Crazy Mikes Trip Report.

“Glad you two had a nice trip!!!!”

“Nice report, thanks.”

“Nice! How is she adapting to the cold?”

“Awesome report man. Must have been nice to have someone to keep you warm! I had to keep warm with only my backpacking gear which wouldn't have worked underneath the stars in temps that cold.”

“The thing with her feet at night are still a issue but other then that she is doing ok.


8)”

“That is cool! Going from one extreme to the other has got to be tough.”

“Do they turn into pumpkins at midnight or something? ;)”

“Ya something like that.


8)”

“That is a pretty cool trick!”

“Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night, see them, and then try to take them off of her to make pumpkin pie? Because that's what I'd do.


Pumpkin pie. Yummmmmmm.”

“Pumpkin pie.........
with toe jam!”

“and knee gravy!”

“The stuff that comes out of the knee tastes real good don't ya know.

8)”

“I sure do! I used to have a supply of that, but it got taken from me last Thursday.”

“Hello TT'ers whats going on?Well the club had a very good turnout of 6 this weekend 3 of which were new members.Me and Nicole got to the trail late becuse of work but we still got a few miles in anyway and got to sleep under the stars.The weather was great highs in the 30's and the low for the night was 24F.When we got to the campsite Andy,Rich,Jerimiaha and Scott were already in camp and had a campfire going.By the looks of the area there was lots of rain and all the creeks had flowing water in them.Camp was the best site in the Backcountry Camping area the large pine trees would let you hear the wind and we also got to hear a few owls that night also.We had American style tacos for dinner and I had a few shots of scotch.We all got to know each other while sitting around the fire.It was nice to make some new friends on the trail.It was a good trip.


8)”

“Thanks for the nice report.”

“Sounded fun”

“It was a very nice night out:) Never got cold, there was no condesation and the best part...The trail wasnt muddy at all.
I wandered around after making camp to do a little exploring and walked across this frozen little marsh, startled a rabbit and found a nice grove of big old pines on a little hill. It was cool. A neat mist was hanging around the old trees and I stayed there for a little while just meditationg before getting back to camp as it turned dark.”

“You guys still up for this trip? Gonna be a cold one. Let me know. Mike”

“startin off the new year in style...suweet...see ya next week!!!”

“Grin--outside is the best”

“Awesome!”

“That made me cold just reading about it! Are you watchin' your Blackhawks?”

“No we are not going to be able to make it.We are going to be backpacking in Tenn for 3 days.


Hope to meet up with ya next time.

8)”

“jeremiah was a bullfrog!”

“Nice report Mike!

Scott - you missed a great game this weekend! Go INDY!

Mike, Nicole - See you guys on Friday!”

“uh uh, wk. i saw every glorious minute.”

“You guys are going to get rain/snow this trip you know.”

“No there is going to be no rain or snow for this trip.


8)”

“Not yet. Keep your fingers crossed!”

“Trust me there is going to be no rain or snow just good times!


8)”

“if its nice again i want to cowboy camp!!!!!!”

“Hello TT'ers hows it going?The club had a great time this weekend as we backpacking in Charles Deam Wilderness.

(Trip Report)

Friday after work me and Nicole packed our gear and drove down to Charles Deam Wilderness.We got to the Fire Tower Trailhead around 9 pm.From there we hit the Trail and had gone for a little ways before finding a frozen pond and a nice campsite and made camp.It was a nice night with the temps around 30 Deg's with little or no wind.We had ate a little something and soon after that we had gone to bed.

Saturday we got up and took our time haveing something to eat and hot to drink before we started to brake down camp.Nicole wanted to go do a little bit of exploring in the area by the pond while I started to brake down camp.Soon after that we hit the trail back to the trailhead too meet up with the rest of the gang.Around 12 Noon everyone else showed up.

(Club Members)

Me
Nicole
Dave
Rick
Oldog & Bosco his dog
Charley

After saying our hellos we soon hit the trail.The weather is a little bit diffrent.The temps have dropped off and there is a brisk wind now out of the East.We had were going to do the Sycamore Loop Trail and spend the night at one of the nice pine forested campsites.The day was overcast and the temps were in the 20's but with the wind I am shure that the wind chills were around 5 to 10 deg's.After hiking for a little bit on the trail Charley saw a nice frozen water fall down in one of the hollows.It was very neat too see the diffrent kinds of neat ice shapes that were made in that spot.Soon after that we all had a snack and hit the trail again.I had worried that water was going to be hard to get becuase of how cold it was but that soon all changed when we go to our campsite.The Sycamore Creek had a nice flow to it and the water was as clear as glass.We all got camp set up and Nicole had gone exploring again up the creek bed.The others started to get fire wood and soon got a campfire going.Soon it was dinner time and we all got our stoves going and had a nice dinner.I had a nice cigar and we all sat around the fire and had a few laughs and talked about backpacking.Soon after that it was time for bed.The temps got kind of cold at night getting down to 10 deg's but we were all lucky that it did not rain like the weather report had said it was going to do.

