MSF - Silence is Golden

When I was a little girl I hated shoes, socks and sitting upright.  Upon arriving home from school I would remove my footwear as I dropped my backpack - much to my mother's dismay, seeing that all would end up in random locations around the house.  The next order of business was to climb up on the sofa and hang upside down for 15 minutes and contemplate the hours of freedom I'd have before going back to school the next day.

Barefoot, I'd wander outside.  The asphalt scorched my feet as I ran from sun to shadow.  The grass was cool and the dirt dusty as I went from pavement to the trails.  I'd wander down to the creek on the paths we'd built through our tiny two acres of wilderness, usually with one of my brothers by my side.  We didn't speak of much, more likely we fought over who would get to check the fish trap and insulted each others ability to carry our catch up to the house without dropping it.

I carry these first memories of the outdoors when I hike today - feet pressing ground, sun to skin, creek water over hands.  I remember the joy of exploring with my siblings.  These memories inspired me to organize a silent hike at Mt. St. Francis.  What would happen if we didn't talk?  How would we feel, what would we experience differently?  I left my boots at home for this one and donned my adult 'bare-feet,' vibram fivefingers.  I wanted to walk between the leaves and leap over the sticks... tiptoeing silently through the woods...

Eight women joined me on this adventure and we hiked in silence for almost two hours.  We shared smiles, muffled laughter, and a bit of lip reading - but no speech.  It was lovely.  I felt like skipping along, loving the lightness of my feet, that wonderful barefoot feeling bringing back the joyful sensations of childhood.  We hiked along dappled trails and through brilliantly sunny meadows.  Our eyes and ears were open to the woodland world around us.

We broke our silence at the end.  I won't deny it, we sat and talked for a long time - had to get all our words out there!  It was a wonderful day.  The joys of childhood exploration can renew and inspire our lives today.  Thanks ladies!  Here is to nine amazing women!

Self Portrait @ Mt. St. Francis

Self Portrait,
originally uploaded by Louweez.

I went out early this morning for a backpack training hike at Mt. St. Francis. The weather was perfectly cool and someone had just cut all the grassy paths, making foot placement much safer.

I felt heavy with my pack on. Yesterday I trail ran here without a pack and today I felt every single extra pound I was carrying. Every footfall jarred my knees and I spent a lot of time on the downhills focusing on not letting the extra weight slam my feet into the ground. It was tough!

I stopped to take this self portrait at the edge of a meadow. I've always wished I was taller...

Berea Forest, Kentucky

Berea Forest Day Hike

Date: Sunday, September 12, 2010
Total Distance: 8 miles
Organized through the Louisville Hiking and Backpacking Meetup Group

Attendees: Sanjay, Jenny, Dan, Susana, Angel, Gary, Patty, Melaina, and Lou

I resolved to get up when the first alarm went off on Sunday morning.  I feel asleep tired and I woke up tired, but I pushed through to the first cup of coffee and a quick breakfast.  I ran around like a headless chicken gathering up everything I'd need for the 6.7 mile hike at Berea Forest.  The rest of my family was still in bed, listening to me zoom around the house from the comfort of their comforters - I bet they were glad when they heard the front door close.  Directions, maps, lunch, water, shoes, jacket and hopefully, my brain - time to go!

I met Dan and man's best friend Coby around 6:00 a.m. at Cherokee Park.  I wasn't in any shape to drive two hours, so Dan drove and I did my best to make conversation - I think I was still in a sleepy daze.  We pulled into the parking lot around 8:00 a.m. and right after landing Gary and Patty pulled up.  Next came Jenny, Sanjay, Melaina and Angel.  Everyone was on time so we went ahead and started hiking - we were missing Elisa, but I hadn't heard from her and assumed she was a no show.  I didn't find out until later that she arrived 15 minutes later and hiked the loop in the opposite direction from us.  We should have run into her at some point, but went wrong in a few spots so never saw her.

