Every Bit The Journey

The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, and this is mine.

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Devils Fork Entrance

Hiking South Carolina – Devils Fork State Park

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On June 13, 2023

In Hiking & Camping in South Carolina, SC State Parks, Travel

I was able to make an impromptu visit to the park with Radar and stayed with some family for a night. My son and his family are traveling from another park and we are meeting at Devils Fork. The drive up is uneventful and Radar naps most of the way. I stop for gas and a quick snack from the Lakeshop at the junction of SC-11 and the turn-off to Devils Fork. Surprise! Coincidently my son and his family are stopped there as well. I follow their van the remainder of the way into the state park.

Devils Fork Campsite
Devils Fork Campsite

Our tent site is a gorgeous walk-in tent site about 20 feet from the edge of the lake. We must leave our car in the parking lot and carry everything to the campsite. Our designated camp site is a couple hundred yards in. Most of the walk-in trail is paved but there are some unpaved portions between the trail and tent sights. The pad site is near the waters edge, sheltered a little by trees, yet still with a nice breeze off the lake. Really a gorgeous pick. All of the tent camp sites here are well established pad style tent sites. You must pitch your tent on the site tent pad. Most of the camping tent pads around us are pretty spacious and include a fire ring and lantern stand. With bears are in the area, we were advised to store food overnight in our vehicles at the parking lot.

Devils Fork Lakeshore. My son and his daughter at the waters edge.
Devils Fork Lakeshore. My son and his daughter at the waters edge.

This is Radar’s second over-night camping trip (you can catch Radar’s first overnight campout here). He seems concerned and watchful. I think he is still unsure about what the heck is going on. Maybe its the newness of the area, maybe the sounds of the lake, maybe the scent of bears in the wind. This night he sleeps lightly on his bed under my tarp and hammock. It’s around 3 am when Radar alerts to an intruder near our camp. I struggle to get my light and look under the tarp from the my hammock to catch a glimpses of what set him off with some warning barks. Whatever it was has moved moved on leaving us alone the rest of the night. Radar is ever watchful. The next morning is “moist” with light rain as we make breakfast and discuss the days plans. The forecast has a small window of clear weather then rain, rain, and some more rain.

Devils Fork, Radar in camp
Devils Fork, Radar in camp

The weather ends up cutting our trip short. But before heading home I took advantage of the break in the rain. I was able to take a quick walk along the park’s nature trail with Radar. We even found some of the rare Oconee Bell plant (See our hike video here, comment below to let me know what you think). Devils Folk has a fairly short 1.5 mile nature trail in the main park. The trailhead is off the large boat ramp parking lot near the visitor center. The Oconee Bell Nature Trail winds through a mostly hard wood forest down around a creek and small pond before returning you to the start. One really nice feature of this trail is the labeling of botanical specimens all along the trail.

Devils Fork hike3
Devils Fork hike3
Devils Fork hike2
Devils Fork hike2
Devils Fork hike waterfall
Devils Fork hike waterfall

There are dozens of sign posts and story boards along the trail, identifying the various trees and plants along the way. The Friends of Jocassee have a great online trail guide which takes you trough the trail’s plants as you hike. One of the biggest points-of-interest on the trail is the Onconee Bell plant itself. An endangered rare plant, it grows in only a few spots in the state. The weekend we visited the plant happened to be in bloom. A moist area ground cover plant, it was sporting the delicate, white and pink, bell shaped flower.

Devils Fork trail hike, the Oconee Bell flower
Devils Fork trail hike, the Oconee Bell flower
Devils Fork Lakeshore
Devils Fork Lakeshore

Located in the upstate of South Carolina, on the shores of the 7,565-acre Lake Jocassee, this park offers ready access to the lake, fishing, and camping. You can get a view of Lake Jocassee from the park webcam here. This 644 acre park park is about 10 miles North of Salem, South Carolina in Oconee County or about a 4 hour drive from the Charleston Area. Located in the Northwestern part of the state, Devils Fork State Park is one of South Carolinas newer state parks having been created in 1990. Anchored on the Sothern side of Lake Jocassee, the park has Villas, traditional RV/camping sites, and walk-in tent sites. The park does have some boat-in-only camping sites located on the Northern side of the lake. All sites need to reserved ahead of time.

