FIELD NOTES: Backcountry V
~by Jim Eagleman
isions of lush ravines, ridgetop trees, and pristine lakes may come to mind when someone mentions a visit to Brown County— or busy sidewalks, traffic lines, and road repairs could also register. This county’s beauty and reputation as an Indiana getaway is enjoyed mainly by motorists. I’ll include mountain bikers, horseback riders, kayakers, canoeists, backpackers, nature photographers, fishermen, and mushroom hunters, who all arrive by vehicle. You can drive many hills and see from the windshield a vast unexplored and rugged land, but until the boot tread hits the trail, you will miss the experience of seeing it up close and personal. I realize not everyone comes to hike. Nashville and surrounding towns with many shops, restaurants, wineries, and breweries rate high with return visitors. Music venues, special events, and holiday celebrations entice visitors. We welcome our guests with our “open for business” hospitality sign all year. I used the word “backcountry” to describe an experience for park visitors who wanted a little more adventure. “Bushwacking through dense vegetation with scars and blisters came to mind,”
44 Our Brown County • July/August 2020
said a friend, so I dispensed with the term in talks. But I continued to encourage the exploration of the little-used trails—an old logging road or deer trail that the park and state forest has plenty of. Backcountry conjures up for me any place beyond a familiar road or trail that can be explored—remote and uncharted, the boondocks, the boonies, the outback. Years ago, when I started with the DNR at Brown County State Park, my first impression of its sixteen thousand acres was overwhelming. Botanizing and birding, learning new trees, the geologic story, gave me goosebumps. I was giddy to think about working here. On days off with friends, we hiked park trails and explored buildings that would later be used for programs and interpretive hikes. We visited landmarks like Deserter’s Cave, Deer Rock, and the CCC stone quarry. Old homesteads with gravestones and a tall cedar hinted of past days; remnant daffodil plantings still existed near a garden plot. And with nearly every excursion, I came upon a small pond. Did the settlers make these ponds? Were they water sources? Or were they constructed in more recent years, maybe for recreational fishing? I read