The light was pretty perfect and I couldn't resist lagging behind and taking lots of pictures.  The trail up to East Pinnacle was a moderate climb, well benched with logs and rock slabs.  We hung out at the first vista, the second vista, and so on and so on - all the way out to the end of the ridge.  It was a perfect day; blue sky, a few clouds, light breeze, and good company.

We hiked from vista to vista - lingering at the vistas and hiking the trails at a steady clip.  We hit up Eagle's Nest (no eagles, just buzzards), Buzzard's Roost (lots and lots of buzzards), Indian Fort Lookout (spectacular lunch/nap spot), and finally, after much debate about how to get there, West Pinnacle.  Turns out we went the wrong way, but we weren't bothered and it just gave us some extra trail/road time. ***Around Indian Fort Lookout there are a lot of areas to explore.  You can hike down around and up, lots of nooks and crannies here and there.  We didn't have time, but I'd like to explore this area more.

West Pinnacle offered spectacular panoramic views of rolling Kentucky farmland.  The adventurous climbed up to the top of a giant mushroom rock (that would be Dan and I) to get the full effect, and others climbed up a smaller boulder next to it.  Some hung out in the shade, but after so much time sitting, everyone was ready to head back down to the cars.

We hiked down, down, down heading back to the cars at a quick pace.  We reached a road, but were looking for a connector trail.  I'm still not sure how it happened - but next time I'll figure out where we went wrong.  We ended up hiking for a mile or so along the road and after that on a poison ivy infested path next to the road.  Angel conquered some spiderwebs on this portion and I gave her an assist over the last bit until we reached a wall of vegetation.  Sanjay consulted his GPS and we realized the parking lot was just through it.  We kept a sharp eye out for snakes, bushwhacked a bit and forged ahead.  It took less than a minute and we were at the bottom of the lot - our cars were parked above.

It was a perfect day and I'm looking forward to visiting this area again.  Beautiful views, well maintained trails, moderate climbs, and new friends made for a great 'recovery hike.'  I slept almost the whole way home - poor Dan, I wasn't good company!

Now to plan the next hike... I'm thinking more Kentucky.  Check out the Louisville Hiking Meetup to see where I'm off to next!

See you on the trail!

Adventure Trail Backpacking Trip
Dates: 2 Days - Sunday, September 5 - Monday September 6
Total Distance: 24 miles
Organized through the Louisville Hiking and Backpacking Meetup Group
Attendees: Dave, Randall, Nancy, and Douglas
Sunday, September 5 - Monday, September 6

The adventure started at midnight with me going to bed after spending two hours sorting through gear. I woke up four hours later, alert, on fire, and ready to take on the day. I went straight to the kitchen, put on the coffee and prepared a feast of salsa especial omelotta, turkey bacon, toast, and fresh fruit. Yum. As I ate I savoured the thought of hiking in 80 degree weather between bites of bacon. Sweet.

I hit the road early to meetup with Douglas. It was about 6:00 a.m. and I had the heater blasting in the car. I listened to some crazy radio and thought about stopping for baby wipes and marshmallows. Yum, marshmallows. Douglas had volunteered to help cache some water for five thirsty hikers and I needed to be at the O’Bannon State Park Office by 7:00 a.m. to meet him. Marshmallows or timeliness? Turns out I managed both and only arrived two minutes late.

I spotted Douglas as I pulled in, chilling in front of the signboard. He was ready to go from the get go - pack packed, boots on, and gaiters fastened. I suspected he was a veteran on The Adventure Trail, but I had no idea he’d hiked it over 20 times. His experience and expertise were invaluable on the trip. Douglas had emailed me the night before with some good ideas about rerouting - basically putting the most difficult bits on the shorter day. We discussed a bit and decided that it would be much better for everyone involved if we weren’t hiking up super steep hills at the end of a 14.5 mile day. We cached 15 gallons of water at two locations - an insane amount of liters per person. We could have taken baths and still had plenty to drink.

