Coosa Backcountry Trail (almost)
How often do we get the chance to relive a moment, to walk the same foot steps that we have walked before, to see the see the past overlaid with the present. This weekend I decided to hike the loop of my first backpacking trip and see how much I have changed - and how far I have left to go. It has been a wet winter and I haven’t had a chance to get out since before the holidays started in November. With the forecast of 60 degrees and no rain, I packed my bag for the Coosa Backcountry Trail.
Stats:
Trail: Coosa Backcountry Trail
Direction: Counter Clockwise
Distance: 12.9 miles
Elevation Gain: ~4,000 ft
The day started off with a wrong turn onto the Bryon Reese Nature Trail causing me to add an extra .5-1 miles to my hike. Once back at the right trailhead, the climb up from GA-180 was not as bad as I remember it. After crossing the road, the trail started a slow decent to FS 107. I has happy with the layering system that I brought being that I was on the shadow side of the mountain and the temperatures were still pretty chilly. Several areas of the trail had ice from runoff and small streams - not enough where traction devices would be needed but I could see how they might be if the trail had been wetter and colder.
After reaching FS 107, the climb to the top of Coosa Bald began and that familiar steepness from my first trip returned to the front of my mind. I was surprised still how challenging it was but I was also happy that my recovery seemed somewhat better. This has been something that I have been purposely working on after my AT day hikes in October and November. I still have a long way to go.
One thing that I didn’t mention was this was my first hike since starting a ketogenic diet. I’ve been mainly low-carb for the past year and half but recently had gotten off of it over the holidays and gained about 10 pounds so I started keto to mix things up. I’ve been doing research to see how keto hiking / backpacking would work and thought I was ready for it. I had some almond butter packets, couple of meat sticks, some nuts, and a paleo protein bar in my snack bag along with some electrolyte tablets which in my mind would be plenty for a 12 mile hike based upon previous experience. Little did I know, I wasn’t at all.
View from my hang spot on first backpacking trip
About a mile into the climb, I could feel the familiar rhythm of hike, rest, repeat starting. This is usually what happens to me on steep climbs but the continual 3.5 mile climb to Coosa Bald was starting to take its toll on me. Right before the switch backs on the final push to the bald, I found the original campsite from that first trip. Looking at it in the daylight and with the help of my GPS watch, I realized how stupid we were to attempt to camp there that night three years ago. We were just barely under the ridge-line, at 3500, and in a draw next to a creek - no wonder we were cold that night. I decided to take a 15 minute break here and filter some water knowing that this was the last water until the back side of Slaughter Mountain. This was the first water of the day that I added electrolytes to as well.
After the break, I started to hit snow on the trail since I was pushing up toward 4000 ft. It wasn’t deep enough to cause an issue but something I wasn’t expecting on a day that was suppose to be 60 degrees. I summited Coosa Bald and joined the Duncan Ridge trail and some glorious descent toward GA-180 again at Wolfpen Gap. As I reached Wildcat Gap, I hit the ‘wall’. I stopped for 5-10 minutes to try and eat something but really had no appetite. I continued to drink some water but I knew that this loop was probably over. While there were people just finishing their hike at the gap, it was a forest service road and didn’t want to bum a ride there not sure that my brain could handle the bumpiness or knowing that GA 180 was about a mile away.
Wolfpen Gap is about 3.5 miles from Vogel and it is all downhill to the park plus I figured there would people at the gap and I might luck out on the ride since people would have to head toward Vogel to get back to Atlanta. I made it down to the gap, slipping water, and trying to eat along the way without much luck. I really could feel I was running on empty. As expected, there were cars and people at the gap and I took a break on the side of the parking area to let my body calm down next to some trail runners sitting on the tailgate of their truck. After a half hour, I wasn’t much better and knew going over Slaughter wasn’t in the category of ‘Safe things to do’ so I asked if they were going toward Vogel and if I could bum a ride. They said sure and an hour later, Jim (one of the trail runners) dropped me off at my car back at Vogel. By this time, I was starting to feel better but I still grabbed a Poweraid from the park office to sip on.
This is the first time that I had to call off a hike and not be able to self-rescue. I am proud of myself though for calling it when I did and knowing what I could do. After getting home (and some food along the way there), I debriefed the hike and have some lessons learned.
It was probably too much of a hike to do in the early stages of keto when my body isn’t completely fat adapted.
I should have had a bigger breakfast before I started since those calories were probably gone within the first hour.
I should have snacked more along the way.
I should have started electrolytes earlier and should have been hydrating more.
I need to bring a better mix of snacks (long lasting vs fast acting) when hiking as well as include some items with high carb amounts. Additionally, I should keep some non keto snacks in case I hit the wall.
Taking a break every couple of hours to recharge, pound some snacks and water.
I hope redo the loop this year and complete it, maybe as an overnighter.
