All my posts about Hercules Glades Wilderness presented in chronological order. Click here to see the pictures of Hercules Glades Wilderness without all the text.
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Camped at the top of the bluffs
Camped at the top of the bluffs – The only problem with camping here is that there is no water. Unless you count Beaver Creek 200ft (vertically) away. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. The only problem with camping here is that there is no water. Unless you count Beaver Creek, 200ft (vertically) away.
If you look carefully at the tarp you can see my new lights strung along beneath it.
Camped at the top of the bluffs – The only problem with camping here is that there is no water. Unless you count Beaver Creek 200ft (vertically) away. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
In the woods
In the woods. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. It is a nothing picture. You need to be there, listening to the birds, hearing and feeling the breeze, smelling the woodsy smells, and enjoying the warm sunshine on your skin.
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Ready to go
Getting ready to go – one last look out from the bluffs before heading back to the trailhead, six miles away. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. I was planning on a nice leisurely lunch break down at ‘Twin Falls Creek’ near where I’d camped on Friday night, so I wanted to be on the trail before midday. If I made the same time as I did getting here, I’d be stopping for lunch around two pm.
As it happened I was ready to be on my way by 11:30. I made a short diversion for a final look out over the bluffs before getting out the compass and bushwhacking due east to the trail. I was going to be a bit more observant this time and try not to cross the trail without seeing it!
Getting ready to go – one last look out from the bluffs before heading back to the trailhead, six miles away. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. 
View from the top of the bluffs. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
You’d think…
You’d think… Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. You’d think… that the trail went left here. Nope. It disappears into the bushes on the right (this picture is looking west), I’d just emerged from said bushes.
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The brush is growing and views are limited
The brush is growing and views are limited – ten years ago when we first hiked this trail the views were a lot better. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Ten years ago, when we first hiked this trail, the views were a lot better.
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Lunch stop
Gotta love this chair – yup I’m have another chairgasm. What a great spot to stop and have lunch. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Once again I made reasonable time on the trail (for me), arriving at my selected lunch spot shortly before two pm. There’s a nice set of low falls here, and from the top of them it looked like the pool would be large enough to bathe in. It wasn’t really, but it was nice and refreshing, and worth the tortuous route I had to take to get down to the pool. But I jump ahead of myself. Before I tried out the pool I heated up some water for my noodles and filtered a load to drink. I’d run out of water not long after leaving the bluffs, so I was ready for a drink.
All in all I spent around an hour lounging around and soaking up the views of the creek.
Gotta love this chair – yup I’m have another chairgasm. What a great spot to stop and have lunch. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. 
Small falls on ‘Twin Falls’ creek. According to the GPS these are only 260 yards from the trail. Seems a lot more while you are bushwhacking. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Small falls on ‘Twin Falls’ creek. According to the GPS these are only 260 yards from the trail. Seems a lot more while you are bushwhacking. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Looking down ‘Twin Falls’ Creek. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Small falls on ‘Twin Falls Creek’
Small falls on ‘Twin Falls Creek’ – According to the GPS these are only 260 yards from the trail. It seems a lot more when you are bushwhacking. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. According to the GPS these are only 260 yards from the trail. It seems like a lot further when you bushwhack your way here. The pool looked very inviting and I did try it out, but it wasn’t as big or deep as it looked. I should have stopped at the Twin Falls if I wanted a good bath, but the sides of the hollow there are so steep so it gets little sun. I think it was a lot prettier (and quieter) here.
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Journal: Two nights at Hercules Glades Wilderness, May 2020
Getting ready to go – one last look out from the bluffs before heading back to the trailhead, six miles away. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. A two-night break at Hercules Glades Wilderness with a visit to ‘Twin Falls’ hollow and the bluffs.
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About to head down the Pees Hollow Trail
About to head down the Pees Hollow Trail (Counter-Clockwise) – Day One, Hercules Glades, Pees Hollow Trail. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Another weekend, another quick backpacking trip. I couldn’t get away Friday night because I had a meeting Saturday morning. So here I am One O’clock Saturday afternoon, and I’m just about to set off down the trail you can see behind me. What appeared to be a church youth group had just come up the Pilot (Tower) Trail, talking loudly about their inability to find the falls having hiked three miles out and back. I pointed out the Long Creek Trail trailhead across the parking lot, which leads directly to the falls. Someone else in their party said they should have started at the Coy Bald trailhead. I told them it is currently inaccessible. The lake is so high the ford is under 10-20 feet of water. I know this because Katie was there earlier in the week, and sent us a picture. The good news was that they were the only people I saw during my two-day stay, and they were quickly on their way.
It’s surprising, though it really shouldn’t be, how much everything has ‘grown in’ since my last visit a few weeks ago. It’s all very green. My plan for this hike was simple. Go around the Pees Hollow Trail counter-clockwise, exploring off-trail, and stopping near the wilderness’s northern Brushy Creek border. Then back to the trailhead Sunday, by completing the loop. According to the forecast I could expect rain at around five and eleven p.m. today and again in the morning Sunday. That’s okay. I’ve got a new hat to try out in the rain.
Pees Hollow Trail (Counter-Clockwise) looking very different in the summer – Day One, Hercules Glades, Pees Hollow Trail. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Hog Trap and going off trail
Hog Trap – Day One, Hercules Glades, Pees Hollow Trail. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Not that the fact that my hike didn’t go to plan had anything to do with this hog trap I found. I noticed a fairly well-worn spur trail and decided to check it out. It appears it must have been a feral hog trail, as this contraption was set up across it. I presume it’s sitting here so the hogs can get used to it before they bait it. I couldn’t see any obvious trigger mechanism, and I didn’t want to hang around in case my scent put the hogs off of using the trail. Hogs do a lot of damage, and anything that can be done to get rid of them is fine in my book. It used to be that you were free to shoot them on sight. Now they prefer that you report sightings so they can set traps to catch and kill an entire herd.
Back to my hike. About 90 minutes in I got to the trail junction where Ginger and Katie took a wrong turn a few years ago. My plan was to take the wrong turn and see where it headed. I wanted to get down to the edge of the wilderness. To do that, I needed to ignore the arrow which someone thoughtfully added to the trail blaze to make the trail obvious (that would be me — vandal that I am), and go right.
At the trail junction – Official trail to the left and unexplored territory to the right – Day One, Hercules Glades, Pees Hollow Trail. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
