Savage Gulf- Connector Trail

Day One: 8.5....................................Outcast Hikers Total: 1067.34
Stone Door Trail 0.9
Big Creek Gulf Trail 0.9
Connector Trail 6.7
Day Two: 13.7
Connector Trail 6.7
Big Creek Gulf Trail 3.1
Ranger Falls Trail 1
Laurel Trail 2.9
Total Miles: 22.2

The original plan was a five day hike at Frozen Head State Park. Marco was recovering from a five day illness and Troy called in sick. With the bad planning on my part, I had scheduled a hike on Superbowl Sunday, we went with plan B.

Marco and I headed out Tuesday to Savage Gulf. There were some trails there that he had not hiked and I had never made it to Ranger Falls. We started at the Stone door ranger station and hiked down through the Stone Door and took the Connector trail East to Hobb's Cabin. The Connector trail is described as the most challenging and strenuous trail in the Savage Gulf Natural area. Several Climbs and seemingly endless rocky slopes are crossed.

The weather was great for hiking. They were calling for 3 to 4 inches of snow the next evening, but the sun was shining today. We kicked up two flocks of Turkey before we got to Saw Mill campground. At Saw Mill campground we stopped and had lunch. We made it to Hobb's Cabin and had plenty of time to search for firewood. The Ranger had said that last weekend they had thirty some people at Hobb's Cabin. The woods looked like they were vacuumed and we had to go a distance to find some wood. We got camp set up and the fire started in time to enjoy the evening and watch the stars come out. It got down to nineteen degrees that night.

The next morning we got up, had breakfast, and then started down the trail back to the Big Creek Gulf Trail. At Saw Mill campground we kicked up the two flocks of Turkey again. We ate lunch here and then headed out.

We got to the Big Creek Trail at one o'clock and headed to Ranger Falls. Big Creek Gulf Trail is described as this rough, challenging trail leads through the gorge below and to the west of Stone Door. Due to its difficulty, an overnight hike is recommended, although it can make a long, tiring but rewarding day hike.

I couldn't get across the river last time I was here. The river was down so we rock hopped across and got to see the falls. It was cold here and the trees all had ice on them. We stopped for a snack and then headed up the gulf to Alum campground.

When we got to the campground our original plan was to camp. Instead we filled up on water and headed to the car down the Laurel Trail. It started to snow on our hike out. Knowing they were calling for three to four inches we decided to head home and not have to drive through the snow tomorrow.



Pictures:

Sheltowee Trace Part VIII- The Finally

Day one: 5.5 Miles....................................Outcasts Total: 1045.14
Day two: 9.9 Miles
Day three: 10.65 Miles
Day four: 11.63 Miles
Total: 37.68 Miles

As usual we dug up some wild weather for our backpack. Since this was the last part of the Sheltowee Trace and we have so much time invested in this trail, we dug up a whopper! The snowstorm that shut down the South! What a beginning.

We started the morning with four inches of snow in Murfreesboro. As we were finishing up our shift, we were watching the news as first schools were closing and then roads were closing. As we all gathered at Headquarters they were shutting down I 75 and I 40. We only had to make it to Kentucky.

I took the broom to Troy's car and we made the final decision to go or bust. The interstates were closed, but the back roads were open.....kind of?

We headed off to Cave Run Marina where we planned on meeting Doug and he was going to drop us off at the Cave Run dam where we left off last hike.

Doug was extremely helpful as were all of his employee's at the Marina. He had heads up on our last hike and drove over to the dam to make sure we got picked up safely. He offered to let us leave our car at the marina and he dropped it off at the trail head the day we were coming off trail. Not only that, but he sent us weather reports and checked up on us by text messaging during our hike. We appreciate you Doug!

After Doug dropped us off we hiked down Ky 801 and got back on a trail in the woods. The whole North end is large rolling hills. It's amazing that they found connecting ridge tops to put this trail on. We got to watch two does and a buck follow each other up the hill side from a hill away during one break. We camped just South of US-60 in the woods before Triplet Creek.

