Adena Trace Trail Fall Trip Report.

“Away We Go!!

Well as trips goes this one was pretty standard and there wasn’t anything terrible or dangerous to talk about. Me, Golf hiker, Berniedawg and Jerbear met up at Fairfield causeway on Friday PM We talked for a while and then loaded up in Golfhiker’s car to shuttle down to the Dam. Jerry had a hard time getting all his stuff together and we finally hit the road full of expectations of a good hike. The weather was really nice, a tad cold, but overall nothing to really complain about. We got to the Dam and started our assent up the side to the top where the trailhead is located. The top of Brookville reservoir Dam is about 300 vertical feet from the parking lot and they just don’t cut good switchbacks in the side of most dams. It is close to a half mile up the side!! It was entertaining to listen to the complaints as we trudged up the side (not to mention the wheezing!!). Everybody agreed that it wasn’t the best way to start out, Oh well!!!

The Camp On The Ridge!!

We found the trailhead easily enough as they have placed a very large and new sign where you can see it. We hit the trail and went about a mile in to set up our Friday night camp. No flat spots close to the trail, so we climbed up to the top of a ridge and made camp there. nice views of the trees, but that’s all we could see! Everyone set up and some had dinner, I decided to go down the lake shore and see if I couldn’t catch some fish to eat. The lake was smooth as glass and the water was very clear, I put a night crawler on then set back to take it all in. My first cast got me a 3 lb plus channel cat and two casts later I had another!! Wow!! The fishing was turning out to be great! I decided that those were enough and skinned em out right there. I was almost finished with the second one when my pole tried to go swimming, I set the hook and had a real monster on, but my knot failed and it got away. It was getting dark so I headed back up the slope (man it was a slope too) with my catch in a baggie.

Catfish and Talcum Powder!

When I got back up to camp, Jerbear was almost asleep and Golfhiker and Berniedawg were kicking back. Beniedawg was smoking a cigar and drinking Crown Royal Whiskey. I showed them my fish and no one was impressed at all!! Gee, I thought I would get some recognition !!
Golfhiker started saying that I went back to town and bought them! That’s the kind of people I hike with!! I put the fish in foil and asked Jerbear for some pepper. If ya know Jerry, you know he has good pepper!! He was good enough to wake up and get me some. Beniedawg had some olive oil and I used that as well. I started to sprinkle on Jerbear’s pepper and it looked funny !! What the heck is this stuff?? It was a white powder!! Oh man, I smelled it and it was foot powder!!! Thanks Jerry!! Great!! Catfish, A La Gold Bond!! I wiped it off and it left no distinctive taste behind. I bummed some o Berniedawg’s whiskey and kicked back, turning the fish often just like ol ChinMusic taught me. The fish turned out great and we spent the balance of the evening talking and enjoying the fire (not to mention the whiskey) I ended up falling asleep in Jerry’s Slinglight chair. Time to hit the sack.

Back To The Dam And Goodbye To Golf!!

I slept well and it wasn’t as cold as we had expected. We all got up and made our breakfast, and stared to pack up. Nice day ahead, sure beats rain!! I had to hike back to the dam to meet the Saturday folks and guide them in. Golfhiker decided that he could no longer fight the cold he had and was going back home! He didn’t look bad, but he didn’t look good either! We headed out to the dam with Jerbear and Berniedawg starting out in the opposite direction planning on meeting the group further up the trail. I decided that it would be stupid to hike back down the dam and stayed on top. Golfhiker was going down anyway!! He could meet the others and point them in the right direction. “Have em bring me some water Golf” I watched the leaves and the lake from atop the dam and it was beautiful, but the real fun was watching the Saturday bunch climb the dam. They made good time, but displayed poor attitudes upon reaching the summit! Seems no one appreciates a good climb right off the bat, Go figure!! Olddog, Thrifty and Attila had driven down from Indy and thought it would be fun to drive on through to Ohio!! I think getting lost made em cranky!!!!!

