It looks like I’m going to be the “hiking blogger” for the Louisville Courier Journal’s Outdoors section of the newspaper. I’ll let you know when it is official, but I already blog there in the Reader Blogs.

The same content can be found here, but I’ll probably get more readers there. I’ll keep you posted.

As always, the complete photo albums from my hikes will be kept here.

I’d say Farrah effected me more. I always liked the Wierd Al parodies of Jackson’s music as opposed to the actual music.   Sure, Jackson was a genius, but he ruined good pop music for a decade in my opinion. He wasn’t a pop artist.

Besides, the poster will always be in my dreams.

UPDATE: RE Michael

Maybe it is my problem in my Catholic school white bread suburban upbringing, but Michael Jackson never did much for me. Thriller was remarkable, but like his dance moves, it seemed to me anyway that he was sort of a one trick pony.

I know that is harsh this close to his untimely passing, but so be it. He was incredibly influential no one can deny, but I don’t think of him as the “king of pop”, but more as the “king of hype”, at least musically.

I enjoyed Weird Al Yankovich’s parodies of his music more than the originals.

I like rock, and I like good pop, I just don’t think Michael ever really fit in either category.

Scott’s Gap Loop, Jefferson Memorial Forest

I’ve gotten caught in stormy weather on trails several times. Almost every time it has happened, I didn’t really plan for a sudden thunderstorm, but I was always prepared with a plastic poncho in my pack, so I was never worried.

On June 15^th, the weather called for rain all afternoon, so I was prepared for a wet hike from the outset. I had not hiked the 3 mile Scott’s Gap Loop trail for a couple of months and a rainy afternoon seemed like a perfect time to check it out.

I was greeted with drizzly rain at the trailhead and was surprised to find the trail lush with Summer-time plants almost overgrowing the trail in spots. Jewelweed is the predominant flower in bloom right now, including both the orange and pale varieties. Fence lizards greeted me along the first hill, scurrying across the downed tree trunks and limbs.

Pale Jewelweed

As soon as I reached the top of the first climb on the trail (counterclockwise from the trail loop fork) the sky darkened and I was greeted at the bald overlook with a rumble of thunder.

Not a good sign.

Undiscouraged, I continued on for about a mile, passing the shortcut turnoff and then hiking out along the ridge-line. Just before the trail descends into a creek valley, the canopy thins out and it was at this point that the heavens opened the flood gates. On top of the ridge, the clouds rolled in, the thunder rumbled and I was drenched to the bone within a minute.

Standing in the lee of a hickory tree, I debated my options. After a few more rumbles of thunder, I realized that standing under a tree probably wasn’t my best strategy either. Forward, I still had several steep hills, all of which would be muddy and running with water. Backward, I only had 2 small hills until I returned to the shortcut on the loop, and the tree canopy was much thicker in that direction, which would save me a bit from the heavy rain. In short order, I decided to head back to the shortcut and walk out from there.

On my return, I experienced another first for me in Jefferson Forest. The clouds in this storm were so low, that I actually got fogged in hiking the ridge back to the shortcut. Just before getting off the trail, the rain tapered off to just a drizzle, but as slippery as my exit was, I knew I had made the right decision to cut my hike short. As a general rule of thumb, don’t hike when there is lightning if you can avoid it.

Low Clouds Along the Ridge

Scott’s Gap, The Wrong Way

After my exciting little rain out last week, I returned to Scott’s Gap on a steamy Sunday afternoon and for whatever reason, I decided to hike the loop clockwise for the very first time. I’ve been hiking this trail regularly since 1995, and for whatever reason, I’ve always hiked it counterclockwise.

This hike proved to me that you should never underestimate heat (88 degrees) with humidity ( about 80%) no matter how long a trail might be. I took only 2 pint sized water bottles with me and it turned out to be not enough. Before I was finished, I was lead footed and light headed over the last half mile or so.

I had to face facts: I got cocky.

I’ve hiked several 10+ mile trails this season, but this was the first real Ohio Valley Summer-time weather I’d experienced since last year. Couple that with the fact that I didn’t think a little 3 mile trail could be dangerous and I ended up feeling like a fool.

In addition to being poorly equipped (not enough water) and poorly prepared (I drank coffee instead of water in the morning), the clockwise version of Scott’s Gap loop puts a very long and fairly steep hill going up at about the 2 mile mark. Having never hiked the trail in this direction, I’d forgotten about this hill completely, because it was always the descent into my favorite section rather than the hike out.

Much like my rain out hike, I left the trail soaked to the bone, but this time from perspiration rather than precipitation.

Lesson learned? Never underestimate the heat+humidity equation and prepare before you hike. Take more water than you need, regardless of how long your hike might be, especially in the heat.

Smooth Phlox 

You can view the other pictures from these hikes in the photo album Rain Out.

