Karly and I have been learning a lot of hard lessons when it comes to getting started with backpacking, some of which we have already shared. This time, we have successfully (sort of) completed an actual backpacking trip, but it came with more lessons to teach us. With each lesson, however, we feel more confident in our next outing.

The idea of the trip was pretty simple. We went to Mohican State Park again, but instead of camping in the camp ground we utilized their hike in sites. This way, we could hike in a couple of miles the first night, hike across the park to the second site during the next day, then have a relatively short hike back to the car on the final day. I figured it would be fairly straight forward. Sure, the maps didn’t have a scale marker on them, but I was confident it would go well.

We left home early in the afternoon on Friday, getting to the park around 5:00 pm. We registered for the sites then went off to the designated parking spot. After some minor navigation troubles, we found the lot and hoisted the packs. We are proud to say that we have managed to shave about 15 pounds off of both the packs combined and have better distributed the weight between us. Therefore, the packs were actually fairly comfortable.

Setting off, we followed the road we drove in on for a short ways before the trail cut into the woods. The trails we were following were combination bridle and hiking trails. I love horses, but they absolutely destroy trails, which makes my life harder as someone on foot. We had a few issues with mud and some problems with stable footing, but managed to make good time. We quickly realized that the hills were a bit much for us at our current physical condition, but got through it by slowing down and taking breaks.

After about an hour of hiking we came to a river crossing. Here, we forded a river for the first time, and we didn’t even fall in. We took a quick break, filled our water bottles, then began the steep climb up to our site. Along the way we passed one of the hike in sites where someone had seemed to have set up a tent city. Ten minutes later and we were walking into our site, with someone else already set up in it. One thing I have always known is to be friendly to everyone you meet. It was rule number 1 in Wyoming when I worked out there for a summer. You never knew who was going to save your life later.

The father and son that were camped there explained that they had registered for the site we had passed earlier and were displaced into ours, hoping that it would be unoccupied for the night. So we decided to be neighbors for the evening and we set up camp. I made dinner for Karly and I, which consisted of way too much rice, and we went to bed tired but excited for the next day.

Saturday was the day of learning. It started out fine. We broke down camp, hiked down to the river we crossed the day before for water, then started back up the hill, past our site, then onward to the next one. This is where the lesson begins.

I have a GPS tracking app on my phone and since I want to see what kind of ground we can cover in a day for planning purposes, I was tracking our progress the entire time, including the day before. We had hiked 2.5 miles from the car to the camp site, which covered a good amount of the map I had. The next day we hiked 2.5 miles before reaching a trail marker. Consulting the map, the indicated distance covered was no where close to equal. The scale was horribly inaccurate, which meant I had made a lot of plans based on a map that told me nothing about how far we had to go.

So Lesson 1: have a good map! With this new information I decided on a reroute. The anticipated route could have been 20 miles for all I knew, so I went with something a bit more tangible. We were on a service road that was actually on my street navigation app, and was able to get a distance to a trailhead near our next camp site. It would be about 5 miles of road walking, but it was better than 20. We made slow but steady progress with the hills, taking breaks frequently as the humidity was giving us some issues with breathing. About 2 miles from camp we ran into another problem.

I have always tended to err on the side of caution when it comes to anything I do, but this time I was a bit too confident. Again, without a reliable map, I had made some plans and assumptions on what we would be able to do. I assumed it was Ohio and therefore there would be numerous rivers to get water from, so instead of bringing our 3L hydration bladders in addition to our 1L water bottles, we left them at home and added a 1L bottle from the gas station. This meant that between the two of us we had 3L of water. This wasn’t terrible, until we found out how dry it was in the park.

There are two main rivers that cross through Mohican State Forest and State Park: Pine Run and Clear Fork Mohican River. In the numerous times of Karly and I going there we had plenty of experience with the Mohican river. I incorrectly assumed our camp site was right next to it. Refer to Lesson 1. This left us in a bad position. At one point I managed to find a puddle to get water from. We spent a lot of money on this filter for this exact reason and it paid off big time. I got a full liter of water out of a puddle. Unfortunately, we were on the losing end of the battle. I was in bad shape, dehydrated, and to complicate things further, becoming ill. Lesson 2: bring lots of water and be prepared for the possibility of not finding any.

When we got into camp after walking 8 miles for the day, which was a lot for us getting started, we set up camp and relaxed for a bit. We started talking about making dinner, I forced myself to drink more water, and we discussed our plan for the morning. Our plan was to camp there, wake up early, then high tail it to the car before my condition got too much worse. That plan lasted 10 minutes. After some discussion, we made the begrudging, but likely smart choice to pack up and go. It was early afternoon and I was sure we could be back at the car in and hour and a half. Noticing a trend?

We hiked back the trail we had come in at then came to the section we hadn’t yet. We had 3 path options. I looked at the map and chose the most direct one. Once again, see Lesson 1. The trail was easy enough at first until we crossed the river again. Here we had a pleasant surprise. We ran into the father and son that we camped with the night before. We explained the situation and they invited us in to their site to rest and get water. By this point we’ve walked about 10 miles of constant climbing and descending that we weren’t used to, so the rest was welcome. They even kindly offered to let us stay with them, but I had to make the hard choice to push on. My concern was that with my oncoming illness I would be unable to get myself out in the morning, let alone lug a loaded pack to the car. This was the first good choice I’d made all day.

The trail I had chosen was direct for a reason, it climbed straight up the side of the hill to get to the other side. We climbed 1200 feet of elevation in a mile and a half. It was slow, agonizing work. I was feeling better with the water, but the sickness was bringing me down. It took us another hour from the river to get back to the car. I’m never going out without a really good map ever again. Once we were in the car, I found a gas station, began slowly bringing my hydration status back up, and we drove home. The next day I was sick and sore as could be. I could barely get out of bed. I was very glad I didn’t have to hike anywhere.

We have really begun to appreciate the fact that we have been taking this whole process in a slow and controlled manner. We would have been in big trouble had we tried to be more ambitious or gone somewhere we were unfamiliar with, even if everywhere we had hiked was completely new to us. I’m proud of the miles we covered and what we did accomplish. We have learned for next time and we are excited for the opportunity to put our new knowledge to use… with lots of water and a really good map in tow.

Until next time!