Submitted by Teresa Walters, KNOW Eastern Area Coordinator
On October 15, 1999 I traveled down to the Big South Fork Recreational Area in Tennessee to go on my first ever backpacking trip. I was going to meet Julie Moore, Chris Connors, and Susan Martin.
I arrived early at the campground where we
were going to stay the first night before going backpacking. The ranger at the
campground check in station directed me to the campsite saying that he had just
sent Julie there ahead of me. When I got to the campsite Julie was a little
perturbed because our original reserved sites had been given to someone else and
she wasn’t feeling well. After talking it over, we set up camp and waited for
Chris and Susan to arrive. We started a fire and I started hot water for my
meal. Julie tried to eat but after a while had to head for the bathroom. I went
to check on her and on the way back I ran into Chris and Susan coming into the
campground.
Julie said she was going to bed and hoped to feel better tomorrow. I helped Chris and Susan set up camp. There were huge acorns lying all over the place and we commented that we would probably hear them fall all night. Then we feasted on wine, cheese and crackers that Julie had brought. We sat and talked until about 11 and then went to bed. It was a beautiful night and I lay on my back in my bivy sack and watched the stars until I fell asleep. The only sound I heard was the acorns falling.
When we got up the next morning, the sun was shining and Julie was feeling much better. We were pumped up and ready to go backpacking. Our first stop was the visitor’s center. We stopped there to check in and tell the ranger what trail we were taking, where we were camping and when we would return. The ranger then proceeded to tell us that we needed to tie our garbage and food in a tree because BLACK BEARS had been released into the area and even though there had been no sightings they were asking everyone going into backcountry to tie up their food. He said we didn’t have to and if there was someone in the group we wanted to get rid of we could always hide a candy bar in their tent and hope for the best. So, guess what we began thinking about – you got it – BEARS. Chris was especially tuned in because she had gone bear hunting this summer in Canada. We just knew we were going to get mauled but Julie promised to bring us back alive.
Julie led the way as we hiked down the
trail. Being my usual clumsy self, I tripped once and fell (nothing serious)
before I got used to walking through roots and rocks with my pack on the
five-mile hike in. We dropped our packs at a campsite Julie had stayed at
previously. We were all VERY hungry so we ate lunch and then set up camp. I have
never had tuna that tasted SO good. This was an experimental type camp because
some of us had new things we wanted to try. Chris had brought Tyvek which is a
coated paper used in building houses. It is suppose to make a wonderful rain
fly. I had brought a new camp stove to try.
After setting up camp we decided to hike
in another two miles to Angel Falls overlook. On the way, Chris and Julie filled
up their water bottles with water from the creek and added iodine and hid it
behind a tree stump to be picked up on the way back. This would give the iodine
time to work so they could have water to cook dinner. We came across a
gravestone of a little boy who had died in 1932 and decided to ask a ranger
about it. It felt good to be hiking without packs. We stopped at a huge rock
overlook with a beautiful view and decided to stay a while. After a few minutes,
a ranger appeared and wanted to know if we had seen a dog running loose. It
seems it had been reported that a dog had bit someone on the trail. We ask him
about the gravesite and he said that the area had been heavily populated until
it was made a park and there were gravesites all over if you knew where to look.
We hated to leave our rock because it was so wonderful basking in the sun but we
wanted to see Angel Falls overlok. We only hiked a little way before we came
upon it. It wasn’t much more than a wide spot in the trail but the view was
out of this world. The Falls were not actually waterfalls but more like rapids.
Our ranger showed up again and told us they had tried dynamiting the falls to
make the river flow better and ended up making the falls into rapids. Chris and
Susan took pictures and we saw plenty of hikers down below and a canoeist on the
river. The color in the trees was not at peak but they 
were still beautiful. We
decided to return to our rock and I decided I was getting hungry again (I hadn’t
eaten this much since the September BOW). We sat on that wonderful rock
and enjoyed the view and the warm sun. We met all kinds of friendly folks as
they meandered by. There were small groups, lone hikers and Boy Scouts. We were
impressed with the Boy Scouts because some of those small boys had packs on as
big as they were. I’m sure Chris and Julie could have shown them how to pack
lighter. As bad as we hated to (and besides my stomach was growling) we left our
rock with the great view and returned to camp.