Mother Instinct

It was rather startling.

I was just strolling along the trail, enjoying the greenery when to my left there was an explosion of feathers and noise.

After flinching, I watched a small brownish bird, no bigger than a child’s fist, fly directly down the trail in front of me, and land, all the while screeching and squawking. After it landed, it flopped about helplessly, continuing its alarming cries. At first, I thought it was injured, but as I approached, it gathered itself and continuing its din, flew another twenty feet or so forward. As it landed, it did an encore performance of “bird with a broken wing”.

It was quite something, but I realized it was all an act.

I turned back toward the origin of the feathered eruption and after looking closely at a fern covered bank, I found the nest. 4 spotted eggs lay snuggled inside. It was a perfect example of the mother protection instinct I’ve seen countless times on nature programs, but this time it was a live performance, for an audience of one.

Concealed nest and eggs

Short Cut

I got out early a few weeks ago on a rainy morning to revisit the Two Lakes Loop Trail in Hoosier National Forest (HNF). My intention was to check out the trail that cuts the 16 mile loop trail neatly in half. The rain was heavy and the trail was muddy, but it was a great day for an 8 mile hike around Lake Celina. The short cut makes an all day hike turn into a relatively easy 3.5 to 4 hour hike that includes great lakeside scenery along with beautiful plants and animals.

I’m still maintaining that this is my favorite trail in HNF, and my short cut try out did nothing to convince me otherwise.

Fishermen on Lake Celina

Wild Rose on the Cut Off

Goose feather in the rain

If you’d like to see all of the photos from this hike, check them out in the photo album 2 Lakes Loop Revisited

2009 Firsts

It’s almost the halfway point of 2009, so I thought it would be an excellent time to look back at some the things I’ve spotted while hiking the last 6 months. It’s been a great year of firsts for me, in both the animal and plant categories.

For the fauna category, I’ve spotted the following this year for the very first time in Kentuckiana:

• Mourning Cloak butterfly

• Red Spotted Newt

• Bald Eagle

• Scarlet Tanager

• Collared Lizard (Kansas)

• Horny Toad (Kansas)

• Mating tortoises

• Sara Orange Tip butterfly

Unfortunately, I’ve still not succeeded in getting good pictures of my photographic Moby Dick, the pileated woodpecker.

In the flora category, I’ve spotted and finally named a few firsts as well including:

• Celandine Poppy

• Red and White Trillium

• Blue Eyed Mary

• Crested Dwarf Iris

• Yellow Lady’s Slipper

• Squirrel Corn

• Dutchman’s Breeches

• Smooth Solomon’s Seal

The biggest trophy plant off the year has to be the Yellow Lady’s Slipper I spotted on the Two Lakes Loop trail in Hoosier National Forest. Squirrel Corn, Dutchman’s Breeches and a multitude of Trillium all over Kentuckiana were also big surprises as well as delightful finds.

Yellow Lady’s Slipper

Has there ever been a less exciting NBA champion?

Kobe and his whiny scrubs. I used to like the Lakers, now I’d rather see ANYONE else win.

Lick Creek Trail, Hoosier National Forest

On Saturday, June 6^th, I picked the Lick Creek Trail from the list on the HNF web site mainly for being the right length. At just under 8 miles, Lick Creek is long enough for a full afternoon and offers a variety of terrain and habitat. On this particular day, it also provided me with the widest variety of butterfly species that I can ever remember spotting in one day on any trail in Kentuckiana. In particular, my all time favorite butterfly to photograph, the Great Spangled Fritillary was in abundance. In fact, this normally hard to find species in Kentucky was practically everywhere I looked on the Lick Creek trail in Indiana.

Great Spangled Fritillaries

To get to the Lick Creek trailhead, I drove I-64 over the Sherman Minton bridge to the Paoli exit on Indiana 150. I then drove to Paoli on 150 and took Indiana 37 South after proceeding through the Paoli town square. Once on 37 South, continue for just over 5 miles and look for the Lick Creek HNF trail signs. It was easy to find and took a little over an hour before I pulled into the trailhead parking lot to what has become for me, a not-so-welcome sight; hitching posts

Several hitching posts for horses are included in the parking area at Lick Creek, since it is another “multi-use” trail in HNF. Of the trails I’ve explored in HNF, all of the multi-use trails include lots of hoof print bogs. These are sections of the trail anywhere from a few feet up to 100 yard lengths that are perpetually muddy thanks to horse traffic. The Lick Creek trail is no exception.

Hoof print bog

Like several other trails in HNF, the Lick Creek trail consists of a spur trail from the main parking area to a loop that returns to the spur trail. There is also an alternate parking area with a spur at the end of Grease Gravy Rd (though I didn’t hike that section, but I had to mention the name of the road.)

