Ten O'clock Line Trail, IN

“Start At The Beginning, End At The End!! So Where Is The End Anyway???

The trip started out normal enough with Golfhiker and Berniedawg meeting me at Brown County State Park Friday afternoon. Golfhiker and I dropped of Berniedawg at the campsite and proceeded to drive to Yellowwood State Forest to park Golfhiker’s car for the shuttle back. That’s when things started to get sorta screwy. I had hiked this trail back in 1985 and had gone the opposite direction that we were planning on going this time. 1985 is a long ways back and I could not remember all the details of that trip and I made sure that everyone understood that fact. I had no real idea where the trail head was and was planning on asking someone. With that in mind, Golfhiker and I drove in Yellowwood State Forest looking for the property office to ask where the Ten O’clock Line Trail ended at and where a good place to park would be. Of course, no one was there. We did score on some maps and these proved to be very helpful later on!! (Oh Yeah, never did get a real map of the Ten O’clock Line Trail) After talking with the Boat Rental Guy, we decided to park at the dam. (He’d never heard of the Ten O’clock Line Trail, Hmm) That should be easy enough to find when we got to Yellowwood State Forest. We drove back and hooked up with Berniedawg to set up camp. BearBag arrived shortly after that and we spent a lazy evening cooking out, drinking beer, playing guitar and just having a good time. Golfhiker had bought along his new Hennessey (Whatever!!) backpacking hammock and spent his first night in it at Brown County State Park campground, “Leave it alone Randall, BearBag’s gonna set me up”. More on the “Evil Hammock” later.

Where In The White Blazes Is The Damm Trail??????

We woke up to the normal activities of Brown County State Park with people running around at the butt crack of dawn!! Kids screaming , dogs barking and all the wonderful sounds and smells that accompany human occupation. Berniedawg cooked breakfast and we packed up to hit the trail! I weighed the packs for fun and here they are: Randall 24 lbs. Golfhiker 26 lb, 8 oz. BearBag 27 lbs, Berniedawg a whopping 41 lbs!! What a man!! Berniedawg and I did mange to take advantage of the showers before the hike! (Hey, I paid for em, might as well use em!!) We hiked down to Strahl Lake and found where the Ten O’clock Line Trail joined up. Ok here we go!! The first 50 yards were great, after that the trail began to lose it’s identity as well as our confidence. The Ten O’clock Line Trail is blazed well, but get this now, only in one direction! Lucky for us we were going in that direction. Even with the blazes the trail disappeared into a tangle of saplings that was almost impossible to get through!! It looked as if no one had been on that trail for years!!! It didn’t help that we were going up hill and breathing in huge amounts of tree pollen that the saplings were firing at us in self-defense!! I felt like I had been maced!! Berniedawg said he could see a clearing at the top and we all headed for it with thoughts of abandoning this trip right off the bat!! “16 miles of this????, Bull F$#%%$# S#@&t!!” At the top we decided to regroup and consider our options. About that time, one of Brown County State Park’s finest drove up and we asked him if he knew anything about the Ten O’clock Line Trail and where it might be located. He turned out to be a world of information, muttering something about a map and using a compass to find magnetic north, drawing an azimuth, etc, etc. Golfhiker asked him about the trail blazes and the guy didn’t know what a trail blaze was!! Golfhiker explained what they were, “I did not know that, wadda ya know!!” and the now enlightened park employ drove off a little better person that he had been before! Yet another blow to our already drooping morale. We hadn’t even made ½ mile!!! I was voting for going to the Tecumseh Trial as soon as possible and save what we could of our weekend!! Berniedawg found the missing blazes (Oh, joy!!) and they pointed us down the road, ok, well follow as far as we can. That turned out to be a bad strategy!! Along the road we went, and right down through the middle of Taylor Ridge campground in Brown County State Park. Taylor Ridge is a new addition to Brown County State Park and they used the Ten O’clock Line Trail to plot the campground road. Yes, the blazes were ever there and spaced at just the right distance to make ya feel like you had missed a turn off!!!! This went on for about a mile or more and then we actually hit a real trial!! That was a good feeling as my feet are not used to walking for extended periods on pavement. Yep, I got new boots and they don’t like the hard roads!! It was labeled horseman trail “G”, but it had the white blazes so we followed it all the way out of Brown County State Park. That was what was supposed to happen, so I was not concerned. We stopped at a stone quarry to eat lunch. I felt much better about things and the weather was really grand. A good breeze, clear skies, with temps in the low 70’s and hardly any humidity. Things are looking up!!!!

