One small step closer to hiking the Appalachian Trail

Me about to go over the swinging bridge at mile two.

I had hiked all the way to an established campsite and found someone was already there so I back tracked and set up camp in this little clearing well off the trail. 

Home sweet home.

This is  Mike.  Mike was camped at the established campsite about a quarter mile from me.   The next morning we crossed paths again and hiked together for a little ways.  

Biggest #@%^&%$ spider I have ever seen.  Mike spotted this tarantula and yelled back for me.  Apparently I walked right over it and never saw it.   It was so big I am surprised I didn't trip over it. 

I saw a few deer and some armadillo but this guy was the only one who would stand still long enough for me to get a picture.

A trip just isn't a trip with out a milkshake.  I also kinda wanted the fried mushrooms, but I went with the cheese burger and fries instead.

The other day the wife was looking at my work schedule and noticed that I had a few days off in row.  This is rare for me because I work in retail.  She made the suggestion that I should take that time and go on a trip.  So I did.  I went to Greenleaf State Park and backpacked into the far end of the park and spent the night alone in a tent.  For years I have talked about going backpacking and have slowly built up my supplies, but this is the first time I have gone in at least 20 years and the first time I have ever gone solo.  I have to say that this weekend was great! I met some super nice people along the trail and saw some fantastic wildlife.  My pack weight with 2 liters of water and 2 days food was right at 20 pounds. It felt great! 

Greenleaf state park is about an hour drive from Tulsa and has about a 17-mile loop trail.  I did the first 7.5 miles and camped and then came back the same route.  The route that I took follows Greenleaf Lake so water was not that big of an issue.  If I had continued with the loop I would have had to go something like 9 miles before water and I was not in the mood to carry more weight than I had to.  I had just one real goal for the trip and that was to survive.  It has been years since my last backpacking trip and I did not want to push myself too hard the first time out.  I made every effort to keep my pack weight to a minimum, and I picked a distance that I knew I could do with out getting too tired. Also, I have to say that I was pretty nervous about camping by myself and facing that fear was not a huge hurdle, but it was something that I had to face.  

The trip was so successful I can't wait to go again.  All my equipment worked great.  I was not too cold nor too hot.  I was tired but not exhausted.  I saw some interesting animals, and as always on my way home I stopped off for a milkshake.  Perfect!