I can’t say the nascent shuffles toward the first installment of our Limestone Post series Revisiting the Deam Wilderness unfolded as planned.

I had decided that Panther Creek Hollow is the first objective for this nostalgic wilderness adventure and that Grandson Vale would be my inaugural hiking companion. In the wake of a foot of snow and a week of below freezing temps, we drove to the Crooked Creek Ramp on the Middle Fork of the Salt in Creek Brown County to take some deep-winter pictures.

We walked maybe 30 yards up the frozen channel that connects the ramp to the Middle Fork – until my boots got water in them.

BLOG: First Steps — Panther Creek Hollow, Almost


Panther Creek Hollow, Hoosier National Forest
Panther Creek Hollow, Hoosier National Forest, February 2026

Panther Creek Hollow, Hoosier National Forest
Panther Creek Hollow, Hoosier National Forest, February 2026
Panther Creek Hollow, Hoosier National Forest
Panther Creek Hollow, Hoosier National Forest, February 2026

Panther Creek Hollow, Hoosier National Forest
Panther Creek Hollow, Hoosier National Forest, February 2026
Panther Creek, Crooked Creek, Hoosier National Forest
Panther Creek, Crooked Creek, Hoosier National Forest, February 2026
Panther Creek, Hoosier National Forest
Panther Creek Hollow, Hoosier National Forest, February 2026
Panther Creek, Crooked Creek, Hoosier National Forest
Panther Creek, Crooked Creek, Hoosier National Forest, February 2026