Sheltowee Trace Trail Update No. One

Rabba and I left early in the morning of our first day after getting little sleep the night before. My fiancee was kind enough to drive us to the trailhead at 5 a.m. before she had to go to work; luckily it was kind of on the way (as in within 30 miles of her office).

We took a few pictures and said our goodbyes. The Northern Terminus trail head throws you right in with a tricky stream crossing within a few hundred feet and then a long, winding uphill section.

The weight of our overstuffed packs quickly started to cause problems. Our pace was much slower than our training pace, and we had to take breaks about twice as often as we expected. By 1 p.m. our energy was already gone, and we stopped for lunch at another trailhead near a water pump. We both had to refill our water supply.

Some local dogs from a nearby farm came over to beg for food. They had a well-rehearsed routine and were accustomed to dealing with hikers. They were sweet dogs and very polite until several fleas jumped off them into my lunch.

After lunch, we crossed a very rickety bridge that swayed violently with each step. I’m pretty sure this is where I lost my Nalgene bottle that I didn’t notice missing until dinner.

We camped near a stream that night, and we both ate a family-sized portion of chicken pasta. I found a nearby stream and took a dip, soaking my tired and sore feet. I noticed I had some small blisters forming.

We did not sleep well since the rain and wind blew around and into our tent most of the night. It was still raining when we woke on day two and broke down the tent. The hike out of the valley that morning was very hard with our sore legs and the amount of water coming down on us.

We passed over the I-64 and hiked a long section of Forest Service road that made us forget about the pain in our legs because the gravel destroyed our already tender feet. The gravel road was by far our least favorite section of trail.

We hiked over 12 hours and made it to Morehead after many steep climbs up and down. Rabba called it “the world’s least fun roller coaster.”

The reward at the end of the day was a hot meal at the Dairy Queen. Our feet were also in need of some repair. The blisters had grown, and the constant rain was causing our feet to show signs of trench foot. Rabba thought this was funny and dubbed me Trench Foot. I was not happy about my new trail name.

I treated my feet with Vaseline and lathered my boot in Gold Bond, but nothing was helping because the rain was not letting up.

We made it to Cave Run Lake on our third day and found a campsite near the lake. Decided to hang our bear bag after dinner because of the signs warning us to hang all food.

Our biggest problem at this point is the rain, wind, and the growing pain from our feet. The blisters and moisture are causing all kinds of issues. On top of rain, the temperature is going to drop below 30 tonight with a low of 20 degrees.