Before we begin, let me give you the short back story.
All summer long we had done only moderate day hikes. Nothing to strenuous, and we never strapped our packs on once. In other words, we had not conditioned at all for this hike.
We also had been reading backpacker magazine and looking at the recipes that people were posting, thinking to ourselves that they sounded delicious (as backpacking meals go). John had also talked about how good a steak had tasted after a hard day of hiking on a previous trip with his buddies. Needless to say all this gourmet food was heavy, too heavy. But we were determined to eat well.
Cooper had just had his ACL repaired so he was not able to make the hike with us and stayed at the house with the dog sitter Andi. She and her dog Cheyanne would be staying the week and caring for Cooper and the house.
John made the decision to take Sophie. Sophie would be carrying her food and water and a small nalgene bottle of wine for one of our gourmet dinners.
I got online and looked up GPS coordinates for good campsites and vistas so we would be sure not to miss a thing. OK here we go.
Wednesday, July 25, Day 1
We are starting at parking area 23.58 and hiking the trail backwards. John has hiked a portion of this trail before and thought maybe going backwards would be easier. So our first camp will be at mile 18.25, giving us a 1st day mileage of 5.25. Our packs are entirely too heavy but we are well rested and feeling strong so we are confident that we will be just fine.
For this part of the trail we are mostly on top and it is fairly level hiking, further adding to our confidence. We have come across a field of wild blueberries and stop to pick some. They are sweet and delicious, with a different flavor than the ones you buy in the grocery store. I think they are much more tasty.
Just past the field of blueberries, we come to the planned campsite, but we are completely unimpressed. So I pull up the GPS looking for the “good campsites” I loaded before leaving. There is a “good campsite” listed just over the hill about a half a mile away. We decide to go for that one, so we eat our hoagies that we bought at a store before starting the trail.
Unfortunately it is not taking us on a direct route to the camp. Turns out it is over 2 miles past the first campsite as the trail winds. During this additional mileage portion of our first day hike we experience our first tension. The GPS got us “all riled up” as John says, not pointing us in the direction we think it should. John keeps saying that it doesn’t matter how far away the campsite is, we made the decision to go for it so we are not going back. I’m getting irritated because John and Sophie are walking about 3mph (she’s pulling him along ) and I can’t keep up. I’m getting very sore and very tired.
The final descent to the campsite is a moderate down hill, turning brutally steep and rocky. John cut Sophie loose and hoped for the best. At one point she became wedged between two rocks and we had to remove her pack to get her out.
The extra miles were worth it, the campsite is very nice, much better than the first. As we are setting up camp and getting ready to hang our food in a tree, I keep hearing this weird sound. I can’t imagine what kind of bug or animal would make noise as I approached it, usually they get quiet.
Turns out it is a rattle snake not to far from my pack. In twilight it is very hard to see. If it would not have rattled I would not have seen it at all. John moved it on with a hiking pole, that I carried around with me the rest of the night, just in case. He wouldn’t let me bring it in the tent though.
Thursday, July 26, Day 2 – mile marker 16
OK, I need lots of drugs!!! We are all very, very, sore. Well maybe not Sophie. Last night and this morning I gave her a good massage to help her muscles. John and I however are feeling every ounce of our overweight packs. My shoulders actually feel bruised and my feet hurt. The only nice thing is that it didn’t rain over night and all of our stuff is dry.
The day is starting out sunny and this part of the trail is fairly flat. We have come across a small cabin probably one of the ones you can rent. We have some snacks by the stream and drink some water. There is fresh water pump house so we fill our water bottles before heading on.
At mile 13 we cross Route 44 and walk through the most amazing (and kinda creepy) forest. The Hemlocks are incredibly tall with no branches underneath, but the canopy is so thick at the top that the sunlight is almost completely blocked, hence the black in Black Forest Trail. The BFT crosses the Sentiero DI Shay trail as we exit the hemlock forest and here we stop, eat lunch and take a nap.
Continuing on we come to several vistas and lots more blueberry patches. We take our time at the vistas, seizing every opportunity to get our heavy packs off and rest.
But you can only relax so long, we need to get to the next camping area so off we go.
We are descending a part of the trail that seems to go on and on and on. I hate walking down hill; it hurts my thighs my knees, my toes. By the time we reach a mountain pass road I’m sure I can’t walk another step. John feels we have time to stop for a bit and rest before moving on so we take our packs off and sit by the road. We can hear music drifting up from below.
On our final leg of the day, we meet Bob Webber coming up the trail. What a treat for us. Bob Webber is the man who almost single handedly maintains and cares for the BFT. It was quite and honor for us to say the least. We continue down and pass the campsite with the music. It is filled with jeeps and college aged kids having some fun. (cheaters, they drove in!)
We come across a cute little water fall and I take John and Sophie’s picture before we continue on to the campsite. The GPS says that there is a better campsite up the trail a bit, but we don’t care we were stopping here and that is that. I can’t wait to get my boots off my feet are so sore.