Nancy was the next to arrive. She was looked sleek and fit in a black top and flawlessly styled hair - our crew’s beauty and sweetness! She immediately hunkered down behind her car and starting sorting out her pack. Randall pulled in next, packed and ready to go after a long night at the hospital with his little one, he might have been tired, but was still game. Randall put the country in our crew by muscling 7 liters of water over 10 miles of trail on the first day. He wanted to make sure we were all properly hydrated! Dave was the last to arrive, pulling in on a snazzy red motorcycle with his pack strapped to the back. His enthusiasm and excitement were as electric as the tangerine coat he sported.

We carpooled over to our start point in Douglas’ car. Dave followed behind, continuing to rock the biker-backpacker persona. We parked at Pioneer Cabin Shelter - an access point for the Adventure Hiking Trail Loop. We’d be hiking 24 miles total, leaving off the access spur that is the official start point of the trail. We fiddled with packs, tightened boot laces, took some pics, and still managed to get on the trail just after 10:00 a.m.

The morning was incredibly cool, with exquisite temps in the 70s. We hiked along merrily, happily dodging the trail debris, hopping over logs, and pushing aside overzealous branches and briars. We chatted away and got to know one another a little better. The hiking wasn’t too intense so we had enough breath to find out all kinds of interesting facts about each other. So, here are some things I learned about Douglas, Nancy, Randall, and Dave... you’ll have to ask them what they learned about me ;)

Douglas is an avid outdoorsman who has been backpacking for many years. He likes the color green, eats instant soup on the trail, and sets a steady pace. He also gets in the occasional hilarious one liner when you least expect it. He kept us in unexpected stitches.

Nancy is tough, tough, tough! In addition to wielding a hairbrush on the trail she can easily kick all of our butts on any hill - she just doesn’t want us to know it. She recently rode her bike 30 miles to her car after losing the car keys. She likes hot pink, beef jerky, oranges, and zero calorie energy drinks - right with you sister!

Randall has got some serious grit. He can hike with an incredibly heavy load and not make a single complaint about it. He can also put on amazing speed going up any hill - he left us in the dust! Speedy, speedy! He backpacks with ramen, snickers, and loves to hike in the hills of Indiana.

Dave is a bottle rocket - ready to go unless you put the brakes on his wheels - or his feet! He is fit, fit, fit! In fact, he is Mr. Fit. He likes chunky soup on the trail, lots of coffee, and having a fantastic time at all times. He believes that yellow is the best of all colors - though he does also like anything that is equally bright.

So, this was day one! We got to know one another and saw some spectacular sights. There were unique karst formations along the trail as we hiked down towards the Iron Bridge. One area we passed was muddy, and we spotted a spring seeping up from the karstic area. We continued to skip along and in less than two miles we reached the Blue River. An old bridge stood strong across it, stripped to its rusty iron beams with huge stone foundations slicing down into the river. Dave and Randall balance beamed out on it and got a good look down the river. Douglas, Nancy, and I hung out at the edge, snacking and snapping pics. The weather was beautiful and we were all relaxed and happy to be there.

We hiked on to the next important point - lunch. I could talk a lot about the quality of boot to ground, eye to butterfly, and the skyblue blue of the sky, but we backpackers have more essential things on the mind, like food, warm campfires and taking off our boots - though we do like the pretty stuff too! When we stopped at Stage Stop Overlook for lunch we were at 9 miles but still felt pretty fresh - must have been those long, pretty flat parts. Dave took off his boots, fired up his stove and we didn’t hear much from him until the first cup of coffee was sliding down his throat. Nancy dug into her only orange (she almost brought 8 of them... but decided last minute to leave them behind - darn, we could have had fresh o.j. for lunch). Randall cooked up some ramen and downed some pain killers. He had strained his ankle on an unruly stone a few miles back and was doing a little post-preventative first aid. Douglas snacked on a few different things that I did not spot and I ate a couple peanut butter and jelly wraps, yum, yum!

