Deam Wilderness (Indiana) Backpacking - May 2021

My long overdue third hike of the 2021 season kept me local, to the Charles Deam Wilderness southeast of Bloomington, Indiana. The original plan for my annual spring hike was to head to the Appalachian Trail in late April, but on the very weekend I had planned to hike Mother Nature hit us with six inches of snow followed by two weeks of miserable, cold weather. So I delayed the hike to May and also decided to do something closer to home so the dogs would be able to join me (Jaden’s backpacking days are getting close to an end). My previous two Peninsula Trail hikes and videos also took place in the Deam Wilderness, but for this hike I decided to head to a different area of the Deam - the Sycamore Trail in the northeast section of the Wilderness. The plan was pretty ’loose’ but I went in thinking about doing 3 days, 2 nights, and 20 miles or so of hiking. I thought I would probably do the 4.7 mile Sycamore Loop plus some other ’sightseeing’ on day #1, and then the Axsom Branch Trail and perhaps another go at