The Shortcut
I always claimed that I new Hoosier National Forest like I knew the back of my hand. What I should have said was that I new Terril Ridge (in Hoosier National Forest) like I knew the back of my hand. However the truth would have sounded more like, "okay who's got the map!"
Me and Richey did see alot of that area though. We did tons of overnighters and weekenders that had us trampsing all over that countryside. Flanked by Monroe Reservior on the West and North, Salt Creek to the East and to the South was the road we came in on - there was no way we where going to get lost. Sure we'd get misplaced on occasion but then again, that is what we usually tried to do.
Our usual destination was a spot we called Greenbow Ridge. We named it that because we marked the point where you left the trail with a green nylon ribbon tied around a tree. (I'd be surprized if that ribbin was not still there - even after lo these 25 years.) On this ridge was a great plateau on which to set camp and when the leaves were off the trees you'd get a fairly nice view of the Lake.
This particular hike finds us in late summer. We have been through a pretty long drought so the depth of Monroe Reservior is at a record low. Warnings have been issued against open burning. We have several cans of sterno so we can boil our water without the need for a campfire. We drive the 7 mile dirt road to the Hickory Ridge Fire Tower where we park the car - as always. Keeping true to the tradition - our hike begins with climbing the 123 steps to the top of the tower to watch the sun finish rising. With the threat of fire we take it as our civic duty to scan the area to look for smoke. Thankfully we see none. What we do see is forest for as far as the eye can see. With binoculars we would be able pick out far away towns with water towers and smoke stacks and such. Since we have no aid to vision with us today we look out over the rolling, hazy hills and pointing in the direction of Greenbow Ridge we decide to "get this show on the road."
Last night we decided we would investigate Salt Creek. We figure it should be nearly dried up due to the drought and this might open some areas that are normally not very accessible. Maybe if we are lucky we can make it all the way to the foot of Greenbow Ridge by way of the creek bed. That will sure save a lot of hiking up and down hills and give us more time to explore the eastern side of Salt Creek. Maybe we'll discover some old foundations of buildings from the days when this area was farmed - the days before the reservoir existed.
We've found them before. Like that old stone fireplace and chimney we came upon a couple of years ago while cutting cross-country on another of our "deep woods" short cut manuevours. Smack-dab in the middle of no-freakin'-where stood that stone obelisk as a testament to a bygone age. After just a little scratching around in the dirt, the amount of charcoal and cut nails suggested the fate of the cabin that surely accompanied this overbuilt appendage. If only we had a map with us that day. We could have marked the spot where we made this discovery. But that's okay; we have a pretty good idea where it is. Funny thing is... in the last 4 or 5 times we set out to find it again, it never seems to be where we thought we left it. It's bound to show up someday. I mean it didn't look like it was going anywhere, any time soon.
So it's down the old fire road once again. The foundations from the buildings that used to accompany the lookout tower have their stories to tell - as we hike on by them - but we've listened enough to those same old stories, today we want a new story. Today we are going to go out and get our own story. From where is this story to come? We have no idea. When will we acquire this story? We don't yet know. But by golly by the time we pitch tents tonight we will have one.
To Be Continued...
http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/hoosier/docs/hickory.htm
http://www.topozone.com
http://www.theclimber.net/blogs/madmike/