I had to use a large rock to break a hole in the ice which was almost 2" thick to get water out of the creek. We got a campfire going and enjoyed the peaceful evening. It snowed.......and snowed....and snowed.....it snowed for the next three days.

Day two:
We got up this morning and just as we were leaving camp, two hikers came down the trail. One was a thru hiker, the other a section hiker and they were both locals. They were getting off the trail due to the snow storms coming. They caught their ride at 60 and we said goodbye. Then the battle was on.

We battled cars and snow plows hiking down US-60, KY 3319, and KY 32. We had seven miles of road and the snow was coming down big time. The fourth snow plow just about buried me and Marco as we ran for the Hardee's which was our last water source for the next 13.6 miles. Since it just happened to be lunch time we ate and answered questions from all the employee's and costumers there.

From here we hike down KY32 to a washout in a rock wall. Yes you climb the washout until you find some 4x4's which keep the trial on the side of the washout. Just for fun, try this in snow and ice......ya, and then add a backpack! The trail here is narrow following the hillside with trees fallen all over it. The next half mile is in bad shape. After that it turns into a four wheeler path and gets alot better. We went up and down and up and down and then when you couldn't get anymore higher we made camp. The only flat spot in the area is where the Eagle trail joins the Sheltowee. Somewhere on one of the downs, Marco landed on his butt. All I knew was that I couldn't catch up to him as he skidded off down the trail. He had some minor injuries and a bent hiking pole when it was over. I was really glad that he stopped.

With the snow falling fast and the high winds, we called it an early night with no campfire.

Day three:
We got up an saw where a coyote had walked by camp in the snow. We had plenty of fresh snow to plow through today. The trail turned into forestry roads and we got to walk them for seven miles. If you had to get water, there is a side trail to Rodburn Campground that is a mile off trail that has water.

Towards the end of the road walk we came across two young men cutting wood and loading it in a pick up truck. They took one look at us and said "Your alot tougher that we are!" We stopped and talked to them for little while. When they passed us a little later they stopped and asked us what kind of boots we were wearing cause their feet were wet and cold.

We finally got off those roads, crossed US-64 and got into some real snow. It was over six inches in this part of the woods. Drifts over Marco's knees or 12". We had a steep drop off into the valley and followed the stream bed until it got deep enough for our water supply and we made camp. This area here could use some bridges as you cross over the creek many times and on steep slopes.

Now I don't know how, but we had stronger wind gusts down here than we had on top of the mountain last night. It pulled Marco's stakes from his tarp out four times. It was uphill every direction that you looked. It was too windy and the snow was coming down too hard to make a campfire. Troy accused me of walking them too hard. He said Marco couldn't even eat dinner and I literally walked the sh-- out of him.

Day four:
We had 11.6 miles to go. Doug had sent me a text letting us know that it was going to be 7 degrees tonight. A vote was taken.....or Troy said that we WILL make the car tonight even if we night hike! So we uhh hiked! And we hiked hard! God had mercy on us. The wind and the snow both stopped or at least slowed down for the day.

We had camped just short of Holly Fork. So over the river and through the woods we went. The climb out of the valley is a steep one. Next you drop down into another valley. We stopped at Clark Park and filled up with water at the well pump. The climb out of there will work those legs as you go back up to the ridge. We kicked up two grouse and a flock of turkeys as we were hiking along.

We only stopped a minute when we came upon two "No Trespassing" signs. One on either side of the trail at mm 275.45. There was a small side trail, but after some investigating we found that the trail goes on. There is another sign at mm 275.73 from the other direction. Must be some bad neighbors. We hiked into the sunset and after dark made the descent down to the Northern Terminus. We had to stop at the bottom and try to climb through a fallen tree just to make sure we earned this trail.

Doug had left our car there so we did the celebration dinner and stayed the night at the hotel.

Murfreesboro must have had about the same strength wind as we did. When we got back, Marco's truck and my car had blown against the block back porch of Headquarters sideways where you couldn't get into the driver side doors. Ain't that weird?

Pictures:

Big Ridge State Park-Cancel

Due to the freezing rain coming in Wednesday we regretfully have to cancel our hike to Big Ridge. Now we get to have a makeup hike.

