Mapping the Sheltowee

JTG · cub Joined: 13 Feb 2014 Posts: 6

I'm planning on hiking the southern portion of the Sheltowee with my father over spring break. We're hoping to spend about five days, hiking north from Big South Fork to the Cumberland Falls. But I had a few questions

1. Can we get it done? We'll have no trouble averaging 15 miles a day, and don't plan on layovers. We did the North-South at Land Between the lakes (a sixty mile trail) in four days. However I recognize the Sheltowee is a lot less level and involves greater elevation changes, and wondered about conditions in march in reference to our hike? Will flooding be an issue?

2. Is the trail well marked from south to north? most of the through hike stories I've heard have been from North to south, and I seem unable to find anything about going south to north short of a question by a boyscout leader. people seemed unconcerned, but I thought it worth asking.

3. Where can I park that will be both safe, and a good jumping off point for the trail?

Any and all help and advice is appreciated. And of course well received. Much thanks in advance folks,
JT

Traildust · Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2014 8:55 pm Post subject:

JT

Park at Leatherwood Trail Head parking lot. Safe. Secure. Can you do it? Sure if you average the miles you stated. It is well marked but you need to purchase the Big South Fork Map 2013 version. Trails Illustrated sells it online and we sell it (the STA) as well. The Trace is collocated and blazed with the JMT until you turn north about 3 miles north of Divide Road, then it is all Sheltowee blazes.

Call the Sheltowee Trace Outfitters if you need a shuttle.

traildust

steve Barbour
STA executive director

JTG · cub Joined: 13 Feb 2014 Posts: 6

Much thanks Traildust!

I appreciate the knowledge and the confidence it brings.

Any more advice you could offer? or just info?

JTG · cub Joined: 13 Feb 2014 Posts: 6

We started out good, confident and excited, being shuttled in to the southern terminus. However after the first day we saw that we'd covered half the distance we'd expected due to the steep climbs, and the fact we were in no way packing light (Even though we use hammocks to sleep in, it comes down to cold weather and rain gear). By the time we made it to the Chariat Creek spur near Picket we were not only out of time, but our primary water filtration system had broken in a place that was completely unrepairable. We ended up hiking out to Chariat Creek, and catching a ride back to our car after a night at the camp. Over all it was a great experience, thought I was disappointed we didn't get as far as we would've liked. Definitely will be back to try and finish up the hike, and maybe even attempt to complete the whole trail over the course of several such small trips.

Traildust · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 12:22 pm Post subject: Epic Failure

Nothing beats a failure but a try. We all learn from our mistakes and especially backpacking trips all yeld some new knowledge. Let us know if we can help in the future. One day in the Big South Fork even if packing more than you should is a great day.

traildust

bwebbrph · cub Joined: 22 Oct 2014 Posts: 4 Location: Hazard

JTG:

Tell me about how the hammock use went, please. I have a double nested ENO. My rain fly is the 6 point tie down, but would like to get a little larger of a fly for some extra wiggle room.

Guest · Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2014 5:07 am Post subject:

Hiking is a passion of a lot of people and i personally think that getting into this kind of activities can be healthy thing but needs a lot of experience.
It helps us a lot with exploring things and at the same time how it all goes is the factor behind a betterment.