Planning my first trip since I was a kid.

I've heard old men exclaim things like "Where the blue blazes are we?!?" and "What the blue blazes!?!" and I think it stems from the Butterfield trail....

Even with GPS and a map, we got off trail quite a few times in our hunt for a blue blaze or something that even slightly resembled a "trail", trees were downed everywhere across the path and our trip ended up being a total of 20 miles on this 15 mile trail due to back tracking and going "off trail" so many times. When we made it back to the visitors center to sign out from our permit I remarked at the trails current shape which I had been originally told via email that it was in great shape, was in truth in much need of work.

With that said Zach had the time of his life, we went from the lee creek hike in campground area around instead of from the trail head, making great headway and catching some great pics (until I took a tumble in a stream camera hand first, but I sucked the water out, blech! and slept with it in my sleeping bag to dry it out that night) Not farther than 2 miles in we got severly off trail and after an hour of back tracking could not find another blue blaze or any blaze to signify there was indeed a trail. GPS was showing we were just 200 ft from the bend and we took off in hopes of getting back on trail thru the woods, an hour and another mile later we spotted telephone poles, the highway crossing must be close! after we finally made it up and onto the road we went in search of the crossing only to realize the GPS was not getting great signal where we were and we were off by about 500 feet the whole time makeing it much farther away so we sat down in a clearing by the road and ate a late (3:30ish) lunch. Called home to sooth the worried mom and dad that all was well and set out back on the trail again, only to get off trail once we got about halfway between the road crossing and Quail Valley, our first campsite.

Daylight was fading and the blazes have disapeard again, but I knew that if we followed the small stream we would make it to the intended campgrounds and the trail, just befor six we found the waterfall and we camped out in Quail Valley by that waterfall in the little grotto there. Dinner was supposed to be a nice fettichini alfredo with turkey but the red peppers gave me heartburn before i even finished chewing the first bite and I unwisely skipped dinner. We played cards, sat by the fire, resupplied our water (that boy drank FOUR QUARTS A DAY!!!) and went to bed early.

Sometime late Friday night (2am ish)he work me up with a shaky voice "Luke... something is in the camp!!!" in that scared whisper yell. Just a few racoons I told him but he was none the less comforted so I spent the next hour yawing at them and trying to shoo them out of camp. The next morning colder than I expected I attempted (with no luck due to wet wood) to rebuild a camp fire to warm us back up as we sat around drinking coffee (NEVER GIVE COFFEE TO A 13 year old WITH A.D.D.!) I tried making the insta eggs but burned them and they promptly came back up from my already foodless stomach...

I've not eaten now since 3 on friday, but we broke camp, and headed off on the trail making it a little more than a mile before we have lost the trail again... at this point I got frustrated and my irritation at the trail got the better of me, I decided we would climb the mountain before us, come back down the other side on the horse trails and head home Saturday night. Halfway up (the total height was 1901 feet elevation per the screwy GPS) my body started to give up, we sat down on the side of the mountain and made the starchy sugary carby goodness that was apple cobbler as a snack and waited for the energy to come back to us. Slowly but with determination (and much talk of a cracker barrel breakfast for dinner for our end of trip dinner from Zach) we made it to the top of the mountain.

Once there lil man made me proud, we had been practicing LNT and picking up every piece of litter along the way and there at the top of this mountain were VERY old appliances rusted through and through, Zach's jaw dropped open and his brows furrowed with irritation and he asked how we were going to drag all of that back down and out of there and why anyone would trash up somthing like this. I explained how old the appliances (most of which didnt even appear to be electrical in nature) were and how long they have been there, possibly before or durring a much earlier time in the parks history.

At least we're heading down hill now, and with "great" trails on this side, muddy and worn, but they were obvious and easy to follow so this was "great". We managed to stay on trail for all but about 300 yards or so and soon we heard the sound of the park, campers, visitors, vehicles and finally we broke through to a view of pavement. I've never been so happy to see my little toyota and it's airconditioned reclining seats!

I made quite a few mistakes on the trip, none more dangerous than not eating, but most of them I remembered what I should have done afterwards.

I learned alot too...I learned just how out of shape I am and just how much a 3 pack a day smoking habit hits you, to stop and listen to silence in the day, and in the night until it is a roaring deafening silence and remember how small we all are - something I have forgotten in the fast life of meetings, commuting, running and doing all day every day; and to look around me, I don't think i've stopped to take in the beauty in a long time, one day I won't be able to and I would rather remember rolling vistas than spreasheets.

I can't wait to have another chance to get away again soon, if I do Butterfield again, I'm going to go with someone that can show me the actual trail!

Luke,

Sounds as though you had as much fun as Jay did with me on our Trail work this week end. It wasn't funny at the time but it is a good laugh now! Great trip report, come south some time maybe by then I will have our blow downs of the trail.

OH

Great report Luke!

