Sunday morning, we slept later than expected … past 8:00 am! I’m not a morning person, but I’m usually up earlier than that when camping. We got up, made breakfast and coffee, packed up our tents, and headed out for our second big ride of the weekend.

The route Tim had planned for this day was 60 miles. We thought it would be easier than Saturday’s route, though, because it had less climbing. There were a few factors we didn’t know about/didn’t take into consideration — extremely rugged road surfaces, and several flat miles meant the climbing was more concentrated we realized. As a result Sunday’s ride ended up being at least as difficult as Saturday’s, or perhaps even more difficult. Here is the route we rode.

Our ride started on the same 6-mile flat gravel road as before. This time, instead of getting onto the paved road from Saturday, we turned onto another gravel road. The route was surprisingly flat and deceptively easy for the first 15 miles or so. The road we were on followed a beautiful creek through a valley for quite a few miles, and we passed a horse farm or two. I think we were all very stiff from Saturday’s ride and sleeping on the ground. For me, at least, it took quite a while for my legs to loosen up.

We saw another footbridge, this one had supports made of oil drums. Sketchy?

At times, the trees formed a tunnel around us. The sunlight turned orange as it filtered through the leaves, and leaves fell and blew all around us as we rode. It was a beautiful scene.

We came across a spot in the creek that had a HUGE rock, and a rope swing. What fun!

I forget what this green plant is, but Tim mentioned its name. In areas everything was overgrown with this green crawler.

After a while, we turned onto a paved road, which remained relatively flat as well.

We had a few moments of confusion with the route, but we eventually figured out where to go. Our road immediately went into a brutal climb, 1.5 miles and over 500 feet of elevation gain.

The road continued with some major ups and downs. Now, this road was just amazing. A very narrow, one-lane road through the woods, sometimes winding its way along the edge of ravines. We saw very few signs of civilization along the road. This road was so remote and little-traveled that we were pondering why it even existed! Along the way, we saw more interesting rock formations. The climbing was brutal, but … what a beautiful road!

Here we are looking back on where we came from.

After a while of this, we ended up on a gravel road. Not your typical gravel road, this one was quite rough with many large loose rocks. The riding was very rough and sketchy for many miles.

We did see some rhododendron, which I am always a big fan of. I hadn’t seen any since I left Pennsylvania.

Here are Tim and Dave on one of the rollers.

Frankly, this road became a drag. It featured some rolling hills, some very tough climbs and descents,  and very little flat riding. At many points you could tell that you were close to a nice view, but couldn’t see through the trees. It got a bit frustrating. Also on this stretch of road, Tim got the only flat tire any of us would see the entire weekend.

We did find this very cool rock face with a cave in it.

There were some more really tough climbs. Eventually we started running out of water again. Argh! I brought 4 bottles, I think the other guys each brought 5. And yet, it wasn’t enough. I had brought my water filter with me, but there were no streams or water of any kind to filter from. We just had to keep going. I even walked a few hills, not because I couldn’t make it up them, but because I knew if I pushed it too hard without water, I’d be in bad shape.

When we left Daniel Boone National Forest, I was hoping things would improve.

We entered Tennessee.

At this point, things *did* improve, at least somewhat. The road got smoother and had better flow to it. The climbs weren’t as steep. It was actually really beautiful and fun riding.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to enjoy it very much. We had simply been on this road for too long, with its pleasant-but-samey scenery, lack of water (or anything, really), etc. It would be pleasant on a normal day, but we needed a change.

Eventually, we entered Pickett State Forest.

And, after what seemed like forever, arrived the next road we would take, and it was paved!

Riding on smooth pavement felt absolutely sublime, after all that gravel. And before long, we found water.

My mood, and my riding, took an immediate turn for the better. Unfortunately Tim and David were both feeling sick by this time, but once rehydrated, I was feeling pretty good. I did my best to help them along. This paved road was a real stunner. Beautiful scenery, great downhills, doable (but challenging) climbs, and no traffic whatsoever. And like Saturday, the sky filled with clouds in the afternoon. It got cooler and less harsh on the eyes. Things were looking up, from my perspective.

We entered Pickett State Park.

Tim and David were struggling with the climbs. We just stuck together and after a while they, too, started feeling better again. In a way this started to feel like a century ride, or another long ride, where you hit a wall but ultimately get over it, feel better, and start enjoying the ride again. This ride wasn’t that long in terms of mileage, but it was in terms of time, and climbing.

I couldn’t get enough of the sweeping descents, and climbs, on this road!

The sky grew increasingly ominous, but no rain fell.

We re-entered Big South Fork, and Kentucky.

After a while — too soon if you ask me, I could have ridden on this beautiful paved road all day — we turned onto another gravel road, and stopped for another shot of the three Truckers.

I was a little nervous about this gravel road. I knew we’d be on it for about eight miles. If it turned out to be as difficult as the earlier gravel roads, we might have a really hard time with it.

Fortunately, this road was not as rough as the earlier ones, and did not have any huge climbs. Just some moderate rolling hills, and some beautiful views. By this time it was getting a little dark so we switched our lights on.

We went into a steep, loose, washboarded, rocky descent. I was having problems retaining enough traction. Finally, almost at the bottom of the hill, my front wheel washed out and I went down. I tried to do a leaping dismount, like I had on Saturday, but it didn’t work this time. Fortunately I was going quite slowly at the time and didn’t hit the ground too hard. I scraped my leg and landed funny on my hand, but no real injuries occurred. The worst of it is the scrape on my leg, which covers a sort of large area, but it’s not deep at all. I got back on the bike. It figures I’d wipe out in the last 7 miles of an epic weekend of riding!

Soon we were back on the road back our campground.

We arrived safely back at the campground, loaded the bikes up, and Tim drove us back to Louisville. Once there I had to drive the two hours home. I didn’t get home until about 2:30 am. I’ve been tired and sore all week, but it’s certainly been worth it!

I’ve been thinking about these rides a lot the past couple of days. I had a great time, and it makes me long for more adventure!

Note: this is Part 1. Read Part 2 here. Also, Tim’s Part 1 is here. David has a writeup here.

I had never been down to this area before; I found it beautiful, rugged, and extremely hilly. We rode 54 miles Saturday and 60 on Sunday, but we underestimated how difficult it would be. Between the rough gravel and the wild changes in elevation, we ended up riding 8 hours or more each day.