Sheltowee Trace Part VII

Day one: 6.13 Miles..........................Outcast total: 1007.46 Miles
Day two: 13.17 Miles
Day three: 12.61 Miles
Day four: 9.36 Miles
Day five: 9.19 Miles
Total Miles: 50.46

After work Troy, Marco, and I headed to Kentucky for another section of the Sheltowee Trace. We headed to Natural Bridge State Park where we were supposed to meet up with Luke to drop us off where we got picked up by the rangers last hike.

After a small change up, Stephanie from the Natural Bridge State Park Hemlock Lodge was nice enough to drop us off and even offered us a ride back Friday if we needed one. Since we were losing daylight earlier this time and we would be hiking back to the car, we left our packs in the car and did a day hike of Natural Bridge State Park.

We put Marco in charge of the Thru Hikers Manual of the Sheltowee Trace. The only draw back was every time you asked him where we were, he would start from Natural Bridge and go all the way through the manual. This added alot of entertainment, especially by the end of the trail.

We passed a guy cutting wood on the way. He asked us where we were hiking from and we told him Tennessee. He said that he had wanted to hike the whole trail and was called back to work after he had all of his plans made. He was a little surprised that we hiked this far with no packs.

The Sheltowee passes over White's Branch Arch and next to the Natural Bridge. We then hiked to Balance Rock and down the many many stairs back to the parking lot. It was getting dark now so we packed up and headed to Red River Gorge with headlamps. Once we got past the Whittleton Campground we made camp.

As I was testing my hammock I heard a loud zipping noise. This was indeed my bad day as my hammock ripped completely through about a quarter of the way down the length. As any Outcast would do, I cut the remaining part off and tied a knot, rehung and tested again. Not much room anymore as the length was now the exact length of my body. No stretching out for me over the next four nights and it had a really bad lean to the left which I still can't understand why.

We ate dinner and then got ready to start a fire when the rain set in. We knew it was supposed to rain that night and were hoping it would be done by morning. I let them know that we would hike as long as it wasn't a down pour in the morning.

The next morning we hiked out in the rain. Troy and I had different ideas of "down pour", but as all Outcast do, he went along. It rained all day and into the night. Sorry about no pictures that second day. It was through the beautiful Red River Gorge. This area is rough terrain with beautiful overlooks, rock formations, waterfalls, and of course water crossings. There were six that were at least two feet deep. We ended up the day with a minor misreading of the guide book causing another headlamp hike to the next creek and place to make camp. The rain went into the night replaced by snow in the morning.

Day three started out cold with the tarp ropes frozen to the trees. We hiked in the snow with flurries on and off all day. We tried to air out in the afternoon, but everything was just frozen.

Knowing that we were not going to have water in camp, we started filtering about a mile from where we were going to make camp. There was a house right there so I walked up and asked if we could get some water from them. They were more than willing and wanted to hear our story. I did notice as I walked into there driveway that I had my picture taken by a deer camera at the entrance.

There was a lot of road walking today making sore ankles and feet. We crossed over KY 1274, climbed the steep hill and made camp. We actually got to have a campfire and see the stars. That meant dry feet, shoes, and socks. This was the first night we stayed up past 7pm. We even had a fire in the morning which was nice with it being as cold as it was. We were even in camp before dark....or right at it.

Day five was probably the toughest day of terrain. Lots of steep ups and downs with some beautiful sights including a natural bridge. We got some of our highest points today looking over the other mountains. We got to air out today and dry completely out. We made it to Clear Creek where we filtered water as it began to snow. Darkness was coming on and we had to use the headlamps to cross FR 129 and get into the woods to make camp. The snow was coming down heavy and you could still see the stars bright and beautiful. We agreed to finish that we would have to get up and on the trail early in the morning. We set alarms.

The next morning, no fire, pack, eat, and walk. We had a very long steep climb up to the road that we were not supposed to cross. OOPS! Look for correct trail, study map, look for correct trail, study map, study map, study map........Ohhhhhh! Road walk to find trail. This was the only place that we saw deer. We kicked up one doe in five days of hiking. We all found the trail at the same time different ways. I found the sign for the boarder of the wildlife management area, Troy found the county line sign, and Marco found the Turtle sign. Back on the trail again.

