Finished my Sheltowee Trace thru hike yesterday

[10-K]

Yesterday I finished the 302 mile Sheltowee Trace Trail in Kentucky. It was a great hike though I did have to deal with some severe weather - a snow storm that drove me off the trail and high waters that cost me a 22 mile roadwalk to avoid 3 fords.

I was gone 14 days, 3 of those I was off the trail so 11 hiking days. The trail was not difficult in terms of ups and downs and it is very well maintained - it's a real jewel and I highly recommend it to anyone considering a longish hike. The only suggestion I would give is to hike it south to north since there is only a map for the southern half and the trail guide is written for a northbound hike. I had some trouble navigating south and had to rely on my GPS quite a bit.

The Sheltowee Trace Association is working hard to make the trail better all the time and gave me an abundance of support planning my hike.

I wrote up a quick journal here: http://postholer.com/journal/viewJou...entry_id=35615.

As far as condition, I would put it in the same category as the Alabama Pinhoti. Resupply isn't too difficult and in most sections water and camping is abundant.

2 thumbs up for the Sheltowee.

[HikerMom58]

Great 10K- I'm glad you had a nice hike overall. So many trails so little time .... Maybe someday the time will be there for my hubby and I. Thanks for sharing.

[WingedMonkey]

Yesterday I finished the 302 mile Sheltowee Trace Trail in Kentucky. It was a great hike though I did have to deal with some severe weather - a snow storm that drove me off the trail and high waters that cost me a 22 mile roadwalk to avoid 3 fords.

You know I love you... but here is what you said just this past January:

I just got back from hiking in some seriously dangerous conditions (flooding) and I took a very, very, very stupid chance combined with making a very, very, very bad decision which resulted in me being stranded - I would likely still be there today waiting for someone to look for me had I not got very lucky and found a spot with cell service - but I'd still be lucky to be alive to have gotten that far.

After I stranded myself and the gravity of my stupidity set in I started thinking about some of the other calculated risks I've taken on hikes and for a brief time decided that I would never hike a long trail solo again

I see how long THAT lasted.

[FatHead64]

Yesterday I finished the 302 mile Sheltowee Trace Trail in Kentucky. It was a great hike though I did have to deal with some severe weather - a snow storm that drove me off the trail and high waters that cost me a 22 mile roadwalk to avoid 3 fords.

You know I love you... but here is what you said just this past January:

I just got back from hiking in some seriously dangerous conditions (flooding) and I took a very, very, very stupid chance combined with making a very, very, very bad decision which resulted in me being stranded - I would likely still be there today waiting for someone to look for me had I not got very lucky and found a spot with cell service - but I'd still be lucky to be alive to have gotten that far.

After I stranded myself and the gravity of my stupidity set in I started thinking about some of the other calculated risks I've taken on hikes and for a brief time decided that I would never hike a long trail solo again

I see how long THAT lasted.

Maybe 2 months IS a long time!

[10-K]

You know, I have been considering the idea of trying a hike with someone else just to see how it would go.

We need a match.com for hikers...

[WingedMonkey]

I can't even remeber the last time I hiked with someone else other than a day hike. And that was bad enough.

[Blissful]

Great! WTG

[Mountain Mike]

Nice 10-K. It's on my bucket list.

[Rasty]

You know, I have been considering the idea of trying a hike with someone else just to see how it would go.

We need a match.com for hikers...

Just remember the founder of match.com lost his wife to some other guy from match.com

[Cookerhiker]

Nice 10-K. It's on my bucket list.

Let me know if you need a shuttle.

[wornoutboots]

Congratz 10-K! Where does it end now? Leatherwood?? Rumor has it that it's going to connect to the Pine Mountain Trail??

[Train Wreck]

Just remember the founder of match.com lost his wife to some other guy from match.com

For real? that seriously sucks!
oops, thread drift

[Dogwood]

10-K, following your footsteps. Just finished the PT two days ago. Didn't like all the paved and dirt/gravel forest/logging road walking in GA. The PT in GA was mainly a patchwork of various roads with snippets of forest and ridge single track joining the roads. Did enjoy the ridgeline hiking on all the PT though. BTW, THANKS for all the info on the PT though. Really helped on my hike!

Up next in a short time is the BMT. Then the ST.

Was the ST different than the PT in terms of road walking like in GA on the PT. I haven't seen all the maps of the ST yet.

[Dogwood]

Where were the three high water fords to avoid? Last thing I want right now is more road walking. Congrats, you hiking machine!

[Siestita]

I've section hiked the entire SST over the course of 15 years, and made many additional weekend trips to places along that route during various seasons of the year.

I doubt that prior knowledge of where the ST's high waters occur will save hikers very much, if any; road walking; sometimes there are no alternative routes between points A and B other than along roads and their bridges. So, the practical question for thru hikers coming from out-of-state is perhaps not "Where are the high water fords?" but instead, "When does high water block parts of ST?" To date, I've never encountered any high water there during summer of or fall, specifically from June through November. In contrast, March and April seem to be the wettest months, the one's most prone to flooding. Flash floods raise Kentucky's creeks and rivers to dangerous levels very quickly.

I don't personally recall ever encountering high water problems on on ST's northern half, from it's northern terminus southward to approximately the town of McKee. The northernmost part of the ST stays up on a ridge. Then, southbound between the town of Morehead and Cave Run Lake there is a major creek crossing, for which the Forest service helpfully constructed a hikers' bridge. Further south a similar bridge enables hikers to safely cross the Red River, within the gorge named for that stream. The Forest Service also built more elaborate bridges over Sinking Creek, Cane Creek, and Bark Camp Creek. The one at Bark Camp Creek washed away some years ago but is currently being replaced by ST Association volunteers. To the best of my knowledge, the bridges over Sinking Creek and Cane Creek are still intact. Of course, during normal summer and fall conditions hikers could potentially find ways to safely ford those streams; its the flood waters that create obstacles.

