Last Minute Deam Weekend Trip Report

“My Friday night date cancelled on me (had a headache...uh huh) so I decided to drive up to Bloomington and spend the night at my sisters.

Very early Saturday morning Ultrapecker called and informed me that the alternator went out on his truck. He would take it to the shop when they opened and try to still meet me at the Deam Wilderness later that day.

Attila wasn't due in till later Saturday afternoon so I decided to catch up on some much needed sleep. After a slow morning and a stop for last minute supplies I headed for the Deam.

I arrived at the Grubb Ridge trailhead around 12:30. By this time Ultrapecker and called back with more bad news. His brakes were bad too and he wouldn't be making it down.

I decided to do a loop trail and meet Attila back at the trailhead. I took the Axom Branch over to Terrill Ridge Rd then followed it to the Firetower. From there I crossed the road and took the Martin Hollow loop back up to Grubb Ridge Trail and back to the parking lot.

The Axom Branch and Martin Hollow were both sections of the Deam I hadn't hiked before. I enjoyed the new scenery. Temperatures were hovering just above freezing but I set a quick pace and warmed up before long.

The Axom Branch is short but has a couple nice hills and a nice ridge walk. The lower half of Martin Hollow is a little wet and not too interesting, but the upper loop heading back north is nice. There are three nice ponds including one next to a pretty nice stand of pine. This trail didn't look like it had been used as much lately and I cleared a lot of small brush as I walked.

In all I hiked a total of about 6 miles.

I got back to the car around 3:30 and had a snack while waiting for Attila who showed up shortly. He was surprised to see me there thinking I'd already hiked in. We decided to drive back to Blackwell Horse Camp and hike the Cope Hollow Loop counterclockwise.

We set out right away hoping to make the pond site before sundown. Attila said the trail was pretty muddy last time he hiked it and I had heard the same. It turned out much of the trail has been rerouted out of the creekbed and onto the side of the ridge.

Attila tracked our mileage on his GPS and said they cut out about 2 miles of trail with the reroute.

We arrived at the pond site just before sundown after a short 2-mile hike. That put me at 8-miles for the day.

The pond is probably the largest and nicest pond other than Terrill Ridge. Right across from the pond is a nice campsite under a huge stand of pine. There is unlimited room if anyone ever had a large group in the area. The pines would later prove to be good cover from the freezing rain.

I set up my tent while Attila did a quick loop around the pond. He thought about climbing a leaning tree out over the water, but decided a dunk in the icy water was asking for hypothermia. I got the fire going while Attila pitched his tent.

While fixing dinner the freezing rain and ice started to fall. It was enough that we put on rain gear, but never amounted to much under the pines. The next day we found that everything was covered in a thin sheet of ice outside the tree cover.

We had a nice fire and sat up till around 11 p.m. I wonder if Attila slept at all after all my stories of coy dogs, feral pigs and bobcats ;)

We built a fire and had a lazy morning, getting back on the trail a little before 11.

We made good time again covering about 7 miles in 2.5 hrs. With the retouting, Cope Hollow is a nice trail with a few small ups and downs and a lot of nice large pines stands. Several ponds looked like nice campsites along the way.

The weather stayed right around freezing but we only saw a few flakes of snow.

We arrived back at the cars at around 1:30 and headed out.

With this hike I've now hiked all the main hiking trails in the Deam. I'd still like to check out some of the other trails over by Hickory Ridge on the East side of the Deam.

Wildlife report: 1 small bird about the size of my thumb lol...1 turkey... and a couple hunters who were also unhappy about not seeing any wildlife.

A few pics to come...”

“good report IJ, to bad about ultrapecker. Glad to see he is still around.

Never been to Deam before, I will put it on my to do list”

“good report...i was wondering about you guys when we got a winter weather advisory that night...sounds like you guys picked a good camping spot”

“I wish I could have made this one. I love Deam. I was thinking that if you had gotten the snow that was forecast it would have been beautiful.”

“Just added pics to the trip page. They are here: http://www.thebackpacker.com/pictures/album/pd4sjo4b.php”

“Glad you got out this weekend. I wonder if that is the same spot we were at two springs ago when the "peepers" invaded our camp. I remember it being by a good-sized pond in the pines with plenty of room for a large group (like ours).”

“Hey Indy,
Good report, much better spelling than mine! I was deer hunting all last weekend and spent much of the time in the same weather as you. Man, It was cold Saturday morning at Brookville Lake, close to 12 degrees, no wind though. I actually had trouble seeing through my breath with my headlamp!!!! (yeah, I got one now!!!) I must admit that I am impressed with you guys as I ended up not going out at all Sunday. I guess I’ll have to try this winter stuff one time.
See ya later
Randall”

“Indiana,
Nice report and pics.
How far was this from the trip we did at Pate Hollow?”

“IJ
was that first picture 'fast hiker' digitally enhanced? I dont recall hikin that fast.

-chin,randall,whisky-good to hear from you guys.

Whiskey,Deam wilderness is only about 5 miles down the road (South on 446) from pate hollow,on the left side of the road though.

Randall you should try the winter stuff-you'd enjoy it. although the fish may not be biting as well!
later”

“Attila, yeah it was enhanced, in the original it was just a blur of color, had to slow it down a couple frames lol. no but seriously it was just you moving in the campsite, low light and long shutter time gave it that look.

Thanks for reading the report everybody, hope to hike with you all again soon. Randall get your but out there :) its not even cold yet!

BTW-Its snowing!”

“IJ - I don't know if it was your intention, but that first pic is a good example of a "panning" shot. I'm guessing the shutter speed was about 1/20s and you followed (panned) your subject. The torso of your subject stays in focus while the background and legs show motion. Nice job.

I try to shoot pans with sports and they are tough. Here are a couple examples of a pans from football shot at 1/40s:





Your pic at Deam:

last edited: 12/06/05 11:07:28 AM”

“cool chin, nice shots btw”