I headed out Sunday morning for a beautiful hike through the southern but rugged portion of the Big South Fork. On my way, I stopped for a brief visit to the Sheltowee Trace’s south terminus at Burnt Mill Bridge. It seems like ages ago that I began my year-long trek to complete the 319-mile trail. I parked my car at the trailhead then descended into the gorge.
After following a creek for a mile or two I navigated a small pine forest. At the start of a drainage, I came upon an archaeology site. It was one of the few Native American habitation sites that I remember being directly accessible from the trail. I stopped for a minute to take a few photos, look for artifacts, and then read the site tag. It said BISO site #320. I vaguely remember hanging that tag with a nail gun. I can’t believe that it was seven years ago.
Descending further into the drainage, I came to the first rope climb. I crossed a small creek then grabbed a thick orange rope that had been tied to a tree. With it, I climbed over a small, but steep rock face to continue on the trail. The next stop was Boulder House Falls. This was the first of many passages that would require me to scramble through tiny crevices in a boulder field. I stopped, took some pictures then moved on.
My last familiar stop before turning to the new section of trail was the “cairn” rockshelter. On my last visit to Honey Creek someone had taken an enormous amount of effort to completely fill this rock-strewn shelter with hundreds of cairns. It was an incredible site to behold. However, a traveler since my last visit took it upon themselves to knock down all of the cairns. Not to sound curmudgeonly but I think it was for the best; since part of the “Leave No Trace” ethic is to remove all evidence of prior human passage and activities.
After stopping for pictures, I got “lost” for the first time on this trip. The trail appeared to cross a small creek at the head of a drainage. On the other side I got turned around, retraced my steps and ended up back at the Cairn Rockshelter. Heading back a second time I realized that the sneaky trail took a sharp right turn and descended the middle of the creek. Afterwards the trail skirted along the edge of a dangerous bluff-line before descending further into the maw.
With every step that I made into the gorge, the trail became technically more difficult to traverse. Large rock falls made navigation tricky. Thousands of rocks under feet made footing unsure and slippery. A large portion of the trail at this section followed the middle of the creek. It reminded me of the Sheltowee Trace section below Pine Mountain to Hemlock Grove. Despite the hard travel, there were truly some amazing sites to behold. I would get “lost” another two times in the maze of the boulder field before climbing back out of the gorge.
After exiting the maze, the trail followed the river for a short distance before making a steep ascent back to the top of the plateau. The trail followed beneath several beautiful (and enormous) rockshelters. Near the top of another drainage was a second rope climb. This climb was slightly more harrowing than the first since the rock face was covered in a virtual mudslide. At the top I found Moonshiner’s Falls; aptly named since it was a perfect location for a shiner to hide his furnace and draw water from the stream.
On my way out I took some photos of some wildflowers along the trail. The sky became overcast and a light drizzle began. Originally, I had planned to do two six-mile hikes that day, but I had underestimated the difficulty of the Honey Creek Loop Trail. I ended up being so sore and muddy I decided to come back and do the second trail another day. I’m well on my way to completing the 100-mile centennial challenge in the Big South Fork. I just need two more 6 milers to complete the job.
God blessed me with some amazing hiking weather on an otherwise overcast rainy day. I drove home on Hwy 127 and took a brief stop at Wolf Creek Dam on the way home.
Anyone want to go? I make a good trail partner. I promise to only get you lost a couple of times (getting “lost” is part of the fun)