Most of Lick Creek is fairly flat. There were no large hills to speak of. The only real challenge was to try and keep your feet reasonably dry through the many hoof print bogs. This will entail a lot of skirting the edge of the trail, so be aware of ticks. They are still plentiful in HNF and the Lick Creek trail is no exception.

Once I arrived at the loop section of the trail, I hiked counter clockwise taking a right and continuing along the trail. After about a half mile, you’ll run into a large area of downed trees blocking the trail at the mouth of what appears to be a stream bed. The stream bed looks enough like trail to confuse any hiker, so just look for the blue diamond trail markers. You’ll also find hoof print trails around the larger downed tree areas, so look for these as well.

The Lick Creek trail crosses a natural gas line cut twice along the loop and it is here where you will find a multitude of butterflies. At one point, I was merely standing still watching one set of butterflies near the trail when 2 Great Spangled Fritillaries landed on my leg. If butterflies are what you are looking for, I cannot recommend the Lick Creek trail enough. In my almost 4 hour hike, I spotted several species of fritillaries and swallowtails (Including the largest Tiger Swallowtail I’ve ever seen) as well as Mourning Cloaks, Question Marks and many more.

Great Spangled Fritillary

Natural gas cut

Tiger Swallowtail

In addition to butterflies, I also spotted fire pink wildflowers along the trail, which was unusual since most fire pinks disappeared in the area at about the end of April or earlier.

Fire Pinks

Overall, Lick Creek is a great trail for any type of hiker and especially good for photography. If the trail was not in regular use by horses, I would probably make it a regular stop. Thanks to few lengthy hills, the nearly 8 mile trail is a challenge only for hot weather and length. Take plenty of water and you should have a great time.

To view all of the pictures I took along my hike, check out the photo album Lick Creek .

Indie rock is gone, but I really enjoyed this band:

While heading to the German Ridge trail in Hoosier National Forest, I was enticed off of Indiana State Highway 66 by the Oriole trailhead turn off. Pulling into the large parking area, I was struck by the number of hitching posts in the parking lot.

This was my first experience with a true “multi-use” trail in Hoosier National Forest (HNF), and as many hikers might agree, I wasn’t very happy. Before I get to that, let’s break down the trails.

The Oriole twin trails in HNF include the West and East versions. The West trail is comprised of a 6.9 mile trail that includes 2 “wet feet” stream crossings, especially during rainy periods. The West trail also experiences considerably LESS horse traffic than the East trail. The East trail is a 6.5 trail that includes several stream bed crossings, but none that represent serious obstacles. The East also shares a short distance of trail along an unmapped camping road, which was a bit disorienting but not a problem. (Just look for trail markers).

Both East and West trails have lead-in spur trails of just over a mile. These spurs are along fire roads and are fairly wide open. The West trail’s lead-in has been cleared of fallen timber for the most part while the East trail’s lead-in is littered with fallen timber. Both East and West trails include loops accessible from short spur trails at alternate trailheads.

For all of the similarities and beauty, as a hiker, I can really only recommend the West trail, for a couple of reasons.

First, let me state before I go off on any rants, that I hold no ill will toward horseback riders. That being said, when a trail gets used heavily by horseback riders in the wet conditions of Spring, the trail can become much harder to hike for two-legged patrons. The East Oriole trail is good example.

There are several sections of the East Oriole trail that are what I refer to as “seeps”, sections that remain moist and muddy sometimes for a week or so after rainy weather. With the added horse traffic, these seeps become pock-marked landscapes of water filled hoof prints 6 inches deep. Combine that with say 100 yards of steady uphill walking and you’ve got a mixture that makes hiking no fun at all. In addition to the trail being torn up by horse traffic, the East Oriole trail has a lot more downed timber and some sections require you to walk into uncut forest where the tick problems multiply ten fold. Even with these problems, there are some beautiful sections along the East Oriole, including a section along the northern side off the loop that had wild columbine in bloom all around the trail. Aside from the columbine though, you might do yourself a favor and try the West trail first before hiking the East.

Wild blackberry

Wild columbine

The West Oriole trail has the one drawback of a large and sometimes deep stream crossing just as you enter the loop section (one crossing heading out, one coming back). In early May when I first hiked the trail, the stream was hip deep in several spots, and I’m 6′ 3”, so be careful with anything you want to keep dry when making that crossing. The stream bed along the West Oriole trail loop is also an amazing area for spring wildflowers and even included irises of several varieties.

Iris along Oriole West

Deep crossing on the West Oriole

Both trails are reasonably strenuous, and are just long enough to challenge you while not exhausting those with less experience. In either direction (East or West) you’ll be treated to a wide variety of habitats from pine glades to hard wood forest with stream crossings. When crossing over downed timber or walking around it, be aware of ticks as they are especially thick along both Oriole trails this year.

You can check out the photos from both Oriole trail hikes here:

Oriole East
Oriole West