Buckeye Trail/Caney Creek Trail trip report

Well guys I finally was able to get out. Yesterday Janet drove me to the Buckeye trail head. I headed out (solo) at 9:00 AM. I decided to not do any trail maintance the main reason was that when I weighed my headge shears they weighed 4 1/4 lbs.
Since I would be carrying them for quite a good ways that was just to much to carry. Any way as I found out if I had brought them I wouldn't have gone very far! With in a short walk there is a tree down that I would have been lopping on for at least a hour.
The Buckeye trail is nothing short of fantastic! Great views over the mountain's and the aroma from the wild peach or pear (will know when I down load the pics for Janet to view) was unbelivable! I took my time, took lots of pics. At one point I lost the trail. After scampering all over the ridge I found it and all was well. When I got to the rock cairn I went to Katy Falls which was really rolling!

Upon reaching the junction of the Caney Creek trail I headed west. My goal was to check out what the contract crew that had been hired by the FS had done. The first thing I found that was possitive was a large hickory that I , ar.hiker, and my son Bryan had cut during the winter. We had made just one cut and decided the rest would wait for another day. Well we won't have to wait for that day now.
I proceded to the Caney Creek Crossing (#10 coming from the W.) This was the first of many WET crossings. Between #10 and #9 I found at least 4 trees down that hadn't been cut. Seems that they just cut detours around some of them. I then began to find AXE BLAZES! That crew had to have done this, we can't paint blazes but they can chop blazes on trees? What gives here?? Any way I made it to the crossing #6 and decided that that was far enough, this was at 5 PM. I doubled back a short ways to a nice camp site.

The next morning I headed out. Along the way I took lots of pics of Caney Creek. Every time I heard a roaring I would check it out and I was rewarded with either falls or cascades. Also lots of wild flowers and dogwoods blooming. I went back up to Katy falls and met a husband and wife from Ardmore OK. The first afternoon I had met four backpackers form TX. One of which I had met on line and on the trail back in Nov.

Along the way I picked up close to 3/4 lb. in trash. First from my campsite and I also carried out a busted fiberglass tent pole some one decided to leave behind. Met some folks from Dallas on the way out and saw atleast three different campsites with tents.

In closing if you have ever thought of going into this are now is the time. Lots of wildflowers are blooming or close to blooming esp. the wild iris. Colors of the wild flowers ranged from red, purple, violet, blue and the wild iris was multi color. In this area I really bielve that one should go slow and take in the sites for there is so much to see!

EDIT: If forgot to mention that the group of hikers from TX. I met at the 6th creek crossing had told me that the 1st creek crossing (were we had cut out 10 trees and rerouted the trail on 2/7) was now completly clear. There had been still a lot of very big trees down there. They told me it was as clear as a freeway!

Pics will be posted Sunday.

OH

Sounds great OH,

I just got back from doing part of the Butterfield with my neighbor and his friends, and it was wet!!! I am glad that you had a great time.

Dwight,

It was plenty wet on the Buckeye and the Caney Trails! Water was everywhere! But if you are prepaired fo it you can have a great time! I saw sights in the wilderness that I have never seen before. Lots of casscades, falls and such. The wife and plan on going back in next weekend and doing some trail work and enjoy the sights!

OH

I am jealouse! (Did I spell that right?)

No but I can't spell either! I had a great time but I wore my butt out! i had more cramps thur. night/ fri. morning! I think that a lot of it was dehidration even though I drank as much water as I could. Great time! And by the way your tree is still there!

OH

Was it as big as I remembered?

You should eat a couple of bannanas before you leave for a trip like that because they don't pack well. Should help the cramps. I assume that you are talking about leg cramps and not the minstrel kind. JUST KIDDING TOM!!

Ed,

I had cramps in my calfs, thigh and even my hands!

OH

OH.. sounds minstrel to me.. hahaha JK

NO, call it fat, out of shape old man! But my legs was bleading from the briars!

Oh

Briars, who maintains that trail anyway?

Keep in mind were I went no one has done any brush work in a long time, that will change soon! I am tired of cutting trees! Although I plan on cutting up that one tree near the Buckeye trail head. I don't think that will take to long.

And by the way it will take a long time to cover all of the miles of trails!

Tom

Need a weed wacker... "Not the weed wacker Vern" hahaha

Tom, I bet it was difficult to leave the shears behind.

Tie a weed wacker to each foot... wack the briars as you walk... sounds like a plan of attack to me OH

TM,

It is a wilderness area, no motorized tools. Seriously I am looking for something that is lighter to carry. Not much of a worry if you are only going in to for a day. Most of these places is to far to walk in, work and walk out. Even if you are a real fast walker you can't get much done like that. Come on down and I will show you!

OH

Ed,

It was REALLY hard to leave them behind! I wanted to have fun and also get some work done also. Now I did move some big limbs that the contract crew had cut but was on the trail. I pulled them way of the trail.

OH

I have gotten to the point where I eat bananas before I go out, and I take vitamins everyday that I am out. I also really tank up on water. I drink at least 1 liter before I leave camp, sometimes 2 liters. I then drink another liter everytime I find a water source and then fill up again. When I did my BRT trip, I found I was drinking 6-8 Liters of water a day. Another thing I do, is fuel myself with carbs and fats during the day, but before I go to bed, I eat a protien bar (30+ grams) to help repair my muscles at night while I sleep.

p.s. Jumping rope throughout the week also helps those calf muscles