- Joined
- Mar 21, 2007
- Messages
- 945
I wish I had realized earlier that we didn't have batteries for the camera, but by the time I did I didn't want to make another stop, so unfortunately there are no pics to go with this post.
I've been having difficulty all summer with my cars, so this was the first time I've gotten to get out of the city in waaaay too long.
My girlfriend and I went backpacking in the Charles C Deam wilderness area in the Hoosier National Forrest last weekend. I knew that the heat and lack of rain that we've had here were going to be very important factors in the hike, and it turns out that it was a very good thing that I had thought about it ahead of time.
We stopped at the visitor's center as we entered the wilderness area to check on conditions. Unfortunately though, we arrived a little late in the day and there was no one on duty there. There was nothing posted on the bulletin board about a burn ban thoiugh, which made me happy. . . It meant that I could take my big clunky propane stove out of my pack and cook over a fire. We headed up the gravel road to the trail head and there were no bulletins posted there either.
We took a trail that leads down into a narrow valley/ravine. I got stung by a bee for no apparent reason on the way down. . . he stung me through the top of my sock, just above the top of the boot. I don't know if he got a leg tangled in the fuzz of the sock or what. The worst of the pain had faded by the time we got to the bottom of the switchbacks that lead down the slope. I took a pain killer and smeared some antibiotic ointment and anti-itch creme on the sting and we pushed on. I was a little disappointed when we got to the bottom because I had been hoping that there would at least be a few pools left in the creek that the trail follows and crosses several times. We followed it downstream for about a quarter mile or maybe a half mile, hoping to find someplace to refill our water bottles, but no luck. There were a few damp spots but most of the creek was bone dry. We decided to head back to a camp sight we had seen not too far from the bottom of the slope that the trail came down. I gathered some firewood and got a small fire going (there was a ton of birch bark laying around. . . I think that was one of the fastest, easiest fires I've ever started), then made a fast trek back up the trail to the parking area and grabbed the 2 gallons of water I had left there, just in case we couldn't find any on the trail. I made a sling out of my cordage and tied the two jugs together and hung them over my neck, steadied and partially supported them with my arms. It worked surpriosingly well, and I still made pretty good time. I think it was just over a mile from the trail head to our camp and I made the round trip in about 45 minutes. . . Not bad at all for my fat butt. . . and got back just as it was starting to get too dark to move around too much without a light. I had my headlight in my pocket, but wouldn't have been able to move as fast in the dark, even using that.
A s a side note. . . On the way up to the parking area I passed another couple on their way in. The next morning we saw them pass our camp sight, hiking out very early. They didn't look like they had had a very comfortable night, and I heard an empty water bottle clanking against something else on one of their packs. . . I think they had been relying on finding water in that creek.
After I got back to camp I got our hammocks set up and stoked up the fire and boiled water to make our dehydrated backpacking dinner, a very yummy curry with lentils and rice and veggies. My girlfriend went to bed not too long after dinner and I stayed up for a while with the fire.
I definitely know better by now, but for some reason I didn't put anything underneath me before I climbed into my hammock. I woke up a couple of hours later freezing my tail off, and had to get up and rearrange things to put an extra layer under me and put my socks back on and spend a few minutes warming up by the coals of the fire before I could get back to sleep again. My girlfriend apparently remembered to arrange her blankets properly, and slept through the night with no trouble.
We spent the next morning just lounging around camp, eating breakfast, lounging around some more, and napping. We went for a short hike without the packs and got chased around by horseflies. Then, after lunch we started breaking camp, packed up, and headed back to the car.
It was a great hike, but a little short. We were taking it extra easy because of the heat and because we haven't had a chance to do much hiking and we're pretty out of shape. If we had really needed to there was a pond further around the loop that we could have filled up on water at, but it's about a 4 or 5 mile loop and we didn't feel like lugging our packs all the way around.
Since this IS a knife forum, I guess I should mention the cutlery that I took along. I had my cheap khukri, Swiss Tool, Delica and a 4 inch fixed blade that I made from an Atlanta Cutlery kit years ago, but recently cleaned up and finished the handle a bit nicer. I really only used the khukri and delica though, both for making our fire. My girlfriend had a baby khukri and CRKT K-AT in her pack and a Spyderco Dragonfly in her pocket. She only used the Dragonfly though, for cutting some cord. I'm probably going to replace the khukri with a Fiskars hatchet before the next hike. I mostly use it for limbing and a little light chopping, and a little splitting, and I think the hatchet will serve me a bit better for those tasks. I wish I could afford a GB hatchet, but I think I'll have to go with the Fiskars for now.
