We headed out to Rocky Knob Trail in Michaux State Forest for our six and eight year old’s first overnight backpacking trip. This trail was a good length. It was nice that we could park in one place, walk a loop, and return to our car. There were pretty views and yummy blueberries. There were rocks to climb on. The trail even counts towards the State Forest Trails Award. This trail would have been just about perfect but for three things:
- a wrong turn due to Camp Trail not being on our map
- an uneven tent site due to running out of energy before a good spot for tents
- four nymphal deer ticks removed from ourselves
So, if you’re looking for a great hike for little hikers in the Michaux State Forest here is how to
Avoid Error #1 – Don’t Turn on Camp Trail
(unless you want extra miles)
After our hike I found several maps of the Rocky Knob trail. About half didn’t have Camp Trail on them (including the map I took with us). Check that yours does show Rocky Knob Trail crossing both the Appalachian Trail and Camp Trail before getting to the Rocky Knob trail loop split. If you are planning to just do the loop, this Rocky Knob Trail map is a good one to go with; it includes explanations of the numbered posts on the walk. If you think you might want to tack on a little extra, this map of the Flat Rock Trail System shows a bit more of the area. One reason to go with this Rocky Knob Trail map is that while it does not include Camp Trail, it does include the locations of the numbered posts along the trail.
Avoid Error #2 – Know Where to Camp
Due to our bad turn on Camp Trail, our kids got tired before we found a good place to pitch our tents. We pitched here: 39.967844, -77.433350, and while the view was great, the sleeping wasn’t.
Better places to camp that we walked past the next day include:
Avoid Error #3 – Keep the Ticks Off
Obviously this is easier said than done.
We were not wearing DEET. Generally we haven’t run into trouble even without DEET. Some things that were different this time that may have led to the tick attachments:
- We were out at peek season for these little buggers (late spring, early summer)
- A lot of this trail was much narrower/overgrown than most trails we have used in the past. Brushing against vegetation was unavoidable.
- Our camp site was very overgrown (see Error #2).
All that to say, this might be a trail to wear DEET on. This might be a trail to save for outside of tick season (though it would be a shame to miss all the blueberries that were also in season).
Not sure this is the adventure for you? We’ve got others!