Favorite Time of year: I will have to go with Spring to catch the Oconee Bell flower in bloom.

Things to Know: The breeze off the lake can be refreshing in the summer. However can bring a good wind chill factor in the winter. Oh and bears.

Camping: Camping is available at Devils Folk State Park (reservations required).

Pet friendly: Must be leashed at all times, including the forest, okay everywhere outdoors except cabin and lodging areas of the park.

Getting There: Devils Fork State Park is just West of Table Rock State Park off highway 11. Check the State Park directions link. It’s about a 4 hour drive from the Charleston. area.

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Radar's not sure

Radar is Amazing on his first real camping trip

By

On October 18, 2022

In Hiking & Camping in South Carolina, Palmetto Trail, Travel

My first efforts to take Radar on a real overnight campout and then hiking went incredibly well. Radar and I have hiked together a fair amount. And we’ve glamped before. But we haven’t actually tent camped and hiked in one outing before. Hopefully this overnight adventure was a test run for more fun outings to come.

We arrive at Mill Creek county park about 5:30 pm. Mill Creek county park is a popular equine camping staging area located in Sumter County, at the southern end of the High Hills of Santee Passage of the the Palmetto Trail. There are a few horse trailers already set up for camping there. We select and set up our camp site near the trailhead leading north to the High Hills of Santee trail. Radar is nervous. He doesn’t know why we’re here this late in the day. Tent camping is all new to him and he’s not sure what’s happening. I put his vest on him to see if it will help calm him down any. I’m picking tarp camping to start out with him which is a little bit of a challenge in and of itself. I guess I figure we may as well start hard and work toward easy. Park rules say he needs to be on leash in the park, although not all dogs here are. There is at least a pug and another heeler here too. The pug runs up next to my car as I arrived, dragging it’s leash, seemingly convinced it was more important to greet us as new arrivals to camp, regardless of it’s own personal safety and the potential hazards of being crushed by a moving vehicle. Anyway we’ll see how the leash thing goes. I had picked up a 50′ roll of paracord from Lowe’s on the way with the idea I could make a long lead for Radar in camp. I also brought his bedding from home to make him feel a little more at home along with his regular food and water bowls. I have a couple collapsible bowls I usually bring when we go out for hikes but will save them for the trail tomorrow. Right now he’s sitting on my lap in the chair (his choice), watching everyone and everything else around the camp.

Radar's not sure
Radar’s not sure

There is a mule in an impromptu electric fence corral next to a couple of horse trailers on the right of us. They have the pug and heeler. Across from us is another pair of horse trailers with a shepherd and lab. Everyone seems to know everyone. They started a camp fire at the pair of trailers across from us and the people from all four trailers are sitting around the fire chatting. The sun is getting ready to set so I’m going to feed Radar and eat now myself.

Radar's first night tarp camping
Radar’s first night tarp camping

Up in the morning. I was awake early but am waiting until the sun starts coming up. It was a little bit cooler than I expected last night with this early morning temperatures at about 45 degrees. Note to future-self: Things to bring on fall campouts, gloves and a warm hat. I am glad I brought my heavier sleeping bag, a 20 degree sleeping bag, which was perfect. Radar did incredibly well for his first night of tarp camping. He only got up a few couple of times in the night, left the tarp, and walked around. I think he was check out noises from the adjacent woods. No barking, just checking. I got up a couple times myself to pee and he followed me close. Because we were under a tarp, I had to keep him on the long lead most of the night but for the last hour or so waiting for sunrise. This last hour we both just lay here waiting for sunrise. The ground is pretty hard and my Z-fold pad isn’t making much of a difference. I’m beginning to think I may need a different pad.

Radar still seems a little nervous this morning so when I got up for a quick walk to the bath house, I took him with me. I wanted to use the larger stall so Radar could come in with me, but someone was already in there so we went back to our campsite. Who get’s up at the crack of dawn to use a bathhouse anyway? When we get back to the camp site, I open up the car to start getting breakfast ready and Radar jumps right in and takes his place on the front seat. I don’t know if he thinks I might leave him or not but he isn’t taking any chances. He comes out of the car for his morning meal while I have a nice trail breakfast of hot oatmeal and a café mocha. It feels good to be in backpacker/hiker mode again. I’m dressed for the trail. It’s been a while (too long) since I’ve been able to get out and do any real hiking.