Sunday-Today was very cold when we all got up Rick said it was 10 deg's out and I had to put some foot warmers on to get my toes warm.Charley restarted the fire so we could all have a nice warm cup of Joe and eat a fast brakefast.It started to look like some weather was going to move in and soon after hitting the trail it started to drop ice pellets and not long after that it turned into snow.When we got back to the trailhead we all said our goodbyes and headed for home.


8)”

“Sounds fun, CMB! What tent you using these days?”

“Mountain Hardwear PCT 2.



8)”

“Check out the new Golite Trig...in the new gear guide. Seems like I might be getting me a new tent this year!!”

“That looks like a cool tent but it is a single wall.


Trying to stay away from that.

8)”

“Crazy Mike, I bought the PCT2 about a month ago. Had it out a few times and it done great.”

“sounds like a fun trip! at least it wasn't bad weather!”

“Ya it was a great trip!I know I think that tent is the bomb!

8)”

“but is it pimp?”

“This is my trip report (from my veiw of things (Sorry, don't know how to link)

http://freehiker0.tripod.com/backpacking/id12.html”

“does that trip report come with a magnifying glass? Anyhow, nice report. Thanks :-)”

“Is Patton Cave in the Charles Deam marked? I don't think it is. Could you give me some general directions to find Patton Cave? Do you know of any other cool places caves rock formations etc to check out off the trail in the Deam. I plan to do some bushwacking there in March.”

“bump”

“Check the other thread out.


8)”

“Hello everyone how was your weekend?The club had a turnout of 3 this weekend as we did some low mile backpacking in Hoosier National Forest.


Club Members.

Stormbringer-Aka Scott.
Crazy Mike Backpacks-Aka Mike.
Ms Crazy Mike Backpacks-Aka Nicole.


Weather.

Friday-Windy with ice pellets temps in the 30's.
Saturday-Overcast temps in the 30's
Sunday-Sunny and clear temps in the mid 30's.


Friday.

Me and Nicole had got out of work and packed the car up and got to the Grubb Ridge Trailhead around 7pm and put our packs on and hit the trail.It was very windy and it was dropping ice pellets but the temp was right around 32 deg's so it was nice cool hiking.After going down the trail for a bit we found the campsite were we would stay the night.Setting the tent up was fun with all the crazy wind.Soon after getting the tent set up and getting a bite to eat it was time for bed.

Saturday.

Me and Nicole got up around 7 am and took our time taking camp down becuase we did not have to meet Scott untill 9 am so we had lots of time to get back to the trailhead.After getting back to the trailhead soon Scott showed up and we hit the trail.The wind had slowed down but it was still overcast but it was a nice day were the temps were at 32 deg's and it felt good to be in the thawing forest.All the creeks along the Axom Branch Trail had good flowing water in them which is good natural music to the ears.There was a old homested site on one of the old trails that I wanted to show to Scott so we got off the Axom Branch and took a nice hike to the old homested.I don't know much about it but one thing for shure it must have been during the 1940's becuase the wireing in the house from what I could tell was cotton braided wire which was used during the 1920's to the 1950's.We played and messed around by there for about a hour.After we were done I thought it would be great if we followed one of the creeks that was off trail to find a nice place to set up camp.Nicole found a animal path that was very much used so I thought it would be a neat idea to set up camp near by it.There was no fire-ring in the area so we did not have a campfire.There was a nice creek flowing next to us that sang sweet music to us and later on that night we got a few visitors.After we had gone to sleep some deer ran right by our campsite and it sounded like a hoof trail was going by that was very cool.And we got to hear some coyotes too with there sounds that bring joy to the heart.


Sunday.

After getting up we got to see the sun which is nice and there were all kinds of birds singing for us to listen for our hike out.Scott found a real cool rock in one of the creek beds that just had to come home with us.Soon after that we got back to the cars and said our goodbyes and soon it was time to go home.


8)”

“Sounds like a nice trip. I'm glad no animals tripped over your tents, setting them up near a animal path like that!”

“No doubt!


8)”

“Nice report Mike!

2 weeks baby! I will see you in 2 weeks. I cannot wait to get on the trail again. I took the dog for an extended walk this morning with my pack. Both knees are feeling great.

See you guys in 2!”