Paddy Creek Wilderness, February 2025

I’m back at Paddy Creek Wilderness, hiking the Big Piney Trail. When I got to the North/South Loop junction, this is what I found. It appears that what is probably the most popular route, along the North Loop to the falls (straight ahead) and back, does not have a signpost. Maybe someone has run off with it? Anyway, I am taking the South Loop — to the right.

The Trail signs were not the only confusing thing about this trip. I was supposed to be on a four-day hike counterclockwise of the Berryman Trail. Monday night, I was all packed and ready to head off the next day when AFIB struck. I decided to rest up for a couple of days and do a shorter, three-day hike somewhere a little less ‘remote’ 🙂

The Big Piney Trail at Paddy Creek fit the bill. The weather forecast was warm, with potentially one cold night and one cool day.

The Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness

To get a few extra miles, I decided to repeat my March 2024 trip, which involved a figure-of-eight route, stretching the seventeen-plus-mile Big Piney Trail to twenty-two miles.

This route has me overnighting at my two favorite spots in Paddy Creek Wilderness: ‘Spring Hollow‘ and ‘Paddy Creek Trolltunga.’

The Big Piney Trail has two main segments, the North and South Loops. There are two trailheads. Roby Lake Trailhead at the southernmost end of the trail, and the Pig Piney Trailhead at the north end. The loops include a trail segment north of Paddy Creek Road (County Rd. 2650) that is outside the wilderness, but within the bounds of Mark Twain National Forest. There is also a two mile ‘short cut’ which joins the North and South Loops around five to five-and-a-half miles from the Roby Lake Trailhead.

I like the Big Piney Trail. The trail is easy to follow, the scenery is varied, and the hollows are deep and steep, providing good climbs and descents that make you work for your trail snacks, lunches, and dinners. There are two (and more) good scenic overlooks. The lower section of Little Paddy Creek, and Big Paddy Creek provide reliable water sources.

There’s plenty of history here, too. I’ve seen evidence of five homesteads along the trail. The shortcut and a section of the North Loop run along an old military road, which can be clearly seen (I wish I’d noted the source of that information).

However, the shortcut and portions of the North Loop trails also have some challenging, large, rough, loose rock surfaces. Many of the trail’s creek crossings will be impassable at times of high water. Finally, the trail becomes overgrown in the summer when the ticks and bugs are ferocious. Which altogether is about the worst I can say.

Weather

It looks to be nice and warm until early Saturday morning, followed by a cool hike out.

The above image is courtesy of my subscription to windy.com (Check out the free version, it is the best weather site I’ve found. If you are a weather nerd, subscribe! I’m not an affiliate; I just want to see them remain in business).

Gear

Though it’ll be warm on a couple of the three days I’ll be out, the cool nights and early mornings prompted me to pack a complete base layer, fleece pants, my down hooded jacket, and my rain jacket for a wind break. I also have some new running shorts with zip-up pockets. I’ll be giving them a try out on the warmer days to see if they are practical on the trail. Just in case the forecast is wrong, and to make sure I have nice cozy warm nights, I’m taking my 10°F under quilt paired with my 40°F top quilt.

Apart from the shorts, the only other piece of new gear is a 500ml water bottle to keep my water + electrolytes separate. It fits in my pack’s side pocket along with my one-liter Platypus pouch of plain water.

My original pack weighed 35 lbs. It contained four days’ food and three and a half liters of water. For my revised trip, I had three days’ food and only one and a half liters of water, and the pack weight dropped to 26 lbs.

The Plan

• Day One. Start at the Roby Lake Trailhead. Take the South Loop up until the Shortcut to the North Loop. Take the Shortcut, and then the North Loop and camp in ‘Spring Hollow.’
• Day Two. Head north on the North Loop and carry on south on the South Loop, stopping at Little Paddy Creek to fill up with enough water for the night before climbing up onto the ridge and carrying on until I get to ‘Paddy Creek Trolltunga’ and camp there.
• Day Three. The Shortcut is ten minutes or so from my campsite. Take the Shortcut, top up with water at the Little Paddy Creek Crossing, and then carry on, going south on the North Loop back to the Roby Lake Trailhead.

When I checked the trail mileages, I realized that I had AFIB when I last hiked this route. I have learned from not taking enough meds on the Berryman Trail and packed plenty this time. Even so, Monday/Tuesday’s AFIB left me hesitant but determined to get the hike done.

It took me an hour and a half to get here from the North/South Loop trail junction. Here being at the junction with the shortcut to the North Loop. In the background you can see the chimney of the abandoned homestead.

When I crossed Little Paddy Creek on my way here, there was some water running. That’s the first time I’ve seen water in Little Paddy Creek at that point in over a year. The two wells on the ridge and the stock ponds I passed had water, too. That’s good news.

From here I’m taking the ‘shortcut’ to the North Loop. This is one of the roughest sections of the trail to hike on, with several sections that are all large loose rocks.