Morning Run

Day 1 (7/27):  Started at Ole Bull monument in the state park (around mile marker 26 on the loop. Yes the loop has actual mile markers (0-83)!) at 8:41 AM.  Started out climbing with a nice view back through the trees.  Lots of up and down.  One descent was steep with loose rocks.  Didn't have my shoes laced tight enough so my big toes took a beating on the way down.  Bye bye toe nails :(  I think this southern end of the loop is not that well traveled and at times the trail kind of disappeared.  Overall though, the STS is  well marked and I only got off track a few times. One of the trails is called Rattlesnake trail.  A few miles before I got there I heard the unmistakable sound.  Stretched across the trail in front of me was a big rattler.  I waited for a minute but he wasn’t going to move for me so I took a long swing around him. The map showed 3 camping spots around mile markers 44-45.  I only saw the first and it looked too swampy so I pushed on.  Around marker 46 I came to an educational sign about forest fires (seems a strange location for it so deep in the forest).  Anyway, too tired to push on and no other campsites on the map, I just set up my tent on the trail.  Settled in and found that I had brought the wrong cable for my cell phone.  Doh!  But I still had my Garmin inReach to text home, tracking and SOS.  
20 miles hiked.

Day 2 (7/28): Woke up to rain at 5 AM.  Checked weather on the Garmin which showed clearing by 8 AM.  Clear enough by 7:30 to get packed up and started by 8:00.  The ferns and Mountain Laurel along the trail were all wet so it wasn't long before I was soaked from the waist down.  I was running low on drinking water so I stopped at the creek at Cross Fork Village to filter water.  After a 2 mile climb and 2 mile descent from the village, I stopped to filter more water and to tend to my feet which were wet and being rubbed raw.  Leukotape and vaseline got me back on the trail.  Trying to save what was left of my phone battery, I only snapped a few more photos.  Tired but aside from my sore feet I felt strong hiking.  Stopped to eat lunch around 1:30 and met a couple out for a day hike.  The 30 second conversation I had with them was my only human interaction for 3 ½ days.  I'm not the most social person in the world but that is by far my longest period of solitude in 54 years.  My plan was to do 20 miles the first day and then closer to 30 the next two days and then finish up with a short hike on the last day.  That plan went out the window when at mile 20 (around mile marker 66)  I was feeling done for the day.  I started looking at the guide book and map for camping possibilities and read 'good camping and good spring' at mile marker 68.4.  I started counting down the 1/10ths of a mile until I found the campsite.  It looked ok with a fire ring and a place to pitch a tent. I was just about to unclip my pack when I spotted an opening in the trees to my left.  A shelter!  A brand new shelter (Wild Boy) complete with a fire ring, dry kindling, a clothesline and a rocking chair.  I cooked dinner, dried my wet clothes, made a fire and waited for the star show (no light pollution, except for my campfire).  But the moon came out, the coyotes started howling and I got tired... so no stars for me :(  But what a nice shelter and how lucky was I to stumble on it :) 
22 miles (42 for the trip).   

Day 3 (7/29):  Was up around 6:30 and wanted to get an early start.  Finished drying my shoes over the coals from the night's fire, restocked the kindling I used, washed and soaked my tired feet in the creek, packed my stuff, dumped water on the coals and ate some breakfast.  Didn't get going until 8:00.  Having to modify my plans, I reasoned that I had to do at least 25 miles so that I wouldn't have to kill myself on the last day.  Didn't want to get back to the car late and have to drive 4 hours home in the dark.  So, from mile marker 68 it was about 16 miles to get up to the Northern Gateway of the loop (mile 0).  After that I wanted to do another 6 - 10 miles.  The map showed a few camping possibilities over that stretch.  I felt strong, my feet stayed dry and I made good time.  Like most of the loop, the trails varied quite a bit from mile to mile with a lot of terrain and elevation change, but overall the trails on this third day were in good shape and made for a faster pace.  The mile markers made it easy to gauge my pace and reminded me to swallow a handful of trail mix and gulp some water every odd mile.  I got to mile marker 84/0 around 2:15 PM and was planning to stop for lunch but decided to keep pushing and only stop to filter water which I did a couple hours later.  While filling up my second bottle, I noticed that it very suddenly got much darker.  The next minute the skies opened up.  I scrambled to get the rain cover on my pack and pushed on in the downpour.  Wet feet again.  The rain stopped and the next section (Ridge Trail) was very hikeable and I kept a fast pace.  The map showed campsites around mile markers 6, 7 and 9.  If I could make it to 9 then I'd only have to do 17 miles the next day.  I was still strong at 6 and 7 and pushed on to 9.  Again, the campsite looked ok, but nothing special.  It was around 6:15 PM and I still felt like I could keep going.  I looked at the map and (mistakenly) saw a symbol for a campsite at mile marker 11.  Decided to press on.  At mile 10 ½ I was in a valley and losing light but up on my right I saw a roofline.  Could I have stumbled on another shelter?  As I got closer I could see that it was one of the little hunting lodges that dot the trail.  Not a shelter option for me.  But then to my left, another roofline.  I had seen this building in my pre-hike research.  An old brick dynamite shack that was built back in the 1930’s when they had to use explosives to clear rocks and trees for the logging roads.  Yes it was a shelter option for me and yes I was that lucky a second night in a row!  I knew of the dynamite shelter but had no idea where it was on the trail.  A brick shack (8x10 maybe) with a solid hardwood floor, metal roof and a small wooden deck on the front.  One door and no windows.  A little creepy but I propped the door open and set up my tent inside, found enough dryish kindling to get a fire started and ate my dinner.  An hour later it was raining again and my fire was extinguished so I went to sleep.  The next morning, still raining…  
11 ½ hours of hiking.  26 miles (68 for the trip).   

Day 4 (7/30): Yup, still raining at 4:30 AM.  I had hoped to get on the trail at first light.  Luckily it let up around 5:00.  I was in a valley so I didn’t feel comfortable until 6:15 when enough light filtered in to see the orange blazes that marked the STS loop.  The day started out well.  I was wearing my last pair of clean dry socks and they were staying dry despite the wet surroundings.  After about 2 miles I came to Cardiac Climb, a one mile ascent straight up about 1000 ft. Eh, the name was worse than the actual climb.  The Cherry Springs fire tower is at the top.  It looks like a park but you can’t go up the tower and you can’t camp around it, so what’s the point?  From there a long downhill into some wetlands.  Wet shoes again.  Worse than that it started to get muddy and mucky.  The kind of stuff that could suck the shoe off your foot if you didn’t watch where you stepped.  That passed into somewhat drier ground that was crossed by many little streams.  There were a couple of impressive suspension bridges built by the local hiking clubs but the preferred method of bridge building was to drop a large log across the stream, notch the top with a chainsaw for level and traction and to bolt on 2x4 posts with a thin cable strung between them.  I must have crossed half a dozen of these.  On one I was almost across and I slipped.  As I went down I managed to hook my right arm over the cable and my butt landed hard on the log with my feet dangling inches over the creek.  I was so lucky not to end up in the drink.  I did get a massive bruise on my right bicep from the cable.  Also, it’s not that easy to stand up on a wet log from a sitting position with a 30 lb pack on.  Anyway another long climb, counting down the miles and descent back into Ole Bull State Park.  Back to the monument at 12:31 PM.  Just over 6 hours of hiking (no breaks).  My car started (thank God!) and I headed home.
16 miles (84 for the hike).





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Tom Beerbower

STS Loop - 3 Night Solo Backpacking 84 Miles

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