Friendly Hoosiers, Pitt Bulls, And Gravel Roads.

After lunch we got back on the white blazes expecting more of the same type of trail conditions we had already experienced. That didn’t happen. The trial headed down hill and right smack into somebody’s backyard!! Now I have had this happen a couple o times before and it never makes one feel good. This time though we had something else to deal with. Two dogs appeared outta nowhere and weren’t very happy about us being there. Another more vicious Pitt Bull was penned up, good thing too, as it wanted to chomp us fer sure!! The loose dogs soon decided we were ok to pass and about that time this guy came up behind us and assured us that they wouldn’t bite. He had that Southern Indiana look about him, old oil stained clothes with just a hint of that diesel fuel/tobacco smell. He had that particular type of accent that reminds one of Kentucky!! LOL. I asked him about the Ten O’clock Line Trail and he gave us some directions. He knew more about the trail than the Brown County State Park folks did!! We now had the pleasure of walking on a gravel road that took us past an old abandoned ski resort. I hoped we would not have to stay on the road for long, turned out we did!! We crossed an old suspension bridge that was on its last legs and I would not recommend that anyone do so in the future!! I got some water there and we crossed State Road 46 and continued on up another gravel road. As we were heading up a small bend, a truck came by and stopped to talk. Another friendly Hoosier that knew of the Ten O’clock Line Trail and proceeded to give more advice. He warned us of the Timber Rattlers that the state was stocking along the trail, “They drop em off in biodegradable nets”. There’re all over the place on the first ridge!!” Okaaayy, maybe we should avoid that ridge!! Turned out it wasn’t even on the trail, he just wanted to make sure we knew about em!! He also told us about the Bald Eagles and the Blue Heron roosts along the way. He said goodbye and we continued along the gravel road for what seemed like forever. Finally, we came to an old iron trestle bridge that the state was no longer using and were greeted by another Pitt Bull!! This dog was in the company of a few young guys that resembled our first friend in his back yard. They were drinking beer, smoking dope and fishing in the creek. Man, I wouldn’t eat any fish that came from there!! It was muddy, low and full crap!! We crossed that bridge with one Pitt bull on out tails and passed another being held back by his owner. Any other time the bridge might have been a cool place but, with the hillbillies, their pit bulls and all the damm junk trucks full a trash, it kinda lost any charm it may have held. We felt better once we were across. More gravel roads!!! Dammit!! I grew up on gravel roads and have a real emotional connection with em. There’re great places to drink beer and make love to yer girlfriend, but terrible places to hike, good thing it wasn’t too hot!! Time for a break!! We plopped down in the Johnson grass (not very soft stuff) under a tree in a corner of the gravel road and watched the locals kick up clouds of dust as they drove by!

Take Me Home, Gravel Roads!!

Those damm white blazes kept on coming. So we got back on the road and hoped for the best. Golfhiker and Berniedawg said they saw some Bald Eagles, I think they were buzzards myself. One more Pitt Bull encounter but, he stayed in his yard and just cussed at us! Damm, somebody must have had a puppy sale close by!! We only had to go another mile or so on the road and were yet again pointed in the right direction by a friendly local in his jeep! Finally, the woods at last, THANK YOU GOD!!! We had some trouble at first, but the trail improved and the blazes were still showing us the way. I was getting tired and needed some water. We crossed a dry creek bed and Bearbag found a pretty good pool of water, so we watered up and discussed where to camp. “Lets get up higher so we don’t have to worry about the bugs”. We made camp in Yellowwood State Forest among the red pines and maples. We built a fire, ate dinner and talked about life!! Golfhiker, Bearbag, and Berniedawg enjoyed cigars while I drank some lemonade! We got to hear some coyotes howl for a while, that’s always cool. I can remember a time not too long back when you never heard em at al!! We all hit the sack around 10:00 PM and were gald to do so.

The Man Eating Hammock!!

Sometimes life has more in store for us than we could ever possibly imagine and just when everything finally seems right, something goes horribly wrong. The night turned still and cooled off. I had brought my Boozerman Mountain Work Cantenery Ridge Stealth Tarp (It weighs a lot less than it sounds!) and I set it up close to Golfhiker and his Hammock. Around 12:00, I was sleeping very peacefully when I heard something through my ear plugs.

Flump!!, Flump!!!, Flump!!!!
Flump!!, Flump!!!, Flump!!!!

