SouthEastern Backpackers

The Pinhoti isn't well documented like the AT. We've found maps of the Talladega National Forest and those maps have the Pinhoti marked on them. But there's no real accurate mileage, water supply or elevation. The national forest maps do have the roads marked well that run in and out of the forest. Those roads aren't necessarily properly marked here on earth though.

Finding where the trail crosses roads has been a little challenging. Figuring out what sections to tackle has also been a little challenging since we really have no idea how many miles we are attempting for the weekend. The challenge, the unknown, the mystery, the absence of information has proven to be a major part of our fun on this trail!!

The trail is sooooo close. We had a leisurely departure from Auburn about 8 a.m.; we had found the trail, shuttled the cars around, and were hiking by 11:00. If we had known where we were going, we could have easily shaved a half hour off of the travel time. We had some trouble finding the roads that led to the trail, got a little lost, and wound up in another state. It was all part of the fun! Once we got straightened out, we found where we needed to be.

We like the trail, the forest, and how close it is, so we will be hiking on the Pinhoti for the next few years. My boys will be closing in on Boy Scout age in the next several years and I'm sure I'll get involved with the troop at that time. By then I want to know enough about the Pinhoti so I can take scouts hiking there. Golden borrowed a GPS unit this time and started mapping out the trail. He made notes on distances, road crossings, water sources, landmarks and anything else he could think of. By the time we finish hiking the whole trail, we will have a very accurate guide to rely on for future hikes.

We started at the Northern most point and hiked south. The first day we were in tick country. At first I despised the little blood suckers but before long we were competing to see who could pull off the most. Between the three of us we had 20 to 25 ticks on the 7 mile day. The trail has its ups and downs but not the continuous steep climbs and descents like the AT. We spend more time in valleys and strolling along in the woods. We also hike along the banks of small lakes and rivers on the Pinhoti.

Our second day took us over several streams, a river, and an earth dam with a small lake. We had a few ticks but nothing like the day before. A storm was blowing in during the night, but it didn't rain until Sunday (it didn't rain much anyway). The cloud cover and wind kept us cool and comfortable all day. The hike was about 12 miles, and we found a campsite near the top of a mountain that hadn't been used in some time. The wind was blowing hard about 30 feet up in the trees, but we only had a small breeze where we were. The gusts in the trees all night was very soothing and must have contributed to the best nights' sleep I've had on the trail.

Sunday we hiked out to the car, around 5 or 6 miles. We got there at 10 a.m., which was much earlier than we expected. We had to drive back to the start and pick up Golden's truck; on the drive we stopped at a McDonalds for the traditional off-the-trail, non-trail food lunch. We were back home early Sunday afternoon with plenty of time to get unpacked and get ready for the week ahead.

I think I set-up this blog so everyone can use it. Keep us posted on your adventures! I'll be out of the hiking world for a little while. Karen is due with our 4th child in about 2 months so I'll stay nearby until the baby comes. After that I don't think I should go hiking and suddenly dump the whole gang on Karen. I'll need to see how we are doing later in the year, but I may be able to do something in the Fall. If not I'll be out till next year.

Golden has a bunch of great pictures, I hope he'll post some.

Rylan