Long Hunter 2020

Day One: 6.9                                               Outcasts Total Miles: 2501.2
Day Two: 5.7

We could get our days off from work for a five day hike so we ended up doing an overnight hike at Long Hunter State Park. We hiked in the Day Loop and took the Volunteer trail to the campsite #2.

On the way in we saw some day hikers, deer, and listened to the Loon's out on the lake. It was snowing and the high was 32 for the day. When we got to camp we started gathering firewood for the long evening with the temps getting down in the twenties. Troy built a fire that even NASA was complaining about. It kept us warm all night. Lies were told and cough medicine was taken.

We heard coyotes in the night but the exciting part was waking up to gunshots at six in the morning. Jumping up out of a hammock never does go very well. Getting in the defensive position only to find out that it was duck hunters. Troy and Marco just went back to sleep. I was up for the day.

More gunshots as the morning progressed. We ate, packed up, and headed down the trail. We just followed the Volunteer trail on the way out. We did see the deer again.

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Cedars of Lebanon / Long Hunter

Bryant Grove Trail 8 miles                                                Outcasts Total Miles: 1788.38

Hidden Springs Trail 5 miles
Campsite to trailhead 1.2 miles
Total Miles: 14.5 miles

Trying to hit up some State Parks that do not have overnight backcountry sites, we took Marco's camper out.  The weather did as usual and dropped down to 4 degrees for us.  We went to Cedars of Lebanon State Park and set up the camper. After we got it set up we headed to Long Hunter State Park and hiked the Bryant Grove trail.  We have not done any of the trails on the South side of the park.
The Bryant Grove trail is four miles long one way. It goes along the shore of Percy Priest lake.  It is a flat trail that goes through different Eco systems along the lake.  We stopped for lunch along the way.  For some reason we only saw one other person on the trail and he was running it.

When we got back we headed to Cedars of Lebanon again for the night.  This time instead of a fire, we had two small heaters in the camper.  We didn't have a 50amp adapter for the trailer and they only had one plug with a 20amp fuse. So we had to take turns using a heater, or the oven, or the skillet.  Anyways, we had a Troy's Famous Fried Chicken dinner with potatoes and corn on the cob. Life was good!

The next morning we got up and after a great breakfast of bacon, eggs, and biscuits, we hiked to the Hidden Springs trailhead.  This trial goes through many Eco systems with the highlights being the caves and underground springs. Marco showed me on my own daypack that I have a built in whistle. I have had this pack for a couple of years now and never noticed it. Then Lora looked and we have them on our backpacks as well.  Pretty slick!

We headed back to camp and started getting the trailer ready to leave.  When we went to lower the top nothing happened.  Not good! We ended up having to take a couple of panels off from under the camper to gain access to the cranking mechanism to lower the camper.  Anything for entertainment.

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