Backcountry camping

After we has a nice break at Abrams falls we headed back to Hatcher Mountain trail from Abrams Creek Trail. 

We were only on Hatcher Mountain trail of about 0.2 miles but it was in the heat of the day and the sun was out and the trail was clear. On top of the humidity and a slight incline it was a tough 0.2 miles. It had some nice views and we could see how much we had climbing in that little bit as we could look down to the creek in certain spots. 

We knew once we hit Little Bottoms Trail we were not too far off from the campsite. All in all we were making really good time with the hike and only stopped once on Hannah Mountain when there was a shady so we could switch our empty water packs. 

Probably a little less then a mile from the trail junction we found backcountry site #17. It was a lot bigger then what we had thought and there was only one other tent that was set up in the back of the site. So we looked around for a few minutes and found a good spot for our tent. 

This tent is pretty fast and easy to set up so after that was done we went ahead and got everything set up for our campsite. Because we had just had lunch a little bit ago back at the falls we were not too hungry yet so we were able to relax a little bit and get all our gear repacked and organized. 

Because the Somkies is considered bear country they had these cable that you could put all your food and smelly things high and not having to worry about a bear coming into your tent. We had gotten a waterproof bag and was able to pack up all our things and then put it up into the trees. 

Since all the back county sites are by water we thought it would be nice just to sit and relax by the water. So after our site was all set and bear proofed we headed back to the trail where Abrams Creek was. It was nice to cool off and put our feet in the water and enjoy the scene around us. It was very peaceful and relaxing. 

After a spending a good time by the creek we headed back up the trail to our campsite, as we were both getting pretty hungry. We had picked up some dehydrated meals so all we needed to do was boil some water and pour it into the pouch, let it sit for a few minutes and we were ready to eat. We had made sure to have a ziplock bag that we could put our trash in and put it in our bear bag so we could toss it went we got back to the truck, it worked out very nicely. 

After dinner we had brought a card version of Settlers of Catan that we set up at our site. It was nice to have something for a little entertainment and this is a favorite with our family. Besides some later comers when it was getting darker that were a little odd, it was a nice peaceful night.