Let's Roll

“Planning on camping at the Fox Den but you know if the weather turns off nasty we could camp at Prang Pond or make the trip to fit the needs of the hikers”

“Dude!!
I did this in the spring and I think it was close to 17 miles. It was a great hike and well marked. Park at the property office at Yellowood Lake and head north along the the Lake Trail, Atilla knows it well!! You will have some road work ta do, but not for very far!! Lots of water too.
See ya later.
Randall”

“Details here:
http://www.hoosierhikerscouncil.org/Trail_Work/tecumseh.shtml”

“Randall you sure it was 17 miles up to the shelter from the lake?

If so maybe I need to trim the mileage a bit.”

“Yellowwood lake is at mi. 27.7-29.7
Fox den is at mi. 13.5”

“Thanks Chris that would leave us with about 14 or so miles we would need to start early if we start from there.

Prand Pond is another good place to camp but it wouldn't be very much mileage for the day.

I guess depending on teh weather and what all we need to carry we go from there.”

“Or you could stage cars-
One at Yellowwood, one at Morgan-Monroe office.
That would give you 14.5 mi the first day, 13.5 the next.”

“Yep,
I fergot I went up towards Bear lake and then back to the shelter that trip!! Twice!!

13.5 miles. Fox Den Shelter
27.7 miles. Yellowwood State Forest
14.2 total one way!!
And those are not Randall miles either!!
See ya later.
Randall

This seems right”

“Chris that sounds like a plan starting over at the Morgan-Monroe office.It is a good section of trail I ave hiked a few times and we wouldn't need tents if we used the shelter.

Attila what do you think?”

“Randall do you think the water would freeze in the well since it is not covered the last time as was there this fall the water level was down about 3 feet in the well?

We could stage some water before the shelter and over at prang pond for teh way out on Sunday I guess.Maybe cover it up if we thought it would freeze up on us.”

“Coyote!!
The well water will probably be froze on top, but I bet you could break through pretty easy!!
Me and Attila camped at Prange pond last February, right after that ice storm, lol, I can still see him slipping almost every step. I wore my Yax Trax pros and they worked great. The pond was froze over, but has an overflow pipe on it’s dam and it was running even in the sub 20’s. I just held my bottle under the pipe and filled her up. We set up in the white pines and had a fire so hot we had to stay back about 3 feet and were down to our shirt sleeves. Lots of standing dead pine there ta burn!! I wish I had my camera that trip, I would have got some of the best winter shots. We woke up to falling snow, it was really beautiful!! Not trying to tell ya how to run your trip, but I would still start at Yellowwood Lake and then head to Morgan Monroe from there. You would miss most of the big climbs once you went up from Bear Lake… of course there’s always Low Gap, but that’s nothing compared to the Knobstone or the Adventure trail!!
See ya later.
Randall”

“coyote
you know that randal is indeed tryin to 'tell you how to run your trip', rite?! ha

Id prefer to start at yellowood, just because its so pretty there, but Im open to whatever. Prange pond is a sweet little camp site, but the milage would be short from yellowood, unless it's ice-hiking!

-randall I m geting a pair of yak trax this week-what kind do you recomend?
attila”

“I think I would rather start at Yellowood lake too because I have not hiked that section Randall why have you not signed up yet?”

“Where in the hell is this trail? Near what town?”

“Halfway between Bloomington and Nashville.”

“Okay cool!”

“it's practically in my back yard WK

were is this well you guys are talking about...never seen it”

“You going to bundle up and come out for this?”

“Coyote!!
I am still recovering from the second surgery!! I have to gain at least 20 lbs before I can hike and that won’t happen for awhile!! Have a good time.
See ya later.
Randall”

“Randall you could always park over on Richards Road 1.9 Randall Miles to Camp

You might as well sign up the wife will need a break after you have been laid up in the house for a couple of months
last edited: 12/05/08 6:02:21 PM”

“Are we camping Friday evening?”

“Coyote,
Yeah!! LOL, she is most assuredly sick of me hanging around and whining about things. I have been doing a lot stuff indoors, good thing we have a basement I can go to!