After getting back on track I called Luke and talked to our backup man Doug from Cave Run Marina for our pick up this afternoon. After I got them lined up, the memory kicked in. They are on Eastern time! Guess what guys.......we are an hour behind already. LET'S GO!

This part of the trail was all ridge walking. The Guys said it was more like a forced march. We stopped for lunch at a spot where we had a good view of Cave Run Lake far far below. We then started the descent down to Cave Run. At the end of the lake where we took a break, we saw our first person since we started the hike. It was a bike rider who stopped and Marco and I both thought we recognized him from the Sheltowee Trace Facebook. He knew of Steve from the Facebook. From here you start the long hike around the end of the lake.

At a quarter of a mile from the end we came across ten rangers coming down the trail. They were "checking the trail conditions". They wanted to know all about our hike, but weren't interested in hearing about our account of the trail conditions.

We hiked out to the Cave Run Lake Dam forty minutes early and waited for Luke to pick us up. Doug stopped by too, just to make sure that we had a ride. Great guy. We are going to use him on the next section of hike. The FINAL hike of the Sheltowee.

Pictures:

Big Hill Pond II

Day One:5 Miles.....................Outcast Total: 957 Miles
Big Hill Pond Access trail
Big Hill Pond trail
Azalea Spring Day Loop trail
Dogwood Point trail
Day Two: 10 Miles
Dogwood Point trail
Azalea Spring Day Loop trail
Boardwalk trail
Horse Trail
Dry Ridge trail
Total: 15 Miles

Marco, Troy, and I headed out to Big Hill Pond State Park. Marco had to stay late at work trying to get his Engine back in service after a Semi fire on the interstate, so we got a late start.

We swung by the Visitor Center to sign in. Just like last time, the Ranger said that all he needed was to know is what truck was ours so when he did rounds he would recognize it. No paperwork necessary.

We headed to the boat ramp and parked in the overnight lot. We got out and while we were organizing our packs Marco found a large rock that a fellow firefighter had hid in his pack. The firefighter had committed about his pack being heavy and Marco thought that he was up to something.

We went down to the boat ramp and then hiked across the bridge. On the other side we started to come across horse back riders and we saw plenty of them until we got to the Azalea Loop. One group had stopped and the one rider asked if we were going to stay out here tonight. He had that look that we are so used to. The "are you crazy?" look. "You know its going to get cold tonight." We've heard this sooooo many times.

The trail was marked pretty good and in decent condition until you get to the pond. From the pond there is many trees down and the horses have made other trails and the marking is bad. The Azalea Loop needs alot of maintenance including the bridges. When you get to the Dogwood Point trail you are on your own. It was in bad need of maintenance two years ago. Now it is two years past needing alot of maintenance.

We were running out of daylight so we called camp at the Pipe Rock shelter. This shelter sits at the top of a very steep hill which the river is at the bottom of. The shelter of course was in poor shape, but the bat population was going strong. There was bat dung on all the bunks and all over the floor. There was a dead bat on one of the bunks and two live bats on the ceiling. Oh yea, we didn't stay in the shelter.

We had a nice campfire and enjoyed the owls talking and the peaceful sounds of the train whistle when it went by. The stars were out and it was suppose to get down to freezing tonight. We had cough medicine and cleaned up scars from the brush we battled on the trail.

The next morning after a good breakfast by the campfire, we headed out and finished the Dogwood Point trail. We took the Azalea trail to the boardwalk trail. You could see where they had been repairing the boardwalk.

We stopped at the break area on the boardwalk for lunch. Just after settling down, Troy let out a damn. His water bottle had rolled off the bench and off the boardwalk. Just like a superhero, he climbed over the rail and hugging a tree he slid down like a fireman on a pole. He grabbed his bottle and climbed back up the boardwalk before I could even get my camera ready.

After lunch we headed to the end of the boardwalk where the light drizzle started. We practiced our single man poncho deployment skills and headed to the tower. Do to the rain and limited visibility, we skipped the tower climb and headed down the horse tail to the Dry Ridge trail.

