This is a back-fill post, but I wanted to share some of the pictures and details from my first ever overnight backpacking attempt. It’s an attempt because, as the joke goes, I packed way too much and way too heavy.
Notice the MASSIVE sleeping bag that was attached to the carabiner on the pack. In the picture, you also do not see my small YETI cooler pack that I carried over my shoulder the entire day, which would become a big mistake. I still remember the constant swinging of the sleeping bag when I walked – try to get as small as you can and strap up external packs appropriately so you do not get dragged down!
But yes! I decided to try an overnight backpacking hike since I lived in Charleston WV at the time. About 1.5 hours from the city is New River Gorge park – a place I had been to many times throughout my life, and it never gets old. So, I dug around the AllTrails app and decided on the Glade Creek trail, and I am glad I did. It is a one-way 5 and some change miles, but all in all I believe I went just shy of 4 miles, which might not sound impressive but keep in mind I decided I was able to carry roughly 60 or so pounds of weight on me. Also, this shorter trail length on a relatively flat go-through would be a problem later too.
A lot of Glade Creek trail looks like this – a nice walk in the woods (just mind your footing of the roots!). This runs along, well, Glade Creek, which is honestly a must-see in my opinion. While it varies between shallows and depths fit for fish, you eventually reach the falls – a beautiful little place on Earth where you can fish, and honestly if you can trek it across the water, camp at.
If you can navigate down, there is a shallow crossing to a very obvious camp site clearing. If you ever find yourself on this trail, the early sections actually offer a couple really nice cleared out campsites – there is one on the right side of the path South-bound that is large for what looks like 10 singles tents!
I believe it was right before this point or right after where there are some steps up leading to a decent cliffside in the trail. That is where my massive sleeping bag slipped off the carabiner and rolled down. Luckily, it got lodged between two small trees so I didn’t have to go swimming in the creek to get it back.
I carried on and reached the bridge crossing:
I really just adore this trail so much for its scenic nature, it’s so photogenic! I’d like to go back someday and explore the rest of it and its connecting trails too. Anyway, I continued past the bridge for about another 30 minutes, trying to keep my eye out for a good spot to camp at. As mentioned previously, there were prepared sites early on, but too early on. However, the trail was muddy at this point and the time was reaching 5 or 6PM. I was a little nervous, hoping to find something, when I did!
Off to the right, I noticed a slope down toward a branch of the creek. What you see in the picture is a slither of land that is separated off on each side by Glade Creek itself – the furthest side the fuller one, with a healthy stream of moving water.
In retrospect, my “4-person tent” was a little big for this spot, but this was still the perfect first tent-site for my first backpacking trip. I would love to comeback to this exact spot sometime with my better gear and experience: you are literally off the trail, surrounded by a moving, calming creek, with no immediate forest or brush on you.
I don’t know why I didn’t get any good pics or videos of the other side of the water here – it was quite fast and had a decent depth. I’d say you could possibly try fly fishing at it. I walked out into it after setup and despite being April, it was freezing cold! Another cool fact of this spot is other people understood it was preem: the fire ring being there proved it!
So I set up, started a (short-lived) fire and took a breather – that heavy pack and cooler on me for a couple hours was killer.
Despite never doing it again, suffering with a small cooler on my shoulder was worth it to have a couple cold drinks at the end of the day. I had never drank a beer so fast – I was so thirsty even a Sapporo brew satisfied my thirst. I did have a LifeStraw bottle with me, but at that time I was still too scared to trust it. I gladly filter and drink out creek water nowadays.
I rehydrated some dehydrated Mountain House meals for dinner, then tried the freeze dried mint chocolate ice cream sandwich – it was of course a great treat, but these damn things are like $4 each…
Now the problem – it was only about 7:30PM. I was now alone in the woods with my phone with no signal, and the first of the Dune novels. I did read a good chapter or two, but then I was bored out of my mind. This was a great lesson for my future trips: bring downloaded media, your 3ds, something to entertain you. Hiking and camping are great, but if you are alone, once you are set up there is literally NOTHING to do, especially at night.
So, when 9PM came, I just tried to force myself to sleep. I still have a hard time falling asleep out in the woods to this day, but I learned it was a problem on my first trip too. All the little noises, likely mice or the like sniffing around the tent, they just keep my already anxiety-driven nervous system go on edge. I did eventually fall asleep thanks to the constant sound of the running creek and the occasional plane flying overhead.
I woke up around 7:30 or 8AM, with about 3 or 4 hours of sleep, and brewed some coffee (poorly) in a percolator. I remember it not really working well so I had a couple sips, gave up and decided to eat breakfast and pack up.
The morning sun breaking through the trees was a refreshing sight.
Gives me Lord of The Rings vibes.
But that was it! My first backpacking attempt. You definitely learn a lot from it. There wasn’t much going on during this trip, but the trail was beautiful and I highly recommend it – especially if you want to fish or swim or just have excellent access to water.
Official NPS page>> https://www.nps.gov/places/glade-creek-trail.htm