Off the Map

Remember that Billings Creek Trail that I said I wanted to do and then found out that it wasn't on the map or on the Trail Challenge anymore?

Well, I met up with a hiking friend who was camping at the Reserve not far from the Un-Trail Trail head. So I asked him if he'd ever been on that trail before it was removed from the official map.

Jason said no and promptly asked me to show it to him. 

Whoops. Who is this Jason guy? Well I met him on New Years Eve of 2021 while hiking The Valley of Ice in the Kickapoo Valley Reserve.

We've kept in touch and hiked together once in January with my friend Bill and the dogs. Jason prefers early spring, fall, and winter hiking to avoid the nasty bugs that apparently like to bite him. 

So we headed off to the Off the Map Trail.

We spend a lot of time exploring the bluffs I'd explored last week. I explained to him that apparently the trail was too hard to maintain and even though it was there for the Challenge last year, it had been removed from both the Challenge and the current maps. 

It is obvious though, that people still do hike it as it is foot-worn in places and there are places where someone has clipped brush back with a pair of nippers. Our conclusion is that it is still hiked by folks like me.

I didn't take many photos at all. Jason described how the river bluffs were formed and he was able to even name some of the mushrooms we found.

I was able to ID flora and fauna for him when he asked. I guess it suffices to say that we were learning from each other. 

Here he is below with Charlie. Who doesn't love Charlie? 

Here is a photo he took of me and the dogs on the same pine logs. I was holding dog cookies behind my head so the two dogs would sit on each side of me.

Piper was fun. She rolled Charlie a few times in play. Charlie was the wimp and ran to Jason for help. Jason told Piper to settle down and she did. The two dogs really got along together. Charlie just has a bit of a melt down when he's pounced on.

I don't envy the clean up that Jason has to go through after his hikes to clean the burrs out of her hair. 

We eventually found the origin of Billings Creek where it is a tiny tributary of the Kickapoo River. I was surprised and hadn't even thought about ...the where of how Billings Creek originated. I knew it as a stream that is pretty wide only a few miles away by WildCat Mountain State Park.

Jason also studies water flow in the area, so he was an excellent source of even more learning!

We stepped over it. The tiny stream at that point is so inconsequential that I never thought to take a photo of it. [I will next time!]

Billings Creek from a mile away just south of County F looks like this.

This portion of the creek is considered a great trout stream.

We turned around yet again before we reached the stream crossing. That's okay, Jason's foot hurt and I didn't want him to try and get through all the downfalls that were waiting just a 100 or so yards away. We walked on the footpath all the way back to the Winchell Valley Road and leashed up the dogs.

While we were gone it looked like 4 other vehicles had parked by us. We started to walk past a big red truck and being friendly we said hello.

The guys were putting on waders and what looked like trout fishing stuff. I was curious. 

"Fly fishing the Kickapoo?" I asked.

"Nope," one guy said, "We will be fishing Billings Creek!"

I glanced at Jason and tipped my head. "Oh, well, wouldn't you want to be on County F where Billings Creek is really flowing?"

The other guy spoke up as he adjusted his waders. "Nope," he said, "we only have to walk along the Kickapoo right over to those pines." He pointed towards the bluffs we'd just been hiking on.

He then hiked up his waders and asked Jason why we'd just come out of the woods. 

Jason shrugged, "We were hiking an old trail up there. It follows the river to Billings Creek."

The other dude stretched and picked up his gear. 

"We drove in from Indiana to fish Billings Creek. We'll either take the trail or just walk along the river here."

I nodded slowly and glanced at Jason once more.

Jason remained expressionless and said, "Good luck!"

We turned and walked away with the dogs in tow. 

"Jason, those guys are not getting to any place they can trout/fly fish on Billings Creek from here!"

Jason smiled, "But they also know better than we do. Let them find out on their own."

In conclusion? For those fisher-people dudes, perhaps they should listen to the locals? But their body language and tone of voice were that of  

~~ We know better than you do~~. 

Our hike together was fun and very educational. I learned things about sand that I never even knew. The dogs had a great time, and we promised to keep in touch for some more winter hiking and some Off the Map trails I still know about.

I even made it home before we had company arrive.

Fungus Among Us!

I went back to the 'Billings Creek' trail Monday afternoon. I had a hunch that there would be a lot of fungi to see.

I was also curious as to whether or not the KVR folks had removed the trail marker on the south end of the trail. They had.

I just wanted to hike out to the spot where the bluffs were and watch the river below. That particular area is perfect for all sorts of fungi.

The climate of the bluffs and the river make for a perfect 'fungi' wonderland.

The panoramic photo really doesn't do this justice, as it makes a rather curvy area take on a flat look. The little bluffs stuck out at angles not shown in the shot below.
However, Charlie and I dumped our stuff there and then took an hour or so to wander around under the trees and explore.

We also sat on the bluff and watched kayakers and canoers on the river below.

Everywhere under the pines there was fungi of all different kinds. The yellow ones stood out on this one bluff.

The new ones emerging looked like this...

I think they are Yellow Fly Agaric Mushrooms. Deadly or hallucinogenic? Well, there are all sorts of opinions about that. These little buggers are notorious for people trying them and ending up in the ER.

I think I will pass.

Here is one I have not seen before. I think it is a Flat topped Coral Mushroom/Fungi.

They were so abundant in one small area that I had to watch my step.

I found beautiful coral fungi in all sorts of stages. The old ones were withered and littered another area, while there were tiny fresh ones popping up all over.

I found Boletes? 

They literally lined areas of the old trail. And in other places they stood out with their brilliant colors. There were older ones all over the forest floor, but I was attracted to the colorful ones.

We took our time. I just had wanted to explore the bluffs and search for cool fungi and I hit the motherload.

It was a fun little jaunt.

The Laugh is on Me~

Over the last year, the Kickapoo Valley Reserve has changed management and has had other changes. Most of them I don't pay attention to as they were changes for campsites and the completion of a new trail that I'd done this summer.

I was using an old map to draw colored lines on the trails I finished. Last year in September, I hiked the south end of the Billings Creek Trail until I ran into a huge deadfall where the trail disappeared. I knew I was close to the Billings Creek crossing but turned around.

My plan was to approach the trail from the north and find the stream crossing from the large grassy area I'd seen on the Google Earth Maps.

Simple, right? Then I could see where the other end of the trail close to where I stopped and re hike the south end to nail the segments needed for the Trail Challenge.

Below is a map of my walk from the Mapmyhike app.

However. The trail through the field was unmarked. So I had to wander up and down the Hay Valley Segment that ends at Cass Valley Road to find some sort of indication of a trail.

There was bent grass that looked like a tractor had driven through the area and it looked like a trail that should have been mowed but wasn't. I was sort of pissed that the only indication of the trail was a tiny sign that barely stuck up through the weeds that said, "No Motorized Vehicles". Normally there is a small sign like this:

Charlie was a trooper, he really tried. Except when he got stuck in the tall grasses and started to cough.

Three inch legs are not that great for huffing through tall grasses. My legs had a tough time too, especially with Charlie in my arms.

But the flowers were beautiful. Except when they weren't because it got hot as we went into the valley. Hot and no air movement. Lots of bees and butterflies. 
I was cursing more than I was enjoying. If I wanted to bushwhack, I'd have hiked my neighbor's abandoned land.

I could see where Billings Creek was supposed to be and we finally followed a deer trail to the bank.

After mucking around a bit and stopping for a water break.  I cussed out loud and made a mental note to ask the Reserve Management -- Why do you put this trail on your Trail Challenge if you do NOT maintain it well?

I turned around and with Charlie in my arms headed back up the valley, stomping and tromping my way through the tall grasses.

I must admit though. The yellow cone flower, golden rod, and some kind of purple butterfly flowers, were quite beautiful. This would be a place to find all sorts of cool insects.

I made it back to the 'Ru and dumped my backpack on the ground. Charlie and I sat in the back end of the 'Ru and shared an apple and he got some doggy treats.

The scenery was in fact quite beautiful and I took these two shots from where I parked with the Infrared pocket camera.

If nothing else, I'd hiked half of the Hay Valley Trail that ran along the road and finished [mostly] the north end of the Billings Creek Trail.

When I got home, I brought up the new updated Trail Challenge Sheet and the on line trail map out of curiosity.

