Owlbebak

I finally got around to making the video of my backpacking trip hiking on the Bartram Trail in Georgia. The complete story of the trip can be found at this LINK with photos. Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Initially we planned to go hiking and camp on the Panther Creek Trail in Georgia, very near to this trail. We switched to the Bartram Trail about  three weeks prior to our trip, thinking this hike would be the greater challenge and learning experience. We were proven correct. This trail tested us, our equipment, and taught us important lesson in our quest for backpacking experience and knowledge. My friend, Shawn, spearheaded the trail logistics and most of the information gathering for this trip. He acquired a detailed map created by the Georgia Bartram Trail Group , which I highly recommend purchasing. Another informative source is the  Georgia Trails . Also contacted and utilized was the drop off and pickup service of the Chattooga Whitewater Outfitters . Mike, an owner of the service, is a great guy and their restaurant makes a mean pizza. We arrived on Friday afternoon, in separate cars, driving through steady rain showers, at Tallulah Gorge Stat...

Here are a few photos of our rain soaked Bartram Trail backpacking trip. We had to cut it short after two days due to our underestimating  the trail difficulty for tough little 12 year old dude. It was a little too much for him, but he was a true trooper and didn't whimper or carry on as you might expect an overstressed  kid to do...or weak adult. P1090453 P1090456 P1090457 ...

I had a REI Roadster solo tent, which is no longer made. I used for about three times. I guess I got that very infrequent lemon of a tent since on the second usage I had one of the fly tie-downs come detached, which upon closer inspection, was never sewed on. It appeared to have been temporally glued in preparation of sewing. I didn't freak out about it since a few stitches would solve the problem. But, I also noticed that the fly coating was becoming sticky. Hmmm, now that was odd and not normal in my past experience of tents. After that camp out, I hung up the tent to insure it was dry then packed it away. Several days later I notice on the hallway floor a nice circle of thick, clear plastic, and after wondering for about 30 seconds what it was, tossed it in the trash and forgot about it. My next trip was to Providence Canyon, under cloudy sky's. Upon setting up the tent and draping the fly over it, I gasp when I saw a nice perfect 10" circular hole. The light bu...