Saturday started early. I had driven down to Louisville Friday night and stayed at David’s house. Tim arrived around 6am Saturday, with a box of donuts. We loaded up on coffee, put our gear and bikes in/on Tim’s car, and made the 4-hour trip down to Big South Fork, eating donuts along the way. A glorious breakfast. Once we arrived, we found a campsite in the remote Great Meadow campground and got ready to ride. Here is our route from Saturday:

Our ride began on the road to the campground. Since the campground was at the end of a long, flat gravel road following a creek, we had a beautiful, easy warmup/cooldown on this road for each of our rides.

After our warmup, we found ourselves on a paved road with a big, long climb. This first climb of the ride actually turned out to be the longest, and probably had the most elevation gain of any climb we did. But that is not to say that it would be the hardest. Far from it. This hill was paved and mostly not too steep, unlike some of the others.

We started to get a sense of the scenery. We were pleased to see more fall colors than we expected, big hills, and a lot of interesting rock bluffs.

Here is Tim climbing. You can see David in the background, coming around a switchback.

This climb reminded me a bit of my favorite climb out of the valley in Pennsylvania. Long, but fairly gradual. In a low gear you spin your way slowly up the hill. The PA climb was bigger, but this had a similar feeling.

There’s a nice view of distant hills, behind David.

We turned onto Skullbone Tower Road, and almost immediately saw this bicycle perched on a roof.

Despite its morbid name, Skullbone Tower Road was actually quite pleasant, and not overly difficult. It was a meandering ridgetop road with some minor fluctuations in elevation, some fun twists, a good flow, and some fantastic views.

After a brief stint on a very quiet state highway, we turned onto Jones Hollow Road for our first major downhill of the weekend, and it was spectacular. It was a paved road, so we were able to go quiet fast with good traction. The road descended some 500 feet over the course of nearly two miles, with numerous twists and turns along the way, all the while skirting rock cliffs and offering some wonderful views. I had a stupid grin plastered on my face the whole way down. I couldn’t be bothered to attempt to take photos … the riding was just too good!

I did stop at this intersection. I would continue riding downhill in the left fork. Later, we would return via the gravel road on the right.

Once in the valley, we would have some relatively flat riding on smooth pavement for a while. The scenery just kept getting better.

At one point we passed a horse-drawn wagon. The folks in it were friendly and enthusiastic, and quite curious about what we were doing.  One girl charmingly exclaimed in a sweet southern belle voice, “We never see no bikes!”

We rode on.

Eventually we turned down a steep gravel hill, on a road we weren’t sure would go through. This shot is looking back up at the road we came down.

We were all amazed by this suspension pedestrian bridge over the creek.

We could also see that the road did in fact go through … straight through a rather wide creek! It was shallow, however, and passable.

But we took this opportunity to explore a bit and have a snack. David climbed up on the bridge. I didn’t. I sort of wish I had, it was quite cool.

Tim and I rode through the creek. David decided to take his shoes off. This SUV came through and had a bit of trouble getting through the creek — but he made it.

Here’s Tim, having already crossed the creek. If you view it larger, in the background you can see the bridge, and David preparing to ride across.

David rode across barefoot. Apparently the pedals hurt his feet. Ouch!

We had quite a gravel climb up from the creek (~400 feet), then some easier, paved riding.

This easier section was enjoyable because it afforded us more opportunity to pay attention to the scenery.

We got to see quite a few more interesting rock cliffs and bluffs and other formations.

As well as some beautiful bucolic scenes.

We tackled a quite challenging gravel climb.

Soon we found ourselves on a ridge with some wonderful views of some fields and hills, and had some really fun, flowing gravel riding on the incredible Freedom Road. But not before getting a photo of our three Long Haul Truckers first. Yes! We each rode a LHT. It was a great bicycle for this ride.

Soon the road entered the woods and took us down a hill.

We rode past a church … there were tons of these little Baptist churches in random places, and they all looked nearly identical. White, mostly with green roofs. This one had a white roof I guess, so not exactly identical to the others, but it’s still the same basic design.

We reached a creek — the same creek we had crossed before. Now we had to cross it again.

Another suspension bridge was quite interesting.

A man was sitting by his pickup truck down by the creek. We never were able to figure out what the heck he was doing there. He was a little creepy …  a bit of a Deliverance moment. We needed water but with the old guy creeping me out, I didn’t think to filter any from the stream. This creek crossing was rockier, slipperier, and harder than the first one.

After the creek is where an absolutely outrageous climb began. Nearly two miles and 500 feet of elevation gain, all on a very rough, rocky, loose gravel road. Some sections were so steep that our tires could not get purchase on the gravel and they spun out beneath us as we attempted to climb. This was the toughest climb of the day for me. Being basically out of water, relentless climbing in the heat, on basically a mountain biking surface, I was at a low point. I stopped a few times to catch my breath on the way up.

To make matters worse, once we got to the top, we had some more major ups and downs. These were fun but each time we would start to lose that elevation we worked so hard to gain, it was a little disconcerting. We also saw several 4-wheelers along this section, whose vehicles kicked up untold amounts of dust. More interesting rock formations presented themselves.

Somewhere along here, on a steep loose gravel downhill, I braked too hard and I felt my front wheel wash out from under me. I managed to do a leaping dismount and land on my feet! I’ve only been able to pull off that maneuver a couple of times … previously when mountain biking.

The riding was brutal, but at least the scenery was good.

Eventually we made our way back to Jones Hollow Road. What was a blistering downhill before was a very slow climb now. I took advantage of the opportunity to get better views of the rock cliffs.

We reached KY 92 again and spent a few minutes on that, with some more good views. I missed most of the photo ops here though. By this point, we were in dire need of water.

Finally, we found a fire department and got water from their hose. We had a snack while we were at it and tried to rehydrate.

When we got rolling again we enjoyed another incredible paved descent. This one had great flow, and it was absolutely exhilarating!

We turned onto Wolf Creek Road which had a very tough climb. As we were climbing several dogs gave chase and their owner yelled something like “I’ll let you kill them for $20! Or, you can just take them!” I guess he didn’t much care for his dogs.

