My 1st Solo Backpacking Trip @ Devils Den State Park

Good morning! Last night I camped at Devil's Den State Park in my van. It was so nice. And today I am sitting at the trailhead eating my breakfast before I go off on my very first solo overnight backpacking trip. Let's get started. I know what you may be thinking, Kelly, how have you never been on a solo overnight backpacking trip? Because I normally always have somebody to go with and I enjoy backpacking with other people. It's fun to hang out with folks at camp. I decided that today, I don't know, try it out solo. I like doing a lot of things solo so we'll see how I like solo backpacking. I'm a little nervous but I'm also not because I've been on so many backpacking trips. It's like, okay, just alone. What's the worst that could happen? I normally hike in my hokas but I forgot those so we're going with the Lone Peaks today. Another reason for this backpacking trip, if you guys are new here or haven't seen the video, I am planning on through hiking the Continental Divide Trail this summer. Oh my gosh, this is beautiful. So I'm kind of doing a shakedown hike to test all of my gear to see what I want to bring, what I need to change out, all that kind of stuff. So I pretty much have an entire new gear setup on my back right now so I'm really excited to check it out and see how it performs today. I'm also training for another ultramarathon that I signed up for in June. It's gonna be another 30-mile on-trail race so this will be good training for that. The Butterfield Loop that I'm doing today is only 15 miles and we're starting a little before 9 30 so I'm gonna have to kind of pace myself because I could pretty much do all this in one day. But this trail is absolutely beautiful. Fun fact, my very first YouTube video ever I started vlogging on this trail. I was like, guys I should start a YouTube channel. I'm always taking videos of all of our hikes and stuff and they're like, yeah you should do it. I'm like, you know what, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna vlog this hike right now and I just started vlogging on a whim. The vlog is terrible. It's hard to watch. Yeah, that's where everything started on this trail. I am excited to be back out here because that was like four years ago. I'm also just really excited to be backpacking in Arkansas. I really wanted to get a trail in before the backpacking season is over which is quickly approaching because it is the end of April really like mid-May. You don't want to be backpacking in Arkansas. I don't want to be backpacking in Arkansas because the ticks, the bugs, the poison ivy is the main thing for me. Trails will all be grown over come May and it also just gets deathly hot. Hopefully I can squeeze one more trip in while I'm here. So I actually just turned around because I want to do the trail counterclockwise instead of clockwise. I know it's going clockwise so we are on the right track now. Apparently this trail starts off with a little bit of a climb. The ranger was like fear-mongering me about this climb. Trail only has about 2,000 feet of gain across the 15 miles so not bad. Wow look at this campsite. That is beautiful. Okay I'm doing the climb that the ranger warned me about and it's nice. It's a good little climb. You can't really tell on camera but it's a little bit of a trek. Looks like we're gonna go over this ridge and maybe I'll get some cell phone service. All right y'all it is 11 30 and I've gone about five miles and this is the part of the trail where it kind of takes you down this waterfall. The trail goes like right down there. You kind of have to traverse around all this. Oh look at all those gnats. Why are you guys all there? So bad. That's poison ivy so we gotta watch out for that. Look at this little camp spot right under the ridge. That'd be kind of cool. Oh you can just see the pollen floating around in the air. This is terrible. My eyes are all red and puffy and my nose. I gotta stop and take my Allegra. I'm gonna stop for lunch soon. I think I'll probably stop down here by the river, get a snack, kind of hang out, chill, kill some time. Going downhill now. So far everything is carrying really nicely. Today I'm using a Hyperlite Unbound 40 pack. Considering taking this on the CDT with me, it's between this pack or I was kind of considering finding a little cottage company that I could design my own pack, customize it like exactly how I want. I have the perfect pack in mind. We'll see. I still have some time to figure it out but this one's carrying really nicely. It's very comfortable. It does have back support and somewhat of a frame which I really like frameless packs but this one is pretty comfortable. It could carry probably more weight more comfortably. The