IN > HoosierNationalForest->May2-3->Intermediate

**CorrosiveCookie** · 04-01-2015, 09:51

General
I am wanting to explore new places and going to invade IN for a trip. Setting up for a trip will be 14ish miles total in IN at a 2 mile an hour pace average. Please have your kit and yourselves squared away. If you plan on attending and have questions please feel free to reach out to me directly or post on the forum. Also use the Sintax77 and Shug vids for reference for the season if you need a visual reference of what is normal to bring.

Trail:
The route will be S. Cope Hollow Loop and take Grubbs Ridge Loop back to the car on the second day. I have never been here before will be adding more details as I gain more knowledge on the area.

Carpooling:
Anyone coming through Louisville for this trip, we may have several opportunities for car pooling. If we make good time on our hiking days we may explore some smaller side trails along the way.

hoosierNationalForest.gif

Group rules:
Make sure you can do the mileage
Hike your own hike
Treat everyone as a friend.
Lend a helping hand where it is needed.
If you have questions then ask them.
If you are having problems let someone know, on every trip so far the group has always squared someone away to make sure they have a better experience.

Hiking:
We will stop and rest at each intersection, road crossing, or camp spot. Water and snacks should be consumed as needed. When traversing a change in the trail make sure to keep a safe distance in case of slipping or falling in the result of harming another member of the group.

**SirMarkos** · 04-01-2015, 10:02

We'll be there! Word up!

**gmcttr** · 04-01-2015, 10:15

FWIW, Blackwell Camp is a horse camp and I believe trails in that area tend to be wide crushed stone or horsed out slop. Hopefully someone with time in the area will chime in and correct me if I'm wrong.

**Boston** · 04-01-2015, 10:19

I'll keep this in mind, but will be three weekend trips in a row for me. I may need some home time.

**OneClick** · 04-01-2015, 10:24

Originally Posted by gmcttr

FWIW, Blackwell Camp is a horse camp and I believe trails in that area tend to be wide crushed stone or horsed out slop. Hopefully someone with time in the area will chime in and correct me if I'm wrong.

Hardly any stone on the trails. Actually, next to none. Mostly just a greasy mud and poop slip 'n slide! It's a very easy hike though, mostly downhill in that direction. One or two hills worth mentioning. Grubb seemed pretty flat with very mild, gradual ups and downs.

I just got back form here a few days ago and I did this loop...plus some other trails.

Here's my report:

>>> Deam Wilderness IN 3-27-15 - Sunny skies, flowing streams, crisp air

p.s. Here's a photo not included in trip report above - but gives an idea of the trail if it rained within a few days (maybe even longer). Unfortunately, this is a half-way decent part of the trail! Like I mention in the report, the horses really do a job on the trails. Those deep ruts just hold water and never dry up.

**Rolloff** · 04-01-2015, 12:31

mark6 is direct and on target on this one. Stay off the MU's if you don't like wading through horse slop. Saddle Cr Valley(between Frank and John G) is full of small stream crossings, that use to barely be wet booters. Horses have turned them into nearly uncrossable mud/poop bogs for twenty or thrity yards in every direction.

I'd probably look to access that area via the Axom Branch trail to John G and the Peninsula trail, staying north and east of the main destruction. The Nebo Ridge loop might even be a better bet for a group like this, but with a little planning it's all doable.

Have a great trip and take lots of pics!

**OneClick** · 04-01-2015, 12:48

Yes, I wouldn't say skip it...just wanted to give a heads up. Unfortunately the Sycamore tail is the only one limited to foot traffic. We get just under 5 miles, the horses get something like 29.

But I think you can find more solitude on Cope Hollow because of the trail condition, appeal to the equestrian types and simply due to the north trails having more access right off the parking lots.

On a side note, it will be interesting to see what happens to this entire area in the future. Visitor rates have doubled from approximately 2009 to 2012...that's huge. I try not to worry and enjoy it while I can! It's simply too small of an area to share effectively. Horse riders are fighting for better trail conditions and maintenance, hikers are mad at the horse mess, mountain bikers are fighting to get in, ATVs have gotten close to getting access in the past, and the soil itself does not fair well to equestrian travel in the first place.

**gmcttr** · 04-01-2015, 15:42

Originally Posted by markr6

...mountain bikers are fighting to get in....

Mountain bikers currently have access and are making a long term effort with officials to be allowed to help maintain trails in HNF.

Currently we have built over 25 miles of trails in BCSP and have recently started building in Yellow Wood State forest as well. French Lick, O'Bannon Woods and many other areas have had MTB trails built in recent years. Hoosier Mountain Bike Association gains access, obtains grants, raises private funds and provides untold hours of volunteer labor to build and maintain MTB/hiking trails with no cost to the state. They are some of the best trails in the state and definitely the best maintained.

I find hiking/biking in the Nebo Ridge/Browning Hill area of HNF to be generally more enjoyable and without the crowds of the Deam.

**Rolloff** · 04-01-2015, 17:06

It's the horses and illegal ATV incursion that really messes up things. The initial trail engineering (none) doesn't help either. Where they have given the thought and effort, it's been successful. Many if not most of the trails were old farm roads, logging trails, and abandon county roads. I'm pretty sure the Nebo area or at least part of it around the old Salt Creek bridge was declared a wilderness area, because the grade of the road beds was sinking below the level of the creeks. In other words it could no longer be maintained by just running a motor grader across the washouts.

It's certainly better for hiking back in there, w/o the easy vehicle access.

**OneClick** · 04-01-2015, 20:48

Originally Posted by gmcttr

Mountain bikers currently have access and are making a long term effort with officials to be allowed to help maintain trails in HNF.

Currently we have built over 25 miles of trails in BCSP and have recently started building in Yellow Wood State forest as well. French Lick, O'Bannon Woods and many other areas have had MTB trails built in recent years. Hoosier Mountain Bike Association gains access, obtains grants, raises private funds and provides untold hours of volunteer labor to build and maintain MTB/hiking trails with no cost to the state. They are some of the best trails in the state and definitely the best maintained.

I find hiking/biking in the Nebo Ridge/Browning Hill area of HNF to be generally more enjoyable and without the crowds of the Deam.

I could have sworn the signs had the little drawing of a biker with a line thru it here. I could be wrong. I never saw a bike in the Deam, other than some guys cutting thru on the stone road.

Sorry CorrosiveCookie, I'm derailing your thread. I'll shut up