Here are some scenes from the climb. It was long and brutal, but I was feeling better after getting some water. I felt surprisingly decent at this point. The sky was clouding up which to me was quite welcome. The sun had been so bright and hot, earlier.

After what seemed like forever, we reached the top and turned onto Rattlesnake Ridge.

This road had some mild rolling hills and I was feeling pretty good. By this time Tim was cooked. I’m not sure how David was feeling at this point. I enjoyed the gently meandering road and even the climbs a bit. I guess I got a second wind after we got more water. A few nice views along the way didn’t hurt, either.

Next we got to ride back down the paved climb from the start of the day, and it was a hoot! A paved road with no traffic and lots of twists and turns had me leaning into the turns and really having a blast. I guess this must’ve been the third absolutely blissful paved descent of the day … and I sure felt we had earned it!

Once at the bottom of the hill, the road turned to gravel and we were on the flat 6-mile road back to our campsite. It was a pleasant way to wind down the ride, though at times it felt like a very long stretch of road, because we were tired and it was nearly dark. Still, it was lovely.

It was an astoundingly great day on the bike. We were all tired when we got back to our campsite. We set up camp, made dinner and goofed around for a couple of hours, before crashing. What a day!

Note: this is Part 1. Read Part 2 here.

Saturday

We had some things to do earlier in the day on Saturday, so we didn’t get down there until late in the afternoon.

We were a little worried about going on this particular weekend, because it was opening weekend of firearms deer-hunting season. We arrived to find that the place was nearly vacant. We picked out a nice campsite in a pine forest, and we basically had an entire campground to ourselves. We set up camp. By the time we were done, it was dark. We set out for a night hike.

We hiked the Sawmill Hollow Interpretive Trail. We had hiked this once before, during the day. It felt quite different at night, and we saw glowing eyes looking back at us a few times, illuminated by our lights. We stopped at a bench and turned our lights off. Suddenly, we could see a lake. Sometimes, you have to turn the light off in order to see. It was a wonderful hike of about two miles, and we had a lot of fun.

By the time we got back to our campsite, we were very hungry. We had brought some pork chops to cook. I got a fire going and Sarah cooked the pork chops for a few minutes in a skillet, on our propane stove. Once the fire was ready, we moved the pork chops onto the grill over the fire. It’s hard to judge how long to cook things this way, but we got it just right this time. The meat was tender and juicy and picked up a lot of the smoke flavor. Some of the best pork chops I’d ever had.

We got to bed fairly early … we were tired, and there wasn’t much else we wanted to do anyway.

Sunday

We woke up reasonably early on Sunday … but not too early. I’m not sure what time it was … nor was I too concerned with the time. One thing I enjoy about trips like this is not having to worry about the time.

I had slept quite well. Sarah did not sleep as well, and she had a headache. I built a small fire and we had some breakfast.

Another nice feature of our campsite was that it was within very close walking distance of Knob Lake. This lake had been drained last time we were here, but it has been filled back in.

After breakfast, we packed up our campsite and headed over to the trailhead for a hike. We wanted to hike Trail 1 up to Mount Baldy (aka Pinnacle Peak). Longtime readers of this blog may recognize this as the place where I proposed to Sarah back in February of 2008. It’s an out-and-back trail, one mile each way, but it’s very rugged and feels a lot longer. Later, I would hike some additional trails. Here’s a map and elevation profile.

View 2009-11-15 Trails 1, 2, 3 at Jackson-Washington SF in a larger map

The trail starts with a long climb up to the remains of an old observation tower. The climb starts gradually, but soon steepens.

From here, the trail traverses a series of hills. It goes straight down the hillside — so steep it’s hard to even walk down. Then it turns and goes straight up the next hill. It repeats this pattern a few times. It’s hard, but the scenery is beautiful.

We reached the top to find a group of people hanging out, their kids goofing around, etc. This certainly put a damper on the romantic aspect of the hike, but we stuck around for a while and they eventually left. In the meantime, we took in the views and ate some lunch.

We headed back the way we came … and the repeated hills were just as difficult on the way back. But we were in a good mood and enjoyed it anyway.

After a while, we were back at the old observation tower. We discussed the possibility of hiking more. Sarah didn’t feel up for it, but she suggested that I go and hike some more and meet her back at the car. Just as we were debating whether Rob would go with me or with Sarah, he laid down on the ground, obviously very tired. That settled that …

So, we parted ways here, for a little while.  I wasn’t really sure how far I’d be hiking, or how long it would take me. I settled into a rather vigorous pace. I figured the hills would be a little easier on this trail (Trail 2);  it was described as “Moderately Rugged,” whereas Trail 1 had been “Rugged.” However, these hills were just as difficult — if not even harder. The trail was never flat for very long, it was always going up, or down, steeply.

However, the views were spectacular. I almost forgot I was in Indiana; the land surrounding these huge hills (“knobs”) is quite flat, which makes the hills seem much bigger. And the trail followed some narrow ridge tops, with drastic ravines on either side.

You could say that these trails are not very well-designed. Generally, they go straight up each hill, and straight down the other side, with no attempt at making the grades more manageable or the climbs more gradual. However, these trails had a unique character all their own, and I felt that the design (or lack thereof) gave me a better appreciation for the sharp relief of the landscape.

And let’s not forget the views …

The map showed an overlook on a short side trail. I reached the side trail, only to find the trail blocked, by this:

I made my way through the debris, and there were some nice views, but not really much better than what I had been seeing along the main trail.

From here, I headed back. I would take Trail 2 until its intersection with Trail 3, which would take me back down to the car. The hiking was still quite difficult, for a while.

But, did I mention the views?

Eventually, I got on Trail 3. It was a little easier. There were still a few ups and downs at first, but they weren’t as steep as Trails 1 and 2.

After a couple of hills, the trail descended rather sharply, for quite a while. I reached the bottom, where I was finally on flat ground. I crossed a creek, and almost immediately reached the parking lot.

Incredibly, this hike was under four miles. It felt a lot longer, with the relentless hills. But the effort paid off with some great views.

My wife was waiting in the car for me. I don’t think she’d been waiting too terribly long … I really booked it during the second half of this hike. We relaxed for a few minutes and talked about the hike, and then drove home.