Here are the three places on the ST, moving northward from Tennessee, where I have personally encountered flood related trail blockages:

* Crossing Rock Creek, near Yamacraw

*Parts of the trail immediately north (downstream) from Cumberland Falls. Close to the river within a narrow gorge, that's an exceptionally scenic section of the ST, but one that sometimes becomes impassible, covered by the rapidly flowing river.

* the ST's ford of Horse Lick Creek, south of McKee and S-Tree

The Daniel Boone Forest sells recreational maps that show the ST and other maintained trails within its "North", "Central", and "South" sections. With those three maps, and a similar one sold by the National Park Service for the Big South Fork National Recreation Area, one can successfully hike the (recently lengthened) ST.

[Dogwood]

Spot on! Thank you for the correction. Thank you for understanding what I really needed to know Siestita. About how many miles(?) of trail on paved or longish dirt forest service roads?

[Siestita]

The Forest Service maps show how much road walking there is. My 'wild guess' is that perhaps 15 to 20 percent of the total trail consists of road walks. Looking at the maps can give you a good idea of where those fall along the route. They almost all have low traffic, or no traffic. I only disliked road walking in three places: the road northward from the Railroad Branch/Indian Creek drainage area, the stretch of forest service gravel road several miles north of Cane Creek, and a half mile or so along the highway to Morehead's shopping center.

I originally only intended to section hike the southern part of the ST, southwest of I-75, because there are fewer road walks there than elsewhere, especially in the central section. But, having gradually worked north to I-75 I decided to just keep going, as something to occupy my weekends. Surprisingly, I found that I didn't mind those road walks very much, and especially enjoyed some of them. I wasn't expecting that hiking to be as pleasant as it turned out to be. I liked the road walk through the Wildcat Mountain Civil War battlefield, where for a mile or two the ST follows the Forest Service's narrow gravel remake of Daniel Boone's original Wilderness Road, winding upward through the woods. I also enjoyed tranquil road walks through the Horse Lick Creek bottoms, and, surprisingly, I liked the paved country lane that the ST follows immediately after its south bound departure from near the aforementioned Morehead shopping center.

The important thing is not to expect the ST to be an isolated wilderness trail. Even in sections where its all trail, road crossings occur fairly frequently. Whether they appreciate it or not, hikers get some exposure to rural Kentucky culture. If I hadn't done the whole ST, I would have missed seeing some attractions some attractions best known to locals. Within a half hours walk from one ordinary country road, I passed, almost simultaneously, a beautiful waterfall, an attractive rock house/shelter cave, and the remains of what had apparently formerly been a trail side still.

The SST's scenery often consists of cliff lines, eroded rock formations, and creeks. Except for the ridge top section near the northern terminus, which I mentioned previously, the ST typically retreats from civilization not by climbing ridges but instead by descending into gorges along creeks or rivers.

[10-K]

Let me know if you need a shuttle.

Bill serves up a very nice shuttle - thanks for shuttling me!

[10-K]

There is a lot of road walking north of I-75. A lot....I'd guess 50 miles at least...much more than the GA Pinhoti. And you do get to see quite a lot of below poverty line KY culture which isn't any different than any other rural Appalachian area (maybe I'm immune to it since I live in Appalachia and see it all the time?)

The ford(s) I avoided by walking Hwy 89 out of McKee were the Horse Lick Creek crossings. There was 2 days of hard rain followed by about 3" of fresh snow the day I arrived in McKee. Even the rock hops coming into McKee were nearly knee deep.

Rock Creek at Yamacraw was almost up to my belt but the bottom was clear an I could halfway see where I was walking. The scariest thing about that ford is how wide it is but there is a signed high water route if it's more than you want to attempt.

The Sheltowee is a different kind of trail than any I've hiked - the rock formations an topography is unlike a hike in the Appalachians and certainly different that the Green Mountains and Whites up north.

Dogwood, I share your opinion of the GA Pinhoti. It's not so much a trail as it is a bunch of roads connected together by short pieces of trails. Still, I enjoyed everything but the stretch between Dalton and People's Lake Rd.

[Cookerhiker]

...The Daniel Boone Forest sells recreational maps that show the ST and other maintained trails within its "North", "Central", and "South" sections. With those three maps, and a similar one sold by the National Park Service for the Big South Fork National Recreation Area, one can successfully hike the (recently lengthened) ST.

The Trails Illustrated map of Big South Fork is being revised to reflect the Sheltowee's new route through the park and should be available very soon; the target date was March.

...The Sheltowee is a different kind of trail than any I've hiked - the rock formations an topography is unlike a hike in the Appalachians and certainly different that the Green Mountains and Whites up north...

This is my exact same impression from the almost-four years I've lived in KY. The rock houses, clifflines, and arches are the best features. I've described KY hiking as "down and up" whereas the AT is "up and down." If anyone has hiked the trails of North Central Pennsylvania (e.g. Susquehannock, Black Forest), you'll see a similar pattern of down & up hiking. The terrain isn't mountainous nor is it "flat" because you're hiking down into gorges and up out of them.

KY's mountains in the far-eastern part of the state bordering VA and WV are more similar to the Appalachian chain.