Adena Trace Checkup

“Welp; just found out today I can't make the trip. Too much work. I was looking forward to my first TT trip in a few years too. I will surely check out this hike some time this year, it's only and hour from my door and I haven't been there. Y'all have fun, see ya on down the trail.
P.S. Be sure to post a trip report.”

“Bailer!

What up Crow?”

“Rained all night here. I am out! What about next weekend. yo bear!”

“Randall, call me. jer”

“It's looking wet this weekend. I'll catch you guys another time.”

“Randall the guys are dropping like flies maybe you should change it to a float trip”

“im still in!”

“Machine - Bear,
You guys missed a great hike! The weathercasters got it wrong....again. Beutiful hikin' weather!

Lots of excitement on this trip-I overcame a run in with the swine flu, a leaky tire, and a big road detour just to get to the trail. Ill let randall tell the rest of the story.”

“randal
this is the bird we saw that was trying to let you take its picture! Beutiful.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Scarlet_Tanager/id”

“Hey All,
The weather was only crappy on Friday Pm for about ½ an hour it rained pretty hard.
Back in the northwest burbs and all is fine.
Bad, bad traffic on the way home, took 7 hours ta get here!!
I’ll post the pics and tr later.
See ya later.
Randall”

“Yeah, I was regretting my decision Saturday afternoon. LOL Glad you guys had a good hike, and weather. ;-)”

“Hey All!!
Here’s the link to some pics, some good, some bad!!

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/571718775BBZhCk

See ya later.
Randall”

“Nice pictures, Randall. Did you hike the whole thing?”

“MOTHER#&%!$ING DUCK!”

“Salem,
Yep we hiked the whole thing, still a bit sore. We got out around 3:00 PM. It can be done faster, but it'd be more pain than it is worth!
See ya later.
Randall”

“Adena Trace Chainsaw Check Up

I got to the dam about 4:00 and it looked kinda rainy, so I called up Jearbear and he said it was too wet and that we would probably die in Wolf Creek and that Hiking Machine had bailed as well. I felt sorta lonely and called Attila who said he and Crash were still coming. With that in mind I headed out and climbed the dam. As soon as I made the top it started to pour!! I suited up in my rain gear and plodded down the trail in a heavy downpour. What a way to start a hike, I’ve done it before but that don’t make it fun. The trail itself was very clear and not muddy, but it did prove to be slicker that it looked. The woods really smelled great as a lot of the hardwoods were in bloom. There were lots of wild flowers out as well. I made fairly good time until I came to the first stream crossing. The water was pretty high (This stream is usually dry!!) and I spent several minutes trying to find a way around it. I finally gave up and plunged on in, my feet were gonna get wet anyway! After about a ½ hour the rain slacked off and the wind picked up a bit. That helped to dry things off somewhat . I took some pics of the other smaller runs that I had to cross and picked up my speed in order to make Battle point in time to set up before dark and maybe do some fishing.

Battle point was flooded!! I kinda thought it would be, so I picked a flat spot about 50 yards to the north and set up camp in the mud! Me and Attila had camped there before and I knew it would stay sorta dry as long as it didn’t rain all night!! I got a fire going and then called Attila to check on his progress. It was not good. Flat tires, detours and his usual slow driving speed were taking their toll. I figured he wouldn’t get to camp until 9:30 or 10:00. I rigged up my poles and had good luck right away; of course, the fishing is always good when no one is around. Catfish, blue gill and a few white bass , all good eating size. I couldn’t keep a pole in the water fer awhile, then It started to rain again. So I spent my time catching fish and keeping the fire going all the while trying to stay a little bit dry. I was too wet to try and cook the fish so I let a couple go and hung out by the fire waiting out the rain. It stopped after about 45 minutes and I got a call from Attila, he was at the trailhead and working his way down the trail. Good luck buddy!! LOL That first stream was gona get him and I made sure he knew of the danger!! Turns out Attila has a problem with wet feet and ended up falling while doing some type of tricky water avoidance maneuver. He finally made camp close to 10:00 or so and started drinking beer right away. I had to listen to him moan about his bad luck, but he was really in pretty good spirits, especially after his 24 once beer (it was gone in about a minute) I was drying out my rain gear when he got there and it stayed dry the rest of the evening with the moon even making an appearance. We hit the sack around 11:30 PM


More later on………………….
See ya later.
Randall”

“bump”

“where are the pics?”

