed the 315 feet up to the top of Chimney Rock via the 499 stairs and then hiked the 1.4-mile Hickory Nut Falls Trail which leads to and from the 404-foot waterfall made famous in the 1992 movie “The Last of the Mohicans”. It was a good workout.
The following Sunday, I hiked the 3.75-mile Cox Mountain Trail in the Fews Ford section of the Eno River State Park with my two dogs, a Meetup group and a 15.6-pound day pack. I got a little winded going up Cox Mountain, but was fine other than that.
The next Sunday, I hiked the same trail, but with two friends and a 23-pound almost-full backpack. I still got a little winded going up Cox Mountain, but did better than the previous week.
The training hikes started the following week (Nov. 1).
Backpack Items
Here is what I packed for three days and two nights: 2 liters of water (additional water was filtered from streams at each night’s campsite), meals (oatmeal, cheese sticks, almonds, 2 dehydrated dinners), snacks (trail mix, KIND bars, energy gels), clothes (1 long-sleeved technical shirt, 2 pairs of wool socks and wicking underwear, 1 pair of sock liners, long underwear top and bottom), rain pants and jacket, wool watch cap, fleece neck gaiter, a pair of glove liners and gloves.
Also, eating utensils (metal cup, plastic bowl and alloy spoon specially designed to eat out of meal pouches), camp shoes (foam clogs), toiletries (including sunscreen for face and lips), microfiber mini-camp towel, tent with fly and ground cloth, sleeping bag, inflatable sleeping pad and pillow, paperback book and pen, plastic shovel, toilet paper, pack cover, first aid kit, 2 flashlights, 2 headlamps, point-and-shoot camera with an extra battery, cell phone with charger battery, Swiss army pocket knife, 6 feet of rope, ultraviolet water purifier, bandana, plastic bags for dirty clothes and trash, a large trash bag to cover my pack at night, hand sanitizing gel and wipes, and my car key. Total weight was just under 33 pounds.