Ya know, I just realized that I ‘m always coming down there and you guys never come up this way!! Heck , Attila’s sister just lives about 5 miles from me and he ain’t been here either!! I got a lot of places to hike up here, none of them legal !! But that has not stopped me in the past. So…..I’ll make ya a deal., you come up here and hike in the preserves and I’ll make sure we don’t get caught!!! That wouldn’t happen until the Spring though!! You could take the Megabus
http://www.megabus.com/us/

up from Indy and if ya buy your ticket enough in advance ya can do it for $1.00!!!! Then you take the Metra, (That’s a train)
http://www.metrarail.com/Sched/md_w/md_w.shtml

from Union Station to within 2 miles of my house. My Mom does it all the time!
See ya later ( I won’t hold my breath)
Randall
last edited: 12/08/08 11:08:33 AM”

“Randall how about April I could make the trip up there I just need to figure out when our troop campout is that month we don't have it the date as of yet.

WK if we start down at Yellowood Lake there is a group camping area near the trailhead with a shelter I don't think it any kind of fireplace though.How about it?”

“I have to speak with the boss first about this trip.

I would like to stay someplace Friday becasue I do not want to get up at 4am to make the drive on Saturday. I don't care where we stay...never hiked this trail before.”

“If you start at the Morgan Monroe Park Office area, you could rent Draper Cabin for Friday Night. It's $26.75 a night, first come basis during the winter, limited to 14 ppl. Just a thought.”

“Party on! Tell you what, if I can make this trip and we agree to start here, I will rent the cabin for the night.

I cannot find any info on the web about it though. Can a brother get a link?”

“Coyote!!
I think that might work, still a long ways off so plenty of time to think it up!!
See ya later.
Randall”

“HMMMM...
I don't think you looked that hard:

http://www.browncountystatepark.com/yellowwood/forest.html

http://www.bloomingpedia.org/wiki/Draper_cabin

http://www.in.gov/dnr/files/fo_Draper_Cabin_rent_agreement.pdf

See ya later.
Randall”

“"This cabin is open for renting from April 1 through November 15."”

“Yea, it it is a 2 night minimum after November 15 so that idea is out.”

“I talked to the office and was told that they rent it year round, but don't take reservations during the winter months.”

“I just might rent it both nights and stay there Saturday night....gotta do some talking to the wife about it....
See ya later.
Randall”

“like WK, said, i was always told the cabin has a two night minimum”

“Yeah, I called them because I thought it might be nice to do a trip where we rent it both nights and hike both the trails. I was told that someone would have to be able to pick up the key and pay for the cabin before the office closed. The key would also unlock the gate and you can drive up to the cabin. There is still a small walk to be to the cabin. I was told that we could use any of the down wood around the cabin, but suggested that we bring a saw. The person I talked to said that we could rent it for just one night. Would anyone be interested in a trip where we used the cabin as home base?
last edited: 12/09/08 2:50:06 PM”

“i have actually been throwing that very idea around for a while...was thinking maybe a kids trip but there's not a lot of kid stuff in the area to do except hiking and fishing...i'd be interested in something like that around late spring early summer”

“there's also plenty of area around the cabin for tents”

“oh, and don't expect a gatlinburg style cabin...it's just a wood floor with a fire place...personally, i'd rather sleep on the ground in a tent”

“You are correct. It's not anything fancy, It's a true old cabin with a wood burning stove. That's about it. I was thinking more like winter camping because of the cabin, but spring would be good as well. A kids trip could be fun as well. Just hiking to the rock shelter could make for a fun hike with them.
last edited: 12/09/08 2:56:57 PM”

“DNR website on the cabin

http://www.in.gov/dnr/forestry/6435.htm”

“Sounds like the cabin down at Savage Gulf except that is a 8 mile hike to get to. Inside is just a stone fireplace.

Lots of mice too”

“if we could get Drapier Cabin we could hike around there we could do the 3 Lakes Loop and the Low Gap together and put the Cabin in the middle how about it”

“I can probably male the trip, however I am am not switching over yet.

That sounds cool, but I will do anything”

“Three Lakes Trail - 10 miles (rugged)
Connects Cherry, Beanblossom and Bryants Creek Lakes. Trailheads are located at the south end of Cherry Lake and at Bryants Creek Lake shelter.

He he he he!”

“yeah, it's a very long skinny lake ;)

one of those, i think beanblossom, is actually dry”

“There is a Beanblossom creek as well. I have tried to get that sign a dozen times. I have to try a 13th sober instead.”

“LOL, just use your jeep...in college a friend had a toyota 4X4...we'd just nock it down and throw it in the back”

“Just got it fixed”

“Are there maps of any of these trails online anywhere?”

“not that i've ever been able to find...there's a box outside the ranger's office at morgan/monroe”

“WK, you've got mail”