Deam Bushwack or Knobstone Hike

“if i'm not working that friday, and I can get enough people interested, i would like to start friday morn and finish sunday morn. the start would be the hayes trailhead in the deam, but we wouldnt hike the hayes trail. instead, bushwack east to where Saddle Creek meets the lake, then countour along the lake and find someplace between the peninsula and axsom creek to camp. on saturday, continue east along the lake, and camp at the far east end. sunday morn, hike out by camp peeper and finish at the firetower

if i have to work friday, or not many can be there friday morn, then we will do new chapel to elk creek on the knobstone trail, with a water cache at leota. that's about 15 miles over 2 days. not big miles, but according to captain crack, it's some of the toughest big-ass bad-ass hilly trail on the whole kt”

“actually, i'm thinking if we do the bushwack, have the 1st night at the campsite that coyote and i discovered (east side of the peninsula, on the lake) that ive been calling "the thumb" in my mind, and the second night near the mouth of the axsom. sunday morn out would be about half bushwack, half trail-hike out to axsom trailhead. it would be similiar to the hike he and i did several weeks ago, but with a couple of changes to add more bushwacking and less trail, and a different finish
last edited: 12/20/08 7:13:04 AM”

“The 13th is my Birthday and I will not be working by then Deam sounds good.”

“just so you know, i'm leaning towards doing the knobstone for this trip. i would really rather the deam bushwack be a 3 nighter, which means i would rather do it in warmer weather. right after the end of the school year would be a good time, possibly”

“sounds like a good trip-I've done variations of the hike. If the lake is partially frozen, it's much easier than scrambling over the rocks on parts of the shore
last edited: 12/20/08 10:59:24 AM”

“ive decided that this trip will be on the knobstone.

it is now called Knobstone Bad-ass Buttkicker: New Chapel 2 Elk Crk on the trips page

im going to do the bushwack trip first weekend in april. starting friday morn, end monday morn. thatll be the 3rd thru the 6th”

“based solely on looking at the map (the old version), 2 possibilities for camping are at about mile 26 1/2, and mile 27 3/4, or even 28 1/2 if we're feeling ambitious. anyone know anything about camping in any of those places (good tenting, good water source)?”

“i'll probably scout it out friday morn/afternoon, if anyone wants to join me. theres a minor country road crossing just before the campsite at mile 26 1/2”

“Unknown about those mile markers but I may be able to join you Friday
Attila”

““based solely on looking at the map (the old version), 2 possibilities for camping are at about mile 26 1/2, and mile 27 3/4, or even 28 1/2 if we're feeling ambitious. anyone know anything about camping in any of those places (good tenting, good water source)?”

26.5 I can't exactly recall why I didn't camp there but that valley may be with a view of some houses to the NNW, or maybe i just didn't feel comfortable to camp in an area with a bunch of atv trails.

27.75 If you're thinking of the hilltop after a long ascent through a narrow valley then don't count on that. It's full of briars as many of the areas there are. I actually crashed there as it was already late at night but there really isn't any room for more then a couple of bodies there. Gorgious climb though.

28.5 I can't recall on which hill I camped on on my way back but I'm thinking it was the larger one around mile 29 that had quite a bit of room with way less briairs. I think there was also a fire rink there.

I hiked from Leota to Delaney and back didn't cache water. All creek had water in them and there are a few lakes and ponds along the way. Bring a filter. I had to sleep with mine as the temps that mid february were in the negatives.

If you want hard, you should go on north; the next sections are really tough as well.

Have fun.”

“actually, im thinking of the creek valley at 27 3/4, OT”

“I'm hoping the schedule will work out & I'll be able to make this one. Are you still trying to do some hiking on Friday, and if so, early, mid or late day? Normally, I can get away on Friday's to do this, so I'll likely be available.”

“i'll do some hiking just to scout out camping and water. no more than 3 or 4 miles. i can go whenever youre ready. the sooner, the better, so we can cache water if necessary, and set up friday's camp”

““actually, im thinking of the creek valley at 27 3/4, OT”
..............



using this map, the valley starts just on the right side of the mile 28 circle. some of these valleys are pretty narrow but i think this one may have some spots. i think this is a place where i lost the trail going southbound. there is like an old road bed through there and some atv trails too.”

“if theres not enough space there, we'll find someplace”

“i'm sure you will but i had a hard time finding suitable spots for me, when i went solo + k9.”

“I vaguely remember there being a real nice open area around 22-23 before the hills start. Not quite halfway though.”

“that could work if we reversed it and went elk creek to new chapel”

“oops
last edited: 12/21/08 9:17:13 PM”

“It's the KT... I'm in.

Is this the same ChrisM that hiked with me and Crash earliier in the year? Dude, did you find my camera in your car? I'd love to have it back. Really just the SD card. the pics on it are priceless. Sorry about forcefeeding you those hard miles, but as I said "those are my friends out there" I was realy concerned about them. A lost man is nothing to joke about.

Crash, they are the hardest miles, but taken as a weekend they might not seem too bad. When you are shooting for 20+ miles per day, they are murder.
last edited: 12/21/08 9:06:00 PM”

“Hey Crash,

This sounds like a good hike. I probably won't be down there until mid-afternoon on Friday. This is a great section of the Knobstone, and know there's three or four good places to camp along that section. There should be good water in the creeks that time of year too.”

“There should be good water in the creeks that time of year too

thats what i figure. attila and i did delaney to elk creek a week ago, and we found the occasional water source. i wonder if the north sections are better for water, and if so, is it because of the gentler topography”

“the topo isn't gentler up north but you are more in the hills not just the edge.”

