ABOUT THE PARK:
Morgan Monroe State Forest - Indiana Department of Natural Resources
Morgan Monroe State Forest - Hoosier Hikers Council
DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 39.322040, -86.425210
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| Parking at the Cherry Lake Picnic Pavilion. |
TRAIL MAP:
Morgan-Monroe State Forest Hiking Trail Map - Indiana Department of Natural Resources (This map is pretty useless and it's even harder to read printed out.)
Three Lakes Trail Map - from the Hoosier Hikers Council site - a very nice map of the trail
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HIKE DISTANCE: 10.5 miles
THE HIKE:
Breaking up the drive to St. Louis, MO with some hikes along the way. Hike #2:
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| We picked up the trail right from the parking lot going in a counter clockwise direction which apparently is backwards but in retrospect I think it puts the more rugged part in the beginning of the hike. |
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| The entire hike is a series of ridges and gorges with switchbacks up and down and flat stretches in between. |
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| The entire trail is blazed with white diamonds, |
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| No leaves on the trees yet, spring is late this year, but wildflowers everywhere. |
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| Winter views when on the ridges. |
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| A section where there was some logging. There aren't any blazes which made me wonder if I lost the trail but they did pick back up again. |
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| Blazes pick back up on the left at the end of the logging section. |
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| There are lots of creek crossing on this hike but they were all easy enough to get over. |
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| The Hoosier Hikers Council does a great job of trail maintenance on this trail. Thanks! We tried to help by picking up litter. By the end of the hike Brodie smelled like a brewery from all the beer cans in his backpack :( |
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| Coming up on Bryant Creek Lake. |
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| Sunning Turtle |
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| Swimming Turtle |
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| Our break spot. |
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| Beaver carpentry in progress near our break spot. The only thing keeping that tree on the left standing was another tree the top got hung up in. I can imaging that beaver cursing up a storm. |
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| Resting. We aren't even half way through the hike yet at about 4.5 miles. |
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| Continuing on around the lake. |
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| Crossing the dam. |
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| Bryant Creek Lake |
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| Some long, flat ridges along here. |
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| Taking a break overlooking the gorge. |
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| Those little power naps charge him back up to continue on which he always does as soon as I get up. |
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| Well, after I get up and put my backpack back on. |
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| The parking lot comes into view on the left but we aren't quite done yet. |
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| Coming out at ... |
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| ... the beginning of the trail as seen when I turned around. |
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| It's actually only two lakes now since the third no longer exists. |
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| On to Cherry Lake. |
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| Back into the woods for a short distance ... |
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| ... to the picnic pavilion with our parking lot on the other side of the building. |
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| Brodie's litter haul for the day. |