Radar is ready to hike
Radar is ready to hike

After clean up and repacking my hiking day pack, I put on Radars hiking vest. I want something with a little color on him as we are hiking in the Manchester State Forest, which is public land, during hunting season, and I don’t have any blaze orange with us. I think once Radar realizes we are going hiking he really relaxes a lot. We are on trail, north bound, at 8:50 am. Radar is off leash, much to his hiking joy, once we get out of the park but I do have a leash just incase we meet horses or other hikers. Proper trail etiquette and all. Not everyone seems to like dogs.

High Hills of Santee Passage heading out
High Hills of Santee Passage heading out

The High Hills of Santee Passage I think I’ve hiked at least a dozen times. It’s a great section to hike and I usually start out new backpackers on this trail. There are a lot of access roads and the trail is well marked most of the time. Since it’s been a while for me, I’m loosely planning to hike maybe 3, 4, or 5 miles out, depending on how I feel and the day goes. Then turning around and hiking back. The trick is leaving enough fuel in the tank for the return trek. I figure if I can start hiking by 9am, we can maybe hike like +-3 hours, we could eat lunch and then hike back. Being on trail by 8:50 is a perfect start.

High Hills of Santee Passage sandy trail
High Hills of Santee Passage sandy trail

The issue with the early section of this trail (besides the quicksand patch) is it’s sandy. Sandy like walking on dry sand at the beach sandy. It really sucks the energy out of you. Starting out in the morning fresh is okay (’cause you’re fresh) but finishing at the end of a hike is tough, it’s like hiking an extra mile or two when you’re tired.

The day goes well, the weather is cool, clear and perfect hiking weather. We hike well and make good time. We covered about five and a half miles and make Christmas Mill Road by about 11:30. As we reach the crossroads, there are a whole group of trucks with hunters coming in and starting to unload. Rather than stop there for lunch, we just start our return leg and hike about an hour more before we stop for a good lunch break.

High Hills of Santee Passage young pine forest
High Hills of Santee Passage young pine forest

Radar seems to understand when I tell him “we’re heading back to camp, back to the car.” His ears are up and he leads the whole way back to camp. He follows the trail flawlessly, even when the trail crosses a road or splits, he picks out the correct path on the other side. As we were hiking out of camp north bound, he would generally stay close to me alternating between ahead, behind, or off trail checking out smells and noises, usually not much more than about 75 feet away. Heading back south bound to camp, he occasionally is going off trail to check a noise or smell, but mostly he is leading with purpose, maintaining about a 50-75 feet lead ahead of me on the trail, stopping ever so often and looking back to make sure I am still with him, stopping in the shade, waiting for me to catch up, and then he starts trotting off down trail again.

High Hills of Santee Passage pine forest
High Hills of Santee Passage pine forest
High Hills of Santee Passage open field
High Hills of Santee Passage open field

We stop for lunch around noon. Food and water for both of us. I have a couple collapsible water bowls but it’s hard to judge when hiking and how much water he needs. I make sure he has his fill of water during our lunch stop. The final leg to camp is more sandy and the day is warming up. We’re back on trail by 12:30 heading in to the home stretch now. Nearing the last quarter mile from camp we run into a string of horses with riders, we pull off trail to let them pass, Radar sits and waits. This is a big test because he loves horses. Really, really loves horses. Nipping tails kind of love. He stays, the riders pass intact. We hike on. I’m very happy. We make it back to camp around 2:10 pm. As we enter back in to camp we make for a picnic table in the shade and break out the last of our water. The hike is a win. A great hike and overall a great little campout. Radar crushed the hiking part of the trip and I think he’ll get the hang of this tent camping thing without any issues in the future. Now to figure out the next trip.

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Mountains of Montana

Hello Montana (part. 2)

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On December 9, 2020

In Life, Montana, Travel

Southeastern Montana is a weird mix of wide open plains, constrained by fences, huge rolling hills, with sparse stands of pines. I am impressed with the scale of the wilderness here. This little corner of Montana feels like it’s a big cattle state. There are fences for cattle everywhere, there are even cattle crossing gates or guards getting on and off the interstate. Even the buffalo are fenced in. The deer and antelope may play but it’s not a free range world anymore. Welcome to Montana.

