The HHC would like to hear from anyone who has recently hiked the Adena Trace. We were wondering the state of the trail, e.g., are there a lot of blow-downs? Is it difficult or easy to follow the trail? Did you have a nice hike? We’d love to hear from anyone who has hiked it this year!
I would love to hike this trail but they do not allow camping on the West side of the lake. I wish there was a way to get it to be actual “Backcountry”.
The folks on the phone at Brookeville Lake were super helpful and friendly. They provided me with a lot of information about the loop.
Hiked the west side of the lake in March. The trail was hard to follow at times, but overall not bad. Just a few big blow downs. I walk this trail 3 to 4 times a year.
I haven’t been on the trails for awhile because the last time I was many were overgrown and hard to follow. Because of being overgrown you can easily lose the trail. I understand from others that have been out there recently that it is still in the same condition. There’s a lot of maintenance that needs to be done and additional markings might be a good idea although the trails would be easier to follow once they are groomed.
This would be a great venue to hold a HHC trail event like your other events. There would be plenty of parking if you started the race by the dam and it’s right there by Brookville which has places to eat afterwards. With the loop being 24 miles you might be able to work in a few of the optional trails to make the loop a full marathon or 25 miles at least so two loops gives you a 50 miler. There’s probably a way to work out a shorter half marathon course option too.
These trails are in a nice area and are very scenic which would make for a great event unfortunately with the condition that they are in now it is an under utilized trail system that has tremendous potential. I know that some of us would be glad to help if you had cleanup days and if you publicized it in the Brookville area I think you would get some local people to turn out as well. I believe people would use the trails more if they were cleared out some. I know it takes time and money and other people to help keep these trails maintained and hopefully all of these can come together because it has all of the potential to be a great trail system and host a really nice event for the trail running and hiking community. Good luck and looking forward to progress being made.
Did an out-and-back hike on Wolf Creek north half (causeway to Midway and back) on August 10th. I had tried that hike in early June, but lost the trail ~3.5 miles in. This time, there appeared to be some newer rectangle blazing (not diamonds like most of the rest of the trail?) in the area where I had lost the trail last time, and I also brought along the GPS and a map from EveryTrail, so I was easily able to find my way. Most of the trail was enjoyable. Some blowdowns, but most were “step overs” or “stoop unders” that made the trail more interesting. There is a “crawl under” blazed blowdown very near the causeway that should be taken care of. It was also there in early June. There are also some areas of the trail — particularly near the stream crossings — that are overgrown and at risk of being renamed the “Leaves of 3 Leave It Be Trail”. The trail needs more traffic and a little more love in those areas.