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Nice report, thanks. I've been debating doing the Foothills Trail, but there's so much to see and do in that area that it's hard to dedicate the time to one trail(too far to drive on a regular basis). Following the flow up to the bottom of Whitewater Falls is a fun dayhike/side trip. Beautiful...

SE Copperheads In AL and TN, they're typically lighter colored than those in the original post. Sometimes quite pretty, and docile enough to make you *think* you could handle them-which, along with being more common, is probably why they account for more bites than their more easily...

Big and very heavy for a backpacking pack. Design by ArcTeryx, manufacture by Propper. Should have a label to that effect. $60 sounds pretty good if you need a pack like that. I wouldn't buy it just because it's $60, though...

You might take a look at these: Integral Designs - Innovative Gear for Self Propelled Adventurers The green looks a lot better. Don't know why they have pics of the yellow ones... Great for keeping dirt, mud, brush, water, snow, etc. out of your socks and shoes, but they are very...

Wool socks are a great gift! After buying one pair to try, I never wanted anything else but merino wool on my feet. It felt funny giving several pairs of Smartwool socks to a friend the first time I gave them as a gift, but she loved them, and I've been giving socks as gifts to family...

My Marmot Precip rain jacket stores in its own pocket. I sit on it. It also gets used for a pillow. Sometimes it rains, and I actually wear it, too!

Continuing down the canyon. As the sun began to go down, and the trail began to climb up the other side of the canyon, and get away from the water, I decided to head back. Back was uphill to the bridge and the steps there that take you to the bottom of the...

There should be a book with a page dedicated to each of the little falls and cascades through this canyon that my pics show a smattering of, because it's wonderful, but here is where things got more interesting to me. There is a waterfall visible from across the canyon, that doesn't even have a...

You'd think they'd have cool names for some of these places, and landmarks, but they don't. Until a naming contest that took place earlier this year(and probably had two entries), the two waterfalls that all the time, effort, and expense of the "Waterfall Trail" was dedicated to were...

Wednesday, 12/12: In the morning, I drove into NW Georgia to Cloudland Canyon State Park on Lookout Mountain near Trenton, GA. I began the day with the "West Rim loop", which has some gradual ups and downs, but is a nice trail, throughout. Cloudland is a nice place, but there are some...

I drove the back roads I'd hiked out on once before to DeSoto State Park, and continued up the Lookout Mountain Parkway to DeSoto Falls. There is a lake above the falls that is contained by this spillway, and whatever overflow there is determines the flow of the falls. Back to DeSoto State...

Tuesday, 12/11: Visited Little River Falls: Took the Martha Falls trail, which follows, then descends into Little River Canyon: Panorama: The shoreline is a mix, from walking across rocks and boulders to scrambling up short walls. I got to see some kayakers, and we greeted...

So now it's over for sure. Nothing else to see here..move along, go back to your truck. The trail heads up across a slickrock section, the woods seem to thin, and I start to look for the outline of my truck against the sky through the tree trunks on the ridgeline above. Wait..why am I...

Yes, this IS the trail!:D Every now and then, you can even tell it's a trail! After awhile, the trail climbs out of the drainage, and becomes "normal" again. And again, I think the hike must be over as the trail climbs back up to the upper cliffline. I guess you could call...

Soon I reached a set of ladders that climbed up to the top of the cliff line. There are a couple of these, then some wooden steps and more uphill trail which ends at Honey Creek Overlook. At this point I thought the hike was over(you may read that again!). Between the terrain, and the...

Leaving Pickett State Park, I briefly visited the East Rim Overlook before heading into a nearby town to eat on the way down to the Honey Creek Trailhead. Part of the sign from the Honey Creek Loop TH The trail starts out like a normal walk in the woods. The terrain quickly shows...

Tuesday, December 18. Big South Fork National Park. I spoke to a ranger at a visitor center, and he suggested my route, plus that I check out Pickett State Park for a place to stay nearby. He also gave me some very bad, and time consuming directions, since Twin Arch is .7 miles from a TH that...

edit: what ponderosa said while I was typing all this stuff... Better is relative. You're generally paying for weight(lack of) and compressibility. If you're planning to backpack regularly, a down bag with 800 or higher count down is going to give you a lot of value, if for no other...

Sagebrusher, the first one is a copperhead. btw, I've seen plenty of rattlesnakes in recent years, in a neighborhood built over an old farm that was infested with them, but I had not seen a rattler in the woods in 23 years. I'm normally very matter-of-fact about anything and everything, but I...