Twig Adventures

My Adventures blog

Daily Adventures on the trail

BMT Day 3: Bear, Bigfoot, & Rain

Benton MacKaye Trail

Friday, May 3rd, 2024, 0706-1600Fall Branch Falls to Indian Rock Shelter, mm 52.412 miles, Gain: 1940′, Loss: 2360′, elevation 1770′ I knew I was in store for a period of wet days, all the way through Monday. But the rain wasn’t supposed to start until Friday afternoon. Well, those forecasters were off by 12 hours, because I woke to rain at 4 am. My tent stayed dry for one whole day, at least. I didn’t have any condensation, so only the outside was wet when I packed it. My plan was to do a short day to the one and only purpose built shelter on the BMT so that I’d have one guaranteed dry night, plus I could dry my[…]

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BMT Day 2: Ridges then Rivers

Benton MacKaye Trail

Thursday, May 2nd, 2024, 0710-1930Wallalah Mt. to Fall Branch Falls, mm 4221.5 miles, Gain: 4600′, Loss: 5500′, elevation 2190′ It was such a wonderful night on top my little mountain. There were some distant farm sounds like dogs barking, but I felt so far above everything else. In the middle of the night, I heard something crashing through the forest below, snorting as it went … probably a deer. But I felt like I was at the top of a castle and that nothing could get me. I woke to watch a beautiful sunrise while packing, then started down the trail. It followed a series of ridges to another mountaintop: Lick Log. Then more ridges which seemed to go on[…]

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BMT Day 1: Picture Perfect

Appalachian Trail, Benton MacKaye Trail

Wednesday, May 1st, 2024, 0740-1900Springer Mountain Shelter to Wallalah Mt., mm 2121 miles, Gain: 4400′, Loss: 5050′, elevation 3086′ My goodness, what a beautiful trail the BMT was at the start! Green tunnels, waterfalls, swing bridges, rivers, creeks, and mountain top sunsets and sunrises. I didn’t set an alarm and woke with the dawn. The birds were in full swing with their songs, so lovely. The sun came up over the ridge and the rays penetrated brilliantly through the trees. While having breakfast at the shelter, RocknRoll asked if I’d screamed in the middle of the night and if I was ok. It was such a peaceful night, but perhaps I had a night terror. Or maybe it was one[…]

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BMT Day 0: The Approach

Appalachian Trail, Benton MacKaye Trail

Tuesday, April 30th, 2024, 1400-1930Amicalola Falls State Park (famous Stone Arch at the beginning of the AT approach trail) to Springer Mountain Shelter, mm 010 miles, Gain: 3270′, Loss: 1300′, elevation 3780′ It was an auspicious and serendipitous Day 0 to get to the start of the BMT. In actuality, it was a several day journey to get to this point, which I’ll try to quickly sum up. Two days before, I drove from Miami to Gainesville so I could split the drive and also reconnect with my friend Eve. I met her through the Florida Trail Association and we had adventured together a lot in years past. She moved from Miami to Gainesville a few years ago, which made[…]

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Up Next: the Benton MacKaye Trail

Benton MacKaye Trail

The Benton MacKaye Trail (BMT) is named after a visionary, who, in 1921, was the first to propose the idea of a continuous footpath running from Maine to Georgia…the Appalachian Trail. Incidentally, his New England roots are the reason original AT signage says “Maine to Georgia”, rather than the other way around, which is typically the direction the trail is hiked. (I, of course, followed historical protocols and hiked the AT southbound in 2021.) The BMT was officially opened on July 16, 2005 and is maintained by the BMT Association. Description from the Benton MacKaye Trail Association website: With its glorious ridgeline views and the innumerable crossings of mountain streams, the almost 300 mile long Benton MacKaye Trail comes by its reputation[…]

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GC Day 19: A Wakeup to Diamond Creek, Summary & Post-Trip

Grand Canyon Rafting Trip

Friday, March 8th 2024 220 Mile camp to Diamond Creek mile 2266 miles, elevation 1346′ I woke to the most condensation on my tent the whole trip. But it didn’t matter, since I didn’t plan to be setting up my tent again for awhile. I was packed by 6 am and helping get breakfast done as fast as possible. So was everyone else…we were on the water by 8 am! We were supposed to meet the outfitter by 10 am, and still had 6 miles to go, so we had a fire lit under us. We actually made it to the take out by 9:30 am, thus we were really moving this morning. As soon as we landed on the[…]

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GC Day 18: Rain Day

Grand Canyon Rafting Trip

Thursday, March 7th 2024 Parashant Camp mile 199 to 220 Mile (middle) camp21 miles, elevation 1390′ I woke up to the smell of rain on the air…it’s very distinguishable in the desert. After many nights in the backcountry, it also acted as a sort of alarm bell for me. I detested packing a wet tent, after all. I sprang out of bed and quickly broke my camp. This proved to be a good call since shortly after 7 am, I felt the first drops. We needed to be quick about getting on the river this day, since we had a lot of miles to cover, so it helped that the rain spurred everyone along. So too did my screaming from[…]

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GC Days 16 & 17: Parashant

Grand Canyon Rafting Trip

Tuesday, March 5th 2024 Upper 185 Mile camp mile 186 to Parashant Camp mile 19913 miles, elevation 1533′ We set off from camp pretty lazily, anticipating a shorter day. We’d been cautious not to go too far the day before, fearful that we’d creep up on the Americans again. The campsite at Whitmore Wash sounded nice, but we suspected they might be there. We didn’t want a repeat of Day 13 and we had no need to be in a hurry, after all. Same went for this day too. We had 3.25 days to go 40 miles, so we were planning to do another layover. Just a few miles after getting on the river, we stopped just upstream of Whitmore[…]

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GC Day 15: Lava

Grand Canyon Rafting Trip

Monday, March 4th 2024Lower National (Sandblaster Camp) mile 167 to Upper 185 Mile camp mile 186 19 miles, elevation 1628′ I’d never been so happy to get back on the river as this day. The wind abated and the skies were clear, so it seemed like perfect conditions to finally break free of Sandblaster campsite. Also, my shoulder was feeling much better. I could even lift some things. Plus, this was the day we were going to run our final big rapid. There was a sense of looking forward to it and of just wanting to get it over with. We got a decent start and crushed 13 miles by lunch, just in time to pull over for the scout.[…]

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GC Days 13 & 14: Havasu and Wind Layover

Grand Canyon Rafting Trip

Saturday, March 2nd 2024 Ledges Camp mile 152 to Lower National (Sandblaster Camp) mile 167 15 miles, elevation 1768′ Not surprisingly, I didn’t sleep very well, having a hard time getting comfortable. Everything was aching from my fall, not just my shoulder. I took another Vicodin as soon as I woke, waiting for it to kick in before I started moving. A pair of pesky ravens forced me out of my tent, their cries warning that they were awake and raiding our camp again. They’d swooped in as soon as we landed the day before and had already taken off with some various loot, including a whistle. We did a good job protecting our food but they were willing to[…]

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