I'm a conscientious objector to most things social media, but I have really enjoyed how Instagram connects lovers of the outdoors in a sort of virtual hiking club. Today I had just one of those experiences and it has inspired me to reflect today on something very familiar, yet underappreciated by most users of our treasured national parks & forests. 

​For many years, a ripped out page from a 2011 Backpacker Magazine has sat on the side of my husband’s desk. On it was the feature of one of Indiana’s most well-known trail sections- the Two Lakes Loop of Indian and Celina Lakes in the Hoosier National Forest near Tell City. This was our first backpacking trip as a part of our Dozen Dozen and has always been among my favorite trails systems for the fact that it offers up all of Indiana’s finest features: deep forest, up and down hilly challenges, lakeside campsites, and ample water supply. You just can’t go wrong with a hike or paddle of the Two Lakes. However, on this scrap of paper, the journalist described a lesser known spot in the system: Jason Falls. The only real direction it gave was to bushwhack 1 mile due west of Indian Lake and you’d be treated to a hidden waterfall of about an 8-10 foot drop. Every time we have taken off for a weekend of backpacking we have such grandiose plans that a side trip to explore for Jason Falls has just not fit in. Well this week we made it our goal to invest some time getting to know Indian Lake a little more in depth, and off we went in search of the “backpackers’ paradise.”

LaRue Pine Hills is a great area to look for spring wildflowers...if you don't mind the Cottonmouths!!!
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The Snake Road in LaRue Pine Hills Nature Reserve is located in the Shawnee National Forest and is an approximately 2.5 mile section of road that is closed during the spring and fall for the migration of numerous snake species as they make their way from their winter shelter in the high cliffs down to the swampy wetlands to the west. Snakes must traverse the gravel road, which makes for unprecedented sightings and up close encounters for brave souls willing to face their fears and take on the hike. It has taken on a cult following of herp fanatics from far and wide, and on a warm 70 degree spring day, we decided to face our fears and see what we'd find...

Despite the covid pandemic, 2020 was a pretty epic year for the Hoosier Hikers. In no particular order, here are a few of our favorite memories of 2020. 
Drum roll please...
1. Opening my email on a random January day to find out I received the Lilly grant, then absolutely losing my shit in excitement. 
2. Our first covid hike to Hemlock Cliffs during the early week of March right before we got sent home to quarantine. We knew something was brewing, we just didn't know what we were in for. 
3. Watching the salmon jump the falls at Russian River, then having the grizzly bear charge the bank and splash in to try to catch a quick dinner. 
4. Watching my son comfort our 15 year old dog on our way to put her down, then breaking the tension when my husband kept taking wrong turns on "accident."
​5. ​Sitting on Rainbow Peak in Anchorage after arriving in Alaska, a dream realized. 

I think we've all been thinking a lot lately. Sometimes, I think we may be thinking too much. But as we went for our last hurrah of summer on a day hike this week before the return to school and the grind of a fast paced life, I was already in a particularly reflective state of mind....

The drive down the Seward Highway through the Kenai Peninsula is known as the prettiest drive in Alaska. The beginning of the drive takes you along the Turnagain Arm which is flanked by a fast moving tidal system on one side and steep mountain peaks on the other.... 

Happy 18th anniversary to my husband, who in the midst of "peak fever" convinced me to climb Falls Mountain.... the very, tippy top...

Read more about this epic (mis)adventure below!
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