Teams Virtus, Lederhosen, and BOR
I believe this was Chuck’s idea originally, but I jumped right on board. Since through-hiking was not really an option we decided to do full sections at a time. First up: Trace Creek, 26 miles, going from north to south.
We had scheduled the weekend several months ago, and as it approached watched the weather anxiously, what with the cold and rainy spring so far. As usual with Missouri it changed hourly and we never did discuss cancelling. Optimism ruled.
The plan was to meet at the Hazel Creek campground on Friday and car camp overnight, while staging a car at the Highway A trailhead for when we finished, then do the hike on Saturday and Sunday. The hikers for thisfirst section were Chuck, myself, Jessie (and her dog Ruby) and Derrick (with his dog Molly).
Chuck brought a ton of firewood for Friday night camping. But by the time we met Derrick at Hwy A and got back the thunderstorms and heavy rain nixed the campfire. I was just glad to be sleeping in my car, it made for a comfortable night, except for the worry of flash flooding.
Chuck: I was a little less than excited to head off into my tent during a ‘slight’ break in the storm. But, I ended up sleeping great and now have 100% confidence in the waterproofing on this tent.
Saturday morning we discovered that the campground roads were flooded, but not too deep for cars. Fortunately the campsite was up enough that no tents were flooded. We moved the cars over towards the trail head and got started hiking about 8:20 am.
The first creek crossing we came to was within five minutes of starting. As the water was very swift and there were large slippery rocks I opted just to cross in boots and keep camp shoes dry, especially since we would be crossing Hazel Creek very soon afterwards. I would guess we had at least twenty water crossings on Saturday, there was water in basically every reentrant. Since the water from my boots was draining I tried to do the rock/log hop over the creeks to reduce the amount of water in boots.
Chuck: I opted for the other method of using my lightweight camp shoes for the wet crossings and keep my hiking shoes dry. It worked pretty well except for all the time eaten up by shoe swapping at the many crossings that did not have a dry stepping stone or log option. Jessie opted for a much quicker change into flip-flops for the crossings.
Alane: and Jessie has now earned the trail name FLIP because of this.
When we began our hike I ended up in short sleeves for a good hour. It started raining and I took the opportunity to try out hiking with an ultralight umbrella, which actually worked great, since there was little wind in the woods.
Temps fell steadily during the day and we had very light rain for most of it. We were able to take a few minutes for a lunch break but mostly kept moving with occasional map consultation. The terrain was really hiking friendly; climbs were short and not steep and the trails mostly dirt. Lots of long stretches in valleys and on old fire and farm roads. Trail was marked really well; there was no time where we were left wondering if we were going the right direction.
Late in the afternoon the sun came out and we arrived at the connector trail for Council Bluff. We ended up going 50 yards or so up that trail to a flattish spot and made camp. Jessie and Chuck built a fire ring and despite it being so wet Chuck the Master Fire Starter got a really nice fire going. We all put our boots and socks around the campfire to dry them out some. First day mileage ended up being around 16 or so miles- longer than what the map said, due to some rerouting around creek crossings and whatnot.
We sat around the campfire til well after dark, along with some pooped pups! Jessie covered Ruby up completely with her raincoat and we didn’t see her move. Molly the GREAT DANE, crept into Derrick’s lap when he was sitting on a log, then onto the log and sprawled over Chuck’s lap as well. She was cozy even if they were not. Eventually everyone wandered to their own tent. I slept like an absolute rock, probably one of the best nights in a tent ever!
Chuck: I slept great too, and waking up to turkeys gobbling was pretty awesome!
Sunday up and puttering around and we hit the trail about 8:30 am. The temperature was not bad, I’m guessing around 40 degrees. Another grey day with the wind increasing, temps falling and we ended up having some snow spitting on us. The terrain changed this day- the climbs got longer and steeper and we had some walking along the edges of drop offs.
Jim Davis and friend Drew found us near where we were to cross Hwy 32 and we chatted for a few before getting cold and moving on. He warned us about the crossing at Ottery Creek- it had the most potential for deep and swift.
Fortunately the Friday night rains had had time to drain so although it was swift there were only a couple pockets of deeper water, nothing to get the pants wet. Jessie and Chuck spotted me at the end of the crossing just in case.
Total hiking for the day was around eleven miles for humans and a lot more for the dogs. We were happy to be done, in the cars, and headed to Mexican food in Potosi!
What I did right: tried a new way of sleeping. My normal at home is often to sleep with covers over my head, especially when it is cold. This doesn’t work in sleeping bags/quilts as then you have condensation in the bag and it gets cold and clammy. Instead I wore a balaclava and hat. Between this and 16 miles of hiking I slept like a rock! Also the umbrella was a new and welcome addition to gear. In this sort of terrain I could hike with a hiking pole in one hand and manage the umbrella (stuck in my chest strap) with the other.
Chuck: Yes. Please continue to hike with the umbrella Ms. Poppins.
To improve: I lost the end piece of the umbrella and need to fashion something to replace it. The homemade Paleo muffins for lunches did not work out- they stuck in my throat. Go back to tortillas for now.
Chuck: My pack sucked. The belt kept loosening and sliding down my hips, causing me to make hundreds of mid stride tension adjustments. I hope I can figure out some fit issue to get it to stay put before the next section.
