Mammoth Cave Thanksgiving Weekend

“Eman good to meet you-hopefully catch ya on another one.”

“Well, believe it or not I m planning on making this report a short one.

I was on my way down from Chicago to drop my mother off at her house and then maybe do a little deer hunting. I decided to give Attila a call and see what was going on. He told me he was planning on going down to Mammoth Cave with WG and do a little hiking. Later on that evening I talked with one of my deer hunting buddies and he didn t have any good news at all about the deer and it turns out the stand I was going to use was in pretty bad shape. I decided I might as well go hiking if it was possible. I called Attila back and he said he had plenty of gear that I could borrow. So I said goodbye to mom, called up my deer hunting buddies, and told them I wouldn t be going.

I drove back the way I came to Attilas house. We spent the remainder of the evening packing up our stuff, looking at maps and drinking a few beers. Attila got me up at six o clock and we hit the road heading south towards central Kentucky. I had called Stomper earlier to see if she was still going, she was and I told her I would probably go deer hunting and to have a good time. So me and Attila kept my arrival a surprise for as long as we could. Stomper sent me a text message asking if I was still coming and I told her no, I was going deer hunting and not to expect me. But she kept sending me all these damm text messages, so I finally broke down and told her that I was coming.

Me and Attila made good time down the highway arriving at Mammoth Cave National Park around 10:30 AM. We had a little trouble finding the trailhead, but were lucky enough to get hold of Windigirl and she helped us find the parking lot. Stomper had already left, along with Uncle B because she was worried that wasn t gonna be enough sunlight to get to the camp. Windigirl drove back to a different trailhead to start her hike while and me and Attila hit the trail.

The weather was excellent, bright and sunny with highs in the upper 60s. You really couldn t ask for better conditions than that!! The trail itself was deeply covered with leaves that unfortunately, covered a substantial percentage of the small boulders and holes that abounded on this section of the McCoy hollow trail. There were quite a few rock out croppings and we had several really good views of green river as well. It wasnt too long before we caught up with Stomper and B. The y were doing fine and we continued the hike together.

Yes, we definitely came across a lot of horses and let me tell you right now most of them were in pretty good shape, but there were a few that were absolutely freaked out by our backpacks and I mean freaked out!! One poor old guy was on a white mule and it absolutely, positively thought we were the worst thing it had ever seen. That damn thing almost run him over a cliff at least twice, making it decidedly the most nervous mule I have ever seen in my life. But the old Kentuckian and persevered and did a pretty good job keeping control of his mount despite its frenzied attempts to go in any direction other than the one he wanted to go. As I said before, there were several horses that behaved similarly but none of them overreacted quite so much as that mule. I wish I had a video of it!!! It would have been very entertaining!! Since the old guy wasn t hurt we all got a pretty good laugh out of it.

Stomper had earlier referred to the trail is a big mucky mess. And she was absolutely right, any place that had just a little bit of moisture had turned into a quagmire because of the horses and we had to hike around them many times. Add to that the fact that the majority the trail was considerably rocky and you d have a pretty good idea of what we were hiking through. It really wasn t that bad, just bothersome.

We stopped for some water at a creek and enjoyed a lengthy game of leapfrogg with several of the pack trains that we shared the woodland trials with. After that, we caught up with the old Kentuckians, you know the guy with the white mule, and they proceeded ask Stomper all kinds of questions about where we were camping and things like that. I thought she did a pretty good job of being nice and still managing not to let them know where we were gonna go. I m sure they were perfectly safe, but were gonna be realistic here, sometimes you just never know.

About a mile before we got to the campsite, we came to the trail junction where the National Park Service had set up several hitching posts and a trashcan for the trail riders to use. Someone had left an old sleeping bag beside trashcan and either the raccoons or the coyotes had pooped all over it !! I got a couple pictures just in case you are interested. We made camp about a half hour 45 minutes before dark and met up with Eman. He had come out earlier and had made the camp a couple hours ahead of us. He did a real good job of cutting up firewood for us, thanks buddy!!!

As campsites go this was a very nice one. With lots of level ground that included a fire ring and a cooking grate. It looked out over several hollers and ridgelines. It also had a lantern pole and a real nice camping pad surrounded by timbers to set up your tent. None of us used that nice spot but rather set up tents up out in the leaves where we could be a reasonable distance from the fire. It was called Collie ridge campground and even had a pretty reliable spring just a hundred feet from the fire. We all set up and spent the balance of the evening eating dinner and talking. Stomper had some good stories about her various wardrobe malfunctions, seems she gets back home sans pants on occasion. She can tell about if she wants, I will not elaborate here. LOL!! The night was kind chilly and we had the benefit of a almost full moon I hit the sack around 10 and slept pretty well.

I got up early and got the fire back up with no problems. We ate breakfast and packed up for an early start. Me and Attila went out just behind Eman and made good time to the first creek trailhead. More horses, but no problems like yesterday!! Stomper drove us back to our car and we then drove home through some of the worst traffic on I 65 I have ever seen!!!

It took me almost 6 hours to get from Indy to Chicago!!! I can usually do it in three!!

Here is the link to the pics!!

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/575734964hpzlJH

That s it, Good trip!!
See ya later.
Randall”

“How many text did I send you?”

“she-ll keep calling me, and calling me......”

“Randl another fine tr! and good pix too.

Ther was that one big cliff overhang over the trail that had lots of holes in it that we all admired too- remember before the watering stream?
later”

“Hmmmmm!!
I think there were five texts and I guess I don t rememeber the holes.
See ya later.
Randall”

“Nice trip report Randall. You left out the saying Did you guys camp out here last night? Good pictures. See you man. Take Care.”

“Yeah, at least 10 horseback riders asked us if we were going to camp out in the woods.”

“Yeah, at least 10 horseback riders asked us if we were going to camp out in the woods.
Over night? It is really cold to be out.”

“Was that grave marker alongside the trail?”

“yep!!!
One of the old grave yards along the trail.
Mostly kids, life was hard back then!!
See ya later.
Randall”

“on top of that ridge? that cemetery is cool.”

“That s right YG!!!
Colle Ridge trail, just before the Blair Hollow Trail Intersection!!
See ya later.
Randal”

“Took a while but here's a few more pics..

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/575874092PRYFKW”

“Good pics! Thanks for sharing! The last part of the trail on Sunday morning was kind of like a tree graveyard. Almost eerie!
last edited: 12/11/09 4:38:21 PM”

“What the heck is that in photo #14?”