Billings Creek Trail was no longer on their map.
Huh?

Billings Creek Trail was no longer on the Trail Challenge!

Wait. What?

I had been going off from last year's print out and map.

It dawned on me. That trail was a foot trail only. It is a difficult trail and there is no way to get chainsaws in there to maintain the trail. The foot traffic is light. I can't think of anyone else I know that has done this trail on foot.

In the 1990's we rode it on mules and horses and the riders did all the trail clearing. Now?

Well the last laugh was on me.

However.
The footpath still exists and I plan on using it to get to the bluffs above the Kickapoo and enjoy the views that most others won't get to see.

That will teach me for not checking the new updated maps!

But I look at it this way. I still know where most of all the old trails are, so I can explore in areas where there are no other people to contend with.

Because Billings Creek IS worth visiting:

2014 photo

Charlie after our hike. He decided to lay on Rich's chair and sleep.

A Trip Back to Wildcat Mountain State Park ~ The Ice Cave

Here is a shot of the Ice Cave on Labor Day.  It was quite beautiful and interesting.  But if one doesn't understand the 'ice cave' concept they won't get much out of visiting this area in the summer.

According to some folks, the ice can remain in this rock formation until nearly July depending on the weather of course.

Here is how it looked yesterday.  Keep in mind that the ice was melting because of our above freezing days and late sunshine that shone right into the formation during the late afternoons.

This is looking head on. You can see the pile of ice that has broken off the ice 'falls'.  Chunks were threatening to fall off while I was there.  It is not prudent to get a shot from directly below looking up when this is going on!

I preferred the side view which was much more dramatic.
This will probably be one of my favorite photos for quite a while.

Here is a fun comparison shot:

Billings Creek is right around the corner from the Ice Cave and I thought I'd revisit it also.

Here is another Labor Day shot with Ariel wading under the magnificent rock formations.

And of course I couldn't get out and wade yesterday, but the creek did not disappoint.

The ice formations in the middle of the creek were exotic yet because of the warm sunshine and temperatures they were hard to find.

I then followed our Labor Day route and visited one of the canoe launches on the Kickapoo River, but it was getting late and the parking lot was ice.  I got back in the Subaru and took the Cut Off road.

I did manage to get a shot of a Warner Creek which feeds into the Kickapoo River.

And the view towards the bluff.

The Ice Cave and Road Trip

There is a little short trail at Wildcat Mountain State Park that takes you to the Ice Cave.

If you take the trail you may be disappointed in the summer as there is no ice in the cave formation.  But there is in the winter and early spring.

The trail isn't difficult and runs alongside Billings Creek.

Ariel and I decided we'd explore the trail and take a peek at the cave formation on Labor Day.
We went when it still looked as though it was going to rain.

The trail is not a difficult one at all.  It winds through a heavy forested area and takes you to a rock formation that in my mind is not truly a cave but is called such in this area.

Alongside the trail if you keep your eyes open you can find little interesting things.  Since we'd had rain almost every day and lots of heat and humidity we were able to find coral fungi

Turkeyfan fungi

...and of course a tiny tree toad hidden in the mossy trunk of a tree right next to the ice cave...

The rock formation is really quite impressive and we spent quite a bit of time exploring the place.

The biggest challenge we had was getting proper photos of the area.  It was so dark, photos were difficult unless you used a tripod.

I did have one and was able to take a shot of us partially in the cave.

On our way back down the trail we took a side trip and discovered an incredible place ... we were able to get into Billings Creek and do a bit of wading.

The beauty of the rocks and the water were just mind blowing.  ...and I live in this area!
How could I have missed this gem all these years?

The water was cool and crisp and very refreshing.  We even saw crayfish!

I even had a grandchild who was fun enough to take a candid shot of the 'grandma Val'.

We left the Ice Cave trail and headed out for a bit of exploring.

We stopped and waded for a bit in the Kickapoo River.

We snacked while sitting in the back of the Subaru.  

I don't recall what Ariel said, but it was funny and she 'shot' me with the Fuji camera.  

We ended up with a bit of a road trip.

But it sure was fun having someone along who was as adventurous as I was.

Sure would be fun to do this again!