Backpacking Trip to Cave Run Lake

This summer, we set off to go on a 2 day, 14 mile backpacking trip near Cave Run Lake, Kentucky. What we got was a 2 day, 20 mile hike!  Exciting!!    

Here we are at the start of the hike

 

We brought along maps and our trail book and at each intersection, we referred to the book and all agreed on a chosen path.  That night, we set up camp near the lake and settled down to make some dinner (backpacker meals.)  Brian said his fit bit must be off because it said we hiked nearly 13 miles.  We all had a good chuckle because the book clearly said we went about 8 miles.  So silly.  But also odd because we hike about 2 miles an hour and had hiked over 6 hours.  Hmmm....we were too tired to care and all went to bed.  

This was home for the night with the lake below

We pumped our water and ate our dinners right on the lake.  It was so pretty!

The next day, the trail was pretty beat up.  It was clearly a horse trail.  But we weren't supposed to be on a horse trail.  At one point Brian walked into a huge spider web that covered the trail and had the biggest, nastiest, spider on his shirt I've ever seen.  The kids just looked at him horrified.  I started beating him with my hiking stick until the spider was gone.  So, so gross.  After that whoever hiked first waved a stick in front to get rid of any webs.

After hoofing it up a steep hill, I immediately knew we had been to this point yesterday....only according to our book we were never supposed to be in the same place twice - we were doing a loop. Brian and the kids were not convinced this was the same place as yesterday, so I made some breakfast backpacker meals while they consulted the maps, the book, and even google maps to verify that indeed, we had been there yesterday.  Oopsie.  This is when we also figured out that we were not on the trail we thought we were.  We also figured out that the fitbit was indeed correct - we had hiked 12.5 miles yesterday and had another 6 or so from where we were to get back to our car!  Joy!  

The good news was that we now knew exactly where we were and we knew how to get back to our car.  We also had enough water and supplies, and we actually liked this part of the hike that follows a pretty ridge line and was fairly flat.  

We had to hike 2 miles on the road back to our car due to our mistake.  It was a hot, sweaty ending to the hike.

Look how happy we are!  We made it back to the car!

So, we made it back to our car, so so sweaty and dirty and super stinky.  So, naturally we went to Wendy's and dined in (I don't think there was a dry spot on any of our shirts from sweat, and the lady in the bathroom tried not to look at me funny as I washed my entire arms...haha).  As if that wasn't enough...we stopped at Costco on our way home too to save us a trip across town later that day.  We are so gross, I know.  

Even though it was only 2 days, a shower never felt so good!  We were all so proud of hiking so far...especially the kids!  They did great!  It helped give me confidence for a longer hike I have planned in August.  It was time well spent in the woods together and probably the happiest I had seen Brian in months.  That boy just needs to go to the woods to recharge his batteries.  It was definitely a trip to remember!