Thought the switchback hype was overblown until I tried the Knobstone Trail

I always figured people were just romanticizing Indiana when they talked about the Knobstone Trail. Three weeks ago I finally drove down there with a buddy to do a 4 day, 30 mile section. I was dead wrong. The constant up and down is no joke, we gained over 4,000 feet of elevation over two days and my knees felt it. But the ridge views through the fall colors were unreal, especially around mile 12 near the Deam Lake overlook. What changed my mind was how well the single track was maintained, no blown down trees blocking the path like I've seen on other Midwest trails. Has anyone else done the full 58 miles in one push?

2 comments

2 Comments

alice_allen515d ago

Ha, my knees are still mad at me from that same 30 mile section I did last spring. I went in thinking I was tough from flatland hiking and the first day humbled me real quick, had to crawl out of my tent the next morning like a rusty robot. But those ridge views, especially when the fog lifts over the valleys, yeah that makes all the pain worth it. I haven't done the full 58 in one go, mostly because my ego can't handle the shame of quitting halfway through.

henryt1815d agoMost Upvoted

You say your ego can't handle the shame of quitting halfway through, but honestly I think that's backwards. There's more pride in knowing your limits and turning back than in stubbornly pushing through to the end and wrecking yourself. I've seen too many people hobble off a trail with blown out knees and torn up feet just because they were too proud to call it quits. The real failure is not the quit, it's the part where you destroy your body for a bragging right nobody's gonna remember in a month.