Knobstone Trail Thru-Hike – 1 night, 2 days, 46.5 miles - "The Little AT"

Located in the rolling hills of Southern Indiana, The Knobstone Trail, AKA The Little AT, just North of Louisville Kentucky, is an approximately 46.5 mile trail through the toughest terrain Indiana has to offer.

I traveled NOBO, from Deam Lake TH to Delaney Lake TH. The first 25 miles have only moderate climbs with approx. 6400’ of elevation change, however, the final 21 miles has closer to 8,000’ of elevation change, with most of that being between mile 26 and 40. I lost some of the gps data from the first day, so I don’t have the exact numbers.

I wanted to really challenge myself on a solo hike and the Knobstone absolutely delivered. It was the toughest and most challenging trail to date that I’ve hiked, even outdoing the Shawnee State Forest trail in Ohio. I averaged 3.2 mph on the first 25 miles for day 1 and 2.8 mph on the last 21.5 miles on day two. Total hiking time was 16 hours.

There was plenty of water for filtering in the streams this time of year but most will dry up during the summer and fall. The landscape was somewhat of a disappointment because of all the damage from tornadoes and windstorms over the years, which has left the much of the area looking like a war zone. Certain sections were still very beautiful though and the organizations that have helped to keep the trail clear have done a very nice job.

For my shuttle I used Kim Hall - Adventure Shuttles, she can be reached at 812-844-2756. I found her on the Outdoor Adventure Life facebook group and she promptly replied to my request for and shuttle and communicated often with me via text message. On my pickup day at Delaney Park she arrived right on time and shuttled me to Deam Lake where I began my hike. I would highly recommend her. . Thanks to Chris Colbert, That Hiking Guy, for helping me get connected with Kimberly.