Several years ago we went for a picnic and a hike with my mom on Mother’s Day, and it’s become something of a tradition. It hasn’t happened every year, but we try to do it when possible.

This year, we went to McCormick’s Creek State Park and hiked Trail 7. We had only hiked this trail once before, way back in 2007 if my memory is correct.

Here is mom, just starting down Trail 7.

The trail starts out following a ridgetop alongside the gorge that contains the creek and waterfall, with some nice rock outcroppings where you can look out over the ravine.

Naturally, my nephew, Avery, went right to the edge.

We also had a couple nice views of the creek.

Including a great place to throw rocks …

Next we walked on a boardwalk across a muddy area thick with foliage.

Before long, we reached the White River.

From there, the trail looped back toward the start.

I had forgotten how great this trail is, with some diverse views and enough ups and downs to be interesting, but not overly strenuous.

More importantly, it was a fun way to spend Mother’s Day. I hope my mom enjoyed it as much as I did.

On New Year’s Eve Eve, Dave and I got together for a hike. He had a couple of possible hikes in mind, so we discussed on the way out of town and decided where to go, deciding on the southern portion of Yellowwood State Forest.

The thing about Dave is, hiking with him is different from hiking with a normal person. He loves to explore, and he’s not overly concerned with staying on the trail. This can lead to some very memorable hikes, such as this one in search of a pond (which we never really found), or this one on the Old Axsom Branch “trail” that hasn’t been maintained in many years, yet features some of the best views of Lake Monroe I’ve seen.

This outing was not as epic as that one, but as Dave got out maps and showed me where he wanted to go, I realized we would spend plenty of time bushwhacking. His maps showed some trails, but much of it involved statements like “I think we can make our way down this ravine to Crooked Creek Lake,” and “I think we can find a way up the other side, and then hopefully connect with this other trail.” Some of the trails were horse trails, but others weren’t even established trails, just paths Dave spotted in satellite view in Google Maps.

I was intrigued, and ready for adventure. Oh yeah, did I mention it was raining on and off throughout the day?

We started out on what I believe is officially a horse trail, but it had a gravel surface for quite a while.

Logging is always a little disheartening to see, but it did open up some nice views.

We were mostly on ridgetops for a while.

As we hiked through this section, the rain started back up. By the time I got my poncho on (tearing it in the process) it had stopped again.

Soon the trail ended, and Dave didn’t skip a beat. He didn’t even slow down.

We were fascinated by this tree that had decayed so much that there was only a flat outline of it remaining on the ground.

It didn’t take long for us to find our way down to Crooked Creek Lake.

Sarah and I had hiked here a few years back, so I knew it was a rugged hike around the lake, bushwhacking most of the way. In fact, this was the most difficult part of the entire hike, making our way across steep hillsides covered in brush and slick rocks, with many trees felled by beavers blocking our path.

After we made our way around the lake, we started up the ravine on the other side. Dave said something like “I *think* there’s a trail up there …” And thus began the most strenuous part of the hike. I don’t know how long or how high we climbed, but it went on for quite a while, and we went straight up the side of the ravine. I certainly hoped we would find the trail, and sure enough, we did. I had to stop and catch my breath at the top.

From there, it was more easy ridgetop hiking back to the car. The sun was setting over a ridge as we finished our hike.

My GPS is very messed up right now, butit said we hiked 3.7 miles.  In reality, it’s probably a little more than that. I’ll include the map, even though it’s missing some parts.

This hike was a blast! It makes me want to do more exploration hikes, trying to figure out ways to get from trails to places they don’t really connect to, or finding ways from one trail to another, etc. It’s very liberating to realize that you don’t always need to rely on a trail to get you where you want to go.

The weather has been much cooler. On Sunday, Sarah and I decided it was time for some hiking … something we don’t like to do when it’s oppressively hot. In fact, typically we do most of our hiking in the winter, but we are branching out a bit.

It rained on and off all day, but we really wanted to get out. We discussed possible trails and settled on the Sycamore Loop, a trail we’ve hiked a couple of times before.

We thought the rain was done, but as we were getting ready, we looked outside, and it was raining again. No worries, we just put some ponchos in my pack, and we were ready to go. I was going to take my DSLR on this hike, but given the rain, I decided against it.  Here’s a map of the hike.

We started off on a fire road, then turned onto the trail. At this point, the rain had stopped and it was rather sunny. We were all excited to be out in the woods.

Here, you can see that Rob was sitting for the photo, as instructed, but facing the wrong way …

At every opportunity, Rob would lay down in a puddle or creek.

Though many of the creeks were dry, like this one.

Not to be deterred, Rob found another secret swimming hole, this one about two feet in diameter.

After that diversion, we were moving again. The trail was getting a bit overgrown in places, though not entirely. Here’s “dog’s eye view.”

We found lots of these little orange/yellow flowers.

It was a great day to be in the woods. Then, it started raining. We put on our ponchos.

Sarah was wearing her “wedding poncho,” though fortunately she did not need it on our actual wedding day. No one told me just how much I looked like Little Red Riding Hood in my red poncho. Next time, I’ll have to bring a wicker basket.

The rain wasn’t bad at first, but it picked up some more. For a while, it rained hard. We really didn’t mind. The cooler weather was wonderful, and we got a little wet, but the ponchos worked well enough. We were in pine forest for a while, with very tall pines. With a bit of fog/mist from the rain, it looked beautiful.

After a while, the rain subsided and we no longer needed our ponchos. We passed some more scenery, such as this pond, right by a campsite.

And this was just one of many shaggy trees.

This segment of the trail felt longer than I remembered. There’s a long, gradual climb out of a ravine that just goes on and on. At times the wind would pick up and we would hear the leaves rustling, and water being blown from the leaves, falling to the forest floor. Then the wind would travel slowly through the trees, the falling water moving toward us, washing overhead and finally moving past us. The canopy was so dense that we didn’t even get wet when this happened, but it was really something, hearing it overhead.

Eventually we reached the fire road and headed back.

It was a great hike — it was either 5.3 or 6.7 miles, depending on which program you believe. Something is screwy with my GPS track on this one — oh well. In the past, it’s been around 7.5 miles, but in those cases, we had added on a little extra side trip.

It’s definitely time for more hiking. There are many great options around here, and we tend to do some of the same repeatedly. I hope we can explore some new trails soon.