Adventure Hiking Trail (pics)

[Bullroarer Took]

So I will try not to ramble so much as to quash all entertainment value from this but be detailed enough to be useful to me for further trips lest I forget what I learned.

 

This trip planning had a fair amount of hubris.  I always felt like I could really pound mileage if I had a light pack and quick meals.  So I picked this trail http://www.hoosierhikerscouncil.org/adventure_hiking_trail_aht/to do solo.  In fact I was a little concerned I would finish it in one day and not camp.  Part of this trip was to see what it was like to camp solo.

 

But life has been crazy and I spent little time planning and made several last minute decisions.  I went with an outdated map.  I had added labels to one version and lost it so I had the 8.5x11 listed on that website with no labels on shelters or any of the roads.  

 

I got up late and when I got to the area discovered my truck's GPS showed no roads visually or any names.  I have no reference to where I am actually entering the map (I later found out the road I thought I came in on has ceased to be).  I drive around trying to figure out where I am or where particular access points are.  I finally drop water at 2 places marked as "ADVENTURE HIKING TRAIL" and park at another one.  It is now 10 local time and I am hours behind schedule.

 

I take off with my view of Fluffy Butt.  I had previously looked at backpacks for dogs but wasn't sure I would ever take Atlas.  That is two nail aprons jury rigged to his life jacket.  He carried his own kibble and water.  Probably 4# total on a 75# dog.

This was a trail that connected to the AHT at a place where it was simply blue blazes for the trail I was on and Green Blazes for the AHT.

 

I repeat, the Blazes were Green or green and white.  Bark White and Moss Green

 

 

So when the floor is covered in leaves and you navigate thin trails by blaze, it's hard to spot this from a distance.  Many places were VERY WELL blazed.  Close and using reflective markers.  But some was not.

 

Anyway, I had walked past this crossing and hit another trailhead and had to backtrack.

 

Pretty dry with some streams only a bit of a trickle.  Did I mention I had misplaced one water drop and the dog lost half his?  Or that in my obsessive weigh cutting I hadn't grabbed my filter sock and chlorine dioxide tablets (at less than a quarter once total)

 

 

 

 

Made some slow miles and stopped for lunch.  I call them Krab doobies

Started making decent progress but got lost in the Timber harvest area.  Lots of other foot traffic makes it hard to stay on trail especially looking for green blazes.  SPend about an hour off trail and pick it back up.  Now it is after 4 local time.  Light is getting sparse and I am needing to find the shelter or just make camp on the trail.  In an effort to cut weight I have no shelter.

 

Finally made it

 

Make some dinner of Shrimp ramen, dehydrated seafood and bonita strips.

 

 

I am now down to less than 1 liter of water.  I know exactly where I am but not where my truck is and therefore not sure how far I have to travel on 1 liter of water after amking oats and coffee in the morning.

 

Time to evoke bad trail mojo and take a pot of water out of the fire water buckets and boil it.  

 

 

Bottle up a liter of green water with drink mix and set aside enough for coffee and oats.  Boiled rain water is typically safe but between tannins and algae it's best used mixed in things.

 

Up by 5:15 and waiting for enough light to leave 

 

 

Find another shelter with poor former occupants.  Bad trail joo-joo

 

 

Restoring my good trail magic.  I dropped this off at a later shelter on paved road.  I believe it was around 8 miles.  

 

 

 

 

On to some neat ruins of a fireplace at the next shelter

 

 

 

Atlas stopped carrying his own gear.  I left on the lifejacket since it's deer season.  Atas follows my trail like an ant.  Exactly.

 

 

He could have moved over three steps but instead he got stuck.  THe life jacket has a handle so I lifted him over a dozen logs.

 

 

 

This is dragging out, so cutting it short.  I still didn't know where my truck was and got lost in poorly marked river bottoms.  I only packed through breakfast so returning to my truck at 5ish local time was rough.  I still had water but no caffeine and finished my last emergency munch once I was on an actual road to my truck.  I had tried to return on original trail but it all started to look alike.  Due to an achilles tendon injury during a trip on the Knobstone Trail a month or so ago I feared to wear my hiking boots or trail shoes and opted for the only boots that hadn't hurt it when it was at it's worst.  All leather, padded, unvented leather Craftsman workboots not designed to do 22 miles of trail in a day.  Especially when it rains the last 4 or 5 hours of the day and you don't don rain gear because you are almost there.

[Bullroarer Took]

http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/gallery/slideshow/album-2074/

 

Link to the slideshow of all pics.  Eventually it just becomes a lot of trees and rocks.  And a pic of a chanel cat and my winter tent I was working on that got bundled in... unrelated.

[Bullroarer Took]

Lessons learned short version:

 

Need to invest in some good hikers, though I had reasons for my boot choice this time. 

 

 

16# pack was great, but there were a few light essentials I shoulda taken.

 

I cut a lot of Extra food but almost too close

 

Dog needs a real pack.

 

Plan better... number one.  I underestimated this 25 mile loop and it humbled me.

 

I can knock out 15-20 miles a day with good planning and not getting lost.  I need to get a decent smartphone and GPS.

[AshPS]

Cool, but kind of scary.   

 

What are krab doobies?

 

ouchie on the foot.

[Bullroarer Took]

Krab doobies are a 12 oz package of shredded fake crab, bout 1/3 cup of minced fresh onion, and a bar of cream cheese mixed up and smeared on tortilla and rolled up.  The one pictured have the ends cut but whole it looks... well like a doobie does... on TV and stuff.  It's a lot like cold crab rangoon.  Lost of fat but with some protein and a little carbs.  It's very satiating and is good quite a while on the trail.  Soft cheese isn't as stable as hard cheeses but in this temp it woulda been good for like a week.

[AshPS]

yummy! I may have to try that!