Tenoroc Labor Day Hike
Preparation
I woke up with the thought to push myself and prepare for my upcoming
thru-hike. As I live in a very flat area, I can't properly train for the
mountains that I will experience along the Appalachian Trail, so I had to
opt for more mileage instead.
To this goal, I decided to hit up one of my favorite local trails, the
Tenoroc Public Use Area trails. The area use to be a phosphorus mine, so
it actually has a decent elevation gain for this very flat state. The trails
are also only a short drive away and cost $3 for entry, although it does have
an annoying setup for the check-in/check-out.
As I only planned for a day hike, I went light with just my Osprey Daylite
pack. Stuffed inside were a few Clif bars, some LMNT packets, my water bottle,
and my rain jacket.
On the Trail
I got to the Pinic Lake parking lot and had to dodge a fishing pole that
someone left in the middle of the road as I was trying to park. From the
parking lot, I headed to the trail head, and set out on my hike.
Once I was on the trail, all was quiet. I decided to push myself and hike all
the way down to the Lost Lake Loop trail. The provided map was terrible and did
not give the correct mileage for parts of the trail, so I was guessing as
to the distance I would be hiking.
As I was hiking the Lost Lake Loop, I can across a spot where the trail split
to an easy and strenuous options. While I wanted to push myself and try the
strenuous option, I decided to play it safe and take the easier route. The
turned out to be a fortunate choice later.
I continued hiking and got back to where the Central-Flatwoods Connector trail
split from the Yellow Loop to head down to the Flat Woods and Lost Lake loops.
It was here I had the choice to go left and back up the Yellow Loop the way I
had come to get back to the truck, or turn right and take the longer path back.
This is where I made what was probably the wrong decision. I decided to go
right.
Shortly after this split, I had a bit of a road walk which ended at the top
of a boat ramp before heading back onto the trail. I stopped there for a
breather and saw the first person since leaving the parking lot. This was
already about 10 miles into my hike by this point, which was about 5 hours
into the hike. I had a brief conversation with the person who offered me a
ride back to my truck, but I declined as I was still in the preparing for
my thru-hike mindset. This may have also been a mistake.
I continued my hike and the heat started getting to me. I started looking
at the map to see what the shorted way back was. I attempted to cut some
mileage off by taking one side of a loop, but missed my turn before having
to backtrack, find the turn, only to get stopped by a flooded out trail,
and then have to back track further and take the longer side of the loop
anyway.
I was also running out of time at this point. The area was closing soon,
so I had to keep pushing myself to get back to the truck in time to check
out. I was counting down the mileage based upon best guess from the bad
map until I could get back to the truck. By the last couple miles, I was
dehydrated and only pushing myself forward by my force of will. I knew
I would have to hike out no matter what.
Finally, after 8 hours and 17 miles of hiking, I got back to my truck and
was able to checkout about an hour before they closed. I honestly felt
terrible the next several days and drank a lot of water with electrolytes
to help me recover before I started feeling better.
Reflections / Lessons Learned
I definitely should not have pushed myself that hard in that heat. I also
need to force myself to drink more water. While I like the ease of use of
the bladders, it gets harder to suck the water through the tube when your
mouth is dry, so I will be switching to bottles for future hikes. It will
also be easier to monitor how much I am drinking that way to help ensure
that I don't get so dehydrated again.