Montgomery Bell (Take Two)

April 2007
Montgomery Bell (Take Two)...............Trail Rating....Outcasts Total: 83 Miles
Jim Bailey Trail.........................0.5........Moderate
Wildcat Trail to Ore Pit............0.75........Moderate
Ore Pit to Spill Way..................0.75........Moderate
Spill Way Trail..........................1.0............Easy
Overnight Trail to Laurel............1.5........Moderate
Laurel Furnace........................0.12.........Moderate
Overnight Trail to Woodland.......3.0.......Moderate
Woodland Shelter.......................0.6.........Easy
Overnight Trail to Creech............0.5........Moderate
Creech Hollow to Overnight........1.2..........Moderate
Overnight to Creech...................5.0...........Moderate
Creech Hollow to Overnight.........1.2.........Moderate
Overnight Trail to Parking...........1.0.........Moderate
Total………………………………........17.2 Miles

It just so happened that I had a couple of free days off during the week. I made a few calls and came up with Troy and Logan Gill. Greg had to cut grass with his boss. Troy had missed out on the Montgomery Bell hike and I wanted to finish the rest of the trails there so here we go. Take Two.

We met up at MFD headquarters, my new home, and headed out. We got to the park in good time to make an early start. Let me tell you about Logan. Logan is a woman slayer, a young man who has just turned 21. When we pulled up to the visitor center he dove out of the truck and headed over to a young blonde woman who was having trouble with her car door. He headed over there with his tail wagging and tongue hanging out. Well after Troy and I got out of the truck, I looked over at this sad sight and told Troy to watch this. I wondered over there, Logan backed out of the way. I unlocked her door, sprung the latch and told her she had nothing further to worry about. She grabbed a hold of my neck and gave me a big hug thanking me profusely. She turned and patted Logan on the chest and got in her car. I just looked over at Logan and told him to get back on the porch. He whimpered and wondered back to the truck.

We got signed in and headed out. I found out that it was well worth coming back for. The Spill Way and the Creech Hollow trails were some of the parks finest. We ate lunch at the Spill Way. We found us a picnic table and I pulled out my peanut butter and honey sandwiches. I started looking at the map to figure out our miles when out of the blue two-gallon size zip lock bags full of Troy’s famous fried chicken hit the table. I couldn’t hold back the tears of excitement and whimpered like a small child as I dove into the fried chicken. Logan watched in amazement and Troy just sat back and grinned at a job well done. I missed my cook!

The wildlife was abundant this time with Turkey, Deer, Snakes, Fish, and one of the biggest Moles that I have ever seen. It measured in at four inches and looked about the size of a rat. I didn’t think about it at the time, but I should have skinned it and kept the Moleskin in my pack.

Even though we surprised the weather god’s there were only two other hikers on the trail. One was described as Big Eddie with a neck and cane. Now you would have to know Big Eddie who is our largest roundest firefighter on our City fire department. The other was a round woman with a couple of dogs. Nether of which we would like to consider being in our ranking of hiker.

We did pass some Amish gals at a picnic table in one of the parks that we passed. I told the guys that I had arranged for the Swedish bikini team to arrive and there must have been some miscommunication. They both end in “ish”. I did make a mistake in the last log of our journal.

I said that I didn't remember even having to step over any trees on the path. Well Logan kept track of the number of trees and counted them off as strikes. After nine he said that I was out of the park. Over all we had a wonderful hike and we highly recommend this park.