Landing in the great state of Montana was with a bit of apprehension as the temperatures had dropped and were running below zero our first couple days. Neither of us were ready or prepared for the early morning negative degree temperatures. Who in their right mind would think -7 degrees would be somewhere people would like to live?

Day 1 in Montana
Day 1 in Montana – Super Cold!

A little back story is probably due here. My brother is an avid hunter and this year was able to pull a long awaited Elk tag in Montana and had asked me along for the journey. This is actually the third (see An Elk-tastic Adventure) such adventure my brother and I have done. I drove up and met my brother in Virginia where we flew out to Montana. On our first day out in the woods was an every-layer-you-could-wear kind of day. Fortunately, for me at least, the temps over the next week rose to a way more tolerable level with lows running in the low 20’s and 30’s.

Over the course of the next 10 days, our daily routine typical consisted of awake at 5 am, packing gear, making lunches, and get ready for the day, on the road by 6 am. With a quick breakfast sandwich and coffee, we would travel to an area to explore. In the morning, we would hike in (and often up too), hike out, return to vehicle, find an area to explore for the evening, return to home base and repeat.

Mountains of Montana
Mountains of Montana

After several days of coming up empty handed, we picked up a “hot tip” from another hunter so we thought we would give it a go. This particular day started as most, with an early morning wake-up, pack up, on the road, and into the woods all in the dark. We’re about halfway through our trip at this point and the hot-tip indicated elk may be hiding in the basin on the other side a tough hike up and over more tough terrain. The route in was described as just over a mile and a half in, but it came with 1500 feet of evaluation gain. Logic indicating if it’s hard to get to, that’s where they elk will be. So off we headed.

The weather was still cold as we hiked partly up an old logging road in to the pine woods. As we slowly made our way up the snow covered trail of the old road, we were even successful in jumping a few deer. This told me we were stealthy enough to get close, we weren’t making too much noise, and if there were deer, maybe there would be elk. We saw lots of track crossing our path, but not much more after the deer. The old logging road passed through the forest to open hillside, the snow and road faded on the high side of the forest, giving way to a game trail at a fence line. We followed the well traveled game trail, continuing up and over another hill as the day warmed. The game trail eventually lead to a rock peak.

We ate a lunch here under the large tree near the ridge.
We ate a lunch here under the large tree near the ridge.

We had started hiking from around 7100 feet and went up to about 8600 feet. As a short hike goes this sounds easy but it took us a few hours to reach our peak. The peak looked over a basin as promised, with more and more peaks continuing after it. The view in to and across the basin from the peak was awesome, there was just one thing missing. Elk. This particular basin, like the vast majority of the areas we explored in Montana, while promising, was void of game. We sat on the ground under the large pine near the ridge, ate our lunch, and contemplated the ways of nature before we headed back out and down the way we had come.

A hiking path up a Montana Mountain
Frosty Mountains Montana
Halfway to "up there"
A view from the hiking trail

On one of our treks out to the wilds, we were able to do one of the neatest things, at least from my perspective. We were working an area west of Lima and we were able to hike out far enough to set foot on some hiking trails leading to the Continental Divide Trail (CDT). The CDT is one of Americas long trails running 3100 miles from Mexico to Canada along the Rocky mountains. While I’m still section hiking the Appalachian Trail, being able to step out on to part of the CDT was huge motivation to keep on hiking. It’s one thing to be tromping around in the Montana wilderness, it’s another to walk along a trail you know runs across the country from bottom to top. It’s a little hard to explain the difference here, but just walking along the hiking trail for even a few hundred yards, made the trip worthwhile for me.

For almost two weeks, we hiked up and down seemingly countless trails, bushwhacking across hill and mountain sides, stalking, standing, siting, waiting, up early, home late, looking very hard for the elusive elk we had traveled so far to tag, all to no avail. For the last hunt day of our trip, we had followed another “hot tip,” (law enforcement had to close one of the interstate roads to allow a heard of elk cross) wo we had been working this valley area. We had selected a promising river basin area we suspected the elk were traveling to and from. Up and in the field early again, we crept our way in, hunkered down and waited. After the sun was up, we stalked around a bit, but to no avail. By lunch we were back at the car and ready to head back to the hotel and pack up for our flight home the next morning.

