Deam Wilderness - 4 day springtime solo

[OneClick]

Late April is usually too late (warm and buggy) for me down here, but I had to get out and give it a try. Other than some new Topo Untraventure shoes, I took my usual gear. 26.6lb total including two cans of beer. I'd still like to hit 20lb total, even if that's without the beer.

I saw what appeared to be a lull in the rain, so I left home and crossed my fingers. I got lucky, falling into a 3-hour window of no rain after arriving. I set up and just relaxed, preparing for a longer hike the next day.

It's interesting to see how special people think they are, including me I guess. While not "necessary travel" during the covid-19 pandemic, I wasn't going to leave my car the whole way down and have absolutely no contact with anything or anyone the entire time. But then I see the forest service fire tower at the trailhead: pink caution tape ripped down, people climbing up top, ignoring the CLOSED sign. Then the sign "No parking along Tower Ridge Road"...so a truck parks right on Tower Ridge Road. And camps must be 100' from the trail, but I see people camped RIGHT ON THE TRAIL, one with a ~50qt wheeled cooler. I passed thru the horse camp and saw the big yellow AREA CLOSED sign...full of cars, people having picnics, horse trailers, etc. Keystone, Miller Lite and Bud Light cans everywhere, even well off trails. Doesn't anyone in Indiana drink good beer? Even halfway cheap decent stuff other than fizzy yellow water? The answer is no. Done ranting.

Great weather, a little sunburn, very quiet, plenty of wildflowers, one blister. The new shoes felt great but wool socks NEVER dry and after walking thru a couple streams I was done for. When hiking out I passed a couple who said "is it all full down there?" 13,000 acres of camping area yet most everyone seems to think they have to camp on that nasty, muddy, overused peninsula. That's just so bizarre to me.

[cmoulder]

Wow glad to see you were able to get out! Great to see stuff turning green, and I love those little box turtles.

Yep, once you get about a mile from the trailhead you eliminate about 80% of the yahoos and then 2 miles in it's close to 97%.

[rweb82]

Nice report! I've yet to get down to the Deam Wilderness, but I've been considering it lately. Which trail(s) did you hike, and where did you start?

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[OneClick]

Nice report! I've yet to get down to the Deam Wilderness, but I've been considering it lately. Which trail(s) did you hike, and where did you start?

I started at the fire tower Thursday. Arriving at 4pm with rain approaching, I just spent that night nearby ready for the next day. Then I hiked south to Axsom>Martin Hollow>Cope Hollow>thru horse camp>Grubb Ridge then ending on a ridge a couple miles from the other parking lot. Ended up being 15.9mi that day which took quite some time with all the ups and downs. After that it was just some random wandering and lower mile hiking.

By the way, every time I go here my hatred for horses increases by a huge amount. They turn a 9/10 trail into a 3/10 trail. I don't know who thought a mix-used trail would be a good idea in this wilderness.

[rweb82]

I started at the fire tower Thursday. Arriving at 4pm with rain approaching, I just spent that night nearby ready for the next day. Then I hiked south to Axsom>Martin Hollow>Cope Hollow>thru horse camp>Grubb Ridge then ending on a ridge a couple miles from the other parking lot. Ended up being 15.9mi that day which took quite some time with all the ups and downs. After that it was just some random wandering and lower mile hiking.

By the way, every time I go here my hatred for horses increases by a huge amount. They turn a 9/10 trail into a 3/10 trail. I don't know who thought a mix-used trail would be a good idea in this wilderness.

Thanks. Yeah, I wish they would stop with these mixed-use trails. Same thing goes for hike & bike trails. All bikes do is rut up the trails to the point of causing any hiker to twist their ankles every couple of steps.

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[OneClick]

Thanks. Yeah, I wish they would stop with these mixed-use trails. Same thing goes for hike & bike trails. All bikes do is rut up the trails to the point of causing any hiker to twist their ankles every couple of steps.

I was on the NCT up in Michigan last spring and there was a section with a 4" wide "trail". Straddle it? Do the highbeam balance walk inside? One mile felt like 5.

I've never done the entire south trail, so I can finally say I've seen every square inch of this place. Sure feels like it. I really need to give it a break now.

[Just Bill]

Northwest Indiana has plenty of good beer drinkers, but I believe this area was officially excommunicated to Chicago by the rest of the Hoosiers. There seems to be 50+ microbreweries up here so unless all the Michigan folks are just jumping the border I figure someone is drinking the good stuff...

Interested in how you like the Topo's... I've been getting increasingly annoyed with Altra after VFCorp bought them. They seem to keep swapping the lasts and fixing shoes that don't need fixing. I was all set to pick up some Topo's but the local shop stopped stocking them due to slow sales. Out of the three Altra's in stock none of them fit the same and all were messed up versions of shoes I've owned and loved.

I'll stop my ranting now before I even discuss my equestrian thoughts... I know in the Shawnee at least that it's a fairly decent sized hunk of business for the locals and that in turn affects the politics of who gets to go where more often than we'd like to admit.

Much like Rick... I have yet to take in Deam or southern Indiana generally since moving here. We always drove down to Shawnee if we wanted that sorta action and it always looks like that is the best comparison. Or Shawnee light as someone joked. Doesn't look like anything much to complain of to me, though at this point my backyard is exciting, lol. Sounds like maybe you outgrew it and burned out? Happens to us all, even in nice places.

There are not many places left around here you can just park your car and head out... so to me the novelty of not needing a vehicle sticker, placard from Ranger Rick and $25 per night hole in my wallet looks very appealing.

Hell- you're out. Better than many of us can claim these days, lol. And it looks like you did catch a nice break in this odd spring we are having just before things get rough.

[OneClick]

The Topos are still an unknown. After the 16mi day I got a small blister on my heel. Just today I noticed on my left foot the skin was rubbed clean off on the bony part on back above the heel. Achilles tendon area. That water plus wool socks is always nasty. I'll try my coolmax socks next time.

Good overall fit but had to go 1/2 size larger than usual. I don't know if these will work for my usual backcountry trips. Feels like too much rolling and movement for that stuff. They're like slippers with good tread. On trail, no problem. The toes felt great...ZERO pain in the ball of my foot which always starts around mile 7. So knock on wood, that is solved.

I have absolutely no idea why these wider toe boxes are not standard in every brand. It's not overkill. To simply stop and wiggle your toes and feel some room...amazing.

[rweb82]

The Topos are still an unknown. After the 16mi day I got a small blister on my heel. Just today I noticed on my left foot the skin was rubbed clean off on the bony part on back above the heel. Achilles tendon area. That water plus wool socks is always nasty. I'll try my coolmax socks next time.

Good overall fit but had to go 1/2 size larger than usual. I don't know if these will work for my usual backcountry trips. Feels like too much rolling and movement for that stuff. They're like slippers with good tread. On trail, no problem. The toes felt great...ZERO pain in the ball of my foot which always starts around mile 7. So knock on wood, that is solved.

I have absolutely no idea why these wider toe boxes are not standard in every brand. It's not overkill. To simply stop and wiggle your toes and feel some room...amazing.

I love wide toe box shoes, and pretty much wear them exclusively. I agree that wide toe boxes and zero (or minimal) drop footwear should be the norm, not the exception.

But for the past year, I switched to backpacking in sandals- Bedrock Cairn 3Ds, and they are- by far- the best hiking footwear I have used. I've not stubbed my toes once, or otherwise hurt my feet. My feet stay cool and dry- no more dealing with wet socks and blisters. And I no longer need to bring camp shoes. I cannot emphasize just how freeing it is to not have to worry about where I step when facing wet parts of the trail. And the sensory experience makes the hike that much more enjoyable. A lot of folks think it's crazy, but once you use them, they just make so much sense, and you soon realize that the vast majority of "concerns" about them are fabricated by folks who have never actually used them.

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[Treebird]

Ever try kayak camping across Monroe? There's a lot of good places to camp on the shoreline and seem less used as the hike in sites.