Four days hiking the Whites Creek Trail, Irish Wilderness. December 2024

There was a break in the weather and even some rain in the forecast. I went to Irish Wilderness and hiked the Whites Creek Trail counterclockwise, taking a leisurely four days to do so.

Food for four days. Whites Creek Trail, counterclockwise — December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Food all bagged up — and my trail snacks for Day One. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

In the picture above there are three breakfasts, four sets of trail snacks, four lunches, and three dinners. Spot the missing items …

There should have been three packs of Pop-Tarts; I rued that omission: I love my daily Pop-Tart with breakfast and at the end of the day as a dessert after dinner.

With temperatures forecast to be in the forties to fifties I took my summer quilts and tarp, backed up by winter clothing in case it got cold. That lowered the weight and pack space, leaving room for extra water to be carried on a couple of days.

The last time I hiked this trail, I had AFIB on the last day. This time, I upped my hydration program to help address that. I was also hopeful that all the time I’ve been putting in at the gym would help with those big climbs up onto the ridges that the Whites Creek Trail has.

Weather Forecast

Weather from windy.com

You can read a complete write-up of my trip on my personal blog.

Below are my GPS Tracks and daily hike stats, plus my post-trip thoughts on what worked and what I learned.

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four

Trip over, four days, three nights, 21 miles, and 1800ft. climbed.

What worked & Lessons learned

  • Taking the summer quilts and winter clothes worked well. I didn’t wear two items of clothing. My spare base layer top and spare pair of undies.
  • My summer tarp was all I needed, though had higher winds been predicted the winter tarp with doors would have been appropriate.
  • My cooking arrangements are just fine. I took, but, once again, did not use my wood burning stove. Nor did I have a campfire.
  • All my wet weather gear and plans worked out, but I did struggle to find places to keep wet items such as my rain jacket, so that the dry side remained dry and wet side didn’t get my dry gear wet. I need to think about that some more.
  • I had no plan as to how to actually use my GPS (phone) in the pouring rain. I keep it in a waterproof pocket, but that’s no help when I need to get it out to check something. I put the phone inside a spare Ziploc bag, and that seemed to work in the absence of any better ideas.
  • I’m a lot fitter than I was, and the climbs were not as challenging as they have been in the past — which is very good!
  • There are a huge number of trees down on the trail, and the trail is impossible to find/follow in places.
  • I’m getting a lot better at not bothering to hunt for the trail and using the compass to find my way from place to place.
  • I need an improved way of attaching Hunter orange to both me and my pack. I really didn’t expect to meet any hunters and was quite happy with a scrunched-up hunter orange vest tucked into the back of my pack. I soon changed my tune when I realized there were hunters in the area, and I was going off-trail.
  • I must be more careful getting into my hammock when I’m testing it out. If I’m not, one day I am not going to be so lucky, and I’m going to injure myself.
  • I need to research what might have caused me to freeze when I heard the approaching animal on the first night. I must be able to deal with wildlife if it is necessary. I’ve a flexible plan for animal (and people) encounters and it has served me well so far. However, it doesn’t work if I refuse to engage whatever is heading my way.

All in all, it was a great trip.

You can read a complete write-up of my trip on my personal blog.

What do you think?

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