Brandon was congratulating us for leaving on time, when we got stopped by a train on the tracks near home. There's no time for delays when a long and challenging hike is on the schedule!
We arrived on time anyway, and everything about the meet up went according to the plan! We had our cars situated at the end point, and the six of us were ready to hit the trail before nine in the morning. My bag weighed fifteen pounds, including over three liters of water and a bottle of coconut water.
We started our adventure at Laurel Lake, and walked across the Laurel Lake Dam.
On one side of the dam is the fog covered lake. There were folks in the water training to scuba dive.
On the downstream side of the dam, clouds were settled in the deep valley under a blue sky. This is the side our trail followed - over fourteen miles along the river valleys all the way to Cumberland Falls State Park.
The trail was challenging, but beautiful. The last time I hiked this section of the Sheltowee we camped along the way, but this time we wanted to do the whole thing in one day.
Everyone had smiles in the beginning, despite scrambling over treacherous rocks and tangles of roots in the trail.
We walked along a short stretch where the rock cliffs are exposed to the sun, and kudzu on the trees creates strange shapes.
We each found a comfortable rock seat for our lunch break. Brandon has perfected our trail meal in a bag. Riced rutabaga cooked with meats and vegetables, and served in a zip lock bag with a plastic spoon. Somehow this meal has earned it's own trail name, "sack pie." It is yummier than it sounds!
This box turtle had brilliant red eyes.
We could catch glimpses of the river through the trees, and hear the rush of water over boulders.
Such cool rocks!
We took a trail detour to visit a water fall and soak our weary feet before making the final trek to Cumberland Falls. After over fourteen miles of stone and root lined trail, plus multiple sets of stone or wood steps, I didn't even have the energy to take the path to see the falls. I was pooped!
I got lots of bites from teeny little ticks, my feet hurt like they were bruised the next day, and my legs were tender to the touch, but that didn't stop us from putting up over a hundred bales of hay on Sunday! We've been told that the hike we did was just as hard as a twenty-mile section of the Sheltowee in other places, so we should be able to meet the challenge that starts this winter. We still need to practice two consecutive long hikes. I can't imagine hiking that hard two days in a row!
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