Black River State Forest - Wandering

GPS Track File 08/08/2013

     A few days after a hike along a pair of sandy roads in the forest I went back for more.  I signed off from work at 4:15, grabbed my pack and boots, some water, and drove north to the Black River State Forest yet again.

     I had no real plan for a hike, except to get into the woods and see where I went.  That would be within some reason, though.  Arriving at the Wildcat trail parking lot at about 4:49 I had a little less than 3 hours of daylight to poke around the woods.  On the drive up I thought about an access road that cut through the trails.  That might be a good path to follow.  The path is gated from vehicle access and must go somewhere into the woods.

This plant is all over on Shale Rd and Kling Rd and smells great!

     I picked the Red Oak trail this time and hiked in.  I did not make it very far, maybe 200m, before I saw a two track heading off to the north.  I picked that up and paralleled North Settlement Road for a short bit.  After a 1/4 mile the track ended at an old, not recently used logging road.  I followed that back to road.  The road took me north for another 1/4 mile before a two track went into the woods to the west.  I followed that a very short distance where it ended in an overgrown clearing.  In the middle of the clearing was a rock-encircled fire pit.  The fire pit looked to have seen use since Winter, but the state of vegetation gave that time as probably earlier in the summer, if not Spring.  Turkey hunters?  There were two other tracks from the clearing.  One of them I surmised went back to the road.  I followed the other that went west, but after about 200yds the trail turned into nothing, but trees and bushes.  I went back and took that third track which did head back to the road.

     From there I took the road up to the intersection with Shale Rd and turned to head west on Shale Rd.  There were a couple of very overgrown tracks that did not look to go very far.  One of them I could see from the road went in about 100ft and ended in bush.  I kept along Shale Rd for a 1/4 mile (ok 0.23 miles) until I hit a more prominent track at the edge of a pine plantation.  I took this north to see where it would go.
     The track cuts through a pine plantation for a 1/3 of a mile.  I stepped off the track once to see if there was a view of a marsh area.  I heard a heron just on the other side of the pines and could see there was a marshy area.  I could only get about 100ft out before I hit swamp.  No heron.
     The track was well worn, seeing rather frequent use during the summer.  After a 1/3 of a mile, though, a medium size tree was across the track and immediately the track went from well worn to something not traveled in years.  The grass and weeds went from none to 4ft high.  I began bush-wacking.  The trail was now an old two-track, but at times it was difficult to even discern that this was a trail except for the distance between the tree.  There were many wet spots along the way and the grasses and plants growing on the trail soaked my boots and tore at my legs as  I trudged along.  I brought out the head net as the mosquitoes now made their presence well known.  Another 1/3 mile of pushing through the growth and navigating an increasingly broken and swampy trail, the path ends at the edge of a large swamp forming Tanner flowage.
     The blue sky, the wildflowers in the swamp, the blue jays screeching in the trees and that same nearby, but hidden, heron, made that wet and rugged jaunt more than worth the effort.

Swamp of Tanner Flowage

Swamp of Tanner Flowage

     I stood for as long as the flies and mosquitoes would let me, and knowing I was pushing daylight, I turned back.   Once clear of the brush I took a quick 5 minute break to stretch and get some water in me.  Then I followed yet another track west along the northern edge of the pine plantation.  Shortly after the pine plantation this path fell apart into brush.  On Google Earth it appears that this path might continue a little west before turning south to meet Shale Rd, but in reality there is nothing navigable after 200m.
     I followed the same path back to Shale Rd and turned west.  A good part of the forest on this section of road was harvested just last year.  A short ridge is visible and I took a side trip to the top of this to get a view.  I had a notion of following this ridge west to the paved part of Shale Rd, but quickly gave that idea up.  The top of the ridge is littered with stumps, branches, holes, and left over branches.  Traveling through this terrain is challenging to say the least and there is no straight path.  I went back to Shale Rd. 

Top of the cleared ridge looking south

     The rest of the trip was somewhat uneventful.  I took a 10 minute break at the same berm at the same intersection of Shale and Kling before heading back to the Red Oak trail and the car.  I made the car by 7:41, just shy of three hours and still with some daylight remaining for the drive back home.