We began our hike at the Twin Arches parking lot at the Big South Fork.
The weather was questionable from the beginning as we knew it would be at this time of year. It had already rained that morning and threatened to storm but we welcomed it because of the hot weather.
Game plan….
Our game plan was to hike to Jakes Place and basecamp there. Then hike a loop starting at Jakes Place up to Slave Falls then back down past Charit Creek Lodge and back Jakes place.
After parking at the Twin Arches lot we noted not too many people which is always a good thing. We hiked out to the arches which are incredible and that’s probably the first time I had visited them in August because like most backpackers I prefer to do my backpacking from September to May. But with Covid-19 going on I hadn’t backpacked since around January. I couldn’t take it any longer!
After visiting the Arches we made our way down the trail toward Jakes Place by heading South on the Twin Arches Loop Trail which goes straight through Jakes Place. This is a great section of trail where you hike along the base of cliffs and caves that has a lot of interest. There are some muscadines growing on some boulders at the base of one of these caverns but we were about 1-2 weeks to early to reap the fruits. I’ve never had wild muscadines so it tempted me to come back but I didn’t so I’ll try and remember this in the coming years.
It’s a pretty short hike (1.7 miles) down to Jakes Place and mostly if not all down hill so it only took us about 45 minutes and we arrived. As I figured, Jakes Place was overgrown for the most part with wild garlic and weeds. This was the first time I had been here to camp in the summer and will probably be the last because of all of the bugs and weeds. Regardless, it was still an enjoyable hike, just not as enjoyable as it would be in the mid to late fall, winter or early spring. I had camped there in all of the other seasons and in my opinion fall is the best. Winter tends to be pretty wet and damp in Jakes Place or at least it was for me when I was there.
One of the things I was thankful for on this trip was my Thermacell Backpacker Mosquito Repeller. I have two other Thermacell models but this one is the most compact and aimed primarily at backpackers. It’s very simple to use and lasts for quite a while. I brought an extra fuel canister just for this unit because I knew the bugs would be bad at Jakes Place – it sits at the confluence of about 3 creeks and is a low-lying damp area. The backpacker model weighs around 4 ounces and screws right on top of the common fuel canisters backpackers use for stoves. With its’ small size and light weight there really isn’t a reason to bring it. It uses a minute amount of fuel so it is touted to run 16 hours so it’s legit. The mats are the actual wear parts to this doohickey and they say they are effective for 4 hours and although I didn’t time it out they start looking fairly bleached after a few hours. That may or may not be a sign the mat is no longer effective but I kept it in anyway and it seemed to work. The description says it provides a 15 foot protection zone but that might be stretching it a bit. All I know is that it gave us immediate protection out to about 8-10 feet. I turned it on and off a few times and it’s pretty amazing. I had bugs literally on me but within 2 minutes of turning on this bad boy the mosquitos and small bugs were nowhere to be seen. Some of the bigger bugs don’t seem to be swayed but they didn’t cause us much of an issue anyway. Overall, I would definitely give this thing two thumbs up!
My Gear list…
Granite Gear Leopard VC 46 Backpack
MSR Thru-Hiker Mesh House 2 Shelter
ZPacks 8.5 x 10′ Ultralight Flat Tarp
Enlightened Equipment Revelation 40 Degree F Quilt
Zpacks Dyneema Poncho Groundsheet – Bathtub
MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe Stove
Thermacell Backpacker Mosquito Repeller
Okay, back to the hike….
The rest of the evening was pleasant to say the least. We collected a nice pile of wood and got a good fire going. The rain held off and let us have a nice night with a decent fire. Which was great because it wouldn’t give us that luxury the next night.
We got up the next morning, ate breakfast (with the Thermacell cranked up of course); packed up our daypacks and commenced our hike.
We hiked 1.4 miles up the Slave Falls to Charit Creek Trail to the intersection of the Slave Falls Loop trail then West on the Slave Falls Loop past Slave Falls 1.25 miles to intersect with the Fork Ridge Road and Trail intersection. We still had good weather at this point but I think we were wishing for rain because it was really humid. Either way it was great.
We did get a surprise about halfway up the Slave Falls to Charit Creek Trail when I stepped on a copperhead. For whatever reason it decided not to strike but was reared up and ready to strike my friend who was right behind me. We were both fortunate because for one the snake didn’t bite me and two, my compadre saw it in time to stop and not walk right into it’s awaiting strike. We stopped for a bit while I scanned around for more and once I composed myself I moved the snake off the trail. Even while I moved him with a stick he didn’t try to bite. For that I was grateful but it was a tense couple of hours after that.
We hiked up and around through Slave Falls, enjoying the scenery and doing a little slipping and sliding and back up to the intersection of Slave Falls Loop and Fork Ridge Road and Trail. Well, one thing I forgot was there is a double intersection at the top of the Slave Falls loop Trail. The intersection to cross to Fork Ridge Road and Trail is actually about 100 yards West and around a bend so if you’re moving fast it’s easy to make the mistake of continuing on down the Slave Falls Loop Trail. We did miss the correct intersection and hiked back down to the intersection of Slave Falls to Charit Creek Trail which was okay because we had all day. There are a few cool features on this section such as cliffside hiking and Needle Arch is a great place to stop for lunch.
Once we backtracked and made it to the intersection of the Fork Ridge Road and Trail we turned East and proceeded to hike 2.7 miles down toward the Charit Creek Horse Trail. That’s when it really started pouring down and it was great. It was cool enough to give us a break from the humidity which we were both thankful for at that point. We arrived at the intersection of Charit Creek Horse Trail and hiked .2 miles Northwest to the Sheltowee Trace intersection and we were back on a hiking trail thank goodness. I don’t mind a little gravel road walking but that’s enough for me.
This .8 mile section of Sheltowee Trace is really beautiful and just a great section to hike. I had never hiked this section but had wanted to for awhile because at the end of it you cross a small suspension bridge. Finally, I got to hike across that bridge! The other side of the bridge ends on the Twin Arches Loop Trail not too far from Charit Creek Lodge. Well, we were hoping we would get a soda or beer or something good at the lodge but they had a lot of signs up basically forbidding anyone who was not an overnight guest from entering the premises. We respected the signage and turn back around and headed the 1.1 miles back to Jakes Place.
Once back at camp we settled in for dinner and relaxation. Wait, what more rain and more humidity?! I thought for sure the rainstorm would take the humidity away but it was worse and kept us from building a fire on that night.
Final Day…..
We got up, ate and packed up camp. A quick 1.7 miles back up to the parking lot and we were on our merry way.
Final Take…..
The question is would I do this hike again in the non-cool weather? Probably not if it was above a daytime temperature of 80 degrees Farenheit because it’s just too humid and buggy with those kinds of temps. Not to mention that at the hotter temps you do have a higher chance of stepping on copperheads!
Cincinnati
Recent Comments