Uwharrie Birkhead Mountain Backpacking Trip

 The Boy Scouts with Troop 173 continue their preparation for the big New Mexico backpacking trip in 2022.  We wanted to get miles under our belt, so we went to the Uwharrie National Forest.  The Birkhead Mountain area is on the northeast side of the park, close to Asheboro.  It is national forest wilderness, so there are no facilities, no water, and no campsites that you can reserve.  Just a trail and a nondescript "sus" map.

Our plan was to hike in a mile in on Friday April 30, five miles on Saturday, and one on Sunday.  For the Hiking merit badge, we needed a 5 mile hike, so we didn't want to go too far on Friday.  

The park was about an hour from the Harrisburg Presbyterian Church, so with nine scouts and three adults in tow, we set out Friday evening.  We went clockwise on the Robbins Branch, Birkhead Mountain and Hannah's Creek Trail loop.  found an okay camp site on Friday.  The pollen was extremely high given it hadn't rained in over a week; more on this tomorrow.  But we set-up, ate dinner (subway picked up in Harrisburg) and bedded down on a great night for camping in the low 50s with limited humidity.  

We got a good start Saturday morning and were on the trail by 9:00.  Some of us can use some better packing / unpacking skills.  We set off from camp and began to climb.  There was a nice campsite we found just under two miles in from the parking lot...good to know.  We climbed for the first 3 miles of our hike, ending up climbing 854 feet on Saturday.  There was also a nice campsite at the top of the mountain.  However, there are no views.  

The downhill portion of the trail was welcomed, as some of our scouts were starting to lag.  We made it to the bottom of the mountain, hit the Hannah's Creek Trail and stopped at the second creek crossing. It was a nice creek with a place to drop our packs, stretch out and eat lunch. The kids played in the creek for about 90 minutes, found a waterfall, and filtered some water.  At this point, finding no campsite and knowing there was one in the parking lot, we altered the plan and headed back to the cars.  

In total we walked 6.3 miles Saturday and 1.0 on Friday- so 7.3 carrying our packs.  There were 20 or so cars in the parking lot, but we only saw a few folks on the trail.  Being a 7 mile loop it was easy to spread out.  The lack of a view was a downside.  The pollen was also a killer.  There were different types of vegetation as we moved through the forest, and something at certain points was killing me.  Many others were struggling with the pollen as well.  In the end, once of the scouts ended up with a fever, so we broke camp Saturday evening and headed home.  The scouts did get a chance to set up their tents again and hung out for several hours at the campsite.  

It was my first time hiking without a defined camping spot.  I didn't sleep well on Friday and think I need to get an inflatable pillow.  I didn't bring many clothes (like one pair extra) so didn't have those to use as a pillow.  I am still using the Kelty pack I paid $30 for at the discount consignment store.  It has served me well so far with no complaints. I am learning a lot from Manish and Nick about how to pack it and how to travel light.  Manish carries a 58L pack and seems like he could go forever with it, while carrying the crew's 8 qt cooking pot.  He's the expert of our the group.  Nick still has his pack from the AT when he was in scouts.  Definitely a veteran.  This was my and Logan's third backpacking trip.  I'm happy to help with logistics and ordering dinners as we learn the ropes!