I tried out my stove and it worked pretty well but it was hard to keep lit (next time I’ll try fuel pellets). Chris was trying a new stove too that her Dad had made from a coffee can and sterno. She could never get it to go out when she was done with it and I thought at one point we would have to throw her and the stove in the creek to put them out. Dinner was served. I had chicken noodle soup and Caribbean crunch. Chris went all out and made chicken stir-fry (which she generously shared with us). Julie had couscous with tomatoes and mushrooms. Susan had tuna (I think we all had tuna at one time or another).
It was getting dark and we all went to our outhouses before dark and then we sat down by the fire to enjoy it. OK, THERE IS AN ANIMAL RUNNING AROUND BACK HERE. These were the words uttered by Chris that struck fear into our hearts. Then someone else said IT’S A BEAR. Chris had been cleaning up her dishes when she had heard something in the leaves. I was closest so I swung my flashlight around and pointed it to where hers was but I couldn’t see a darn thing. OVER THERE! So I pointed my light over there. I could hear the leaves rustling but couldn’t see anything. Then we saw it – a killer frog was attacking us. We left him alone and he went away.
After settling back down again, our conversation turned to different subjects but the one I remember most was about the college professor who liked his female assistant so much that after she died he stole her body and kept her together with piano wire and laid her on his bed. And there was the one about the man at Mammoth Caves who got trapped in the cave and died. His body was put on display and then stolen and thrown in the river. They found it again but it was missing a leg. It was almost like we had traveled back in time and were kids again telling scary stories around the campfire
After a night of this we reluctantly went to bed (besides we ran out of firewood and no one wanted to go out in the dark and look for more). Now maybe it was the topic of conversation around the fire or maybe I had just never noticed before but I never knew leaves made so much noise when they fell. Or that all those branches that we picked up for firewood actually fell out of a tree and made noise doing it. I realized that these are the sounds of the forest that we usually miss during the day because we are either too busy to notice or too noisy. I listened to all the night sounds and silently thanked God for making them and for giving me the privilege of being in the forest at night. I am constantly amazed at the different things that I have begun to notice since I first attended a BOW and realized what I was missing. I finally fell asleep and slept pretty good. I only woke up once or twice but I do remember dogs (or maybe coyotes) barking. I woke up about 6 a.m. and heard what I thought was rain outside When I opened my bivy sack, it was still sort of dark and kind of foggy so I dozed for a while and finally got up because of my need for the bathroom. What I thought had been rain turned out to be very heavy dew falling.
Julie, Chris and Susan slowly awoke. Chris
said she hadn’t slept very well (wonder why? bears, college professor or lost
legs) but she had heard an owl that sounded really pretty and echoed down the
valley. She described it so well that I was sorry I had missed hearing it. She
also heard branches falling and thought it was a BEAR. Chris mentioned that she
thought the Tyvek made her tent have more condensation inside but also kept it
warmer. She was going to take it home and experiment with it. We built a fire,
ate breakfast and started the hike out.
We only made it a little way up the trail when Julie’s backpack got caught on a tree limb hanging over the trail. I was right behind her and yelled WAIT so she wouldn’t do any damage but it was too late and of course Chris who couldn’t see what was happening said I THOUGHT IT WAS A BEAR. We stopped long enough for Julie to repair her pack and then started out again.
We made it back in about two and a half hours which was good because we also took a fifteen minute break half way through because we were all sort of tired and because we really didn’t want to leave. We returned to our cars, changed shoes and clothes and reported to the ranger station that we had all returned without being mauled by a bear (I think we were all a little disappointed that we hadn’t at least seen one). We had to shop in the gift shop, of course, before we started our trip home. It was a great first time experience for me. Chris, Julie, Susan and I hope that all of you will think about coming with us the next time we backpack (maybe we’ll actually see a BEAR).