The rain had stopped as we continued our hike. The last couple of fingers on the Northwest side of the lake would be a good place for a bridge. As before, no changes had been made in the last two years and you are still balancing on tree branches crossing over water and mud.

On the North end of the lake where the trail crosses, it is mainly swamp. There is a variety of makeshift bridges in this area. One is actually just under the water level. It makes you wonder how a park that has a boardwalk over a mile long over a swamp wouldn't be able to make a couple of short bridges.

We made it back to the truck and celebrated later at a Waffle House.

Pictures:

Sheltowee Part VI

Day one: 6.7 miles………………..............……Outcast Total: 942.45 Miles
Day Two: 12.56 miles
Day Three: 12.52 miles
Day Four:7.29
Total: 39.07 miles


For our first five day hike of this season we decided to keep up a couple of traditions including the no sleep the shift before and snow on the hike.

We had a lot of time to study on this section of the Sheltowee and even some more information about the trail has been put out. The Thru-Hiker's Manual for the Sheltowee Trace by Scot Ward is a gotta have for this trail. You can get it from the Sheltowee Trace Organization

After sleeping an hour and a half in a row the night before, we started our five hour drive to the Natural Bridge State Resort Park in Kentucky. Troy drove while Marco navigated. In between snoring, I tried to interpret for Marco so Troy could understand where he was driving to. Greg and Shadow could not make this trip.

As we pulled off the road to get some lunch, Troy saw a man on the side of the road holding one of those signs "Will work for food". Troy stopped and told him to hop in. Well it turned out that it was an advertising sign not a work for food sign.

Right about the time we were going to stop for lunch, I noticed the time change. That is also the time that I realized that we would be missing our ride to the trailhead by an hour. Oops. Luke Moffett was going to meet us at Natural Bridge and take us to Turkey Foot campground. He runs a taxi service out of the Natural Bridge State Park area if anyone needs a ride to trailheads. A super good guy! A phone call was made and we met shortly after the scheduled time.

There was a lot of smoke in the Natural Bridge area as they were fighting a wildland fire for the last month just North in the Red River Gorge area. They had a ban on burning and gave us two numbers to call for more information. Of course no one would answer either phone number.

When Luke dropped us off at the trailhead, I noticed that his trunk was a little wet. The mouth piece on my bladder had gotten squeezed and I lost two liters of water into his trunk and his down sleeping bag that he keeps in the trunk. My bad!

So after Luke left, we picked up our stuff and headed out. I filled the bladder at the first water source which was at mm 154.84 at the cave. We made it about a half mile short of Alcorn Branch when we ran out of day light. We found us a spot and called it camp.

I don't think anyone had trouble sleeping the first night on the trail. We got to listen to owls while we ate dinner and see the stars shine.

The next morning we got up at daylight and hit the trail. Alcorn Branch was dry! I looked down stream and saw a drop off. After some investigating, there is a spring over the drop off with about three foot of water in it. We stopped and filled up.

As we hiked this section we noticed that there was smoke all through the river gorge below. We thought that this was a long way off for smoke to be traveling from the Red River Gorge area.

At mm160.68 There is an overhang with a spring in it if ya need some water too. Shortly after that there is some big rocks in the trail that Marco loss his footing on and did an old fashion face plant. I held his pack still until he got his footing back so he wouldn't do that face scrape maneuver.

We walked through the big town of Arvel. There is zero stores here if you need anything. At Hale Ridge Road we chose to hike the road over the 1.6 mile of trail that is overgrown. When the trail came back to the road I wanted to get on the trail and Troy wanted to hike the road until it met up again. We decided that Marco would have to make the deciding vote. Marco asked for a secret ballet. After a much needed laugh Troy headed down the trail.

Other than needing some trees cut in this section, the trail was well marked and clear. We stopped at a spring in the otherwise dry creek bed for lunch. We were going to air out the tarps and sleeping bags. As soon as we got the tarps set up it started to rain. OK plan B sit under tarps and eat lunch. It sprinkled on us the rest of the day.

