This is Part III. Please read Part I and Part II first.

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!

Note: this is Part II of a three-part series. Read Part I here. Part III will be forthcoming.

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 …

This weekend, Dave and I headed down to Hoosier National Forest for a camping trip. The trip was an absolute blast, and we did about 24 miles of mountain biking, and 6 miles of hiking. This report covers some of our activities on Saturday.

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 …