Hiking Indiangrass Trail at Doeskin Ranch

Today I loaded up my backpack with 30 pounds (14 KG) of gear and went for another hike at Doeskin Ranch. This time, I added the one section of trail that I missed last time: Indiangrass Trail.

The 1.5-mile trail splits off from the Shinoak section and heads down into a nice little valley and even through a little forest tunnel. It was really cool! In fact, I’d say that Indiangrass trail is my favorite section of the Doeskin Ranch trails.

I mentioned that I had a heavily-loaded pack, and that is I will be carrying this amount of weight on our Big Bend trip. The only things I didn’t put in the pack were my external battery and cables, and extra underwear/socks/base layers.

When I first got on the trail, my hip started hurting a bit and I was thinking that maybe I should turn around and not stress it. After all, I did run 4 miles the day before. But I continued on a bit, and adjusted my shoulder straps to take more of the weight off of my hips. This was the trick, and my hip pain went away and I would go on to complete the hike without any discomfort. I felt great!

So now I know that 30+ pounds of gear on my back is do-able, and so my confidence is high. Knowing that we won’t be rushed during our Big Bend hike is good too – we can take plenty of rest breaks. As long as the weather is nice, we should have an excellent trip!