only thing that I wish that this pack had, it doesn't have the load lifters on the shoulder straps. I like the load lifters. Kind of redistribute the weight. It also doesn't have trekking pole loops on the back. I got used to having the trekking pole loops on the back of the pack with all my Waymark backpacks. So pretty. There's nothing better than this. For lunch today or for like my meal today, I've got another MRE. I brought some other stuff just in case and also like I wanted to have my pack be about as heavy as it would for a regular carry on the CDT so I just brought extra weight on purpose. We're gonna try this MRE. It is the menu 10 chili and macaroni. This one's really crazy. There are sour Skittles in here and they are a brick. I'm gonna open it. It is literally, look at this, it's one big Skittle. Okay. Dang. One big log. I'm gonna break a tooth on that. I'm gonna save this for dinner. I was just really excited. I wanted to get those, eat those sour Skittles. For lunch, I have three tortillas. Homemade corn tortillas leftover from last night. This little organic fruit thing. I might have two of those. Maybe some almond. Oh, butterfly. Hi. I've yet to see anybody else on this trail today. Lunch was lovely. Now I'm going to go scout out some potential campsites. If I want to camp near the water, I have a few options here within the next couple miles. Also good news, I got a little blip of service out by the creek and my group that I'm starting the CDT with, we are all on the same flight into the Glacier Airport. So I am super stoked about that. It worked out perfect. The flight is booked and the countdown has officially begun. Here is a campsite option. I've got creek access. I've got some seats around the fire. Look at those. This is a nice spot for a tent right there. But that's pretty nice. I'm gonna remember this one, but I do want to see what's up there and if I have to hike back, then whatever. It's only one o'clock. Here is the next option. This is really nice. Somebody left off pots. It is so pretty. I think this might be it, y'all. Look at this. I think I want to camp here. Tonight I'm using my brand new tent for the first time. This is the DCF version, meaning it's all Dyneema. I'm so excited. I want on the other side. Dare I cross in these ultralight camp shoes, though? That is the question. Looks like it'd be pretty easy. Let's try it. Yay. Okay, I think I'm gonna get all the way in. One, two. It's like a bit too cold. Got a little fire going. It's four o'clock. I don't know what to do. Oh my gosh. Freaking yellow jacket, dude. So I was like, well, let me go to the fire. That'll be something to do. So, check. Look at that coon. He's on the other side of the river from my camp, but he's just been like snooting around. See what he can find. He best stay on that side. Look at how this rock just probably got washed up in that tree, and now it's all grown into it. It's crazy. Still looks like it's gonna rain. I don't know. I don't have service to check the weather, so we gon' see. Another new piece of gear that I'm trying out on this shakedown hike are these Mayfly ultra ultralight camp shoes. They're essentially like heavy-duty cardboard type material, but the way they have them engineered, they put these, I don't know, abrasive stuff, and then they tie up like this, and they're really nice. I actually walked like a mile in these camp shoes up the trail to see if I could get some service. They're paper thin, obviously, but just for walking short distances and like walking around camp, they're absolutely perfect, and I think they're only like 1.9 ounces or something. I think these will be coming with me on the CDT. I don't know how long they'll last, but we'll see. Hello. I'm hungry, so I think we're gonna start tearing into this MRE. Like I said earlier, this is a menu number 10 chili and macaroni MRE. I got these from a girl that I met when I was working a contract in California. She's in the army or something, and she gave me a whole box, so shout out to her. Here's the chili mac. It's kind of early to be eating dinner. It's not even four o'clock yet, but I'm hungry, so whatever. All right, how do we do this here? The chili mac pouch has 280 calories. Not bad. It would be here underneath the MRE. It says put it against a rock or something. There we go. Just like the picture. Okay, while that's cooking, let's see what else we have in here. We have some cheese spread with jalapenos. Okay, I'm excited about that. Then we have the crackers, and we have a carrot pound cake for dessert, orange carbohydrate electrolyte beverage powder, and then we have this little lighters, sugar, a moist towelette, a bunch of random stuff, pepper, salt. All right, let's tear into the crackers