German Ridge Trip Report Feb. 28-March 2

“Four of us headed out Friday afternoon after meeting at my house in Tell City. We had to take the back roads to German Ridge Trailhead because the main highway was flooded by the Ohio RIver.

We put in a liesurly five and a half miles Friday afternoon before setting up camp in a pine stand along the edge of a man-made pond.

German Ridge is a multi-use trail that is primarily used by equestrians during the summer months. The trail is wide and most of it has a solid layer of gravel chips that can be a little hard on the feet. The trail was soggy from recent snow melt, and many sections still had an inch or so of snow on them. We decided to hike the 24-mile trail in winter to avoid the horse traffic in the summer.

Just before dark, the fourth member of our party joined us. He took a different road in and linked up with us by means of a connector trail from a parking area.

The weather was upper 30's to low 40's during the day and around 30 degrees at night. (perfect hiking weather) After dinner we took a night hike to a fire tower shown on the maps, but only found an old foundation.

Saturday we hiked 12 miles across a series of ravines and ridges. We all agreed we were out of shape on the uphills. Several creek crossing and a couple of wildlife meadows were passed as well as some nice sandstone cliffs and overhangs.

Saturday night was cooler and there was a light rain/snow mist, but not enough to need shelter. We had a nice evening around the campfire. (good conversation and a little chess.

This was my younger brother's first overnight trip. He had a great time and his hammock and tarp sleeping combo worked out well. I passed on my old pack to him and hope he will join us for more hikes in the future. We don't seem to spend enough time together anymore.

We got an early start on Sunday and completed the last 5-6 miles by 10 a.m. We got breakfast at the 24-hour greasy skillet, The Freezer, in Tell City.

It was a great hike and much better weather than we usually have for our annual March 1st trip.

I'll post pictures later today or tomorrow.”

“Sounds like it was a fun hike! Good job getting your younger brother interested. My younger bro was my first hiking partner too. He just got married, so I'm guessing it'll take a bucket of cold water and a crowbar to get him on the trail again...”

“I added photos for the trip. I'll have a few more later, two of my photo disks were corrupted. Grrrrrrrrr.

The URL is below. Could someone add a link? Thanks

http://community.webshots.com/user/indianajohn100”

“Cool pics!”