I slept much better than I usually do when I’m camping. I mostly attribute this to the fact that I brought a real pillow AND a smaller pillow with me. For whatever reason, I’ve got to have my pillows! I did wake up a couple of times during the night, but I fell back asleep right away.

I woke up, squinting as the sun was shining brightly. I heard the pitter-patter of a mouse running around my tent. I had no sense of what time it was. It felt like I had slept in, and I hoped Dave hadn’t been up and waiting for me for too long. It turned out it was 8:30, and Dave had also just gotten up.

Dave started a small fire and I heated water for coffee and oatmeal. We also had donuts … which were quite tasty, but surprisingly cold.

I’m a coffee lover, and I had purchased some Starbucks “VIA” instant coffee so we could try that. It was extremely convenient, as it was just instant coffee in pre-measured packets. I thought it was pretty good. I preferred it with cream and sugar … if it had been a little bit better, I would have had it black. I wouldn’t buy it all the time, but it was perfect for camping — no need for a percolator or French Press or other device, and we still had good coffee.

Anyway, after we had breakfast and coffee, we headed over to the fire tower area for some hiking.

We were doing the Old Axsom Branch hike in the Deam Wildnerness area.  I had never done this hike before … most of it is unmaintained or has no trail at all. It seemed like something that would work better with a guide. Dave has hiked this trail numerous times and knows his way around, so this worked out perfectly. Here’s a map.

View 2009-11-08 Old Axsom Branch Hike in a larger map

The hike started along a fire road on top of a ridge. We then turned off onto a trail that followed another ridge for a bit, before descending into the ravines below.

A tree with arms

Once in the valley, we followed a creek for a bit …

And bushwhacked through a meadow to this old cabin. As you can see, a tree fell on it recently.

Soon, we reached Lake Monroe. Apparently if the water is high, the part of the hike down by the lake can be quite difficult, if you have to hike on higher ground with more shrubbery. The lake looked beautiful, as always, and we hiked alongside it for quite some time.

We saw some killer campsites along the way …

… and some very interesting rocks, under water

Soon, we started a long climb up to the top of a ridge. There was no trail, and the first section had a lot of brush, making for a challenging hike. At the same time, leaf cover made it difficult to avoid rocks and other obstacles.

We had some nice views of the lake along the way …

… and saw a see-through tree ….

… and several “sweat lodges” …

… and a bent tree, apparently this was an Indian technique to indicate a turn in the trail.

We followed the ridge for quite a while …

… and eventually reached a spot with some great views of the lake

… and the terraced land, carved by glaciers.

We decided this was our lunch spot. Dave had brought some pita bread, salami, pepperoni, and leftover steak from the night before. This made for a delicious lunch.

We rested for a while and ate some lunch, enjoying both the cool breeze and the warm sun.  We looked out above the water … way, way above the water … above our position on the ridge, even … in time to see three bald eagles soaring across the sky. It had taken a lot of work to get here — bushwhacking through brush, and hiking up to the top of the ridge. But it was well worth it.

After lunch, the hiking was varied. We had more ridgetop hiking, some bushwhacking, and followed a faint horse trail for a while.

We reached Terrill Pond, which Sarah and I have visited a couple of times before. It’s always beautiful, and on this day, the lily pads were changing colors. Just lovely.

Soon, we were back on the fire road and headed back out of the woods. But we had a couple more miles to hike from here. We checked out a few campsites along the way … there are lots of great options for backpacking in the Deam Wilderness.

At the end of the hike, we’d gone about six miles. It was a lot of work, but it paid off.

We returned to our campsite to pack up the car. We got all ready to go, and Dave’s car wouldn’t start. The battery didn’t have enough juice. After a few failed attempts at finding someone to jumpstart the car, I called Sarah and she agreed to come pick us up. She had to buy jumper cables, but I’ve been meaning to get some for a while. I’m glad we have some now. Dave’s car started right up when we jump-started it. We headed home … what an awesome camping trip!

When we left off in Part I, we had just prepared for the second ride of the day, this one at night. It was completely dark when we started, but we brought plenty of lights. Of course, that means I don’t have any photos of this ride. However, here is a map.

View 2009-11-07 HNF MTB Camping Trip 2 18-20-19 in a larger map

As we left our campsite, we heard owls hooting some more. We pedaled down the gravel road briefly, and all was quiet except the crunch of the gravel beneath our tires and the whooshing sound of the wind blowing through the pines. We turned onto trail 18, but not the same portion we rode earlier in the day. This section, we had ridden a few times in the past.

On the trail, the surface was gravel, briefly, before changing to dirt. As before, everything was covered in several inches of leaves. Once the gravel ended, the trail conditions varied, with some smooth, dry sections, and some muddy ones.

This trail normally features a blistering descent, but between the mud and the leaves and the fact that it was dark outside, it was slow going, and required a lot more effort than usual just to keep moving — even when going downhill. It was still fun, and we really appreciated the few places we were able to coast. Did I mention it was dark? The moon hadn’t come out yet, unlike some night rides/hikes of the past couple of weeks.

After we reached the bottom of the long hill, we rode through creek bottoms for a while, where trail conditions were better than we expected. We had to push our bikes up part of the long, steep, eroded climb up to the intersection with trail 20.

Normally, the descent on trail 18 is the highlight of this ride. But this time around, trail 20 was the star of the show; it was in better shape, and its twists and turns were a lot of fun in the dark. I led for a while, and was doing well until I missed a turn and suddenly, the trail just ended. I had to slam on my brakes in order to avoid riding into some trees. We laughed it off and backtracked to the proper trail.

This ride was very different from our earlier one. We were more focused on riding, and there was less conversation. This also allowed us to really take in the sounds of the forest: once again, the pines … more owls … a few unidentified noises. But mostly just leaves rustling in the wind and being trampled by our tires. The moon never really did come out while we were riding, but the stars were fantastic, and a planet (venus, I think) looked quite bright. Not bright enough to light our way, but it was a very bright dot in the night sky.

Trail 20 spit us out on another gravel road. We did some climbing on the road and then turned onto trail 19. The last five miles back to our campsite were mostly uphill, alternating gradual climbs with steep ones. This was the hardest part of the ride. We were tired and hungry, and this was our second ride of the day. The mud and leaves made climbing very difficult. We made it, eventually, but it was rather grueling.

