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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Cooking Breakfast
Heating Water for Breakfast – Hercules Glades Wilderness – Day Three. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Using my Firebox Nano wood stove to heat water for my breakfast and morning cuppa.
Perched on the side of the hollow, it was quite a challenge to find somewhere level enough for me to be able to sit in my chair.
Camped overlooking ‘Twin Falls Creek’ – Hercules Glades Wilderness – Day Three. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Camped in ‘Twin Falls Hollow’
Camped overlooking ‘Twin Falls Creek’ – Hercules Glades Wilderness – Day Three. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. I’ve not camped in this spot for a while. Recently I’ve been bushwhacking further down the hollow where the sides are not quite so steep. But the views here are much nicer, and I like the little rock-shelf tables I can use as mini kitchen tables. One is next to my hammock and is great for my morning tea and breakfast.
Today though I opted to fire up my wood stove to heat water for breakfast. To minimize the smokey smells on my gear I used another rock shelf a little way away from my hammock.
Camped overlooking ‘Twin Falls Creek’ – Hercules Glades Wilderness – Day Three. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. 
Camped overlooking ‘Twin Falls Creek’ – Hercules Glades Wilderness – Day Three. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Camped overlooking ‘Twin Falls Creek’ – Hercules Glades Wilderness – Day Three. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Gary by the cab on the Pees Hollow Trail (October 2020)
Another selfie by the cab on ‘Cab Creek’ – Hercules Glades Wilderness – Day Three. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. It’s a 3.5 mile, two-and-a-half-ish hour hike from ‘Twin Falls Hollow’ back to the Hercules Glades Tower Trailhead. After yesterday’s hike, my weekend mileage was currently around 12 miles. Adding on the 5-plus miles of the Pees Hollow Trail to my return trip would get me to my goal of 20 backpacking miles for the month. I’d make up my mind when I got to the Pees Hollow Trail branch off of the Pilot Trail.
I was all packed up and back on the trail shortly after 11:30 a.m. Hiking back didn’t take long, and by 1:15 p.m. I was at the western junction of the Pees Hollow Trail, and about ten minutes from the trailhead. The trailhead was calling me, but I decided to go and check the water situation on the Pees Hollow Trail. I stopped a short way off the trail for lunch by ‘Cab Creek’. I had a cup of tea, some tuna, and nuts and raisins. The spring there had run dry, and the creek appeared to be dry with just a few unsavory looking pools. So no drinking water here then.
Getting to the Cab (after which I’ve named ‘Cab Creek’) I couldn’t resist the inevitable selfie.
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Isolated
Isolated – this picture didn’t turn out at all as I wanted it to. Back to the drawing board. Hercules Glades Wilderness – Day Three. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Walking along in the low area that runs alongside ‘Cab Creek’ I spotted these brilliantly colored grasses. I really like the contrast between the grasses and the trees, but both pictures ended up being a bit ‘meh.’
When I got to Brushy Creek I left the trail for a few minutes to check the spring there. And it was good news, despite the drought there was a good flow of water out of the pipe leading from the old concrete spring box. It looks like this is another reliable water source. That’s always good to know.
Lowland on the Pees Hollow Trail – Hercules Glades Wilderness – Day Three. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Another Gray Day
Another gray day – Hercules Glades Wilderness – Day Three. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Follow the trail
Follow the trail – Nearly finished, just one last climb up to the trailhead left. Hercules Glades Wilderness – Day Three. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. 
The trail is there. Somewhere. Copyright © 2018 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Nearly finished, just one last climb up to the trailhead left. I must like this spot, because I discovered I’ve taken a picture here before — in 2018.
Ozarks woodland in the fall – Hercules Glades Wilderness – Day Three. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Gary, back at the trailhead
Gary, back at the trailhead. 21 miles and 2,000 ft. of elevation. I did better than I thought. Hercules Glades Wilderness – Day Three. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Trip total, twenty-one miles and 2,000 ft. of elevation. I hiked a lot further this weekend than I expected.
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
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Empty Parking Lot
Empty Parking Lot. That probably says more about the weather than I can. Hercules Glades Wilderness – Day Three. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. The empty parking lot probably says more about the weather than I can.
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Journal: Fall backpacking at Hercules Glades Wilderness, October 2020
Gary, beanie, puffy, and hammock. Hercules Glades Wilderness – Day Two. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. It’s Friday, it’s two-thirty in the afternoon, and I’m giving myself a well-earned break out in nature. The weather is damp, cold, windy, overcast, and that is the outlook for the entire weekend.
For details of my trip
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Last Backpacking trip of 2020
Last Backpacking trip of 2020 – I’m planning on staying out three nights, finding my way to Beaver Creek to the north of the bluffs, and hiking the only trail here that I haven’t hiked yet. Hercules Glades – Day One. Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. When I added the figures of my last trip to my year’s total, I realized I was just 10 miles short of hiking 200 miles this year. A short break in the weather and a few days off work decided me on a mid-week hike at Hercules Glades, where I could push my mileage up over 200 and I had some unfinished business. I wanted to get down to Beaver Creek to the west, and I wanted to hike the only trail in the wilderness I’ve not hiked yet. The Blair
WitchRidge Trail.I planned to stay three nights, and just like my last trip, I was starting with some nice weather, and it was going to get progressively colder and cloudier, ending up with snow and rain in the forecast for the final night and the hike out. I quite fancied getting a picture of a snow-covered hammock tarp.
I’ve made a couple of minor gear adjustments.
- Gone is the hammock winter cover. I’d experimented with leaving it off on the Berryman trail, and I liked how much nicer it was to sleep in the open air. So now to try it in some colder temperatures.
- I’ve taken so many pictures at Hercules Glades I decided to leave my usual camera behind and for ‘old times sake’ take along my 13 year-old point and shoot camera.
- I’d realized that my old down jacket was actually lighter and more compressible than my fleece jumper, so I left the fleece behind and brought two down jackets.
- I also packed a pair of fleece pants that I’ve not tried out before.
- Finally I’d bought another merino base layer top in what I think is a rather fetching mustard color, which I plan to use as my winter hiking shirt. We’ll see how that goes.
My plan:
- Day One. Hike the six miles down to the bluffs on the western side of the wilderness, and try and get to Beaver creek to the north of them. I’d spotted a hollow on the map that looked like it would make getting down to the creek possible.
- Day two. Hike to Long Creek, another six miles, and camp near the creek (and water), ready to hike the Blair Ridge Trail on Day Three.
- Day Three. Hike the Blair Ridge trail out to the Blair Ridge Trailhead and back again. Camp near Long Creek. That should be another six miles.
- Day Four. Hike out, around three miles.
Total around 21 miles.
