Charles C Deam Wilderness

I went out to Charles Deam Wilderness area last Saturday with a few friends for a short day hike. I've been camping at Deam many times and it is one of my favorite place to get outdoors in Indiana. The wilderness areas borders the south side of Lake Monroe and has many miles of hiking and horse trails that wind through an area of ridges and ravines. A gravel road, Fire Tower Road, runs through the middle of the park. We parked at the Fire Tower and hiked the only trail designated for foot travel only. The Sycamore Loop is a six mile trail that takes out along a ridge, down into a creekbed, and then follows the stream through an area with many pines until winding back up the ridge. We didn't get on the trail until about 3:00, which normally would have gotten us back by dark. However, we decided to stop several times and pound some beers and whiskey. It was in the 20's, but the sun was out and it was a very nice day to be out.

Sugar Creek

John and I had made plans to take advantage of the high waters due to recent rains yesterday morning. We woke up to about several inches of fresh snow and temperatures in the high twenties. We decided not to let the weather dictate what we did, but did decide not to camp out after the trip. We ran sugar creek from Deer Mill to Cox Ford, around a fourteen mile trip. The water was moving at about 1150 cfs upstream in Crawfordsville. We've had a lot of rain and snow melt in the last week and most of the rivers and streams were or are above flood stage. We went down stream a couple of miles then took a break to pound a couple beers and some whiskey. Shortly after getting on the water again I carelessly fell in. I was wearing my 3mm wetsuit, but still got pretty cold. After getting out of the water and taking my gloves and booties off I warmed up a bit. The rest of the trip was very scenic we saw several hawks and eagles on the way down. Usually they fly off before you get too close, but several stayed put as we paddled past them. My feet stayed pretty cold and my core temperature was less than warm, but I was relatively comfortale for the rest of the trip. Although getting the wet stuff off and sitting in the car with the heat on felt pretty good.

Indiana Climbing

Well, we planned on backpacking this weekend, but it was not meant to be. John came down sick and Eric found out he had to be in at work Saturday morning. Eric and I salvaged the day by climbing some faces he knew of along the highway. These were places where the rock had been blasted out to make the road and they made a great spot for my virgin voyage on outdoor climbing. It's been about six months since I've been climbing in the gym and my muscles were screaming today. I'm a very inexperienced climber, so these little rock faces were perfect for me, although there were some 5.10 or harder routes out there. We stuck to the top ropping, I still need to learn how to lead climb. No packing, but the day was still a good one.