We returned to our campsite. Dave had a solid fire going in about 10 minutes, without even striking a match. We made dinner — Dave made steaks, and I cooked beans and pasta. All while drinking some very tasty beer. We weren’t exactly roughing it …

Eventually, the moon rose. But we didn’t see it for very long — we were too tired to stay up.

Dave went to his tent first. I stayed by the fire to watch the stars for a few minutes. But not long. I was worn out, and we had a hike planned for the next day.

To be continued …

Arriving

We had planned on starting our trip on Friday after work, but something came up, so we pushed it back to Saturday morning.  This was not a problem at all, we’d still have plenty of time to do the activities we wanted. Dave picked me up Saturday morning and we headed down to Hoosier National Forest. We hit a snag trying to buy trail passes on the way there — the gas station where we stopped had run out — but we checked Crazy Joe’s Trading Post on Chapel Hill Road, and they had trail passes.

Hoosier National Forest has many campsites spread throughout the forest. Really you can set up camp just about anywhere, but there are some nice designated sites along the side of the gravel roads. We found a great spot by a towering, gnarly old Beech tree and some pines. Our nearest neighbors were about 1/4 mile away. This sure beats staying in a crowded campground.

We parked the car and ate some lunch, then got ready to ride. We could set up camp later.

Saturday afternoon ride

Both of us had cleaned our bikes thoroughly before the ride. Both looked great — in fact, my mountain bike looked better than it had in a long time. That would not last long.

View 2009-11-07 HNF MTB Camping Trip 1 in a larger map

We headed out on our bikes, right from the campsite. We rolled down some gravel roads before we reached our first trail. We decided to ride a part of Hickory Ridge Trail 18 that we’ve never ridden before.

Immediately after we turned onto the trail, we hit deep mud, badly chewed up by horse traffic. Things improved shortly thereafter, but we after that, the trail conditions varied wildly. One moment we’d be speeding down relatively dry trail, the next we’d be mired in muck. And all of it had deep leaf cover, making it difficult to see where the trail went at times.

We followed the top of a ridge for a while, until the ridge ended and we rode steeply down into a ravine.

The terrain is beautiful but very rugged in this area. We’d soon realize that the trail makes no attempt at taking an easier route across the land. We plunged into a ravine, crossed a creek, and climbed up the next hill. Then we went down the other side, and moved onto the next hill. The grades were steep — we had to push our bikes a lot — and the trails were incredibly muddy and suffering from horse damage in many areas.

Another hill to climb

This section of trail was in particularly bad shape

Pushing through the mess

Not that the conditions surprised us. Part of the appeal of riding in Hoosier National Forest is the raw and natural experience.

As we crested another hill, we encountered some horse traffic. We spoke with some of the horseback riders, and I have to say, everyone got along very well. Sometimes encounters with horsemen are unpleasant … and there are certainly mountain bikers out there who don’t yield to the horses or are otherwise rude. But everyone we encountered was friendly and courteous. Some even complimented us on our chosen mode of transportation, impressed that we could ride these hills on bicycles. This lady took our pictures as she rode by; I grabbed my camera and snapped her photo. It’s really great to see different groups of trail users sharing the trails harmoniously.

We turned on Trail 4, which was in somewhat better shape than 18 had been. This took us along another ridge, and down a hill, dumping us out on another gravel road.

We passed Hickory Grove church/cemetery.

By this time, the easier riding on a smooth gravel road gave us a welcome respite from the constant, intense effort of the trails. The leaf cover and mud meant that the trails required more work than usual. The road had some rolling hills, enough to have fun with, but no terribly grueling climbs.

Soon, we reached trail 2. We had ridden here once before, last year. Today things looked much different, with thick leaves covering the trail. This trail started with more great ridgetop riding, with much better trail conditions, followed by a long descent to a creek.

The mud in the creek bottom area was slick, slimy, and deep. After a few creek crossings and riding through mud, our tires got so muddy that the mud was rubbing our chainstays. We had to stop and clear some of the mud with a stick just to keep the wheels turning. We even tried to rinse the mud off in a creek. I also had mud between the pulleys in my rear derailleur. I think the mud was so deep that my derailleur got submerged in it.

It may sound like I’m complaining, but through all this, the scenery remained incredibly beautiful. And while the mud made the riding more challenging, it was a lot of fun.

The trail through a couple more big hills at us, once again just going up and over one hill, then onto the next. And once again, we had to push our bikes up parts of the hills. They were just too steep to ride up, especially since traction wasn’t exactly ideal.

Eventually, we turned onto trail 6 and headed back to the gravel road we’d ridden here. We enjoyed a few more miles of rolling hills on smooth gravel, before turning onto another road, this one with chunky, loose gravel.  At this point in the ride, that wasn’t what either of us needed. The rough gravel made riding very difficult. But, eventually, we turned onto another smooth gravel road and before long, we were back at our campsite. We had covered a bit over 16 miles in about four hours.

Setting up camp

Once back at our campsite, we changed into some clean clothes and talked about the ride over a beer. Our bikes, which had been clean just a few hours before, were now a complete mess.

The same could be said about me …

Sitting there, I looked up and noticed the awesome trees overhead.

We set up camp, and gathered some kindling for later.

We enjoyed watching the sun set, and had a snack …

… and darkness fell. We heard some owls calling to each other. And then a screech, and more hooting. One of them had caught something. We couldn’t see them but they couldn’t have been far from our campsite.

Night had fallen, but we weren’t done yet. We gathered our bike gear and headed out for a night ride.

To be continued …

Annotated route overview

I got a later start than I planned. This is typical for me. Getting up, having breakfast, and breaking down the tent and everything took a lot longer than I expected. The main downside to this was that it was already heating up by the time I hit the road.

Riding

Despite the heat, I was in good spirits. It felt good to be back on the bike, and not being in a hurry makes the heat more tolerable.

Riding through Jackson-Washington State Forest

A pond on the way out

Jackson County is a very interesting place to ride. Most the land is flat, but huge hills (“knobs”) surround you. Sometimes there will be cornfields on both sides of you, and it just feels like you’re riding down the middle of a cornfield. Sometimes there are soybeans planted instead, which give you better views of the hills.

