My Backpacking Trip - Day 2

I woke up the morning of day 2 and stayed still and listened. I wanted to make sure that I didn't hear anything outside before I moved. Satisfied, I got dressed and crawled out of my tent to inspect the damage. It was a sunny morning. I walked down the hill to the trail and found my food bag still hanging in the tree. That was a good sign. Looking back past my campsite and back down the trail that I had hiked yesterday I noticed a large dead tree. At least it used to be.


Clawed tree


This tree had been torn to Hell last night. There was a fresh pile of woodchips around the base of the tree. It was clawed by a black bear, probably to let me know that I was in his territory and he didn't like it. The sight of the tree, so close to my tent, freaked me out a little. I got down my food bag, then went back to my campsite. I broke camp and left quickly without breakfast.

Other than worrying about bears the night before I was worried that my car was going to be broken into. I couldn't get it out of my mind. I ended up hiking back to the trailhead to check out the car. It took me about 2 hours to get to the car and it was fine when I got there. I dropped off some clothing that i had that I didn't need and removed a few other items to try to lighten my load. I probably trimmed about 10 pounds from the pack and it felt a lot better. Once again I passed the sign at the Yamacraw trailhead and hit the Sheltowee Trace. The sky had turned gray, the temperature had dropped, and there were snow flurries here and there.

I passed my campsite from the night before and as I was walking I noticed all sorts of signs of bear activity. Bear footprints. Clawed trees. Clawed fallen trees. How could I have not noticed all of this yesterday? I would have to be more careful.

The trace followed the river and after going around another turn I came to a beautiful stretch of the river. The Big South Fork here was flanked on each side by massive, 30- to 50-feet-wide charcoal gray boulders. There were a lot of whitewater rapids along this stretch. I stopped and cooked a can of Hormel Chili for lunch. I actually had a cell phone signal here so I called my kids and wished them a happy Easter. My feet at this point were absolutely killing me from the boots I bought that were too big so I took off the boots and my socks and washed my feet. It was very cold but felt good. I didn't see any blisters and that was a good sign.


The Big South Fork river



After my break I continued on and about a mile further I came to a spot where a large creek named Negro Creek met the Big South Fork. The guidebook said there were good campsites to be found in this area and it was around 5pm so I decided to find a good site and stop.

Crossing Negro Creek was difficult. There was a small wooden bridge, more like a ladder, that led up to a large boulder. On the other side of the boulder was a small wooden bridge. The creel flowed on either side of the boulder, about 15 feet down. On the far side of the boulder the creek flowed into a large pool that looked to be about 6-8 feet deep, like the deep end in a swimming pool. I would have loved to be there in the summer and jump into that water, but now it was bitterly cold and there were snow flurries so I wanted no part of it.

After crossing the creek the trail went through a series of switchbacks up a steep embankment and then went around a sharp turn. I looked down before me and there was a perfect camp site. It was an area, about 40 feet wide and 120 feet long, that was the floodplane of the river. It was flat, compressed sand. There were some trees scattered about. There was a large fire pit made of stacked stones. The best part was the tarp. Someone had set up a tarp using a long branch as a center support and a combination of rope and vines from the corners of the tarp to four nearby trees. Behind the tarp was a steep drop off, about 20 feet tall. Below that was another floodplane that was still about 8-10 feet above the river. The view of the river from under the tarp was incredible. I looked around and didn't see any trees with bark missing. There were a lot of horseshoe prints around. This looked like a very popular and well-used campsite so I'm sure all the wildlife avoided this area.


This was my campsite for night 2


My campsite for night 2, with my camp fire burning.


I set up my tent under the tarp, got water from the creek, and gathered wood for a fire. The sky began to clear and the sun came out. I kicked back and ate Backpackers Pantry Freeze Dried Pad Thaifor dinner. I made some hot chocolate and enjoyed the campfire until after dark. The sky remained clear and the sky was filled with stars. I should have recognized this as a bad sign but I was too caught up in the peacefulness of this place.

The only sounds I heard in my tent were from the river flowing down below me. I fell asleep quickly. A little after 2am I woke up abruptly. I was shivering violently. I could not feel my feet or move my legs. I could barely open or close my hands. I felt drunk. I realized almost immediately this was hypothermia and I would die if I didn't act right away. However, I could not get myself to do anything. It was amusing to me, funny, that I was laying here shivering like this. I knew I had to move but I didn't want to and I wouldn't. It took what seemed like an eternity for me to try to move and when I tried I couldn't. I managed to get an arm out of the sleeping bag and it fumbled around on the floor of the tent as I tried to find some clothing to put on. I found a fleece hat and after a struggle I got it on my head. I felt instantly warmer with the hat on. The next thing I found was a bag full of Heatmax Hand Warmers that I had picked up on clearance at Wal Mart on day -1. I bit into one of the packages because my hands still weren't working good and I tore it open. I held the handwarmer in my mouth and shook it to mix the powders inside and start the chemical exothermic chemical reactions in the pouch.

I managed to get four hand warmers open and warming and I put one on my chest over my heart, one on each thigh near the femoral artery, and I slipped one under my back. The heat from the hand warmers not only warmed my body, it warmed the air inside my sleeping bag and I was becoming nice and toasty, but I was still shivering. It took what seemed like forever for me to stop shivering. Once I could feel my feet and could move my hands well enough I sat up and put on a wicking base layer shirt, a fleece shirt, thermal long underwear, and polartech socks. I noticed the condensation on the inside of the tent had frozen so the whole inside of the tent was covered in white frost like gound beef in the freezer. I kept the handwarmers held against my skin by the Under Armor shirt I slipped on and fell asleep with them there even though the directions said not to sleep with them.

I have since found out that on that night it got down to 19 degrees. The forecast I had printed two days earlier said it would be in the lower 40's that night. My sleeping bag is rated to 35 degrees. I absolutely believe that if I did not take those hand warmers out of my pack and place them near me in the tent I would have died from hypothermia that night.