It's finally time for a solo overnight gear test! I set out early on Friday morning for an overnight trip at Bluff Wilderness. If you read my first post, this trail has been a favourite of mine for a long time and a prime place to test out gear. This is usually my go to for overnights since I'm often solo as I am very familiar with the trail. It has four designated Leave No Trace campsites, knowing their size and location guarantees I'll have a place to set up.
Since it was a long weekend I decided to go Friday night instead of Saturday as it is a popular place. I think every time I have spent a night there I have encountered somebody else doing the same, even in the winter. Currently, I am not full time employed (thanks covid!) so I figured heading out early would give me first pick of a campsite.
This time was quite different from previous visits though. I arrived at the parking lot around 9 AM which is when the trail technically opens. I don't know if they actually lock the gate ever, I know I haven't seen it as such. There were two other cars already there but I had no way of knowing when they got there. If you look at the map of the trail I set off and followed the outside of the loops to the left. The campsite I like (Crow) is right on a lake near where the second and third loops meet on the right side of the trails. So I wanted to go all the way up and around the left to end up at the second loop. It's really important for me to spend a lot of time with my pack, to get used to the weight and build up endurance.
As I said in a previous post about hiking this trail, the fourth loop is very remote. It is much more overgrown and significantly less traveled. This made me a little jumpy last time I hiked it but I did encounter a lot of other people on the first loops which was reassuring. This time, however, I did not encounter a single other person until I was probably about three hours into my hike. We both really startled each other as we were on the fourth loop at this point. We had a good laugh when we realized that she had her knife out and I uncapped my bear spray...
Not seeing very many people while doing this hike left me feeling really spooked. I don’t think I’ve ever hiked there and seen so few people.
And then I came across this poop.
I told myself it was dog poop because the berries weren’t very digested but of course dad had to say it could be bear. (The really cool looking beetle mom identified as an American carrion beetle.) I know this trail has bears, and have talked to hikers who have had sightings. I did have bear spray and I'm not a quiet hiker but it's the idea of an encounter still makes me anxious. After seeing the poop, I became hyper alert and jumped at every sound. I definitely picked up my pace so I could get out of the overgrown area and onto a well maintained part of the trail with better visibility.
It wasn't long after I saw the poop that I noticed a smell. At first I thought there was a skunk or something around but it wasn't the right smell. Now, if you've been near enough to a bear before you'll notice they have an odour so it was an easy conclusion for me to jump to. And then I heard something off trail in the bush. It wasn't super close but the foliage was thick enough that I couldn't locate the source or identify it. This really made me pick up my pace even more as it sounded much larger than a squirrel.
It didn't take long for me to get to the campsite once I convinced myself there was a bear in the woods. The campsite was completely empty, which wasn't unexpected since it was still relatively early. I went for a quick dip too cool off and enjoyed the company of lots of frogs and little fish.
Then while reclining on a semi immersed rock enjoying the sun, a leech started to investigative my foot. That put a firm and fast end to my swim.
I decided I'd have dinner as hiking really can make me hungry. This was my first time actually cooking on this stove and I was quite impressed. It heats up fast and gives off a surprising amount of heat. It's so simple to use that I'm definitely putting it on the gear approved list.
By the time I had finished eating I was feeling ready for bed. It was still early and fairly light out so I didn't want to risk a nap and ruining my sleep. I was surprised no other other hikers had come by yet so I wandered up to the next campsite (Coyote) to double check if anyone was there. I've camped at this site a number of times as Crow is usually taken first. Normally you can hear the other campsite if there are people since they're so close but I thought it was worth a check. There wasn't anyone which was a little surprising but not totally unusual. They still had some daylight to set up in if they were coming, plus I'd shown up there in the dark before.
I messaged some friends, took a call from my dad, and read until it actually started to get dark. I decided to sleep without the rain fly over the hammock, it was a nice warm night with no call for rain. The perks of a hammock tent over a normal hammock is that it has a bug net built in so I didn't need to worry. I was also still feeling a little spooked from the poop, other signs (I'd convinced myself) of bears, and lack of other people. I liked that without the fly I had a lot of extra visibility.
I do think that the hammock was set up too low. However, I was trying to camp on their designated site and there were limited options for trees.
Overall, I did enjoy sleeping in the hammock. I was comfortable, cozy, and warm enough...I do recall waking up multiple times and shifting and feeling like I'd been in one position too long. I normally move around a lot in my sleep and felt like I couldn't in this. However, that could also be because it was too low. Hammock sleepers, feel free to comment what you think!
Plus the hammock has a great spot for Thor to hang out!
I did end up waking up as soon as it started to get light, probably a little before 5AM. I'm not sure if this is because I went to bed relatively early - I didn't even have a fly to block sun, or if I was still subconsciously spooked. I decided I might as well get up and get going. I had packed enough food that I could do a longer hike out if I wanted. I had considered hiking back out the same way I came in so I would have a lot more distance under my belt. However, I decided to just hike straight out as I couldn't convince myself there wasn't a bear there.
People were very surprised to see me on my way out that early in the morning. I stopped to talk to a woman on the second loop probably around 6am. She had mentioned she always wanted to camp out here but didn't know where to start. She had also always wanted to do all four loops as I had, but hadn't yet due to very similar reasons to mine. I told her how long it took me to do them and was honest about thinking there were signs of bears.
A few more pictures of what lead to me being spooked out alone!
Next weekend I will be going on some group hikes to help shake this feeling of being spooked. I don't usually mind hiking solo but I feel I need some social hikes now.
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