Day hiked the easternmost section of the Tuxachanie Trail yesterday, from the POW Camp to Duck Pond and back. That's the trickiest section, both in terms of terrain and possibilities for getting sidetracked onto horse trails. I think I've got it down now though.
Noteworthy items learned along the way:
- Heads Up! and look for the white diamond blaze marks more. They really are there, but some are not all that obvious, or maybe even a little melted.
- The new pack is remarkably comfortable and sweat-free. All that mesh, it's a lot like an Aeron chair.
- The pack-mounted VHF whip worked well, reaching the Biloxi W5SGL repeater virtually the entire time. The exceptions of course are were when I'd step down into large dips like the creek bottom. The whip did snag a lot on branches in the bushier parts of the trail. When I get a spare minute I'll cut down the PVC length to the minimum needed to get the bottom of the j-pole clear of the pack and my head, and not an inch more. Also, the sharp edge on the top end's pipe cap acted almost like a barb, snagging any small branches that presented themselves. Will have to sand it down to a beveled edge and add a wrap with a piece of duck tape to smooth it over. The results won't be perfect but should be much better when walking through brush.
-The bridge situation isn't perfect, but given that we've just had a hurricane blow through this month, things were in pretty good shape.
-Things were a little brushy, but of course they are this time of year.
-Saw three other hikers and two parties of horse people out there, and everybody wanted to know what was up with the antenna. It was a friendly bunch.
Not much else to say, so I'll get going to work now.
ps: Obligatory picture of Tuxachanie Creek:
