This trip started out like most. I left my house 0645 and arrived at Jason’s about 0800. I transferred my gear and we headed out. The bridge on interstate 75 is being worked on and we hit it at a dead stop. fortunately Jason was able to exit and we drove through Cincinnati putting us behind.
We arrived at the Rock Bridge trailhead and did laps around the parking lot as every spot was taken. We found a gravel lot near by and was planing on taking a chance and parking there. There were no signs for or against parking. Jason noticed two cars leave and we rushed to the actual parking lot and found a space. The plan for the trip was to hike all of Swift Camp Creek Trail then walk the road to wildcat trail and return on the remainder of Swift Camp Creek Trail.
We ran into many people on the rock bridge trail until we intersected and changed to the Swift Camp Creek trail. There was far fewer people on this trail. We cross paths with two younger women after the water fall that didn’t even look effected by the terrain. The camp near the water fall was occupied and many people were below at the falls. I Could not figure out how to get down, we noticed a few very sketchy ways we might have been able to descend but choose not to risk it. The falls didn’t look that spectacular. The trail up to here had been pretty easy. The hardest part of the entire trail was the root system all over making it very difficult on many places. The trail rose and fell gently here making hard to realize the change in elevation. There are very few places you can access the creek from the trail.
We descended in to a valley that was a good source for water (17S KB73942 84930), later we saw people camping near here, they must have walked the creek. We met a couple coming from Wildcat trail here they told us the trail from here gets a little ruff with more narrower places. We continued to the wildcat junction where we considered our options. The trail had been a little harder then expected and we didn’t think we would make the loop before dark and get set up. So we decided to check out a camp that I had found on Gaia GPS.
Upon getting near the camp we heard people, what appeared to be kids, so we stopped and considered the options. Push forward, turn around and check another flat area or go see what was going on at the creek. We didn’t want to push forward into the unknown so we walked down to the creek and found a group of 5-6 young ladies who appeared to have a partial camp setup, one hammock and a bear bag. So we decided to get water and before we could ask if they were staying they less their equipment vanished like the VC into the woods. So we left, walking back up the hill. We noticed a rock outcropping and decided to see if it was flat up there. What did we find a pack laid out like someone stopped to eat but no one around. Odd, two disappearing acts in 10 minutes. We never did see anyone of them again. Once again plans hadn’t survived the day.
We back tracked the trial to the last flat spot we saw only to find it not suitable for hammocks and had a large dead tree right in the middle of it. So we ate and headed to the car knowing the only other suitable camp was near the falls hoping it maybe open. As expected it was still occupied. At this point we were only a few miles from the trail head so we headed to the car. We arrived at the car at 2100 and ended up “sleeping” there. So I didn’t get to try out any of my new gear this trip.
Its looking more like we may be over estimating our capabilities or just not paying attention to the difficulty of the trails. This is the second time we put in a large amount of miles with full pack only to not camp on the trial.The restrictions on camping in the Forrest makes very it hard to camp on this trail. I would have to say every place there to camp is not with in the regulations but thats what the terrain allows. Maybe the next trip will work out as planned. lol plans never last.
Make sure check out Jason’s Video on youtube.
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