What if Nemophilist can’t hike?

She develops a serious case of Nature Deficit Disorder!

Over the last several years of hiking I have been reminded several times of the fragility of life and how your path through life can turn on a dime and in the blink of an eye. My own blink of an eye moment, I could have done without but came anyway in early April and even has a hiking connection. I was driving to meet my dear trail friend, Mudsmeller who was visiting her daughter in Atlanta. I remember passing the Appalachian Trail at Dicks Creek, then traveling through Hiawassee, Georgia. I honked and waved at several groups of hikers who were probably taking care of town chores or going out to dinner. Interesting how I can easily recognize members of my tribe now! After leaving Hiawassee I started up the mountain and my last thoughts were of what I might purchase for dinner at the grocery store in Blairsville. According to the police report, a young guy driving from the opposite direction crossed in front of me, then hit me head on as he attempted to correct. Evidently, since I was unconscious and have no memory of any of it, I was airlifted to hospital in Gainesville where it was determined that I had broken ribs, punctured and collapsed lung, concussion and lots and lots of bruises. Hiking and most outdoor activities came to a halt and a much-anticipated hiking trip to Scotland with my daughter had to be cancelled. Despite living in an area surrounded by glorious nature in the form of the Jocassee Gorges and the Blue Ridge Escarpment, I could not get out and enjoy it. As you can imagine, Nemophilist was miserable and terrible in her new role of being a patient. The good news is that I now realize how incredibly lucky I was and feel somewhat back to normal though definitely different than before the accident; a few lingering aches and pains and more grey hair (hmm lets call it silver hair). I recently resumed hiking with the Friday Hoofers and I’m back working in my poor neglected garden and being a vendor of native wildflowers at the local Farmers Markets. The missing link was my much-loved and necessary backpacking activities. I wanted to be sure that I could still carry my kit, so with a lot at stake, I planned a solo overnighter on some nearby trails. The plan was to hike the Canebrake Trail from Gorges State Park down to Lake Jocassee, intersect with the Foothills Trail and hike back to home territory at Laurel Valley.

Day 1

I drove my car down to my hike terminus at Laurel Valley and Frolicking Dinosaur picked me up in her brand-new car, thanks to the accident since I was driving her old car for that event. She drove me to the Frozen Creek Trailhead about 30 minutes away. I was so excited and a little nervous to be heading into the backcountry.

My pack weighed in at 22 lbs. which included a luxury item, my 1.5lb. library book. I have been waiting in a line several hundred readers deep for Where the Crawdads Sing and yesterday got the call that it was my turn. Since I have limited time to read it, I decided to bring it along and get started to see if it lives up to all the hype. The Canebrake Trail was an easy hike down a 5-mile-long old forest road and not particularly outstanding. It is more of a means to get to the destination; Lake Jocassee. I soon arrived at the beautiful suspension bridge and crossed the Toxaway Creek to arrive at the excellent campsite on the shore of the lake.

I had thought I would take a swim here, but I couldn’t find a suitable spot to get in the water, so settled in on a picnic table and enjoyed lunch. This is a beautiful campsite, only accessible by foot or boat and I had it all to myself. I had thought I might spend the night, but it was so early, and I had a chance to make it to the Laurel Fork Falls Campsite where I had always wanted to stay. I packed up and just beyond the campsite finally found a perfect spot for launching myself into the water. It was not an official campsite, but someone must have dragged a picnic table here. It was steep and rocky to get in the water but a very doable scramble with lots of roots to use as handholds. The water got deep very quickly but I enjoyed a good 45 minutes of floating and swimming. I got some relief in my stiff shoulder from swimming and thought to myself that maybe I should start going to adult swim at the public pool in Rosman. As I floated around, I became fascinated by a pretty goldfinch darting around the bushes along the shore. It was so beautiful and peaceful, and I debated just staying here and reading my book but eventually decided to push on.

