AHT post trip report (10/2009)

“Let's start with answering the few questions from the other thread as I have the for sure answers to them:

1. Ohio River Overlook Shelter IS NO MORE!!! <- burnt sometime in the last year or so, would be my guess by what I saw there. more later. The rest of the shelters were there in fair to good condition.

2. Blowdowns: In some sections the trail has been completely rerouted. Some we had to bushwhack pretty hard to get around. Most of the trail was clear though.

3. Bushwhacking: Very thick so for the most part very hard to do.

4. Water: I really didn't see an issue, for the most part. However, almost all the creeks were dry, very little ponding in them too (and it's been raining a bunch), and there were no immediately close ponds (I didn't look for the spring) near Homestead Shelter or at the former site of the Overlook Shelter. There is a pond about 1/2mi from Homestead Sh. towards the road. (N-ly) It's fairly well hidden.
With little bit of planning, water really shouldn't be an issue unless one can't stomach water that is not from the tap.

5. Signage: Impressively marked. Definitely A+. Even with some of the heavy bushwhacking we did, I really didn't have that much problem finding the trail again. A lot of the sections of the AHT in the areas we hiked doesn't get much use. The path is not well defined/beaten in a lot of the stretches, even my dog would lose the track. In many areas it does just fizzle out completely. I can see how it could be some tricky navigation for someone who has not spent some time in the woods. But none of the posts or signs were ever that far apart. Lime green is a terrible color for a blaze but the white part helped and I didn't have that much trouble discerning the 4x4 posts from the rest of the woods.
Also, some part of the trail were badly trampled by horses despite the many signs that state for the horses to stay off the hiking only trail.

6. Maps: When picking up the AHT map be sure to also pick up the horse trail version as it shows almost all those trails which are mostly old roads. When I find out more info, I'll post up in the trip page. You may also consult other maps as neither show everything. I had to work the trail map and compass and my instincts pretty hard to get back to the car.


I'll post up the blow by blow later when I upload some pictures.”

“We got down to the area pretty late so I ended up falling back to alternate plan for the first night. (Glad I did. I would have been pissed off if I hiked the 2 mi in the dark to find some charred remains of the Overlook Sh.) The hike from the parking lot is about a 1/3mi down an old road which is in good shape. This is the shelter:



Just a dirt floor but campfire ring and the picknick table are also under the roof. The AHT in this area is also along some of this same access road and some other old road to the SE.

Next morning we drove on down the Cold Friday Rd. all the way to its terminus. We parked right by the river and commenced our hike upward on a super muddy horse trail due N. The long up eventually crosses with the AHT and from there we took it due NW. The trail was hardly worn here but not all that hard to follow. The horse trail parallels the AHT here just not far off. Eventually the AHT pops out onto the former site of Overlook Shelter. The shelter is a pile of rubble laying a few yards from the original location of the shelter. A few metal sheets scatter about. The old foundation and steps can easily be found. It was terribly sad sight to see. The area was also extremely trashed out with all kinds of refuse. Fire rings were packed full of plastic water bottles, beer cans, wrappers and all sorts of junk. Extremely disappointing as this was a superb site just a few years back. Also, the view has overgrown quite a bit and is really just a small peep through the canopy with the river and KY in view. I'd still recommend a winter hike here. Winter sunsets are freaking awesome from this spot.







We continued on due NW along the edge of the ridge.



The trail was rather hard to follow here but it basically went straight down the spine and popped down on an old road - now horse trail. We turned towards the river and followed the horse trails along the cliffs and the river back due SE and towards the vehicle. We explored quite a bit of the cliffs. We even scooted along a shelf. Lot's of beautiful waterfalls everywhere along there. There are basically two sections to the cliffs. There is a huge breakdown in the middle which is also very very overgrown so we followed the horse trail around that. We ended up spending a lot of time messing around the cliffs and river beach.














After a quick late lunch at the vehicle, we drove back up the road to the AHT trail head and off we went due S up and up all the way to the Homestead shelter. This is a pretty tough 1.5mi.. all of it up. (took us 45min) The trail was in good condition here, pretty easy to follow for the most part. We considered stopping here for the night instead of what we planned as the cliff crawling took a bunch of the time. But there was a guy with a kid and all his junk strewn about everywhere and a couple of dogs of which one wouldn't quit barking. We moved on pretty quickly.





This next part of the trail is the one with many blowdowns. I pretty large section was completely rerouted. It was rather a crappy job done with a small dozer or a bobcat.. messy and just terribly done.. it zigzags every 30ft or so for no reason at all. The highlight right after this crappy reroute was the super steep incline. Any AT hiker would really appreciate this one.. it's freaking straight up this large hill. very cool. You end up crossing a few horse trails in a row here and then back to avoiding the blowdowns although not as bad.



Because we had ended up bushwhacking quite a bit, the daylight was running out on us. It became rather hard to follow the "trail" at twilight. Right before dark we stumbled into the emergency shelter which is "half way" between Homestead and Indian Cr. shelters.



This is pretty divey shelter, pretty similar to the first nights one but much, much smaller; room 2-3 people, that's it.
But it was very clean and so was the area. There is a pond just before it on the right. I didn't even see it that evening. It's that overgrown but it had plenty of water that looked pretty good, actually. There was also plenty of firewood around as it looks like the shelter doesn't get much use.



The next morning we departed down the trail towards Indian Cr. Shelter. This little section may have been my favorite. There are sinkholes of all sizes left and right everywhere here. This section also doesn't look like anything in Indiana. The trails winds through a real rock/boulder field. Much more reminiscent of WI or VA then IN. After a bout a mile we arrived at the Indian Cr. Shelter.





Wow, what a sight. The view here also is reminiscent of other mountains. The shelter is just like Homestead as it's a 4 sided log cabin with a small door facing the creek canyon. The roof was damaged a bit so it was wet in one corner of the structure but overall it was in good shape. The trash situation here was similar, although not as bad, to the scene at the overlook site. Fire rings once again packed with garbage.. even saw a mountain meal bag in there. wtf? Water sources I did not see (going down to the creek is only an option if you're in dire situation) but I think there is a pond just N/NW and up the horse trail from the shelter and near the clearing there. (wildlife viewing area)



From here back to the car we followed the #8 horse trail (orange/yellow) to tail #2 (greenbrier-orange) and then on a big uphill (not marked on maps) till that dog leg joined with Riverview trail (red) and down it to the car. On the descent I noticed a tiny trail coming from the right. I am almost sure I saw the other terminus of it before the unmarked uphill horse trail going off to the right. This trail would completely cut off the climb and probably save one at least a mile.
















I'm highly disappointed about the overlook shelter being gone and all the trash in both places but overall, it was a great trip and we had a great time.



”

“Hey thanks for sharing offtrack- great info and pix! I need to get back to this trail soon, its been a long time.”

“Great report. Love it.”