In attendance: LiRM35, Prosecutor, Powercat, Monkeyboy +friend, hikernks, Snackcake, griffmanksu, dicentra
So I flew in to Kansas City on Friday...Snackcake and I were supposed to meet up with hikernks, griffmanksu and LiRM35, between 6 and 6:30, but they bailed on us and left at 6:15 or so...Snacky and I got there right at 6:30 with no directions to the trailhead! Thanks guys. Finding Elk Lake was easy, finding the actual trail head proved to be a bit of a challenge. The turns aren't marked very well...including one sign that had arrows (one on top of the other) pointing in two different directions! But we found the group...We met up at the East end of the trail and after quick introductions, started hiking.
The trail was incredibly well marked with blue blazes on trees and rocks. The limestone formations were pretty incredible. There are several places on the trail where you have to actually squeeze yourself through the rocks. I was amazed to find prickly pear cactus! Yeah...I'm geeky like that, so I spent a good portion of the weekend trying to identify plants. The Osage oranges were especially cool. Big green balls laying in the brown oak and sycamore leaves. COOL!! I wish I had taken more photos. The trail was very rocky and covered in leaves, which gave a satisfying crunch under our boots. As we hiked along, the group spread out, with Snacky, hikernks and griffmanksu taking the lead. Apparently Prosecutor and I have similar hiking paces, so I spent part of the morning chatting with him.
We took a break at a nice view point above the lake, letting the group regroup, hikernks smoke (sheesh!)and Monkeyboy and his friend, Brian (right?) caught up with us, just slightly out of breath. This was about where we started seeing the machette boys as well. This is where we started to play leap frog with them all the way to camp...
At another break spot that day, after having some munchies and some water, letting everyone catch up, checking out each other's gear and a bit of bouldering on the limestone rocks, griffmanksu left his water bottle behind. Prosecutor and I conspired to mess with him about it and almost had him hike back the 1/4 mile to retreive it. He'll learn.
Powercat had parked his car at the halfway point, at about 7 1/2 miles, (also the designated camp spot) so that we could do a shuttle and hike the entire trail. The machette boys had reached that area and asked hikernks if he minded if they camped near us...Being the sacrifical lamb that he apparently is...he said it would be okay. Hikernks and griffmanksu then proceeded to make their camp close to the machette boys'.
After setting up camp, the boys decided that since we had access to a car and no one brought treats to share (except for apparently Monkeyboy who was bogarting marshmallows! and for the record...I don't remember you saying anything about them either!) the boys decided to make a beer run. So after they returned, it was time for cooking lessons from Prosecutor and story time from Powercat (and everyone else). Powercat is the midwest's version of our PNWH's Sarbar for story telling...but I think she's louder. Damn he was funny!! His stories about work and his 2 girls and endless Monty Python references. Hikernks had beer coming out his nose on what, 3 occasions? Especially the one about the wedding proposal acceptance. As we finished up with dinner, it started to snow! Brrrr... And after trying some of Prosecutor's warm cobbler, and more story telling (lordy...how did I end up being the only girl on this trip?! ) we all headed off to bed.
The next morning most of us got up between 6 and 7am. We did a quick comparison on how our nights went...hikernks didn't do so good. Beer and Hot Damn doesn't mix too well. Sounded like he had a bit of a rough night. Monkeyboy and his friend had to be found and woken up(they had pitched their tent pretty far away from the main campsite) because we wanted to be hitting the trail. Powercat had other obligations, so after more jokes and stories, he headed on his way and the rest of us hit the trail. Snacky was pretty sleepy...I think my snoring must have kept him awake all night or something.
Day 2 was more of the same incredible limestone formations, rocky trail, crunching leaves and great conversations. We got to a midpoint in the trail, where there was an intermediate trailhead...to find Monkeyboy's car. Whoops! He'd parked his car at the wrong trailhead! So the guys started to shuttle the car to the right trailhead when I noticed that he had a flat tire. And a low tire on the other side. I sat and watched while 7 guys changed a tire (*rolling eyes*). Afterwards, someone said that I shoulda done it, just to prove that I could. Monkeyboy and griffmanksu went to town and got the tire fixed and shuttled the cars around the the correct trailhead.
In the meantime, I layed down on a rock to enjoy the sun and actually got a bit of a sunburn on my face. Snackcake promptly fell asleep nearby. Prosecutor, Brian, hikernks and LiRM35 sat down to have a foursome and LiRM35 invited me to watch...
When griffmanksu and monkeyboy returned, tires fixed, we got ready to hit the trail again. Monkeyboy ditched his full pack (wussie!) in his car and opted for a fanny pack for the rest of the hike. AND he tried to bribe me.
There was one area of the western end of the trail that was pretty trashed. It looked like an old meth lab or something. Complete with an old stove and lots of other garbage. But the walk through the oaks by the river and the overhanging limestone rocks, dripping with sulfur laden water was beautiful.
When we reached the western trailhead, snacky, prosecutor, monkeyboy, LiRM35 and griffmanksu left to go shuttle cars. LiRM35 had promised to buy us pizza in town. So we headed to Pizza Hut...for more story telling and a demand that next time I come to KS I'm to bring single female friends. We were all pretty tired, so it was a pretty quiet meal. Of course, Snackcake and Hikernks still wanted to go for cheese fries when we got back to Topeka... LiRM35 showed up, but hikernks bailed on us, eventhough he was only parked a block away.
