Day At The Park

Staring down the face of a free Saturday, I rolled out of bed at 6am for a morning hiking session. 8 years of youth hockey will train you quickly to give up on Saturday-Sleep-Ins. And if you know me well at all, you know I also have an openly professed love for sunrises. It's a little tougher in the summer with the 6am'ers, but in my opinion, well worth it. Quick shower, coffee in hand, destination: Brown County State Park.

With no recent experience here I picked Trail 9, a rugged loop with a connector from Ogle Lake (pictured). Knowing I'd be in the woods, I skipped the sunscreen and opted for a couple layers of Deep Woods OFF. And off I went.

Now hiking by myself usually doesn't bother me, but something just kept itching under my skin today (thankfully not mosquitoes). Let's just say the subconscious "voices" were having a good time at my expense:

You know you're the only person out on this secluded trail at 8am, right?

  

You know all it takes is a loose rock and you're tumbling down this ravine and no one will ever find you, right?

 

 

You know there's likely grizzly bears and mountain lions (the kind that live in Indiana) lurking around the corner, right?
 


So I find myself a rather large "walking stick". I figure I'll get one good shot in then scream 'till someone comes and breaks it up. Slowly but surely the jitters fade. Might have been lack of oxygen from climbing hill after hill that eventually took my mind off the impending velociraptor attack. But seriously, it's not hard at all for my mind to get lost in God's beautiful creation...what is there to be afraid of? Well, cobras, yeah...but really, what?

Covered in cobwebs at about the 45 minute mark, I was expecting to have hit the loop. So...the thing about it is, the map says "Distance 3.0/2.75 Miles" which I interpreted as, the loop is 2.75 and it's 3 total with the connector. Blame it on lack of sleep, lack of coffee, whatever you want, but as an Engineer I'd like to think I could understand a map a little better. Ends up it's a 3 Mile Loop with a 2.75 Mile Connector...the cool thing about connectors being that you get to take them TWICE to get back to where you parked. Do the math, yeah that's nearly 9 miles of rugged terrain before lunch time (and BOY was it lunch time after that).

Finally on the loop at about the "1/2way" point I find myself coming to the top of a ridge thinking there's destined to be some rewarding view for hiking all the way BACK here. Yup, there was a rewarding view all right. For hiking all the way up top of the ridge, nestled back in the deep enchanted forest you get rewarded with a beautifully, snotty, frog pond:

"I'm not sure that's Pete, Delmar..."

All jokes aside, it was a very pleasant stroll through the woods. My favorite part was the abundance of birds singing a soundtrack for my journey. I also enjoyed some music with my audio cable connectors. Nothing like a 1:1 mix of Dream Theater and Woody The Woodpecker to gain that needed burst of energy.  AND I finally ran across other people crazy enough to hike back to a 3 MILE loop trail from a 2.75 MILE connector. Which means there's a good chance someone WILL INDEED find me after the panthers are finished.

 Can't leave this park without a breathtaking view