Monday, November 19, 2018

Sheltowee, Honey Creek, Gentlemen's Swimming Hole


Sheltowee 8.1
Honey Creek 3.4
Gentlemen's Swimming Hole 2.1

Heading out for an overnighter, we headed to the Big South Fork. We had not hiked the newest section of the Sheltowee trail which runs from Honey Creek to the O&W bridge. So we did! 5.2 miles.

The Sheltowee follows the West side of the Honey Creek Loop which is the easiest side with only one time that you have to crawl through the rocks. From there you go over the ridge and back down into the river valley. You get to see numerous rock houses and water falls. The horses, which I know that it is the ignorant riders that can't read the signs, have torn up the trail. Especially going down to the O&W bridge. The bridge has been improved since the last time we saw it.

From the bridge we headed back and set up camp on the ridge where the spring begins just before the Honey Creek Loop. We got to listen to the coyotes and owls for the night.

The next morning we did the other half of the 5.7 mile Honey Creek loop which is a challenge with a backpack. You have to climb, crawl, skirt, find, rock hop and go through on this section. It's all beautiful!

We drove up to the overlook after finishing the trail and ate lunch. With more time left in the day, we headed over to historic Rugby and hiked the 2.1 mile Gentlemen's Swimming Hole loop. This trail goes down to the Clear Fork where they have picnics and swimming. Then it goes along the river down to White Oak Creek where the creek and river meet. Then you climb back up the gorge and hike an old roadbed back to the trailhead. We did a little exploring on the roadbed. We found flagging in the woods that we thought would lead to an overlook. Stopped looking when the trail started dropping toward the creek.

Pictures:

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