[at-l] Trip Report - Pine Mountain Trail - Part 4 - Day 3

[Jack.Bulkley@sas.com (Jack Bulkley)]

Day 3 

This is a continuing report by Jack Bulkley, SoulFull, on a family-backpacking trip on the Pine Mountain Trail in Georgia. The other hikers were my wife Jenny, 10-year-old son Kyle and 8-year-old daughter Mallory.

We had some trouble with the backpacking stove Tuesday morning, so we had a cold breakfast. We got on the trail early because of oncoming rain. The scouts pulled out just ahead of us. They gave us some extra filtered water. We walked in a light rain and there was a light fog in the trees. It was pretty and made us feel even further out in the wild. The packs were still heavy but were able to unload our trash in a can at a road crossing. I think the improvement was a little bit getting used to the packs and mostly getting lighter as we used up some food. This was our shortest day. 

We got into Bethel Creek Campsite around 10:30 in the morning. We set up the tent and while Jenny got everything arranged inside, I was able to get the stove working again and make some hot chocolate. It was a good day to be done early because a pretty big thunderstorm started up sending us into the tent. We had to watch a few small leaks in the tent during the two hours of heavy rain. We were able to get by ok by just soaking up the small puddles with the various bandanas we had brought. Jenny had been asking why we needed bandanas. They were her favorite things by the end - light and useful - the perfect combination.

When the rain ended Bethel Creek was much fuller. The kids enjoyed re-exploring the creek and tracking pinecones they dropped in the flowing water. We managed to build a good fire even with the wet wood. I made macaroni and cheese, Kyle's favorite. I was proud to drain the water without loosing a single noodle. Then I dropped the whole pot. Only one serving survived. Kyle got that one. The rest of us had bagels for dinner. It started to rain again just as we finished cleaning up. We were back in the tent at 6:00 pm. Except for a couple of calls of nature that was it for the night. 

Soulfull
Jack.Bulkley@sas.com
Apex, NC
Anyplace is within walking distance if you have the time.