I have been in the woods a lot, less than some, but more than most and I have never heard that before!!!! I couldn’t catch the direction with my earplugs in and felt I needed to do something quick to scare whatever the hell that was away!! I let out a real loud snort, kinda like deer make when their spooked, Whoosh!! The strange flapping sound continued and it was close!! Oh Crap, I fired of another snort and got no better results!! Flump!!, Flump!!!, Flump!!!! That was enough fer me!!! I ripped out my earplugs and frantically searched for my headlamp!! Son of a $&^%%!! The sound was coming closer and it was in Golfhiker’s direction. I swung the beam over that way and caught site of the beast!!! It was attacking Golfhiker and he was fighting it off the best he could, beating the sides of his hammock over and over gain. I could see that it had somehow got in side with him and he was a gonner fer sure!!! I held the light on the scene for as long as I could, but got no response from Golfhiker!! The struggling finally subsided and I figured he was dead! Everything was very quite after that. Ok, we’ll bury him in the morning! I gotta get some sleep!! Sometime latter on, (I ain’t sure of the time, but it was late dammit) the entire episode repeated itself with a similar conclusion. Strange behavior to say the least and not a word outta Golfhiker!!! Hmmmmmm!

Don’t Worry, Be Happy!!!

I woke about dawn and BD asked what the trouble was over there last night. He said he heard snorts and some type of flapping and thumping sounds. He wasn’t worried as he figured it had to get through me and GH before it got to him, brave man!!! BB didn’t hear a thing, wish I could sleep like that!!! Turned out that GH was having trouble with his positioning in the hammock and just doing some adjusting!! Oh well!!! Next time I set up far away from GH!!! Time for breakfast and some hot tea!! We all ate and got packed up and hit the trail!! Yellowwood State Forest turned out to be a very beautiful place with large amounts of hardwoods and some red pines thrown in for good measure. The trails are in great shape and have a lot of variety in terrain. I think water might be an issue there in late summer, but, wasn’t an issue now. We made good time through cool green hollows and climbed some respectable hills. The weather was great and the woods smelled wonderful. I wish every hike was like this the entire way!! If ya get a chance you need to go to Yellowwood State Forest and do some hiking!!! I highly recommend it!!! The maps that we picked up at the Forest Office turned out to be accurate and we had no trouble getting to the dam and GH’s car. Next time I go, I will be hiking around the lake there. There are a lot good primitive campsites there as well. I know I already said this, but, if you ever need a place to hike, Yellowwood State Forest would be a good choice!!
We drove back to Brown County State Park and then went to Bob Evans and had some lunch. The trip was good, even if we had to hike on those damm gravels roads. I would not recommend the Ten O’clock Line Trail as a good hike because of all the roadwork.
The end,
See ya later.
Randall

Oh yeah, here’s some link to a few pics!! LOL

http://www.thebackpacker.com/pictures/album/r6r3a9h0,1.php

http://www.thebackpacker.com/pictures/album/h7fkh8eq.php
last edited: 6/13/07 8:06:57 AM”

“Sounds like a classic trip! Nice report and pictures, thanks”

“I love reading your trip reports Randall!

watch out for dem dawgs!

See ya later!
Roam!”

“Sent you an email - got an out of office response. If you would like it to another addy let me know - my address is in my profile.

thanks”

“nothing like the seclusion of southern indiana eh randall?...i concur, yellow wood is some good hiking...we'll have to do the tecumseh sometime”

“Great report, at least the last part of your trip turned out really well.”

“Nice Report! I think my pack was lighter then GolfHikers! I drilled the extra holes in my water bottle and put rocks in Golfhikers pack for that purpose.

Great Trip can't wait the the next Randell trip.”

“Until this classic Trip Report the best trail comedy was " A Walk in the Woods" by Bryson... he's got nothin on our Randall. I had to wait a few minutes & stop laughing before I responded. Lousy roads, great hike! Glad we did it. Thanks again Randall.”

“I grew up in Brown County and hiked the 10 O'Clock Line Trail many times back in the 1950s and 1960s when boy scout troops from the entire mid-west came to hike it every weekend. It is sad that the trail is now in such bad repair. I heard that a few years ago a census taker was actually killed by a pack of pit bulls at a house along the trail near the old iron bridge. So hikers may not want to hike the entire trail but do shorter hikes on the trail in the park (which used to start at the firetower and go down Grunt and Groan Hill to Lake Strahl and then up to Taylor Ridge) or stay in Yellowwood.”