Hike on! Next stop was our water cache at Old Forest Road. We were ready to hydrate and restock after the last portion of trail. Our pace had slowed over the rolling terrain and our packs and the eleven miles we’d covered thumped against the soles of our feet. The break felt good and everyone was looking forward to a warm campfire. I was focused on getting to camp, and usually that means I quit messing around with my camera, so there aren’t any pictures of the next section of trail. Dave’s feet were throbbing in his boots and he had some serious blisters starting to form. I had cached so much extra water that everyone decided to fill up their bladders and carry the extra gallons to camp too. The hiking was slow, but it did have lovely views down to Indian Creek.

We inched along the wide bluff, climbing over logs, skirting piles of brush, and checking the map to make sure we were still on the right trail. It was close to 6:00 p.m. and camp felt like it was miles away. Nancy and I relieved Dave of two gallons of water and we pushed through the last mile to camp - blessed be! We got to setting up camp right away. I hung a food line, Randall and Douglas built a fire, and we all set up our tents. The campsite sat high above Indian Creek and had beautiful views out to the valley where the creek resides. There was a much loved shelter there - more loved by mice and people’s switchblades than campers looking for cover. There was plenty of space for our tents and a nice lookout just below the campsite on a rocky outcropping.

So, dinner was the next order of business and we savoured every bite. I finished my meal with some marshmallows, toasted to a perfect golden brown - I didn’t catch a single one on fire. We retreated to tents early for a solid night of sleep - probably because I forgot the whiskey, so we were a pretty tame bunch. I feel asleep as soon as I hit my sleeping mat to nature’s Enya - singing cicadas, katydids, and crickets.

Silence descended around 4:00 a.m. and I woke up to the distant howling of a coyote pack. The temps had dropped to the 50’s and I was a little chilly inside my improvised sleep system - thermals, fleece blanket, and bag liner. I felt well rested though and pondered writing this trip report while dozing through the early morning.

Randall was the first up and he got the fire going to ward off the morning chill. We were a very slow bunch after yesterday's 14.5 mile day. Many cups of coffee were had before we hit the trail around 10:00 a.m. for the 9.5 mile hike to the car.

We pushed over more challenging terrain on the last day without a lot of chatter or talk - except for my singing. There were some very steep climbs and descents so every one's eyes were on their feet. I exercised my vocal cords a bit with a lovely rendition of Rattlin’ Bog and drove Nancy batty. I had been hiking at the back singing away, but she decided to stop and let me catch up, so thus was subjected to my joyful singing. You can hear a lovely rendition of the song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_13vqD5or0&feature=related

We reached our second water cache around 1:00 p.m. Dave’s feet were killing him so I administered some first aid to get him through the rest of the hike. Everyone left excessively hydrated and we emptied the extra gallons, crushed the containers down and strapped them to our packs for the final four miles. This portion had some steep climbs and lots of pee breaks. This is around the time I belted out Rattlin’ Bog. There were some nice views along this section that were blocked by the leafy trees and we all agreed the trail would be a beautiful winter backpacking trip.

Around 4:00 p.m. we reached our final destination - Pioneer Cabin Shelter. We had a fantastic time and agreed that the trail was great Indiana backpacking. I enjoyed meeting everyone and hiking with that hint of fall in the air. Premo backpacking time is almost here and I’m looking forward to organizing more hikes and backpacks in this beautiful area again. Hope you can make it!

Douglas and I discussed getting some volunteers out there to clean up the trail and putting the word out about this fantastic backpacking trail. We are going to try and arrange a trail cleanup to remove the worst of the deadwood and brush from the trail sometime soon. They are working on getting a better map out of the hiking trails in this area, and I think we can expect to be seeing it any day now. I’m looking forward to organizing more hikes and backpacks out here soon. Check out the calendar at the Louisville Hiking and Backpacking Meetup Group to see when it will be happening!