As fortune would have it, we had just pulled on to the interstate, traveling east, when we spotted the elk. not just one or two elk. not a dozen elk. But a whole herd of elk, maybe herds of elk. Possibly all the elk in Montana (probably not but it looked like it). There were between 200 to 300 elk, sitting safe in the middle of a private field, eating clover, sunning themselves, watching the world go by, not a half mile from the interstate.

All the Elk in one place, in the open
All the Elk in one place, in the open.

We pulled off the road and were both laughing. The elk knew what was going on, they knew where it was safe to hangout and enjoy the day, waiting for dark. We watched the hundreds of elk lounging safely in the field for while, then we headed back to the motel to pack for our flight the next day back to Norfolk. With no elk.

Landing in Norfolk
Landing in Norfolk

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Over Montana

Hello Montana!

By

On October 28, 2020

In Life, Travel

Traveling again and off on an adventure.

After working though the shutdowns in the year of the China flu, I’m way ready for a break from the norm.

My brother and I are going to be spending some time exploring the mountains of southwestern Montana. For him it’s elk, for me it’s the opportunity for some exploration, getting out and getting some back country time With the whole lockdown thing it’s time to get out and stretch my legs a little.

Flying today is a little bit of a new experience with all the precautions, not undoable but not overly pleasant either. I thought the blue paper mask might be a little more comfortable, but halfway through the trip I switched back to my normal buff type face covering. I think our total flight time was around 5+ hours. Best part of the trip? Airport pizza for breakfast.

Updates to come.

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Random thought of the day

By

On May 26, 2018

In Life

I’m sitting here waiting for the barbershop to open (it’s that time of the month again) and reading news feeds. Lots of crazy stupid stuff.

A stag with a headdress full of fishing gear, ww2 Nazi fog are just a couple. There is so much news and information available to us now a person could easily be overwhelmed by the magnitude of things wrong in the world. But every day, we each have the opportunity, to make our world, where we live, where our loved ones live, just a little bit better. Don’t waste your opportunity.

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Skills – Rain Gear

By

On May 18, 2018

In Hiking & Camping in South Carolina, Outdoor Tips, Skills

I once hiked three days in the rain. Actually, as much as I hate to admit it, I’ve hiked a lot in the rain. It’s not something I strive to do, but if you hike long enough and far enough, you will get rained on.

My brother recently asked me “Ok, so what light weight rain gear do you use/recommend?” I thought this was an interesting question worth exploring because I think most people consider rain gear kind of like a first-aid kit. You really need to carry one, but hope never to need to use it. Unfortunately, I’ve used my rain gear way more than my first-aid kit (or is that fortunately?). Everyone has different way of hiking and reasons for picking the gear they do, here is my current rain-gear plan.

My basic inclement weather protective clothing philosophy says; if it rains, I’m gonna get wet.  Now, that’s not to say I don’t carry precipitation protection, because I do. I just acknowledges the fact when it rains, things (including me) get wet. The real trick is not to stay wet or get cold and wet. No matter the season or the weather, I feel it’s very important to have a good wicking layering system. Then you can add an appropriate rain shell for those moist days. This will help keep you both warm and dry(-ish).

I do have a heavier rain suit set (jacket and pants), but it weighs a pound or two so I reserve it for the colder weather now. If I know the rain will be light, I’ve hiked with an umbrella which was pretty nice but can be awkward to manage if you are using trekking poles. There are a lot of options to play with. If I’m of the trail for several days with rain, I always try to keep something dry to change into in the evening for sleeping. In the morning I’ll change back into my wet  hiking clothes and try my best to protect my dry night clothes. As long as I’m hiking and moving, I can generate enough body heat to keep warm. As with most things, rain gear is a compromise. You want to stay dry but the rain jacket needs to vent sweat and heat when hiking. Otherwise you end up dry from the rain but soaked in sweat.

I’ve settled on a light rain jacket for my outer layer and a good pack cover for my pack. Some people will advise you don’t need a pack cover if you put all your gear in a plastic bag in your pack. While true, however now your pack is getting soaked and the added water weight will very likely exceed the few ounces of weight of the pack cover. The more my gear stays dry the happier I am later.

