Shores Lake Loop Trip Journal

A friend of mine and I just got back today from hiking the Shores Lake Loop and I wanted to give you guys a quick heads-up on the trail conditions.
It looks like Gustav and Ike really pounded that area of the state. The west and east legs of the loop are not that bad, although there are several areas that have grown up to above shoulder height in a few places (I'm 6'). The really rough part of the trail is where the loop trail joins the OHT. Those three-plus miles of the OHT are extremely bad. There are huge blow-downs covering the trail (too numerous to count) and this makes finding the trail extremely difficult in places. It was necessary on many occasions to either climb over, under, or through the maze of tree limbs to get through to the other side.
To give you an example: It took us 3 hours to cover the first 6 miles of the western leg of the loop and over an hour to cover the last mile to White Rock Mountain. The same was true this morning when leaving White Rock Mtn. It took us over an hour to go the first mile on the OHT and this leg seemed to be even worse than the western part of OHT that we hiked in on yesterday.
There is going to be a great need for volunteer help to restore the OHT in this area. The OHT did seem to get a little better as we headed east of the 20-mile marker, but I'm guessing, at best.
I know that some of you have talked about doing the SLL in October and I do not want to discourage you from doing so, but I did want you to know what to expect, so that you can make an informed decision.
UL

Thanks for the info, UL. I was almost to the point of changing to the Butterfield trail anyway, so this is pretty much the clincher. I appreciate the heads up!

Thanks for the info UL!