“hey okay I found the pics Randall put them on the same page next time”

“Coyote,
Check the prior posts dude!! LOL”

“rando
wheres the 'more later on'?
Dont forget to add your devastating fall, all the large white bass, 'hoosier', hhc hikers, crash's run in with the law, camp 'cedar', the turkeys, the frightening ducks, and the buzzard nesting!”

“Hey Thanks Attila!!
Now I don't have toa write it up!! LOL”

“Ok here’s the rest of the story!
We got up to the sound of 2000 bass boats cranked up as fast as they would go!! I thought we were being attacked. Did the morning thing and hit the trail. About halfway up the first I fell on a log and thought I busted my knee, but it turned out alright and we continued to the Midway trail intersection. We met a lone hiker from Cionnertuckyville there. After that we made Wolf creek and found some dead White Bass that had got caught in the flood , they had holes punched in their sides, too bad as they were a very good size. Attila did not cross the creek ,but rather climbed a tree to do his crossing. We ate lunch and talked to crash on the phone about where we were gonna met him. Saw a couple of Turkey hunters as well.

Back to the trail and about a mile later we ran into some of the Hoosier Hiking Council people, we visited for a short while and then back to all the fun. The weather was really great with a few clouds and temps in the low 70’s, perfect hiking conditions. We watered up at the next creek and made the Fairfield Causeway in good time. Crash was gonna met us on the East side trailhead, so away we went and found a good place to take a nap while we waited. After about 10 calls we thought Crash was almost here when he ran into another detour and went all the way to Ohio!! A friendly police officer also stopped him because he was concerned about Crash’s safety, oh well!! An hour after that Crash found us and we continued south to Templeton Creek.

Camp was made in a dense Cedar grove and I was glad to see it. 13 miles for me and Attila and not much rest either. Dusk found us gathered around a 100% pure Cedar fire, telling stories and kicking back. We heard a lot of turkeys in the distance, both in the morning and at dusk!! I went ta bed early as Crash, per his usual MO, was fast asleep at the fire. Attila soon followed. Coyotes howled and it rained some, but we hardly knew it because of the Cedars!!
Up way too early!! Damm birds!!!! Right over our heads and they were really having a party. We were on the trail in record time, especially fer Attila. The ford at Templeton Creek was great as they have built some real nice stepping piers there, so no wet feet. A bunch of Quills (That’s a kind a fish) were playing in the water, we found a dead one and it had the same kinda damage as the White Bass on Wolf Creek. Floods are rough on fish!!

We headed for Garr Hill and met several dayhikers and other folks looking fer mushrooms and flowers. The trail down to Garr Hill Ramp was all tore up due to some very stupid trailwork that was done with a bulldozer!! Idiots!! It will take a while to fix that back up!! At this point we had probably only crossed 8 blow downs and none of them were a problem!! Attila made use of the Johns there and I had a snack!

On to the dam and the Woodland trail portion of the Adena Trace was in excellent shape!! We went real fast and passed a turkey hunter enjoying the day, no turkeys though!! A little further down the trail we ran into a lone hiker and passed her as she was checking out some flowers!! We were getting hungry by this time and made plans to stop fer lunch at the next creek. We were almost there when Attila slipped and then turned to curse the mud very loudly!! Two ducks came up almost at his feet and scared the hell right out of em!! Funny stuff to be sure!! He yelled out loud and put up his trekking poles in self defense. Me and Crash almost died laughing!! We made lunch by a big hollow tree that had a huge hole in it’s trunk. Crash looked in and said there was something in there. I didn’t believe him and finally had to look for myself. Damm!! something was in there!!! I wasn’t gonna stick my whole head in, so I took some pics and it turned out to be a big Buzzard on a nest. The lone hiker we passed earlier came by and told us that she was here about a week ago and it was there then.

Back to the trail and my feet were getting kind sore. The last 3 miles were kinda rough on me, but I managed to stay gthe course! Attuila broke one of his trekking poles almost at the end!! We finally made the dam at about 2:30 PM local time.
Good hike and the weather was really great!! The trail is in excellent shape!! Check out the pics fer the buzzard shots!!
See ya later.
Randall
last edited: 5/05/09 5:53:15 PM”

“Nice TR, Randall. Love the duck story! Duck...Duck...Goose!”

“Thanks ,next time.”