| Trip Report: |
This trail will always hold some sentimental value to me because it is one of the few that I actually got my husband to go out with me and my boy scout troop to do as a backpacking trip for the weekend. We started out about 2 pm in the afternoon behind the pool and it was a rather hot day. I had told each boy to carry three bottles of water because we were planning to hike the john Litton farm loop trail as well as a couple of other trail over the weekend. We started out on an old road bed then took a left hand turn on the trail just behind the campground. The first challenge we came across was a couple of ladders. We ended up taking off our backpacks and passing them down the ladder to someone waiting at the bottom so we could negotiate the ladders easier. The trail gently winds down and around the mountain as it descends to the creek. The ranger had told us about a nice camping spot approximately 2.2 miles from the start of the trail that would make a great spot to spend the first night. It took us a couple of hours since none of us had ever done any backpacking before to reach the campsite but when we did get there it was well worth it. We sat up our tarp shelters and started a fire to cook dinner. We gathered water from the river to purify which is when we ran into our first major problem. We forgot to check out the water purifier that we brought and after pumping a couple of litters of water it stopped working because the cartridge was clogged. Then one of the boys dropped our only matches into the river and got them wet so we could not start a fire in the morning. So when we woke up we had only two bottles of water and a 1/2 of a camel pack full of water for 8 people. That would not have been too bad but Ben decided to dump the camel pack out because he said the water was stale. Which is why my husband gave him the nickname of dry camel. That is when we decided we would have to hike back to the rangers station to get more water. We knew the John Litton trail was a loop so we hiked forward on the trail instead of backtracking. Approximately a 1/2 mile from the campsite the trail split to the left for the John Litton farm loop or right for the grand loop and several other trails, that we had originally expected to hike latter that day. It is at this point the trail meanders away from the river and winds through the trees to an old homestead farm where there are the remnants of an old house and a barn. This is where we took a break in the barn for lunch to get out of the sun before starting our accent back up the mountain towards the ranger station. I know it was only just a little over 3.3 miles back to the ranger station but for a bunch of inexperienced backpackers with over packed bags and the extreme heat it seemed like forever and was excruciating with no water. Finally we made it and after everyone filled their water bottles and camel packs again we decided to take a break and go for a swim in the pool to cool off for an hour before hitting the trail again. Since we left the pool at 4 pm we decided we would hike the same trail again and stay at the same campsite because we knew what to expect so we did the same trail a second time instead of going on out to the grand loop or angel falls. Overall it is a great hike and for a day hike it is easy to moderate with lots of places to get water for the first half of the hike anyways. |
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