Soy fields and hills

A church

The route I planned was mostly on back roads. I rode a bit on State Road 39, and it was quiet, but you never know with the state highways. Some are nearly vacant and have relatively low speed limits. Some are very busy and have fast traffic. There’s generally no way of knowing which kind of road any given state highway will be until you get there. I stuck with my planned ride on back roads.

It wasn’t long before I hit gravel. Quite suddenly, the pavement ended and I was riding on gravel. It was fairly tightly-packed gravel, and I had a tailwind. I rode around 20 mph on gravel for some time — I was flying, and it felt great.

Where the pavement ends

My bicycle by some corn.

Cornfields and hills

I got a little confused about the route. I thought I went the right way, but soon started seeing things again that I had seen earlier in the ride. I was going in circles. Fortunately, I had brought my Gazetteer and a compass with me. I highly recommend carrying both, if you can. I was able to figure out, fairly easily, where I messed up and where I needed to go. I otherwise would’ve had to make a series of guesses to get myself out of this mess. And I went a good 30 minutes without seeing any cars, so asking for directions wouldn’t have worked too well.

Unfortunately, I had gone several miles out of the way. It took me a while to get back on track. Fortunately, I was really enjoying the scenery and it didn’t bother me too much. I knew that given this mistake, I’d be late to meet Sarah, but there wasn’t much I could do about it at this stage.

Dilapidated barn

I got back on track and had some more gravel riding to do. It wasn’t as smooth this time around, but it was still fun. This road was a bit curvier, and the turns kept me on my toes. It would have been easy to have a wheel wash out, on a bicycle less suited to gravel.

Hay bales

More gravel

I spent quite a while on Waskum Bridge Road. I was hoping this meant I’d be hitting a bridge soon. I went over one small one but I couldn’t imagine they’d name the road after such a small bridge. Sure enough, I soon reached a bigger bridge, with one stream to the west, which branched into two on the east side of the bridge. I looked around for turtles or other wildlife but didn’t see any. I did, however, see a dirt road running alongside the stream. This was awesome, because I’ve been wanting to try riding my new bike on a dirt road, but have had a hard time finding any.

The stream splits

I didn’t ride on the dirt road for very long, but the bike handled quite well while I did. I simply didn’t want to waste too much time, since I was already behind schedule. The tires had good traction, even in the loose dirt. It had been a long time since the last rain and things were quite dusty.

Dirt road

My tire treads in the dust

After a while I ended up back on paved roads, and spent some time on Pumpkin Center Road, a fun, curvy country road. I was hoping I’d get to see a bunch of pumpkins or something, but no such luck. I did see yet another interesting hilltop cemetery.

Pumpkin Center Road

Gater Cemetery

It was around this time that the rolling hills started. No single hill was all that big, but I rode over many hills, one right after the other. It was really getting hot at this point, so I didn’t tackle the hills with as much fervor as I normally would. I was content to spin over gradually. The Trucker’s lower gearing really came into play here and while I was moving slowly, I was able to take on the hills without exhausting myself too much.

Rolling hills on Pumpkin Center Road

I ended up on State Road 39 for a little while, and there was pretty much no traffic. I could have ridden that road most of the way down and it would’ve been more direct and an easier route to follow. However, I really enjoyed the back roads. I soon ended up on Bloomington Trail Road, which had more rolling hills, some of them much bigger. I got turned around a couple of times but soon found my way. The Gazetteer came in handy once again. I also got to ride through the Leota covered bridge, which was pretty cool.

Several times I had tried to talk to Sarah by phone to let her know I was running late, but doing fine. Eventually I managed to communicate that to her, despite the fact that our phones both had poor reception and most of the time, we were only able to exchange greetings before our signals were dropped.

Bloomington Trail Road, with big hills in the distance

A knob

The hills continued getting bigger. Still nothing too hard, but again, cumulatively I was feeling it. But I was almost there. Sarah had told me she and Rob were waiting by a church. When I was in the right area and saw a church, I figured I must have found them.

Arriving at the church

When I pulled into the parking lot, they were waiting for me.

What a greeting!

The ride ended up being longer than I expected by about 10 miles — about 35 miles total. My bicycle was a mess from all the dirt and gravel roads. And so was I. I had a great ride, but I was glad to be done. The heat was getting to me.

Dirty bike

Me

We hung out in the parking lot a little bit. A guy went by repeatedly on a tractor, hauling hay bales one at a time. Sarah said he’d been at it for quite some time. He waved every time he went by.

Hauling hay bales

Brooks saddle, Keven’s Bag, and my Indiana Gazetteer

We put my bike on the bike rack and drove into town to get some lunch. We found a local restaurant where my beef Manhattan looked suspiciously like Sarah’s turkey, except for the color of the gravy. It was one of those small diner-type places where everything is bland and inoffensive. It’s always nice to know where the local mediocre generic American food restaurant is. On our way out we saw the following sign.

FREE FLOYD!

We had planned to hike in Clark State Forest, but it was really hot and we were exhausted. We opted just to drive through. We’ll return there someday soon, I’m sure. The drive through the forest took us to the top of one of the knobs, and it was a steep, twisty climb. I simply must attempt it by bicycle sometime. The car was struggling with it a bit at times. The view from the top is absolutely breathtaking. It’s hard to believe this is the midwest with views like this. The elevation at this point was over 1,000 feet.

View from the top

Another view

It was a beautiful trip. I wished it hadn’t been soon hot as I would’ve loved to explore the area some more. But we were exhausted already, and drove home. We took the scenic route and I showed Sarah some of the things I saw on my way to Jackson-Washington State Forest.

All in all, I’d say the trip was a success. We need to streamline things in the future, but this worked fairly well. I can’t wait to go camping together again. And the touring bug has bit hard, and I’m itching to do an unsupported trip sometime soon.

Starting the hike.

Enjoying ourselves already

A fuzzy vine on a tree

Almost immediately, the trail began climbing, and did so for quite a while. Once we reached the top of that hill, we saw a sign saying the trail is closed for logging. Couldn’t they have put the sign at the bottom of the hill?

Naturally, the part of the trail we planned to hike was closed

However, it appeared based on the sign that they had just closed the trail days before, and it said you could go through if nobody was working. We continued on. All they had done so far was mark a few trees.

It’s really sad how much logging has increased in the state forests. Our current governor has increased logging 400% since taking office. Sad. No, I didn’t vote for him.