Sorry for the long winded post, but I was so happy to finally get out into the woods this summer, and I wanted to share.
I've been having difficulty all summer with my cars, so this was the first time I've gotten to get out of the city in waaaay too long.
My girlfriend and I went backpacking in the Charles C Deam wilderness area in the Hoosier National Forrest last weekend. I knew that the heat and lack of rain that we've had here were going to be very important factors in the hike, and it turns out that it was a very good thing that I had thought about it ahead of time.
We stopped at the visitor's center as we entered the wilderness area to check on conditions. Unfortunately though, we arrived a little late in the day and there was no one on duty there. There was nothing posted on the bulletin board about a burn ban thoiugh, which made me happy. . . It meant that I could take my big clunky propane stove out of my pack and cook over a fire. We headed up the gravel road to the trail head and there were no bulletins posted there either.
We took a trail that leads down into a narrow valley/ravine. I got stung by a bee for no apparent reason on the way down. . . he stung me through the top of my sock, just above the top of the boot. I don't know if he got a leg tangled in the fuzz of the sock or what. The worst of the pain had faded by the time we got to the bottom of the switchbacks that lead down the slope. I took a pain killer and smeared some antibiotic ointment and anti-itch creme on the sting and we pushed on. I was a little disappointed when we got to the bottom because I had been hoping that there would at least be a few pools left in the creek that the trail follows and crosses several times. We followed it downstream for about a quarter mile or maybe a half mile, hoping to find someplace to refill our water bottles, but no luck. There were a few damp spots but most of the creek was bone dry. We decided to head back to a camp sight we had seen not too far from the bottom of the slope that the trail came down. I gathered some firewood and got a small fire going (there was a ton of birch bark laying around. . . I think that was one of the fastest, easiest fires I've ever started), then made a fast trek back up the trail to the parking area and grabbed the 2 gallons of water I had left there, just in case we couldn't find any on the trail. I made a sling out of my cordage and tied the two jugs together and hung them over my neck, steadied and partially supported them with my arms. It worked surpriosingly well, and I still made pretty good time. I think it was just over a mile from the trail head to our camp and I made the round trip in about 45 minutes. . . Not bad at all for my fat butt. . . and got back just as it was starting to get too dark to move around too much without a light. I had my headlight in my pocket, but wouldn't have been able to move as fast in the dark, even using that.
A s a side note. . . On the way up to the parking area I passed another couple on their way in. The next morning we saw them pass our camp sight, hiking out very early. They didn't look like they had had a very comfortable night, and I heard an empty water bottle clanking against something else on one of their packs. . . I think they had been relying on finding water in that creek.
After I got back to camp I got our hammocks set up and stoked up the fire and boiled water to make our dehydrated backpacking dinner, a very yummy curry with lentils and rice and veggies. My girlfriend went to bed not too long after dinner and I stayed up for a while with the fire.
I definitely know better by now, but for some reason I didn't put anything underneath me before I climbed into my hammock. I woke up a couple of hours later freezing my tail off, and had to get up and rearrange things to put an extra layer under me and put my socks back on and spend a few minutes warming up by the coals of the fire before I could get back to sleep again. My girlfriend apparently remembered to arrange her blankets properly, and slept through the night with no trouble.
We spent the next morning just lounging around camp, eating breakfast, lounging around some more, and napping. We went for a short hike without the packs and got chased around by horseflies. Then, after lunch we started breaking camp, packed up, and headed back to the car.
It was a great hike, but a little short. We were taking it extra easy because of the heat and because we haven't had a chance to do much hiking and we're pretty out of shape. If we had really needed to there was a pond further around the loop that we could have filled up on water at, but it's about a 4 or 5 mile loop and we didn't feel like lugging our packs all the way around.
Since this IS a knife forum, I guess I should mention the cutlery that I took along. I had my cheap khukri, Swiss Tool, Delica and a 4 inch fixed blade that I made from an Atlanta Cutlery kit years ago, but recently cleaned up and finished the handle a bit nicer. I really only used the khukri and delica though, both for making our fire. My girlfriend had a baby khukri and CRKT K-AT in her pack and a Spyderco Dragonfly in her pocket. She only used the Dragonfly though, for cutting some cord. I'm probably going to replace the khukri with a Fiskars hatchet before the next hike. I mostly use it for limbing and a little light chopping, and a little splitting, and I think the hatchet will serve me a bit better for those tasks. I wish I could afford a GB hatchet, but I think I'll have to go with the Fiskars for now.
Sorry for the long winded post, but I was so happy to finally get out into the woods this summer, and I wanted to share.