Clear Springs / Bald Knob Wilderness Hike

Friday September 4

Todd and I arrived at the West trail head to the Clear Springs / Bald Knob Wilderness area thanks to shuttle driver Janette and her husband Bill. We left a vehicle just east of Panther's Den and planned to hike those roughly 45 miles by Sunday afternoon. Standing at the trailhead and looking into the woods it was already clear that the going was to be tough. The woods were thick with fallen trees from the 100 mph sideways winds of the previous Spring that I had been told had been termed an inland hurricane.

We decided to forge ahead with our plan and in we went. After only a few hundred yards we could no longer discern the trail. For the first time in my hiking career I had forgotten to bring topo maps and soon we were bushwacking very difficult and steep ravines and thick brush. I started having difficulty keeping up the pace under these conditions. Todd swapped his 17 lb. pack for my 36 lb. one for quite a while. Kudos to Todd. Up and down we went with the hope that we would at least get to Hutchins Creek before night to stock up on water. Well that was not to be. Night was coming and we had not found the creek. Todd had been more conservative with his water, so he was in pretty good shape. I was down to 10 or 20 ounces. I think we both opted for a dry dinner.

Saturday September 5

Todd and I both slept well and were soon back on the bushwack. We found Hutchins Creek after about an hour and followed it to where there were some nice pools of clear water, no doubt spring fed. This was my first hike since publishing my Southern Illinois River To River Trail Pocket Guide. I was still in the process of renaming my GPS waypoints in such a way that they could be more easily identified in relation to the page they were located on in the guide. Long story short, I was confused about how to find some of the waypoints and continued to be unsure about which way to go. It was pretty lame on my part and embarrassing to admit, but there it was.

So on we bushwacked. About noon we topped a ridge and I looked down and saw the very unfamiliar sight of a nice clear trail. An hour or so later Todd and I were being delivered to Rocky Comfort Road (again by very prompt and efficient Janette). Janette shared with us that the trail had been cleared from the east trailhead to Hutchins Creek so had we found the R2R trail where it crossed Hutchins Creek, we would have had smooth sailing from that point on.

From Rocky Comfort Road we hiked about 2 hours to Panther's Den, where we set up camp and did some exploring. Panther's Den is just a beautiful place. If you haven't been there I suggest you check it out. That evening we had a superb campfire, hot meal and great conversation.


Sunday September 6

Sometime around midnight the rain came and continued until we got up about 7 AM. There was a rock overhang with a little patch of dry ground where ever efficient and resourceful Todd had figured out a way attach the ends of his tent pieces and sleeping bag directly to the rock where it was hanging and drying. Todd is my personal hero among backpackers. :-)


This was all going on long before I even had started to take my soaking wet shelter down and had wrung out my sleeping bag. I have a 10 oz sil-nylon water-proof bivy that I had forgotten along with my topo maps. This trip was not my best showing.


Soon we were back on the trail. 40 minutes later we were at the van, made some lunch and headed for home. All things considered, I felt it was a very rewarding hike. I had gotten a great workout trudging up and down the ridges. The massive forest destruction we witnessed was truly awe- inspiring. Our difficulties had upped the ante on our need to be resourceful compared to most other hikes I've been on. We undoubtedly learned some useful lessons from that. And Panther's Den is a great place to spend time under almost any circumstances.