Day 1: Lora 2 miles, Craig 6 miles
Day 2: 8 miles
Day 3: 7.3 miles
After getting chores done, Lora and I headed out for our first backpack of the season. We headed up to Big South Fork for three days. We started at the Middle Creek trailhead and headed towards Charit Lodge. We set up camp just across Fork Ridge Road along side the creek. When we got to unpacking, I noticed the camera case zipper had failed and the camera was gone. So after setting up camp I headed back along the trail and finally found it back near the car. Added four miles onto my hike. It was a pretty night around the campfire.
Tuesday we got up, packed, and headed towards Jakes Place. When we got near the Needle Arch a bear coming up the trail headed quickly off the side and down the hill. We walked around the corner to find a second bear heading our way up the trail. When she finally looked up and saw us, she took off down the hill as well. We took a break at Jake's Place and tried to figure out a plan of where we were going to go. We stopped at Charit Lodge for a break. The lodge cat enjoyed rubbing all over me as we decided to go ahead and have lunch there. We sat at the picnic table where the cat joined us. After lunch we headed down Station Camp Creek trail. They have bulldozed and rocked this trail which made it very hard to walk on. We set up camp along the creek. After everything was ready, we decided to walk on and went as far as the Bleven's cemetery. We passed a thru hiker of the Sheltowee on his twenty forth day. After getting back to camp we rested along the creek bed until dinner time. Another beautiful night around the campfire.
Wednesday we got up and hiked Fork Ridge road taking a lunch break by the Johnson cemetry. We had two deer walk across the road in front of us and a hawk flew by. We found ripe muscidines hanging over the road. Yumm! We returned to the car by the Middle Creek trail.