I soon started the climb up Heartbreak Ridge, a series of steep steps that never seem to end. The temperature also started to climb as the afternoon progressed and it was quite muggy, but the trail was gorgeous, and I felt so happy. Nemophilist was home in the forest! I soon reached Laurel Fork Falls and took the side trail down to the boat access and a view of the outstanding falls. I watched a family swimming in the lagoon from their pontoon boat for a few minutes before backtracking to the trail and hiking the short distance to the campsite at the top of the falls. I met the first hiker of the day, a teacher hammocking precariously near the edge of the falls.

I set up camp and enjoyed dinner on a great rock near Laurel Fork Creek before it splendidly spills over the rocks into the lake. There were lots of annoying kamikaze flies that seemed to find my eyes a great target, so I decided to retire to my tent for some reading pleasure, but first needed to hang my food. There weren’t any suitable branches around the campsite so I backtracked across the campsite bridge and found a small branch but figured it would be ok since my food bag was very light. Not a perfect hang but probably acceptable. As I stood back admiring my handiwork there was a commotion behind me and as I glanced back, I saw a huge black bear, probably 200-300lb. range, crashing through the undergrowth. Definitely the largest bear I have encountered in the backcountry! I yelled and clapped my hands and he did what good bears always do and showed me his rear end as he thundered away. I let my campsite neighbor know of my encounter and it seemed to make him a bit nervous though he did have a bear cannister for his food plus some bear spray for protection. It took me a while to get comfortable in my tent but after popping a couple of Aleve and enjoying several hours of good reading, I easily fell asleep. 13 miles today.

Day 2

I woke up about 5am but indulgently cuddled under my quilt until it got light and enjoyed listening to the birds singing and bringing forth a new day. I was quite hungry and hoped the bear had not got hold of my food bag. By 6:15 it was light enough to venture out and happily see my intact food bag hanging from its branch. Since I had covered more miles yesterday than anticipated, I took my time enjoying breakfast and coffee before packing up my gear. Despite my lollygagging, I was still hiking by 7:30 and enjoying the breathtaking morning sunlight shining through the trees.

I soon passed through some great stands of Oconee Bells, Shortia galicifolia. This beautiful evergreen wildflower is only found in this region and has a great backstory of how Bartram discovered it while botanizing in these parts and then it disappeared for many years before being rediscovered. Before reaching one of my favorite waterfalls, Virginia Hawkins Falls, there was signage pointing to a reroute because of an impassable bridge ahead. The sign indicated you could hike ahead to the falls and campsite but only venture beyond at your own risk. I wanted to see the falls and the campsite since I had worked with the FTC when they improved the campsite early in the year, so continued. There were a group of about a dozen girls camped at the campsite and I stopped to chat. They seemed amazed to see me and couldn’t believe how many miles I had hiked since yesterday. I‘m not sure if they were impressed with my mileage because of my age or it was genuine respect but either way it was nice.  I climbed up to the falls viewing area and sat on the big rock, ate a snack, and took a moment to be thankful that I was able to be out here.

I decided to carry on to the problem bridge and see if it was passable. I knew this section was so scenic and hated to miss it. My goodness, I hiked the AT in Maine and New Hampshire last year and surely it couldn’t be harder than that. I could always turn back and hike the reroute if necessary. Well, the bridge was a mess, but I had no problem rock hopping the creek and was glad I made the decision to give it a try.

Not a lot of wildflowers blooming this time around, but the Rhododendron maximum were at their peak of bloom and so beautiful.

The rest of the morning unfortunately passed far too quickly, and by 11:30 I was descending the steps to Horsepasture Road, the Laurel Valley parking lot and my waiting vehicle in view. 7.5 miles today.

Conclusion

This hike was a great test of my backpacking abilities post-accident. I had no problems carrying my pack and my legs can still carry me the distance. Sore muscles, but to be expected after many weeks of being sedentary and pretty typical anyway.  I did find it more difficult on the inclines and found myself really huffing and puffing. Hopefully that will improve with time or worst-case scenario, I’ll go slower and take more breaks on the uphill. Thank goodness my backpacking days are not over since I still have a lot of hiking trails on my bucket list! Nemophilist’s prognosis: Nature Deficit Disorder in remission!