and the cheese. Let's see what these crackers look like. They look like communion crackers. Let's try them. They're not bad. I'm a little scared about this cheese jalapeno spread though. Look at that. Good old processed America cheese. They say spread. This is not really spreadable. I kind of like that. It tastes like um Velveeta. Huh, these expired January 15th of this year. I thought these things weren't supposed to expire. I'm not really like scared yet. I know at some point I'm gonna probably get a little scared because I'm not helping myself, but I'm not, I'm not there yet. Oh my gosh, it's people. Holy crap, it's two people. Pretty good, how are you? Yeah, the trail keeps going up there. You too. Do these MRE pouches ever get the MRE actually hot or is it just me? Oh, this looks like I really hope I don't have to dig a cat hole after this tonight. Let me mix it up. Definitely not as hot as I would have hoped it would be. Here's what it's looking like. Get a bite with the meat and the noodles. Tastes like it's been in there for a while. Hello, Mr. Spider. I'm gonna actually put it in my pot and get it warmed up. Oh well. I really hate it when it does that. The last thing we got to try is the carrot pound cake. Oh, it's literally just a flattened piece. That's fire. That's actually really good. Well, that was dinner. Now I'm gonna do some dishes and I don't know, I should have brought a book or something. So for the past half hour, I have been burping up that jalapeno and cheese, cheese from the MRE and it's disgusting and I wish I had never eaten that. It tastes good initially, but then later on, it's not so good. I'm sure there's gonna be some sort of critter in my camp tonight. Oh my goodness. He just crossed, he's crossing over. This stinker is coming straight to my camp. Promise these animals are not paid actors in these vlogs. Uh, no. Better go back where you came from, buddy. Yep. Turn right on around. Update, it's getting dark. I have been boiling water for the past two hours because I forgot my water filter. Yeah, I know, that's terrible. Whatever, I'll just boil my water, it's fine. About 6 30. I'm just gonna keep the fire going and make myself some tea and drink that. Getting bed for the night. Hope that something doesn't come out of the woods and grab me. It's starting to rain. I'm officially in my tent for the night. I fall asleep to the rain. It's about 8 15. It should be pretty dark here pretty soon. I'm not nervous yet. That's cool. I'm pretty tired so I might just pass out. Good morning. I survived the night alone. I slept so good. This is such a good spot. It's so relaxing here. My new sleeping bag is so comfortable. It's from El Coyote and it's a zero degree bag. Gonna use on the CDT and it is so comfy. I love this thing so much. Okay, let's go. Bye campsite. It was a good one. We have about six and a half miles till we get to the end. I think we'll have a good viewpoint up here though and possibly a waterfall. Excited for that. Here's a really cool campsite. This is called Coil Valley. It's just this valley beneath all the rocks. I hear a waterfall over here. It's a little one. That rock face is crazy. This section of trail, the reason there's that big rock face right there is because a chunk of this mountain fell off. Oh, that's really pretty. You got the waterfall here and then this would be a really cool place to camp. It's like in this kind of a cave area. This is so cool. Yeah, I gotta come back and camp in here. Oh, this is a pretty sight. Wow. Look at the view. I love Arkansas so much. Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. I might have to get my feet wet on this trail because we gotta cross this creek. Feet got wet. Just like that, the trail pops out. This is where I camped the other night. All right, y'all. We are at the end of the trail. I absolutely love this backpacking little loop. Perfect trip for beginner backpackers. Perfect trip if you want to try a solo backpacking trip. Overall, a successful first night overnight solo. I wasn't even nervous. I mean, I think it's just I've been backpacked so much that I'm not scared to do things alone anymore. Maybe I'll make a video in the future talking more about how I got to be comfortable doing things solo and the safety precautions that I take. My girls out there watching, let me know if that's something that you're interested in. But yeah, thank you guys so much for coming along on today's episode. Stay tuned for more fun outdoor adventures here in Arkansas and I'll see y'all on the next one. Y'all know how to go find somewhere good to eat after this hike. So we're gonna try this pizza den in Mountainburg, Arkansas. It's got great reviews and a pizza sounds amazing right now. Oh no, is it open?