Mapping the Sheltowee

[Walkin'man]

I've been considering doing the rest of my section hike in late September, going from Cumberland Falls to the southern terminus. I understand it's about sixty miles, and I have a week's vacation to use.

The last two sections that I've hiked have offered up some hard lessons for me:
1) 15 mile days are way to aggressive. While I can complete them, I'm much to tired and sore to do it two days in a row. It makes the second day seem almost too hard to enjoy.
2) This trail is strenuous. While I've enjoyed every minute of it, I'm not sure I'm up for a sixty mile hike over the course of a week. Depending on feed back, I may rethink my plan.
3) Relying on trail markers, and even the Outragis map I bought for the southern half of the trail, will not keep me from venturing off the trail and adding miles to my journey.
4) A machete, as heavy as that will be, may be worth the extra weight.

That said, can anyone tell me the recent conditions of the trail going south from Cumberland Falls? Are there a lot of blowdowns? A lot of bushwacking? Are there many confusing intersections? Missing trail markers?

There hasn't been a lot of traffic on the sections above the Falls, so I'd assume that there's even less on the south side until I get down around Big South Fork. Good assumption?

[jbd]

[Walkin'man]

That's a great idea, but pruning shears on this last trip would be equivalent to cutting down a redwood with my swiss army knife

It HAS been a bad year for over growth. All the rain we've had in the spring and early summer is paying off for the briars and poison ivy.

I'm hoping that by the last week in September a lot of it will have died back.

[ekirchner]

My wife and I were planning to start at the ST on Sep 6 and hike north. We've got two weeks and wanted to see how we'd do, since all our previous backpacking is weekend trips, three nights at most.

After reading all the posts on trail conditions here and in the other topics, I'm wondering if the north half might be better for our first attempt at longer hiking. Of course that means I need to start from scratch on planning and map study - I don't have a single map of the northern half, except the DBNF North map.

On the other hand, I do own a machete . . .

[Walkin'man]

I can't speak for the rest of the trail from Cumberland Falls going south since I haven't been on it, but I'd think you could assume it's not bad in Pickett state park, and though the Big South Fork will likely be clear. Between the two of those, it will probably make up half the hike up to Cumberland.

I'd also say it's safe to assume the trail's clear anywhere it's sheltered under the woods. It was only along the river that was exposed to the sun that we ran into any issue with the trail being overgrown.

The other issue we had was finding trail markers, and that was north of Laural Lake, but if you hike for two weeks straight you'll likely hit this section. Honestly, I think it'll be easier finding the trail going North. The trail was always marked as we came off it, but there were a few missing that pointed us in the right direction.

Good luck and enjoy!

[Traildust]

We have reports from BSF that the trail has been cleared and is open and good shape. We can tell you the trail is in above average shape from NT to Rt 1274 near Frenchburg. Either direction you will find a challenging experience. IF you do the north, remember to plan for water needs. There are no water sources from NT to Dry Branch Creek a distance of 10 miles. There is a water spigot at Dry Branch right next to the driveway of the Clark Home. Best to get plenty of water here for the walk into Morehead which is about 12 miles. From there it is a road walk to Cave run and then good water and trail over to Rt 1274.

Have fun. Let us know if we can help.