Oct 9, 2015

Foster Falls

About two months (maybe almost 4 now...) ago my best friend asked me to go to Foster Falls outside of Chattanooga to hike and camp.

I hesitantly said yes because I have no camping gear and lack a desire to sleep on the ground. I mustered some enthusiasm and let her start the planning.

I had been at my new job just about a month, so I had no time to take off and told her that I would only be able to come Saturday and Sunday. Which turned into meeting in Chattanooga Friday night.

The plan was to get up early and hike Saturday, camp, and then hike out Sunday to drive back to our respective homes.

Linds recruited her friend Matt (our resident pack horse...) and off we set. Matt brought his dog Riley and I brought the puppy Paddler. I was nervous as to how he would do but figured at worst I could stick him my backpack and carry him.

Friday night we grabbed some beers and bar food (Linds and I's fav) and then she and I laughed and stayed up too late until one of us passed out mid conversation.

Saturday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and watched horrified as some kids ask their dad if a bagel was a doughnut before we hightailed it out of there.

Since we were planning on doing a hike through we dropped two cars at the end and drove one car to the start.

We started at the waterfall which was spectacular. Riley taught Paddler how to swim, I broke my Ray-Bans, and we set off on our journey to the campsite.





we're like really pretty.
 The never ending journey is what this hike turned into. We realized that about 3 miles into the hike and I cautiously (secretly fingers and toes crossed) that maybe we walk the whole way through and grab a hotel room and order pizza....HEAR ME OUT....

We were on this journey and the campsite was a bazillion miles away (it wasn't...it was about 6) but we realized that we would get there about 1 in the afternoon and then what in the heck were we supposed to do? And then it may have started to thunder and I have this slight fear of being struck by lightening. I love thunderstorms but not being in the middle of the woods for it.

That led to us just powering through and walking to the end. We stopped for pictures, for the dogs to flop around in mud and puddles, to see some waterfalls, and to refill water bottles. It was a long day for sure.




I was surprised at how well Paddler held up. He walked the whole way and then promptly passed out when we got to the car. I had to pull out about 90000000 burs off his fur, but he had a blast.







It was such a fun weekend. Linds and I have talked about doing it again, but maybe ending at the falls instead of starting there and just taking the essentials, not a lot extra weight. Because we carried so much....THANKS SHERPA MATT!






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