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Day 1 Southern Terminus to Charit Creek Lodge-14.4 miles

 
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chester
in the stride
in the stride


Joined: 18 Jan 2012
Posts: 56
Location: Slade, Kentucky

PostPosted: Tue May 28, 2013 7:47 pm    Post subject: Day 1 Southern Terminus to Charit Creek Lodge-14.4 miles Reply with quote

Day One - Southern Terminus in Big South Fork to Charit Creek Lodge (14.4 miles hiked with two fords.)

My husband and I stayed at the Charit Lodge the night before I was to leave the new Southern Terminus in Big South Fork. We woke up to snow showers and started our mile hike out to our car. The plan was to meet my friend Michele at the Southern Terminus and hike back to the Charit Lodge to spend our first night in a dry, warm cabin. It was over the original planned 10 miles, but I thought it would be worth hiking the extra mileage for a nice meal and toasty fire.

I wasn’t entirely sure Michele was going to show up so I had planned on taking my husband’s dog Zoe just in case. I knew he would not allow me to head out on this adventure alone. Her food and other supplies added five more pounds to my pack so I was really hoping Michele would be able to find the trailhead. She was able to find it and I happily unpacked Zoe’s food and bedding.

So, on a cold and snowy morning on March 1st, 2013, two women set off into the woods with their packs and trekking poles. We were embarking on an adventure that would make us stronger and give us courage.

A few hours earlier, at the northern terminus, a man I had never met named Thomas was starting a southbound thru-hike. He has more experience and his hiking days would be longer with more miles. In recent weeks, we have chatted through Facebook messages and I asked his advice on equipment and such. When I told him about how nervous I was he simply replied, “Remember, it’s just a walk in the woods. You will be fine. You do this all the time.”

So, as I hit the trail, I reminded myself…it’s just a walk in the woods.

The early part of the day was easy hiking on nice trails with beautiful views. The trail was well blazed. Once past Bandy Campground, we forded creeks twice (I wasn’t expecting a ford on the first day) and hiked on horse trails, which are tough on the old ankles. While the blazes were marked well on the trail, the pivotal spots such as intersections were sometimes missing blazes. Since there was no guidebook for this new section, we were often left guessing which route to take. Fortunately, I was well prepared with step by step directions I found on the Big South Fork’s website. I had created a trail for my GPS and followed that in the questionable spots.

In the end, Charit Creek Lodge was about 14.4 miles from the Southern Terminus. We were greeted by Larry (the owner), a warm cabin and an awesome dinner that evening.
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Ewker
merciless pace
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Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 124
Location: Old Hickory, Tn

PostPosted: Tue May 28, 2013 8:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What a nice place to end your first day (well even though you had stayed there the night before). A good meal and a good bed to sleep in.
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KYkamper
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Joined: 21 May 2013
Posts: 11
Location: Louisville, KY

PostPosted: Sun Jul 21, 2013 3:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Chester, where did you find the step by step directions for the new southern terminus? I have been searching the BSF website and havent found any mention of the new southern terminus. I got some directions from a user on here that seem very reliable, I just want to double check them and make sure I am starting at the right spot. If you can could you send me a link to those directions?

Thanks!!

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chester
in the stride
in the stride


Joined: 18 Jan 2012
Posts: 56
Location: Slade, Kentucky

PostPosted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 6:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I actually did a little research and made my own. If you do a search, you will find a guidebook for the Big South Fork...here is a link to it: http://books.google.com/books?id=utZsyxE7L9kC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Somewhere on this forum there are vague directions for the new southern section through the Big South Fork. I started there and found the trails that the Sheltowee followed...looked up those trails in the guidebook above and incorporated the two directions into one.
I also bought the Garmen map files of Southeastern United States. They actually have many of Big South Forks trails on them. I used Garmen's "Base Camp" program to take all that information and draw the trail from the start to finish and create a file my Garmen could read. I even put big arrows where I was supposed to turn and other important notes. I have that file on my computer at home but it's really big and I cannot figure out how to divide it up. Hope this helps!
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