Brown Count State Park |
Where: Brown County State Park, Indiana The Trail 9 Extension begins alongside of Trail 7, starting from the Ogle Lake parking area. This is often a busy area even during weekdays. On weekends you must arrive early to get a parking space. During the fall leaf season, even arriving early is no guarantee of room to park your vehicle. After climbing the steps make a right-hand turn and proceed on the path across the dam. At the far end of the dam trails 7 and 9 split into their separate directions. Don’t hurry though; there are many sights to see on the way. Looking up the lake you will see a hill that stands out against the sky. Trail 4 ascends this hill and leads to the Rally Campground. As you cross the dam you will also notice Cattails and many wild flowers. Reaching the south end of the dam you find that Trail 7 veers off to the left. The trailhead for the Trail 9 Extension is straight ahead. As you step onto the trail you are immediately under the forest canopy and on an uphill trek as you climb the first of three ridges. The path is steep and rises for nearly .20 of a mile. Reaching the top of the ridge, you can look down on Ogle Lake and Trail 7 that hugs the shoreline. Along the top of the ridge is an old roadbed and to your right the road runs back to the northwest eventually leaving the park boundaries. Trail 9 Extension continues to climb, though not as steeply, in a southeasterly direction. After traveling along the spine of the ridge for another .10 of a mile, the trail suddenly falls off sharply to the right. An unmarked trail continues up the ridge and eventually emerges at the Buffalo Ridge Campground. Staying on the marked trail you begin a descent that is just as steep and steady as was the uphill climb. Going downhill isn’t particularly difficult even though the cross slope can be significant at times. The ruggedness of this section is better appreciated on the return trip where the climb can be very tough coming near the tail end of a five-mile hike. The understory on this section of the trail starts out fairly clear. As you near the bottom, ferns become the dominant species hugging the forest floor. Arriving in this low valley between two high ridges on a hot and humid summer day, there is the look and feel of a tropical forest. After crossing the stream the trail goes a short distance on level ground through a woodlands understory that becomes dense and often obscures the trail. The trail soon begins to climb in earnest up the second ridge. There are frequent switchbacks to ease the climb as the trail winds through some of the most remote parts of the park. The climb is long and steep without much to view except an exceptional forest. More than once passing hikers have asked if there was nothing to be seen on this trail. I guess if magnificent forest isn’t what you are looking for, this part of the trail may not interest you much. Just keep walking though, the forest will soon open up and you will be delighted by what you see. At the top of the second ridge there is a sign pointing left to Taylor Ridge and right to Ogle Lake. This is the one mile mark for the trail. To the left of the trail there is a short path, about 65 feet, connecting to Dogwood Lane, which at this point is nothing more than a forgotten forest roadbed. Making a left turn onto Dogwood Lane and walking a couple hundred yards will bring you quickly to the campground road. Continuing on the Trail 9 Extension, the trek is much easier as it is mostly level for quite a distance. About a hundred yards beyond the sign, the trail joins up with Dogwood Lane and proceeds northwest. The trail makes frequent use of the old road as it begins to descend, and when the trail isn’t using the roadbed, it travels along side of it. After traveling in or by the old road for nearly half a mile, the trail makes a sharp turn to the left and descends to the southwest into another valley. A short walk through this valley takes the hiker across two streams before leading to the third and last uphill trek. After crossing the second stream the trail rises to a sharp switchback and the final climb begins. There is one mile to go, however, this climb is not as steep as the other two. The forest opens up on the right side of the trail and there are some beautiful views of the valley to the north. About .30 of a mile into the climb the trail passes another old road that goes over the hill and into the valley below. Before reaching the top of the ridge the trail passes yet another old roadbed. This one is much more noticeable than the one just before and can be seen winding its way much further into the valley near the park boundaries. From the last forest road the trail levels out some. Before reaching the end of the trail the hiker will pass a frog pond on the right. Within a hundred yards of the pond the trail comes to an end as the hiker steps onto the Trail 9 Loop. At this end of the Trail 9 Extension there is a bench, providing a welcome place to rest. After resting for a spell the hiker has three choices. Turning to the right the trail goes steeply into a valley, travels along a stream for about a mile and then rises steeply again. The hiker would then need to turn either right to the campgrounds or left back to the Trail 9 Extension. The hiker could forgo the first choice and return to Ogle Lake back over the Extension for a 5.4 mile round trip. The third choice would be to take a slightly longer hike of 7 miles by turning left to the campgrounds, walk the campground road to the camp store and return to Ogle Lake by either trails 4 and 7, or by way of trails 5, 4 and 7. There are actually other choices for an extended hike, but those will be discussed at a later time in a different journal. Until then, it is time to lace up the boots for the trail beckons. |
