OHT Days 12-14: The Long Awaited Bushwhack; No Blazes, Only Glory

Day 12: Monday April 22, 2024: Slow Miles to an Epic Camp Site

6:00

The alarm goes off and no one stirs. I eventually find my phone inside my sleeping bag and turn it off. No snooze will save us now. This is the coldest morning we’ve had yet. A puffy would have been lovely but alas.. I’d left mine behind so many days ago. I’d survive one or two cold nights, I had told myself, “I’ll be fine”. Bah.

It is so cold we have breakfast in bed again, after sleeping in for another hour. The rest is nice and anything outside the sleeping bag is uncomfortable to touch. I do not mind the cold when I have proper gear, so snuggling up inside my sleeping bag is an excellent choice at the moment. Outside though, feels a bit to cold, even for me.

We have a long day ahead of us. A planned 17ish miles with steep elevation gain. We finally get up and moving around 8:00 and are out of camp by 9:07.

13:38

We stop for lunch on the side of trail. Usually we find a more memorable place but the ephemeral streams nearby were so small and cramped- there was no place to sit for lunch.

The terrain has been wearing down my brain recently. The amount of sharp rocks under piles of leaves, makes it difficult to find a spot to safely put my foot. Due to my TBI my brain cannot keep up with the amount of information going in. I end up in a dizzy haze of brain fog and overstimulation.

I call this state my “low power mode”. There is only so much I can do when I am in this state. Though frustrating, I have learned to cope by moving slowly. The flip side, moving slowly means longer days and fewer miles. Alas. The only thing to do about it.. is hike about it.

We still have close to 10 miles to go for the day. It’s been a slow day but we keep trucking along. The campsite we’re going to has epic views and that sounds like a long day worth fighting for.

19:55

We finally arrive at the top of the mountain just after sunset to a sky that is an ocean of pinks. We stop in awe for long enough we almost forget that we need to set up our tent. The spot is sloped but who cares, this view is worth it! A whippoorwill sings to us as we get ready for bed.

20:56- Reflections

My feet hurt today. My whole body is more reluctant to keep going with each passing day. There is a toll to push miles like this day in and day out, with no planned breaks. This is one of the most taxing things I have ever endured. A test of both physical and mental fortitude.

At lunch today Washerrr and I separately expressed how this was getting harder with each day especially with no breaks.

We talked about what kept us going and what we were trying to accomplish. A heavy topic for a day where we had 10 miles to go at 14:38 in the afternoon.

It felt strange to talk of needing a break while we pushed big miles to get to campsite we wanted to stay at. It was worth the trek today. But is this sustainable? How much more can my body endure? My hiker hunger kicked in with my trail legs a few days ago… I am constantly hungry no matter the amount of food I eat, even with the extra snacks. It’s a relief to know we have another food drop coming up so soon.

After we get to Dillard’s ferry tomorrow (and our fifth food cache) we head into the bushwhack. I am excited and a bit nervous but.. mostly just ready to be done with the dang thing. Mental games are not my friend out here.

We hear owls serenading us to sleep tonight as we all bask under the light of the full moon.

Stats

Started: 186.1

Ended: 203.2

Miles Hiked: 17.1

Water Crossings: 15 dry, 1 wet

Day 13: Tuesday April 23, 2024: The Bushwhack Pt. 1

*warning! Please do not attempt to bushwhack without proper equipment or training.*

6:30

My alarm goes off. Another slow morning… alas. As Washerrr sleeps in, I look at our paper map again. We start the bushwhack today and I do not feel entirely prepared to use a map and compass. I have several AllTrails maps downloaded to use as navigation if the paper map and compass do not work out. The FarOut guide maps the OHT through the bushwhack section as well. It is good to have back up plans.

8:30

We finally start hiking.

9:30

We arrive at Dillard’s Ferry, find our food cache, and stock up on as much water as possible. We use the impeccably clean and luxurious bathrooms one last time. 

10:45

I immediately do away with the map and compass as we start the bushwhack. My ego got in my way when we were planning. I thought it would be easier to figure out using a map and a compass than it is… so I stick to using AllTrails. With my phone in my hand the game is to keep our location arrow as close to the green line as possible on the map. There are no blazes to follow, there is no established trail to follow. Our only way to know where we are is on my phone. What a surreal experience it is to be purposely lost in the woods.

12:40

We wind our way through the forests and happen upon a waterfall tucked away amongst the thickets. I can only describe this place as a large magical singing bowl of rock with a waterfall in the middle. Time for a snack! This s**t is hard. Using AllTrails to follow a path that doesn’t exist through the woods is hard.

We eat our snacks and wash away our despair in the ice cold waterfall. We realize that our AllTrails map and FarOut map coincide at this juncture so we decide to use FarOut for the rest of the bushwhack. At least this way we can keep a more accurate count of our milage. Reinvigorated with fresh energy at this wild experience we trek onward-the little red line on my phone will lead us to a new salvation.

19:45

Just wow. We hear the roar of thunder in the distance, we feel the drop in temperature as the wind picks up. 

We quickly find a spot to pitch our tent…on a really slanty mountain side. It’s the best we could do with the impeding storm.

