Hiking in September

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Finally, back out on the Buckeye Trail after no hiking since May. It was so nice to be on the trail again, the weather was perfect, the hike was great and as always, out with friends Pat and Lynn just added to the pleasure of the day. Between the heat of the summer and Pat’s problems with her feet, it has been a really long time!!!

These three days we are back in the Pike Lake State Park area picking up where we left off, skipping a few stretches until Pat’s feet are back in shape. Today we only hiked 4.1 miles again, to accommodate Pat’s feet, but that was enough for me since I have not hiked since our Friend’s Hike. It was all road walking on quiet roads through the woods and valleys of the area. We left my car in the woods on a back road and Pat and Lynn’s in Eden Cemetery. Then we took off in the clear weather with low humidity and fall colors. The roads were rolling and not too much of a challenge for any of us ….in other words, no huge hills. It took us 2 hours to walk the 4.1 miles which included two nice breaks. Afterward we scoped out tomorrow’s hike…just like today, only starting earlier.

We saw this lovely home along the way, I really enjoyed the pansies floating down from the dormer window....very nice!!

As usual, we had a friendly hitchhiking dog join our trek. This time it was a little Border Collie who looked okay, but definitely wanted to hike along with us. I try to ignore these hitchhikers when they show up since I have a soft heart and am prone to carry them home, hence Sonny and Cher from a year ago. So I paid our new friend no attention. He was insistent though and after he had checked out Pat and checked out Lynn, he was insistent on getting next to me and checking me out. I couldn’t stop myself, I had to give him a friendly pat and he responded in kind.

This guy followed us along for about 2 miles and we were checking out a yard when a car pulled up with a lady who asked what had happened to the dog that was following us. Turned out this guy was not a stray as usual…he had a name, Coco. Coco’s owner was the drivers daughter-in-law and she was looking for Coco. She called Coco to her car and he came over, but wasn’t too enthusiastic. She drove off a very happy person. Few of our hitchhikers have such a happy ending!

So now, we’re waiting for Pat to get ready so we can head out to dinner. Yum, yum!!!

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Another gorgeous day in Pike County. Today was 4.3 miles again along county roads with almost no traffic. It started out with very low hanging fog, but after about 5 minutes of hiking the skies cleared and we got the beautiful blue skies of fall. I kept shedding clothing…didn’t need much today.

The neighborhoods varied from very poor to very nice and most of the animals we saw along the way looked well cared for…which was nice to see. No 4-legged hitchhikers today, but we did see one really magnificent buck that had a full rack. We would never have seen him if he had stayed still, as we were looking right at him, then he bolted. It was so good to see a creature that magnificent. And no one in our group wanted to kill him….we all just enjoyed his incredible beauty!

After the hike we headed back to our cabin for lunch. The cabins are pretty empty this time of the week, although this weekend is the Park’s annual fall celebration, so by the time we leave, it will be filling up.

After lunch we were tempted to take the afternoon off…but the day was just too beautiful. We had another 2.2 miles to do through Tobacco Barn Hallow. Pat and Lynn are regular hikers in the area so they really didn’t need the mileage to complete the Buckeye Trail. And Pat is not supposed to hike trails until she gets the all clear from her physical therapist. So Lynn and I took off after lunch so that I could complete those miles. Road walking is fine, but trail walking is fabulous. Up through the forests, following the trail where we could, but grateful for the blue blazes where needed. The part of the trail was particularly well blazed as you can see by the photos.

It was a slow up hill climb for me as this is the first hiking I’ve done since May, but with lots of stops and starts we made it to the crest of the hill, where the trail flattened out and then finally started down hill. The down hill trail was very steep in many places so footing was a bit tricky, but after about 1.5 hours we saw Pike Lake in front of us and knew we were done for the day.

Pat was waiting for us in the parking lot and then off we went to the local Amish markets for yummy wholesome foods. This particular market is my favorite for locally made Red Raspberry jelly. Don’t know what it is about their jelly, but I love it.

Tomorrow is promising to be another gorgeous day of more hiking!!!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Another gorgeous day of hiking; exactly 4 miles today this put us just outside of Waverly, Ohio. It was an easy hike and we did it in 1.5 hours. The terrain remains rolling and it was just lovely. It was a pretty quiet hike today. Pat was in a lot of pain with her foot and Lynn stuck close to her to make sure all was well. I was in the lead, as usual. When we made it to their car we decided to go into Waverly for lunch, then I took off north on SR 23, into Chillicothe, west on SR 50 and then west on SR 28. It was a great day for being out and about!! Again, it was all road walking on back county roads...not much traffic, just a lovely, lovely day!