Date: 2007-02-07
To: Mammoth Cave National Park
Miles today: 0.0

In the previous post you got to meet my brother, JoeyStains. JStains has been so kind to agree to be my transcriber while out on the trail. I will carry a pocketmail and type my entries so I can email them to JStains. He will proofread and spell check the emails and post them here. Thanks JStains, You are truly the man!!! Now onto this entry about my recent jaunt in Mammoth Cave National Park.My job recently sent me to Louisville, Kentucky so of course I took full advantage of the free plane ticket and found a way to incorporate backpacking into the trip. Mammoth Cave National Park was only an hour and a half car ride away. So after some online research I found about 70 miles of backcountry trails there. Score!! I lugged all my gear down which was great practice for having to get on a plane to Georgia. I packed everything in a duffel bag, but not in my backpack. I figured this would allow the TSA to more easily check my luggage. The gear transport went off without a hitch and when I was in Louisville I found a local outfitter and bought a Jetboil fuel canister which wasn't allowed on the airplane.Friday morning rolled around and as my coworker hopped on a plane back to the Jerz I high tailed it down to Mammoth Cave in a rental car. There was about three inches of snow on the ground from the night before, but the main highways were pretty clear. Being from the Jerz I am quite skilled at driving in the snow, so three inches was no sweat for me. I arrived at the visitor center and got a funny look when I asked for a backcountry permit. The ranger asked me if I was serious because low temps were forecast to be in the single digits all weekend. I explained some of my experience and told her about my gear and she was convinced that I could handle the elements.Backcountry permit in hand, I drove to the Good Springs Church trailhead via the Green River ferry. I felt exhilarated as I drove off the ferry and into the unknown making fresh tracks in the snow. The smile on my face grew as I drove deeper and deeper into the woods. I knew I was in for an awesome weekend. I parked the car and said my goodbyes praying that the car would still be in one piece when I returned. The trailhead was at an old Baptist church established in 1842. There was a graveyard nearby which prompted me to think of our short time here on earth and all of the people that came before me and their lives in the Kentucky woods.I started my trek in fresh powder following the blue trail markers into the great unknown. I knew I was far from home when I started noticing different rock structures and holly trees. The majority of the trails in the park allowed horse traffic and the damage and erosion they cause became very apparent to me. Wherever there would be wetness on the trail, the horses turned it into a quagmire of mud and manure. Thank god everything was frozen!! I don't know how much I would have liked walking through that in the hot steamy summer.That night I stayed at the second creek campsite. It was a standard national park backcountry site with a fire pit and a tent space framed out with 4x4's. The campsite was dry so I had to hike down the hill to bring water back up. I made an awesome one match started fire and enjoyed watching the "hiker TV". I cooked a cheesy couscous dinner and sipped on some local Bourbon while listening to the sounds of the night. I heard barred owls every night call "who cooks for you" or hoo hooo hoo-hoooo. Truly magical!!I took my sweet time getting started the next morning. Temps were in the single digits so that made the going a little slow. I cooked breakfast and made some morning tea then packed up my gear. The tent was the last thing to pack since I stayed in there to do my morning yoga and mediation. I find I enter new levels of consciousness when I meditate in the woods as opposed to my room. Anyway, I eventually got moving around 11am and enjoyed a leisurely stroll throughout the day.I had lunch at First Creek Lake then continued on to the Collie Ridge campsite. I saw an unusual amount of pileated woodpeckers in this park. The rangers told me that Collie Ridge was a dry camp so I lugged water up the hill only to find an awesome spring like 20 ft from the tent site. RAH!! I dumped out the water I brought up and that made me feel a little better. I have heard people describe springs as "sweetwater", but never really knew what that meant. Well the spring at Collie Ridge tasted like it had a hint of sugar added. It was the most delicious spring I have ever drank from!!!Next morning was slow going as well. I made it down to the Sal Hollow trail which was the sole hiking only trail in the park. I immediately knew this was going to be a special one. It kind of followed the Green River with cool rock formations along the side of the trail. I ran into two locals, Wrong Way and Skywalker and we talked for about 10 min about gear and local animals and my upcoming thru hike. I really enjoyed the conversation since I hadn't talked to anyone but myself for a couple of days at that point. Skywalker told me about a cave that I was going to pass soon which made me SUPER excited. I eventually found it and spent about a half hour there taking pictures and crawling in and doing a little exploring. I found a little brown bat hibernating near the entrance so I got a pic. I was all smiles at that point!I continued on and found the Turnhole Bend campsite which was dry and on a mountain top. I hiked down to the river and got lazy and didn't want to carry water back up. So I dug a fire pit in the loose dirt along the banks and pitched my tent close by. I had a lot of fun sitting by the river, finishing my bourbon, thinking about friends watching the Superbowl, watching the fire reflect off the water, and listening to the local owl. Life couldn't have gotten much better.That night got pretty cold. I was in a 0* bag and I got a chill, which leads me to believe the temps hit the negative zone. Then next morning I had a wildlife first sighting. As I was cooking breakfast a bald eagle flew along the river right over my camp. I was in awe of its powerful presence and didn't even think to grab the camera. I just starred as it quickly flew by looking for its fishy morning meal.I packed up, reburied my fire pit (leave no trace!!!), and hoofed it back to the car with my fingers crossed that it would still be there. Sure enough it was and I made my way north to Louisville to get back on the plane to return to the Jerz. My trip was an excellent experience, check out the pics on my webshots. I am so ready for this thru hike. BRING IT ON!!! Till next time...