All night I’m rolling into Washerrr as he’s rolling into the other side of the tent. We are doing the best we can.

20:35- Reflections

It was really slow going today. I thought I’d know how to bushwhack but this is a whole other game. Our pace is about a mile an hour if we are lucky. There are bits of worn path that we can follow along but then they’ll come abruptly to an end and we will be left trying to follow the red line on our phones.

Some places the under growth is very thick, in other places it feels like we can fly through the trees unhindered by a lack of official path. Sometimes we would get caught in a thicket of brambles and decide whether to go through or risk going around. Going through is rough because they cut my skin easily or my clothes and backpack would get caught. Going around was risky because we could get severely off course if we did not pay close attention. It is a game of the lesser of two evils.

There were some difficulties today that I’d never experienced, there was so much pollen and dust that my nose and eyes watered incessantly. I could see the pollen waft up from the leaves below as we trudged through. Without official trail there are a lot of parts that are difficult to walk on- like scree covered in leaves. 

We came across 3 water sources already, less than we’re used too and more than we thought there would be.

We did 8.5 miles from our last camp spot. We did roughly 6.6 miles of bushwhack today. With a late start to this section, I feel like we did well. We have enough food for this pace. 

Stats

Ended: 211.7

Miles Hiked: 8.5

Water Crossings: 3 dry, 0 wet

 

Day 14: Wednesday April 24, 2024: The Bushwhack Pt. 2

5:30

I wake up to the tent caved in on my side, my pack is wet from the rain. I have to pee so badly I get up and fix everything as best I can. The stake keeps coming out of the ground so I pile rocks around it. That only helps so much but I am tired and try to rest more.

6:00

My alarm goes off and neither of us budge. There was no real rest last night. Some sleep maybe but nothing peaceful. It rained on and off all night, our poorly set up tent on the most slanted and rocky hillside. It worked because it got us out of the rain but every time the water poured from the sky our tents stability was questioned.

7:45

We finally start our morning routine.

9:04

We start hiking for the day. We are 10.1 miles away from the next blaze and I couldn’t be more excited by the prospect of finding an actual trail to follow again. This s**t is brutal.

11:26

We stumble upon a “point of geological interest” called Eroded Rock. It is…. incredible! I love stumbling upon these fascinating features. With no path cut out to follow they are hidden from view until we are right next to them. This dynamic adds some extra magic to the experience.

12:01

We happen upon a small stream, a perfect place for a snack break. We were able to hike 2.5 miles in 50 minutes this morning on trail like path but then spent 2 more hours to go another 2 miles. Alas. That’s just how this goes.

15:45

We arrive at a creek for lunch. It took a decent while to get here but we made it! So many brambles, so many converging, diverging, disappearing, and emerging paths through these woods. Beautiful and scary, we crawled along in the day light, making our way to something more familiar. 

18:46

We find ourselves at Big Creek and have to ford across. For the first time I used my camp shoes. I never want to get them wet but the sensory overload of wet Altras and socks is too much right now.

We land at our camp spot by 19:30. A little clearing on a rock ledge, behind some trees, overlooking the river we just crossed. Picturesque. Especially after last night.

20:37-Reflections

Today was rough and tough, but so are we. There was more bushwhacking than real trail but our pace wasn’t that slow. We each got better at navigating the little arrow on our phones. Finding our own version of the red line on the terrain in front of us. A mixture of reading the map and applying it to our reality. This overlay a useful tool when maneuvering through forest.

It was fairly open terrain today. We would wind our way through groves of baby trees tucked safely under the canopy of mature ones up above us. Every so often we’d run into an area over run with brambles. The thorny vines that over grow on trees and create this canopy of tangly unpleasantness. We avoid those patches when we can but sometimes the only way was through.

I discovered a new type of sensory hell as I like to call it. I hate over heating, so I wear what I can to retain as little heat as possible. My legs were cut up something fierce after the first day soo.. I had to wear the only pants I brought with me.. my rain pants. A hot sweaty mess it was. A new sensory hell experienced and survived. 

Our pace was about 1-1.25 mile an hour when there wasn’t an established trail near by. Up the sides of mountains and then back down the other side. Often we’d make steep climbs to these large rocks sticking out of the ground. Amazing rocks featured right there in the earth. We’d weave our way up through their crevices, taking huge steps towards a higher level and more trees. Pseudo rock staircases were a theme in these parts.

We did 9.9 miles today and landed .2 away from the wilderness boundary. Tomorrow morning, we find our first blazes in 20 miles. It has been a long but rewarding journey thus far. I’m glad it was a short section, as I was only as prepared as someone who’s never experienced bushwhacking. Sure I’ve tromped around in the woods before but this… this was just a bit different. I am quite ready to be back to trail as I know it, for now. Though we did not make it to either of the places Tim recommended, I am grateful we still attempted this section. Too many people get scared off, but to me.. this was a big reason I wanted to hike the OHT.

32.4 miles away is our car at Matney Knob. Waiting for us to get our final cache and to push those last 30 miles in the Norfork Dam and David’s Trail sections. Trail is almost at an end.

Stats

Ended: 221.6

Hiked: 9.9 miles

Water Crossings: 8 dry, 1 wet

Bonus Photos