Back On The Trail

Here we go and in earnest this time!!! The Adena Trace Trail experiences lot of changes in both terrain and scenery along its length. The section we were hiking is called the Wolf creek section and is the most challenging and the most undeveloped portion of the entire loop. We caught up with Bernie at Battle Point and had a break. Protein bars and granola all around!! (I hate protein bars) Back on the trail we all got into our paces, some fast, some slow. The leaves had not reached their peak, but the colors were still enjoyable. We met up with Jerry about a mile from Battle Point and it was time for lunch.

What Price Good Socks!

As any experienced hiker can tell ya , one of the most important things to bring are two pairs of good wicking socks!! I, being the highly experienced hiker that I am, left em in the car. All I had was one pair of very heavy insulated hunting socks!! I knew I was in trouble at mile four!! My feet were soaked and I started getting hotspots on the toes and heels, Well Crap!! I stopped and taped them up best I could!! It turned out that was not good enough!! On we went, admiring the beauty of the woods and hollows of south eastern Indiana. This section is rough but also the most scenic. I had to stop two more times and tape up my poor feet. The sounds of nature abound here as well as the deep resounding roar of the 500 plus horsepower boats on the lake. That is the only real problem with the trail, you can hear boats along most of it. They eventually got tired of running up and down the lake and it did get kinda quiet!

The Trashy Camp And The Able Hikers.

The group reached the intersection of the Adena trace Trail and the Midway trail. Now a guy called MeanGreen had asked if he could meet us Saturday night at the campsite, He was gonna hike in from the Midway trailhead and get to camp around 10:00 PM. Wow, that sounded like an adventure all right. Gforce was also gonna meet us at camp as he started on the east side to make his hike longer. We (or I actually) had planned to camp about ½ mile south of the above mentioned intersection, but I got voted down and we kept going. I left some reflective trail markers for MeanGreen and Gforce so they could try and find us in the dark. Good luck with that guys, lol . I ended up leaving my hiking stick while marking the trail and had to go back and get it Damm !! By the time I caught back up to the main group my dogs were barking and I was ready to make camp. We went to a spot where we had camped in Spring. We had cleaned it up then and had to do the same thing again! Boater trash everywhere!! After picking up, we set up our tents and built a fire to burn what trash was burnable. So the afternoon went with us eating dinner and shooting bull. I tried to fish again, but had no luck and my feet were screaming bloody murder at me. Marko used my pole and he didn’t do any better. Sometime around 6:00 or so here came Gforce down the trail, I knew he would find us as he has hiked this trail before, the real surprise was that he had MeanGreen with em!! MG had wisely decided to abandon his original plans and catch us in the daylight. I was ready to take bets on him not finding us!!

They both set up and the it began to get dark. We all sat around the fire talking and enjoying the ambiance (That included Marko’s Tequila, Bernie’s Crown Royal and MeanGreen’s Knob Creek) We had a good fire and the night didn’t feel nearly as cold as it was. I told some stories and listened some others. It was great and that’s the kinda thing that makes this group hiking stuff worth while. I turned in kinda early and was awakened by loud laughter. MeanGreen was celebrating too efficiently and fell into his tent sometime close to midnight. Been there!! Don’t wanna go back!! That’s what Knob Creek will do to ya!! His tent bounced back though and everyone went to sleep.

The Next Morning!!
I slept great and got up as the fire was being worked back to life. We all made breakfast with no one but MeanGreen looking a little worse for wear. We all packed up, said our goodbyes and headed out in twos and threes to finish the hike. Attila, MeanGreen and myself and left last of all. We talked to some deer hunters and one had got him a deer. I could hear Jerbear hollering out in front of us the whole way!! We met an old friend of mine close to the end and he had been squirrel hunting with some success. We all made it out fine! Got in our cars and shuttled back to the dam! We went and got something to eat at a small place in Brookville. It was a good hike and I hope to do it again sometime soon.
See ya later.
Randall”

“good report.”

“as always randallm, a good, loooooong, report ;)

wait a minute, WHEN was this trip?”

“Thanks for the nice report Randall. My tent is properly named Eureka! cause I sure found it! LOL!”

“nice trip report Randyallll. Its never too late ole boy! Thanks!”

“Oh yeah!!!
Thirfty is a funny Guy!!
Lol
See ya later.
Randall”