I'm glad you guys had a good time despite the problems--and hey, no trip ever goes exactly as planned! It's all about using your head and finding solutions on the fly. (Trust me, I had a big reminder on this one the other day...)

Anyway, thanks for the report!

Thanks Jay, it's great that I found this group here, too many people are serious couch potato's and it's nice to know theres a place for thos of us that are seriously out there.. I mean like to get seriously out there HA HA HA

Great Report,

Glad to see folks getting reacquainted with the trail. Nice to see that you posted your own lessons learned. A GPS can turn into a liability quickly. A map, compass and the knowledge to use them are hard to beat. A couple of extra Cliff bars or equivelant are always nice to have for those occasions when a meal does not turn out right. I had a folding handle on a pot collapse and dump dinner one night and had no extra food. Not a fun situation..

Cudos on intoducing the young man to the trail and LNT

HBH

Thanks HBH,

Yes I forgot quite a few small but important things at home 1 camp forks 2 snack bars, and in the car my compass.

Next time I'm going to break out the dehydrator and make more of my own "snacks", Mum called this morning with a new twist on the fruit rollups for my next trip

1 jar of applesauce
1 pint of stawaberries
6 tbs protien powder -no flavor
puree it and stick it in the dehiydrator on wax paper, the next day stack the wax paper and cut it into "baggie" sizes. peel and eat'em (or don't if you need some extra fiber in your diet)

Sounds like it was good time for both of you. No trip ever goes as planned. I was on a hike out in Colorado, up a 14'er back in Aug. It didn't go as planned and was pretty brutal on all of us, but we all had a great time.

I've got to ask...how do you afford 3 packs a day! $$$$$ I'm a former smoker. I was about a 1/2 to 1 pack a day and that was breaking the bank! After I quit, hiking was a lot more enjoyable though. I know I wouldn't have made it up that mountain if I was still smoking. I'm not passing judgement on you by any means. Please don't take offense. I still have a couple every now and then (socially having drinks).

lol no offense taken! trust me that and starbucks three times a day is an expensive habit.

I used to be in peak shape but I took a spill down pinnacle mountain back in 2001 and broke my back, before that I ran eight miles a day worked out for two hours on weights and durring the summers swam for another couple of hours. after I finally recouped they told me I would never lift anything over 25 lbs again. by 2003 I was dancing 40 hours a week and back to working out pretty regularly swimming full time in an indoor pool and back on my way to being in great shape but I lost my eyesight temporarily (i was born blind due to conginital cataracts and had corrective surgery at 2 years old) and thus my job and picked up smoking, days on end sitting in a dark room listening to a tv I quickly learned to chain smoke. after my eyesight returned I took a job in inside sales which meant hours of work and fast food lunches, I had a 28 inch waist when I started and now im a 34! after I got a promotion I took on even more hours. couple that with a love of fattening foods (i don't eat veggies, just meat cheese andd bread) im pretty out of shape.

so yeah this trip definitely opened my eyes to my current shape and I am bound and determined to get into at least better shape

Luke,

Sorry that you had a hard time on the trail. Last time I was on it I thought it was well marked. There are a lot of Horse trails and Mountain bike trails that can make it hard to find the right one when they intersect. I also have a few trail hankies, that have all the trails marked on it, so it makes it really easy to find where you are. I am glad that overall you had a good trip, and that you made it out all right. The Butterfield has some really nice vistas, and if you are willing to hike some horse trails, there are even better ones. Keep hiking on.

Dwight

No appologies needed, I had a great time TDI made it through without nearly the blaze issues we had, next time I'll go counter clockwise and see if I have the same problems I did end up on some horse trails a few times and I would definately like to take a look around there a few more times to find those views, there were some beautiful ones, but I think a little more time would yeild even better results.

Luke,
Not commenting out of pity, but...WOW! You have been through a lot! I don't know what I'd do with out vision. And coming back from a back injury like that...simply amazing!

Hearing stories such as yours makes me stop and thank God for the blessings of vision and a healthy body (I'm by no means in great shape though)!

You know I never think of it like that, it was a dark time in my life (no pun intended) but it and many of the other events in my life have molded me into the person I am today - a man who doesn't know the meaning of I can't, I may not know how, but I sure find out how in the process.

And I don't credit myself for my back, I credit my cat oddly enough, I was dying due to all of the swelling in my spine and my body was shutting down, my room mate and a friend found a 3-4 week old kitten abandoned and snuck it into the hospital, she crawled up my numb body to my neck layed down and slept there purring. My blood pressure started comming back up, my oxygen levels, and in three days of these visits I was released to home care! she's been with me ever since, Mom calls her my gaurdian angel.

That is great you are getting an opportunity to take a camping vacation after so long. I recently went on a camping trip in Indiana and really enjoyed myself. Do you know if the mosquitoes are going to be bad when you are on your camping trip?