Identity Crisis

Joe and I tackled the longest hike so far over the weekend to Mounds State Recreation Area in Whitcomb, Indiana. We hiked 9.14 miles  in 5 hours and 8 minutes and the weather was amazing. I guess my post title from last week was a little premature. It sure felt like July last week and this week it was absolutely beautiful! The temperature was 62 degrees when we started and only went up to 73 degrees by the end of the hike. It was really breezy and partly cloudy. The absolute perfect day for a hike!

We started on the Wildlife Wander Trail. This trail was the easiest part of the hike. The surface was soil and it was very well cleared. There was no guesswork involved about where to go. It was a great start and I had a good feeling that it was going to be a great hike. The number of miles ahead of us was looming, but because the weather was so pretty and we were well-stocked with protein bars, I was ready to take it on! There were a bunch of shagbark hickory trees on this part of the trail. The only tree that I can really easily identify because it actually looks exactly like its name. The end of this trail was at a creek crossing that was unlike any I had seen before - large concrete pillars across the creek. We crossed one of the park roads and headed to the Templeton Creek Trailhead.
 
The Templeton Creek Trail surface changed drastically compared to the Wildlife Wander Trail. What was not so perfect was it's unpredictability. It had a serious identity crisis! The trail surface changed more often than a traffic light changes colors (that might be a slight exaggeration...)  Thankfully we had asked for a map when we paid our entrance fee into the park, so we were able to keep our bearings to some degree. Some of the trail was soil, some of it was mowed, and some of it was completely covered over with weeds and was almost impossible to follow.  The funny thing was we would only be hiking a couple of minutes on one surface and then it would change again. It was pretty frustrating at times considering the trails did not have many signs or markers of any other kind.

We persevered and finally reached a clearing where there were several trail signs.  I reached into my pocket for the trail map to identify where we were on the map and it was gone. It had fallen out of my pocket when we were trying to negotiate the trail. Yikes! We had only traveled around 2 miles at this point, so we still had a long way to go. Although Joe and I were grateful for the nice park map (easy portability compared to the book), when we left the car I made a last minute decision to put the 60 Hikes book in my pack - this was a very good thing. We sat down in the grass, got the book out and were able to figure out exactly where we were.  Realizing we were just a short walk from a picnic area, we picked up and headed down to it to study the book and its map and to eat our lunch.

Rested and feeling familiar with where we were headed, we set off for the Long Loop and Short Loop Trails as well as the Glidewell Indian Mounds. As we traveled along the soil trail, the weeds got taller and taller until they were taller than us. We were excited to get to the mounds, but it was very anticlimactic as we would not have known we were looking at them except there was a sign nearby. Crazy grassy weeds were all over the place and it was hard to get a sense of exactly where the mounds started and ended. We continued on this trail and started to see lake views of Brookville Lake. Since the temperature was so nice and we had plenty of water and protein bars, we decided to go with the Long Loop Trail instead of the Short Loop Trail. This was both good and bad. What was great about it was that the trail eventually wound its way all the way down to the lake and we were hiking on a trail along the shore. It was beautiful. The not so great part about it was that we eventually hit a spot in the trail where the weeds were so thick and so tall there was absolutely no way to tell where the trail was anymore and there was no where to step. Sadly, we had to turn around. It was a long haul back because we had almost completed the Long Loop, however, because hiking along the lake was by far the prettiest part of this hike, the unfortunate mishap turned out in our favor.

At this point, we were pretty sick of the weeds and the unmarked trails. We decided to hike along the road and then pick up the Wildlife Wander Trail from there to get back to the car. This was a nice change of pace for us. We had now traveled a little over 7 miles and our feet were starting to hurt.  We hiked about two more miles and were glad to reach the car.  Joe and I both said that we weren't sure if we would hike these trails again. Had they been cleared, it would be a definite yes for me, but the distance we had to drive and the aggravation of the overly bushy trails causes me to give these trails a thumbs down at this time.

29 hikes down and 31 to go!!!! About to hit the half-way point and I am really excited about that!!!!  Two hikes this weekend: Ceasar Creek Gorge and Spring Valley Wildlife Area. Both hikes are easy, so if you've been thinking about stepping out with us, this might be the weekend for you!!! Send me a message and join in.