Mapping the Sheltowee

bmoseley · cub Joined: 11 Sep 2007 Posts: 3 Location: Cincinnati

I am leaving in few days to go on a two night backpacking trip with four of my friends. I have been to DBNF 5 or six times on these types of trips before. It has been atleast 4 years since my last trip, and I need some help on where I should start this trip from. We were hoping to park the car, hike for about an hour, veer off the trail and find a nice spot near a creek or water source. I know this sounds incredibly vague, but any pointers on where I should start from? I have been pouring over my map for days. I just would like to find a great spot for without having to drag them all over creation. We are looking at entering either off of 6o or from mountain pkwy. (Cumberland or Stanton district)

thanks for bearing with me on this one! (no pun intended)

Brian

I.B.Me · Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 7:18 am Post subject:

Always pack out more trash than you packed in.

Rick

bmoseley · cub Joined: 11 Sep 2007 Posts: 3 Location: Cincinnati

thank you very much for this information.

Boyd · Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 2:27 pm Post subject:

Hey Brian,

You might be careful camping near streams in the Red River Gorge. where it is banned with 100ft. People camp near streams though, and the forest service doesn't seem to mind at times. They have a bigger problem with trash and waste when large groups camp.

I'd consider hiking the ST south from Clear Creek Furnace. You could explore around there for a couple days and find it fairly quiet. Since we're in a serious drought, you'll have to go pretty low to find water. Clear Creek Market will have a few maps to buy.

Boyd

bmoseley · cub Joined: 11 Sep 2007 Posts: 3 Location: Cincinnati

thank you all for your help.

we left on Friday and got back yesterday afternoon. It was a wonderful trip, with a few surprises.

the trail leading from the suspension bridge to gladie creek was a daunting one. we didn't expect it to be so taxing. we all had fairly heavy packs, and we were not prepared for a climb iu the hillside like that. but we made it to the bison trail and actually cut back to the road and traveled along the river until we could get to the river itself. we then went on the south side of the river and camped up the hillside. Friday was an extremely exhausting day. We were all happy we did the hike, just very beat down from it. from there we did a lot of exploring, from the river to on up the hill to the cliffs above. i think a part of our problem was that it had been very dry this year and even the river seemed low from what i remember. So finding water was really what we needed. the next time we will go in the late spring.

Hopefully by then I can research alot better than I did this time.(not that all the help i received here wasn't greatly appreciated) We would love to find a place where we can hike for about an hour or so, veer off the trail and find a sufficient creek to camp close to. and then day day hikes from there and explore the surrounding areas.

once again thanks for all the help!

Brian