FHT Section Hike: Mile 0-31.4

Day 4: 8.93 miles

September 15, 2022

My eyes open to that soft, quiet light just before dawn. I’d set my alarm for 0830 last night, but I didn’t really need to. I’m awake a full hour earlier than that. My group planned to get an earlier start this morning, because we were going to meet my roommate and bestie Eleni at Whitewater Falls, a little over 5 miles from here, at noon. Our plan has changed, and we won’t be meeting Eleni today after all, but we decided last night to stick with our original timeline. Not meeting Eleni means we are tacking an additional 3 miles onto our day, and we would all like to finish up at a decent time.

I peek out from underneath my tarp and notice that 1800 is long gone. She mentioned last night that she’s an early riser. She is an experienced thru-hiker and knows what works for her. Early mornings allow her to put in big miles, and she’s trying to finish the trail in five days. I’m personally very thankful that we adopted a more leisurely pace; we won’t finish the Foothills Trail as a thru-hike, but she’s bypassing all of the cool side trails we are taking.

It’s a little too early to get up just yet; the forest is still dark and the birds are still quiet. I spend a few minutes journaling and then read a chapter of a book on the Kindle app on my iPhone, until my bladder insists I leave the cocoon of my hammock. I decide to go ahead and get dressed and pack up camp. There’s a picnic area a half mile further on, and a stream. I need to filter water for the day, and it will be nice to eat breakfast sitting at a table instead of on a rotting log.

I eat breakfast and filter water while I’m waiting on Bethany and Jess to meet me at the picnic area; they were still packing up camp whenever I left. We plan to hike straight through to the Whitewater Falls parking area about five miles away, and I tell them I’ll see them when they pass me and head off ahead of them. Both of them are faster hikers than I am, and I know they will catch me eventually. Immediately after leaving the picnic area I begin climbing. It’s about a three and a half mile climb from this point to the top of Round Mountain, then it’s downhill to the parking area. The long ascent is gradual, though, and I make pretty decent time.

Jess catches up to me at Round Mountain, as I’m responding to a text from FL since I finally got cell signal again. FL also hiked up Round Mountain today, from the opposite direction, and she must have just beat me to the summit. She’s just ahead of me heading back down the mountain, and I take off in hopes to catch her. I’m missing Shooter hard, and her dog Leap will be a good surrogate canine to love on. I catch up with FL after about half an hour, and we hike the rest of the way to the parking area together, where she provides Trail Magic in the form of snacks and fresh water.

We leave the parking lot with about three and a half mostly downhill miles to go to get to our shuttle vehicle at Bad Creek. Between here and there, we have a short side trail excursion climbing 143 steps to the lower observation deck at Whitewater Falls. I’ve been to this waterfall before, but it’s always absolutely stunning. I’m happy to take the side trail to see it again, even though I really hate climbing steps.

Following the side trip to see Whitewater, the trail descends steeply and unevenly to river level, passing Corbin Creek Falls along the way. The view is pretty obstructed with summer foliage, and I don’t have the energy to bushwhack up to a better vantage, so I make a note to come back here in the winter. After descending to river level, I face a tricky maneuver of getting onto a large boulder, then jumping across a huge gap in the rocks onto a bridge– one of the more unnerving experiences of the whole hike.

After crossing the river, the trail meanders up and down a bit before it levels out and continues on toward Bad Creek. There’s no camping allowed in the Whitewater River Corridor, as evidenced by large “NO CAMPING” signs strategically placed in locations of previous illegal campsites. The trail is relatively flat and gentle, but it is the end of day four and 36+ miles and my ankles are absolutely shot. I haven’t rolled an ankle the entire trip, but I roll them three different times during the last two miles of the hike. I’ve had a great time, but I’m ready to be done. After what seems like another 30 miles, but is really only about a mile and a half, I finally reach the side trail to Bad Creek Access, finishing the Foothills Trail portion of this section hike. With visions of queso and margaritas in my head, I find the energy to hoof it uphill the last 0.7 miles to our getaway car.