The trail followed a ridge briefly but then resumed the constant ups and downs. You’d literally reach the top of a hill and immediately go down the other side, only to climb another hill after that. We crested one hill to see our dog waiting for us.

Rob, waiting at the top of a hill

Steep trail

Rob and I exchange greetings

More steep trail

Sarah

Hiking down

We came around a bend and suddenly Rob ran off the trail and into some brush. We heard some scuffling and wondered what was going on. I tried to get him back, worried that he’d run down the very steep side of the ravine. A couple moments later, out came Rob, with … something … in his mouth. Something big and furry.

It didn’t take long before I realized it was a possum. Rob seemed so proud of himself for finding it and I think wanted to show us. Somehow, we got him to set it down somewhere other than on our feet.

Rob’s mostly-dead possum

It wasn’t moving. Well, at least not much. We could see it was still breathing. At this point I decided the humane thing to do would be to end its suffering. Sarah put Rob’s leash on and took him down the trail. I found a suitably long and thick stick and finished it off.

About an hour later, Sarah said to me “Hey, don’t possums play dead?” At this point, I realized what I had done. I killed a possum that in all likelihood would have recovered. I felt a little dumb, and kind of bad for doing that, but it really did seem like the humane course of action at the time. Apparently I’m not the first person to do this though as Wikipedia’s Opossum entry says, “Many injured opossums have been killed by well-meaning people who find a catatonic animal and assume the worst.”

We were quite surprised at Rob’s actions. He’s normally a very laid-back, lazy dog. We see rabbits all the time on our walks at home and never seems to pay much attention. But he sure went after that possum aggressively. We couldn’t find any bite or scratch marks on Rob … I guess that possum never had a chance.

After that encounter, we were a little shaken up but still enjoyed the rest of our hike. Unfortunately the hike we chose to do didn’t have any overlooks, even though it went to one of the highest points in the area. Next time we’ll make a point of hitting an overlook. This time, we were too tired, and it was too hot, to add in the extra miles to get to an overlook. Still, it was a beautiful hike and you could see some hills in the distance between trees. Not really something you could catch with a camera. You can sort of tell in the photo below.

Going downhill back toward the trailhead

Almost back

We really enjoyed our hike. This state forest is very special to us, as it’s where we got engaged. It was great to hike there again and see some different trails. And the possum encounter is not something we’ll be forgetting any time soon.

Overview of the route, with points of interest noted

I had ridden most of this route before, when I rode the Nashville 90 last year, but that was a long time ago, and some of this was new. In fact, I realized shortly before I left that the route I took included a jaunt down Dutch Ridge Road, which connects to 446 in two places. Even though I’ve ridden on that part of 446 many times, I had never even noticed this road before, so I was looking forward to seeing what it was like.

I started riding around 10:00 am. That’s early, for me. Fortunately it was early enough that I could beat most of the heat. Don’t get me wrong, it got hot. But I was done riding before the hottest part of the day. The ride started with an uneventful trip down 446. I took Knightridge to avoid 446 as much as possible. I took some video of the downhill to the causeway, riding across, and partway up the other side, but it didn’t turn out well. The camera was bouncing around too much. It’s probably not worth posting. Suffice it to say, I hit over 40 mph going down that hill, and it felt great.

One advantage to doing things this way is that Sarah got to sleep in a while longer than I did. I’m willing to get up early to ride (sometimes), but there’s no reason she should have to. Also, since she was bringing the car, I didn’t have to load a bunch of stuff on the bike.

Field by 446

Someone hiking on the shoulder of 446 (seen from Knightridge Road)

Traffic was much lighter than I expected, especially given that it was a holiday weekend. It was a pleasant surprise. I rode on 446 for a while, the riding was easy and a little dull, but it felt great to be on the bike.

Eventually, I came to Dutch Ridge Road. Actually, I rode past it and had to turn around. I almost just stayed on 446, but I was curious about this road. I was glad I turned around to check it out.

The road starts out paved. It’s a bit rough, and quite narrow. As you’d expect, it follows a ridgetop, and while it’s heavily wooded, you can see the deep ravine at least a little bit. I passed some homes, but mostly it was just woods. The pavement ended and the road narrowed. It switched back and forth, paved and gravel sections.

Gravel section of Dutch Ridge Road

I saw a gate with a sign and stopped to explore.

Chrisley Hillenburg Cemetery sign. The sign in the background reads, “Foot Traffic Welcome. Closed to all public motor vehicle use.”

My bicycle by the gate. Notice: no pink water bottle!

I probably could have lifted my bike over the gate and ridden back there, but I decided to hike back to the cemetery.

Trail back to the cemetery

Cemetery gates

KINSER Gerline … Stillborn 1929

A row of small white crosses

Sometime during all of this, I think I got a fingerprint on the lens. The result is that a lot of the shots look hazy. But that’s appropriate, as it’s more how I saw the scenes, in a lot of cases. It gets old in some of the later shots, but what can you do?

I didn’t linger long. I wanted to get moving again pretty quickly. I tried to time things so if anyone had to wait in Brownstown, it’d be me, not Sarah. To that end, I didn’t want to waste too much time.

The road became even narrower, and was effectively one lane for a while. I followed it through various twists and turns, over mostly flat terrain with a few mild ups and downs. I passed a few stands of pine trees along the way. It was a little hazy and the sun cut through the trees in impressive ways. What a beautiful little road! I saw a sign for a Hillenburg Stephenson cemetery, but this time, I didn’t stop.

A stand of pines, a twisty, narrow road, deciduous trees, all glow in the sunlight

I spent a few miles on this road and as I neared the end, went into a fantastic flowing descent down from the ridgetop. I picked up a lot of speed and really railed the turns. The Long Haul Trucker loves to descend. The only problem I had was that my front fender started rattling a lot while I was on this road. I looked and discovered that a nut was coming loose.

Dutch Ridge Road ended and spit me back out onto 446. I stopped to admire the scenery and call Sarah to ask her to bring a couple of extra things to the campsite so I could fix the fender that night.

Trees, fields, a pond, and a creek.

Now I had a fairly long climb on road cut through the limestone, with stone cliffs on both sides.

The road cuts through limestone

Not long after that, it was time to turn off 446 and onto 58. It was getting pretty hot and I stopped for a snack. I contemplated going into Heltonville, a nearby town, but I had plenty of food and water and knew I could get more in Kurtz, so I pressed on.

