Today I am going to write about my hike along the Breeden Ridge Trail. It is one I planned to take recently but got scared off by the suggestions of the Property Manager because of potential dangers. This time I took a friend along with me.
As described on hikingproject.com the Breeden Ridge Trail can be navigated by beginning at the intersection with Rocky Ridge Loop, Breeden Ridge is one of O’Bannon Woods State Park’s newest trails. It joins with the new Potato Run Trail near the Nature Center.
Breeden Ridge begins with a classic hand-built segment leading into a rocky section with a number of optional lines. Past the rocks, the new machine built trail begins, with a rolling climb to the top of Breeden Ridge. A stair-step segment through the rocks leads toward the top of the ridge.
Once at the top of the ridge, the trail twists, and winds, with a number of berms and rollers, and descends through a challenging, rocky staircase toward more berms, rollers, and rock features. The trail climbs toward a small woodland pond–the highest point on the trail. From the pond, a series of twisting turns leads into some mountain biking features, before reaching a horse trail crossing.
Past the ridge line horse crossing, the trail begins to descend toward Potato Run, with another series of features popular with mountain bikers, as it drops down into the valley.
With a twisting climb up the other side of the creek, the trail begins to level out, with another series of bike features, before joining the Potato Run Trail.
A left at the trail junction will return the user up Potato Run toward the campground while a right turn will allow the user to continue toward the bottom of the Group Camp Trail.
The 2.8 mile section of trail has a high elevation of 794 feet and a low of 585 feet. The average grade is 3% with the steepest being 10% grade.
I began today’s journey at the Family Camp Group. I made my way toward the entrance of the Rocky Ridge Trail. The path below my feet was a mixture of mud, fallen leaves, roots and both small and large rocks. As the name implies both Rocky Ridge and the upcoming Breeden Ridge Trails both where dotted with various rocks that could easily twist and angle or torque a knee, but even if that doesn’t happen the constant pounding of my feet on these rocks send shock waves through my legs.
Other than our conversation, and shuffling of our feet, there was no genuine sound in the woods today. I was soon at the intersection or Rocky Ridge and Breeden Ridge with a slight ascent in front of me. I was told to lead the way today, so I did.
We continued the climb until we reached the summit of the ridge, where we stopped at a small pond as listed above. I stopped to have a snack, Mark and I shared more stories and we proceeded on.
The descent from the ridge was not as easy as it would seem to appear. There was more work done on the trail to make it more appealing to mountain bikers. The path was wide, but now filled with strategically placed obstacles for the bikers. Fallen trees were now bridges, they placed large rocks in lines, and they constructed embankments of dirt to resemble those I have seen on luge courses in the Olympics.
I crossed the Adventure Hiking Trail for the 2nd time and made my way down to the lowest point of the trail. This is where the intersection of the Potato Run Trail meets the Breeden Ridge Trail.
We took the path to the left and begun the slow ascent back to the campground. In total, a 4 mile hike was done.
I had fear about doing this trail alone, but now, having done it with Mark, I feel confident I could easily navigate this with no issues. Yes, there are sections with no cell service, and the terrain can be rough, but I had conquered a fear today, and enjoyed doing it.
Until next time,
Tim (a. k. a. Kilmer)
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