“i find the hills north of elk creek to be smaller and less steep than the rest of the trail”

“I would like to do the entire trail in June.”

“go for it. just dont let anyone talk you into doing it in 2 days, unless you like leg cramps, feet blisters, and relentless big-ass hills”

“...or spending time with meangreen”

“and nobody likes that”

“Gee,
Another on of these huh??? Seems like some of you might have a larning disability!!!
Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems that no one has come of this trail with anything good ta say about it.
Actually the mileage looks doable but the terrain...…man, it don’t look easy and right smack in the middle of PUD CITY!!!! Gotta admire your sprit…but defiantly question your judgment. I have done the whole thing, but only in sections and that was back in the eighties and it sucked then…
Ya never know though, I just might have to make this one ta see for myself…LOL
Good luck and I’ll…

See ya later.
Randall
last edited: 12/22/08 7:49:28 PM”

“attila and i just did a section and we enjoyed it”

“Randall wtf? knobstone is a great trail man.”

“Puzzies! All of ya! LOL! Lets rock this biotch out! I'm up for whatever mileage CrashPoon thinks he can do! The miles leading up to, and just following Elk Creek are the roughest on the trail. Just look at any topo map. I think this is a must for me. Crash, I will be avail from Thurs. night on. Let me know if you need help with the logistics. I'm there for ya, bro.
Igot a score to settle with this trail...”

“well then sign up, you momo!”

“I will be avail from Thurs. night on. Let me know if you need help with the logistics

yea, you can help me scout out water and campsites.”

“Where we camped on the second night is a good place. Oh, wait you weren't there. At mile 21, turn around and go back about 100yds, and look towards the creek (south I think). It's a nice little flat area, but practice LNT. No one will ever know we stayed there in OCT. As for h2o, check my first KT trip for water cache locations, and figger 2L/person/cache and at least one extra L/person on the last cache before your campsite. This will allow you to never have to carry more than 2L at any time, and make sure everyone stays properly hydrated.

Hang on, I'll go get my topos for more camp site info.”

“Oh, wait you weren't there.

yea, cuz you couldnt be bothered to wait 2 minutes to make sure i didnt miss a turn you guys almost missed

/ / flipping you off / /

mile 21 would be good if we southbound it
last edited: 12/30/08 9:45:09 PM”

“I looked for the camera in my car, and no luck, but I'll keep looking.”

“Thanks for letting me know Chris. I think I lost it on that hill side when we sat on the ground. I have a new and much nicer camera now, but I'll always miss the pics that were on the old one.”

“Thanks for the invite but this one sounds like too much for me, I've only been doing hikes with the kids lately. Y'all have fun and try to stay warm!”

“Heya Crash,

Looking at the map a little, and I remember there being a good campsite both right before, and after the Leota TH. That would give us about 6 miles out on Sunday. Just a thought...”

“HM is right. There are some good sites there. What about doing New Chapel to Elk Creek on Saturday, then buzzing on up to Oxley on Sunday? That would put us doing 15 miles on the first day, and and only about 5.5 on the second. There are some great places to camp around EC, and water would be guaranteed. We could cache some water at Leota just in case.”

“Meangreen: Wow that sounds like fun.. you make 15 miles on the KT in winter sound like a walk to the mailbox. Brother I hope you're in shape. My calves are already screamin! I'd better hit the hills for training.”

“If it's 15 miles on Saturday, I'm out. That's more than I can do with shorter daylight. Post if it's changing for sure. If I don't make this trip I can go and visit LBL for the weekend.
last edited: 1/22/09 5:23:49 PM”

“8 is great. 15 in the winter. nope. iwlii keep my eye on this one. yo bear”

“Didn't mean to make everyone pee down their leg. LOL! It's a rough trail, to be sure, but we did 21 on the first day and 10 the next, back in Oct. I was just thinking out loud. If nobody's interested that's ok. Golf, you've got more cardio than I do, it's just about how much burning thighs you are willing to endure! LOL! I been trainin with 12oz curls all winter. Depending on your pace this trail will give you all you want, that's for sure. Chris checked the elevation profile, and the whole trail is kinda equivalent to a rim to rim hike in the Grand Canyon minus the dangerous stuff - raw numbers only. Yogisan and I will be returning in the spring and hiking the whole thing in two days. That's my real challenge this year. To do the entire KT in less than 40 hours. This trip would just be a refresher of the hard stuff. PUD... PUD... PUD...”

“MG: I'm sure that when all is said & done, the big brain trip planners will figur this out, and we'll all have a pleasant hike. I know that noboday want's to sacrifice a good time with friends just to do a killer hike. Remember, sometimes "less is more".. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not a KT expert, and I expect it to be a challenge at any mileage, so I'll be there no matter what.... gotta go clean off my leg. Stay tuned.”

“i dont have any plans to go for 15 on saturday. i could do it, but i just dont want to. maybe i will try the 2-day thing in the spring, tho.

mg, if you can get other ppl interested, go for it. i just wont be going for it with you”

“never mind.”

“so crash, you sticking to the original plan in the trip description?”

“I knew if we outed Meangrean for what he is, a monstermiler hiker, that cooler heads would prevail. Seriosly I did not mean to cause trouble, but then again.... Now I guess we'll just wait for the final logistics so that we can all plan accordingly, and get everyone back on board for this winter hike. Have a great weekend!”