My current go-to rain jacket for the trail is a lightweight polyester Eddie Bauer rain shell I picked up a few years ago. It comes in at about 5 ounces and packs down to under a baseball size so it really doesn’t take up a lot of room. For 3 season hiking, it fits as the final shell layer. It’s versatile enough to work well to cut the wind on dry days and keep most of the water off my upper body on wet days. In the summer I lean towards hiking shorts, so I just let the rain go and don’t worry about wet legs. I mostly use wool socks  and they help with managing the wet feet.

I guess I worry less about the rain and getting wet now than I did when I first started hiking. You need to play with different options and figure out what works for you hiking style, and enjoy the journey the best you can. Rain or shine.

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Radar

By

On April 15, 2018

In Life

So, this is Radar. He’s a Blue Heeler and is just over a year old now. We came across each other a couple months ago. Sometimes in the course of normal events, your life changes. For both Radar and I, this is one of those times.

I had been considering a dog for a while now for a number of reasons. Maybe part trail buddy, part body guard, part wing-man, who knows. A few years ago, I had once hiked a 20 mile piece of mountain trail with a group. One of the hikers had a great trail dog with him. This trail buddy would constantly run up and down the group starting in the front and working toward the back, checking on every hiker in the group. For twenty miles. He was never more than 20 feet off trail and never more than a few hundred yards from his master. Quite honestly, I felt like I needed that kind of a buddy  now from somewhere deep down inside me. But I didn’t really have any particular breed or clear concept in mind. It’s funny how these things work out sometimes.

I had shared some of my idea for a four legged companion with a friend of mine, Brenda, and the hunt began. She had done some checking and offered to go with me to go to a friend of hers “just to look” at one. Her friend boards dogs in the area and happened to have a young heeler someone had dropped off. Radar had been with her for a month or so while she was trying to find him a home. For Radar, he seemed to have had a rocky start. He had been given up or returned several times in his just short first year of life. I think he would fall pretty cleanly in to the “rescue dog” category. Rejected, abandoned, and unwanted, he waited.  Even in a pack of dogs he stood out to me. I really couldn’t tell you why, maybe it was his story, maybe it was mine. But that day, I left with him on a borrowed lead and a commitment in my heart to try my best to be a good companion for him.

It’s been about four months now since our paths crossed. We’re still working out a couple small differences (he likes to get up early, I like to sleep in a bit), and learning about each other (he loves to chase a ball or toy, but really doesn’t float well). I work with him and he teaches me what he knows.  My life has changed again, and so has his. Both for the better.

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It’s Saturday Eve!

By

On March 16, 2018

In Hiking & Camping in South Carolina, Life

The week is about over and I’m heading camping this weekend with a bunch of new campers. This weekend should be fun as I really enjoy introducing new campers to the outdoors. With spring just around the corner, I am looking forward to the weather starting to break and the green to start popping. I so wanting to get out on a trail soon. So much of “normal” life gets in the way of that however (heavy sigh). I really need fix that, but for now, it’s the new campers campout which will help take the edge off “civilized” life.

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Outdoor Tips – Sleeping Warm

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On February 12, 2018

In Hiking & Camping in South Carolina, Outdoor Tips, Skills, Uncategorized

Avoid hypothermia – Never sleep in wet clothes, I tried this once, horrible idea. You should change out of your day activity clothes and into night or sleep clothes. You perspire during the day, and even with layers of clothes it will be likely the inner layers are damp although you may not realize it at the time until it’s too late. The dampness will cause you to chill at night. Leave your day clothes out to dry or air out overnight. Absolutely change your socks to a dry pair for sleeping.

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Outdoor Tips – Mittens

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On December 11, 2017

In Hiking & Camping in South Carolina, Outdoor Tips, Skills

In frigid temperatures, mittens are warmer than gloves. But also bring a pair of lightweight gloves or glove liners for ease in handling camp chores like tent-pitching and cooking.

Forgot the mittens? Hands still cold? Try using a pair of wool socks either as a mitten substitute or as a mitten liner to add layers under a mitten. Another reason to carry an extra pair of clean wool socks.

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