58 is a scenic and narrow but low-traffic road through … well, pretty much the middle of nowhere. It does go through a few small unincorporated towns and near some Hoosier National Forest access points, but that’s about it.

There was nearly no traffic on 58. Normally I wouldn’t be surprised, but I really expected a little traffic on Labor Day weekend. I did see quite a few motorcycles, but I literally went 20-30 minutes without seeing any other vehicles a few times.

Donkeys

I had a bit of climbing to do, and then it was very flat for a while. This is when I really noticed the easterly  winds. They weren’t too strong, but on this flat high ground, I had to pay a little more attention to the wind.

Covered bridge on private property

Some climbing

Camouflage truck

Suddenly reaching flat ground

Enjoying the ride

Truth be told, I enjoyed having a few flat miles. I passed through Zelma, crossed into Jackson County, and rode through Norman.

A truck attempts to hide in Zelma

Open air barn?

Enter Jackson County / Leave Lawrence County

Once I reached Norman, I saw a strange phenomenon … again. When I rode the Nashville 90 last year, I noticed that the flag at the Norman Post Office was blowing in the opposite direction from the one at the church across the street. This time, the same was true. I wonder what it is about that particular spot that causes this to happen.

Flags flying in opposite directions

The terrain started getting hillier again. The road mostly went between hills. There were some huge hills on my right that I marveled at. At the top of one hill, there had been a car accident. Everyone seemed to be OK, from what I could tell, and there were plenty of people on the scene helping. I rode on.

For scale, the speck on the road at the base of the big hill is a guy on a motorcycle

I took a break at the Kurtz Cemetery, another familiar place from the Nashville 90. There’s a pretty steep road climb, and then a gravel drive on the left side that’s even steeper, and then you’re in a cemetery on top of a hill, with a good view of the surrounding hills.

Hill up to the cemetery

My bicycle at the cemetery

It’s probably beginning to sound like I’m cemetery-obsessed. I’m not, really, although they do interest me. They also tend to make a good place to rest; no one bothers you in a cemetery. Somewhere around this area, I enjoyed a long, gently-curving ride down a sizable hill.

Soon I reached Kurtz and stopped at the 58 Cafe to get some water and gatorade. It’s mostly a cafe but they sell a few convenience store-type items, as well. The woman filled my water bottles for free. I bought same Gatorade and left a nice tip. The people were very nice to me, I’ll have to stop there for a meal sometime. It’s hit or miss stopping into these tiny stores as a cyclist: some people are great and others look at you like you’re insane (a point I can’t argue, but still …)

58 Cafe sign

After a few more miles, I reached 135. When I did the Nashville 90, I rode north from this point. This time, I needed to go south. I had never ridden this portion of 135 before, but it was very quiet. The speed limits were high but once again I saw very little traffic. I was simply amazed more people weren’t out taking in this beautiful country on a holiday weekend.

An interesting-looking “Antiques” store. I wonder if they have real antiques, or if that’s a code word for “junk.”

This shot typifies the region: corn, hills, and trees

Goats

I wasn’t on 135 terribly long. I could have stayed on it most of the way to Brownstown, probably, but I had planned a route on some back roads. Things remained hilly for a while but then got flatter.

Farm

I took a meandering route on some flat back roads. I looked ahead and saw a car kicking up dust in the distance. The road was obviously gravel up ahead. On my road bike, I’d consider taking a different route. On the Trucker, gravel just means extra fun!

Long, straight, flat gravel road

One thing I was aware of but sometimes forget is how interesting the land is in this part of the state. It’s mostly flat, with huge hills jutting up in various places. I could see some such huge hills in the distance and found myself approaching them as I continued riding.

Soybean fields, with hills in the distance

Adjacent to the green field above was this brown one

Wildflowers

The Trucker by a field

I was almost to Brownstown at this point. I crossed this fork of the White River on the Ewing bridge, and saw some big turtles sunning themselves on logs in the water.

Reaching the river

Turtles catching some sun

I passed a small industrial zone in Ewing, which is adjacent to Brownstown, then headed over to Brownstown and waited for Sarah by a restaurant. Her cell phone didn’t get reception in Brownstown so she called me from CVS and I told her where I was.

Industrial zone

Ewing, Indiana

Downtown Brownstown

A tank on the town square

We ate at Brock’s Family Restauraunt in downtown Brownstown. We both ordered “REAL Cheeseburgers” (they also had simply “Cheeseburgers” on the menu. Apparently the difference, aside from 35 cents, is that the “real” cheeseburgers are fresh meat, never frozen. The food was decent, but nothing spectacular. From here it was only a few miles to the state forest and the campground. I rode the rest of the way, and Sarah met me there.

State Road 250 toward the state forest

Jackson-Washington State Forest

This lake, right by the campground, has been drained. It’s been this way for some time; good thing we’re not into fishing

We weren’t 100% sure campsites would be available. I tried to make some reservations at state parks and all of the ones I checked were full. However, the state forests are always quieter than the state parks. We had plenty of campsites to choose from. We found a good site and set up camp. I ran the registration back to the forest office by bicycle.

The tent and the Long Haul Trucker

It was a pretty hot day, so we sat in the shade for a while and had a beer. After that, we went for a hike. I’ll cover that in a separate post.

It felt really good to use the bike to get somewhere. I’m not used to riding somewhere and then staying there, most of my rides start and end at one point, usually our apartment. And a 50-mile loop only takes you half as far as a 50-mile one-way trip.

We had mixed results. I didn’t plan well enough, and we both had poor to nonexistent cell phone reception, so we had a little trouble connecting in Brownstown, IN. Also, what I intended to be a way for me to get some riding in while allowing us to spend a lot of time together became a little more complicated and bike-centric than I intended. Sarah was very patient and we had a great time together, but in the end it felt a little selfish. If we do something like this again, I’ll need to plan things out a lot better. It was also really hot, which effectively meant that by the time we got anywhere, it was too hot to want to do very much.

I plan to write about this trip in three parts:

1. Riding from Bloomington to Brownstown and Jackson-Washington State Forest
2. Hiking at Jackson-Washington State Forest
3. Riding from Jackson-Washington State Forest to Clark State Forest and Henryville