Yesterday was a workout of a different sort, a wet, rocky, uphill sort. John and I went hiking with friends, Bill and Silke. The hike was a short 5.5-mile effort but guess what?!!! It took us a little over 4 hours to complete. This is one tough trail.
We left Oak Ridge around 8:00 AM, our destination, Honey Creek Loop Trail in the Big South Fork River and Recreational Area. While very beautiful, John and I don’t hike in the Big South Fork very often. Either we don’t think about it or when we do, it is summer when copperheads and bugs rule.
Winter in the BSFRRA is perfect, spring hiking great as long as it hasn’t been raining. Unfortunately, it rained hard on Friday and we knew the rain swollen creek crossings would be wicked. In the back of my mind, I expected to take an unplanned swim so in anticipation, I packed everything in my day pack in plastic. What I unwisely forgot was my gaiters. I would regret this lapse of memory many times during the hike.
The hike began under overcast skies somewhere along an old forest service road. We made the first creek crossing over a small wooden bridge but the volume of water flowing through the creek tipped us off to expect a strong current and deep water in the areas that required creek wading.
Honey Creek Trail has a number of waterfalls. Bill told us that during his hike here last year, the drought reduced most waterfalls to a mere trickle with a few non-existent. During this hike the waterfalls were spectacular, including a few falls that don’t normally exist.
Bill and Silke headed down to the base of a waterfall. Bill told us that he had never seen this waterfall before, the waterfall is a direct result of the amount of rain the area had recently received.
Ah the ladders. Yep, that’s me. If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that I have bad memories of ladders based on our West Coast Trail backpack in 2005 (blog post). The good news is that this was only 40 some rungs, versus 926 on Day 3 of our trip. The ladder in the above picture was very worthwhile because it led to the incredible view below.
This is the granddaddy of Big South Fork creeks, well rivers. This is the Big South Fork River as seen from the Honey Creek overlook. Lots of water flowing!
John crossing the first of the water crossings. John and I had on long pants. While I rolled my pants above the knee, John fastened his around his thighs with the buttons that usually cinch hiking pants around the ankles. With a giggle, Bill and Silke dubbed this fashion statement “pantaloons.”
One of several boulder caves we climbed through. This is a photo of Bill (in front) and Silke. We still had our water shoes on at this point ’cause we had a lot more water to wade through.
Part of the Honey Creek trail is IN the creek. “This waterfall was just a trickle last time we were here,” Bill told us. You can see Bill headed up the rocks in the middle of the picture, straight up the waterfall. Luckily the rocks were not slick so we had no trouble getting up and over. Otherwise we would have had to turn around and go back the way we came in. This spot was a little less than halfway through the hike.
One of the significant landmarks on this trail is the Indian Cave. We climbed the ladder (see wooden box at the bottom of the cave) to explore and eat lunch. It was shortly after this that we put on our hiking shoes, expecting smaller creek crossing . These small crossings were numerous and deep. John, Bill and Silke had their gaiters on, which protected the tops of the boots from water. Without gaiters, water flowed in my boots and I sloshed for some 2 miles. At least I didn’t have to worry so much about keeping my feet dry….no point.
Large boulders made this part of the hike quite interesting. The creek flows between the boulders, you can see flat rock under the water.
After the many creek crossings, we finally returned to a nice forest trail then back to the parking lot. We arrived home mid-afternoon. Lucky for us. The overcast sky turned into rain and rain fell most of the rest of the day!
For more photos from this hike: Honey Creek Trail
For photos from the 2005 West Coast Trail Backpack: West Coast Trail
(located on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada)