We made it to Heidelberg that night and camped on the South side of the bridge out by some corn fields. We ate under tarps and went to bed. It poured that night beating the tarps.

By morning the rain had stopped and we headed into town across the bridge. Heidelberg has a post office about the size of my living room. It looks more like a small shed. There is no store in town and obviously no one has a cell phone as there is no service. We started out big climb up the mountain on hwy 399. Hwy 399 is a dangerous road to hike. There is limited view and no shoulders to walk on. At the top there is a grave yard where you get a phone signal. We called and checked in.

Conveniently Country Mart and Deli is a good place for resupply, or in our case lunch. The lady working there let us use her trees to hang our stuff out to dry and offered the water spigot out back to fill up.

After lunch we hiked on to Mays Food Mart where they have a resturant as well as a store. This would be a great place for lunch or dinner if you got there at the right time. She also offered a spigot between the house and store if you need water.

The next part of the trial is not marked so you really need the trail discription to find your way. You walk down a paved road to a gravel road which desends down into the gorge. From there you walk a four wheeler path to a trail to a creek bed. The campsite at mm 182.82 is the only campsite until the oil storage at 183.98.

We stopped after crossing the Bald Rock Fork at the overhang as it started to rain again. We heard a large bang which sounded like a blasting but too long. After a couple of more we figured out that it was lightning and it was echoing off the bluffs around us. We stayed a little longer as the rain poured down.

After the storm, we hiked to where the trail goes down the creek bed. I don't know what you would do if the creek was running. There are bluff walls on either side of the creek.

We got to the Oil storage area and found a place out in the woods to make camp. It was wet and after we ate and got in the bunks, the rain let loose again. Between last night and tonight, we did us some sleeping.

We got up and hit the trail. We stopped at the creek by the bridge at mm 184.47 and filled up with water. We hiked to Big Bend Road and found us spot to air out our goods again. We had one fellow stop and ask if we were fighting the fire. No, we are just hikers from Tennessee.

After getting things dry we hiked on to mm 188.52 where we came across two forestry trucks sitting in the middle of the road with a load of fire trucks and vehicles on the other side of them.

When we walked up to them I told them that I wasn't expecting to see them yet as the fire was North of Natural Bridge. They informed us that we had hit the end of our hike as a new fire was burning here involving 1700 acres. Soooo after they tackled Troy who tryed to run past them yelling "you can't stop me"! They gave us a ride back to our car. We were about five miles from hiking to the car.

Pictures:

Longhunter V

Long Hunter.........................Trail Rating.............Outcasts Total: 903.38 Miles
Volunteer Trail...6.0 Miles.........Easy
Day Loop............2.0Miles..........Easy
Volunteer Trail...6.0Miles..........Easy
Day Loop............2.0Miles..........Easy
Total………………16.0 Miles

Of the many many people that said that they were going to show up and start hiking with us this year, the original outcasts were the only ones at the trail head this year to start the annual beginning of the season hike.

Greg and Troy were talking about their lightweight backpacks and passing them around. They had made some progress!

The four of us and Shadow headed out. We had some gentle gale force winds blowing, but the temperature had not dropped out the bottom of the thermometer yet. The trees were showing color and there were areas of yellow leaves that we got to hike through.

The trip to camp was pretty much uneventful as we basically walked and caught up on where we were in our lives. For some reason my recent marriage was brought up alot. Not really sure why, but it provided entertainment.

We had gotten on the trail by 10am and figuring that we would be first to camp being a Friday, we were surprised to see a hammock hanging in camp along with a number of coolers. Well, surprise to me and Marco....... Craig had taken his boat to the camp and brought beer and burgers. LIFE IS GOOD! This also explained why Greg and Troy's packs were so lightweight.

Greg not only showed off his new Crocks, he showed us how he can collect fishing lures with them. Cool new benefit. Thinking about a new pair myself now.

There might have been some cough medicine taken while the burgers cooked and we suffered through another survival camp as the season began.

After the campfire got going Greg provided us with much entertainment as we worked out our sides with laughter. We had a peaceful night except when an owl did a little screeching and flew through camp. The next morning we headed out.

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