Time for one of those gourmet meals. We are having fish and corn muffins for supper and gourmet s’mores for desert. I soaked the marshmallows in conquac, got blueberry flavored chocolate and some fancy cookies…hmm that is so good. Hopefully the conuaque will help us sleep.
I don’t know what time it is but it is starting to rain, I hope it helps me sleep better.
Friday, July 27th, Day 3 – mile marker 7.5
All of our stuff is damp from the overnight rain, and neither of us can walk properly due to the soreness in our calves. We decide at this point we will be unable to finish the 42 miles. We plan to back track to the mountain pass and head out. We will have to spend one more night on the trail however.
At the bottom of the road (about 2 miles into our day) we stop and check the map. There is a blue dot (Foster Hollow) trail that is a short cut to the other side of the BFT. We have a disagreement about where the trail head is and end up walking up the road about a mile too far. John doesn’t want to go back so we walk a bit farther but it is becoming clear we can not get to the trail from this point on the road.
We turn around to find our way back.
Some people in a car stop and gesturing at Sophie ask if someone is lost. We tell them only we are, that we have taken a wrong turn but are heading back.
Eventually we fine a place that isn’t too steep and we can see the trail below, so we bushwack down and get on the right trail. The woods are nice and cool which is a great relief to all of us. Within a short walk up this trail we fine the junction with the BFT. There is a little campsite at this point so we sit down and have some snacks. At this point we are now at mile 38.97 on the BFT.
It is thundering in the distance so we take the time to put our pack covers on, and get on our way. It doesn’t take long for it to start sprinkling. Ignoring all of the SAR training I have had and all the HUG-A-TREE demos I have given, explaining how when you hear thunder you don’t have much time before the rain comes, I want to keep walking. I mean it is barely raining. John wants to stop and setup shelter, because he is sure heavier rain is on the way. We compromise and find some heavy tree cover.
Well soon it is raining so hard the tree cover is not enough.
We break out a tarp and make a very poor attempt at setting up a shelter. We are completely soaked now. As the storm breaks we hear more thunder coming our way so we decide to stay put and construct a better shelter while it isn’t raining. This time we are more comfortable and settled in before the rains comes. Now any time John says it is time to setup shelter, my response will be “yes dear”.
In the long run it doesn’t matter. We are both dry in about a half hour, thanks to our quick dry clothes, but the final 1/2 mile to the campsite involved walking through close brush. We are soaked again by the time we get to the camp site, boots and all.
The campsite isn’t the greatest, but there is tons of firewood available and we’ve got one heck of a blaze going. Our wet clothes are dry in no time. Unfortunately I don’t realize how hot the fire is and I end up melting our boots. My new pair too!!!
Tonight we are having steaks, with mushrooms and onions with mashed potatoes. I’ve never tasted anything so good.
Everything is dry now and we are all ready to crawl into the tent. Even after our icy baths the tent feels hot and close.
During the night it rains again and it rains hard.
Saturday, July 28th, Day 4 – mile 35.82
We wake up quite demoralized. After the all night rain everything is wet again which means our clothes are cold and our gear heavy. Poor Sophie didn’t sleep well either and had us up at 6am. We are having cold cereal with no coffee.
I tried to give Sophie her morning massage but when I tried she just started whimpering. Well that explains why she was so restless last night, she is as sore as we are. We put on our wet clothes and head out, or should I say up, then down, then up again and finally out, about 3 miles to the truck.
The blueberries we find along the way cheer us up, and the wider trail keeps us from getting wet and by the time we come out at 44 we are dry. Up the road about a half mile is the truck, thank you!
However, our difficulties are not over yet. We know there is a trail that runs along the road that leads back to the truck…or so we think. I hate walking roads. They hurt my knees and it is always terribly hot. John wants to walk the road, I want to find and take the trail. So he finds what he thinks will be the trail back to the truck.
Well the trail has all but disappeared and we are moving farther away from the truck and the road. With our nerves frayed and the laurel all but impenetrable, John throws down Sophie’s lead and turns into a laurel busting machine. I’m getting mad because he is moving fast and because I have to keep un-tangling Sophie’s lead it isn’t long before I can’t see him any more or which way he went. Now you think I wouldn’t be worried because I have a bloodhound with me right? No she is following me, she won’t go first.
Finally we are at the road. I’m mad, and sorry all at the same time. John is trying to talk to me but I am not in the mood, not after he left me behind in the laurel. When we arrive at the truck we kiss and make up.
Not wanting our vacation to be over, we decide on the way back home that we will head for the wineries for the rest of the weekend. We get home and check with Andi to see if she is ok for a couple more days. I book a room before we leave, and after a warm shower, a change of clothes and packing a small bag we are off again.
By 6:00pm we are sitting in a warm comfortable restaurant sipping wine. We laugh about how fast a situation can change. Twelve hours ago we were just crawling out of a two man tent with three smelly bodies in it, down in a damp, dark, wet ravine miles from the truck, and now here we are.
I love us!
In total we hiked 30 miles of the 42 mile BFT. Not bad for two out of shape old farts.
