Knobstone Trail: Day 2

Monday, March 22nd

Miles: 18

I woke up on Monday ready to rumble, lifted my lil head out of my hammock and saw a sun bloom over the horizon. Slowly I watched the morning light creep onto the valley below the ridge I was on, illuminating the trees and hills.

8 am view from the hammock, mornin sun shrouded by clouds today

The first mile of the day I kept on climbing and descending a little on the ridge I had slept on. Then the trail dipped into a valley, where I found the stream I was meaning to make it to the night before, and I filled up on water. I had woken up with about 6 oz to make it to this point. Not terrible, but I was cutting it close.

I really enjoyed hiking along the knobs. Without leaves yet to block the view I got a taste of Indiana’s scenery beyond the branches.

The hills in the distance took on cool tones, blues and purples. Saw a turkey vulture perched on a branch.

Zero road walking on the trail, but a handful of quiet road crossings. 

At one point I came across a spot with bunches of clumps of lilies? Tulips? I’m not sure if they were wild or planted, but seeing them brought a smile to my face and left me feeling revitalized.

Afternoon glow comes once more to the forest

Last mile marker of the day!!!

I definitely pushed my upper limits on Monday and was incredibly sore the day after. I was in so much pain at the end of the day, willing each mile marker to come faster so I could be done with it all, looking at the topographic map on my phone and counting how many more hills I’d have to climb before Leota. But near the end I found myself thinking “damn, this is the last ridge I’ll be on for a while, the last time before I go home where I’ll be seeing those cool-toned hills in the distance”. 

So I’ll hopefully be back next weekend or the one after that to finish off the rest of the Knobstone Trail. 

>:P

And some extra assorted thoughts

I got a GoPro to record parts of my hikes, but I’m finding that I don’t really like the idea of vlogging (I think my voice is insufferable, lots of times I don’t really have much to say besides mm nice rock). The GoPro is also lacking in battery capacity (maybe 6 hours per charge) and backups are heavy. I also feel like the written word and sketching translate how I feel about my hikes better than in video format. But I guess I’ll keep experimenting with vidya because I spent way too much money last year on the silly little camera and like 3 backup batteries.

I’m planning on taking a break from working after this spring semester ends in order to attempt, again, to thru-hike the Sheltowee Trace. Hopefully the middle of may will be a more hospitable time for me instead of high summer, where I was baking in the July heat last year. I got really down on myself for my lack of success last year, and I know it really doesn’t matter how far I walk or where I go or whatever. I think it would just be pretty epic to be able to say I’ve walked from Morehead to Tennessee. And I’d like to get a shorter thru-hike in my home state down before I look forth to other long trails, when I find the time... possibly not until after I get my undergraduate degree. As much as I’d love it I think my old folks would strangle me if i took a year off school to go hike the AT or whatever.

According to the Sheltowee Trace Association’s website (https://sheltoweetrace.org/home/hawk-creek-bridge-reconstruction) the recent storms have brought down at least two suspension bridges in the London Area along the trace. I remember these well from my first full day out backpacking, back last April. Not sure if they’ll be back up by May, since repairs would be a major undertaking due to how deep the bridges were in the forest.

Love you, 

Dan