Hiking the Buckeye Trail

Last night I sat down with my camera and finally took the time to unload 9 months worth of photos.  The span of time covered Christmas 2011, my Florida trip Jan 2012, Spring Buckeye Trail hiking 2012, lot’s of photos of my grandkids, Eli’s recent soccer game, Sept Buckeye Trail hiking and tearing out the sidewalk to the front door of our house.  A lot has been going on the last 9 months!!

I was glad to get in two hiking dates on the Buckeye Trail (BT).  We’ve really slowed down our progress due to health issues and schedule issues of the core group and there are times that I fear we will never complete it for these reasons.  I would love to announce someday that we completed all 1400 miles of the trail.  

I have a particular love of wooden barns.

Pat, Lynn and I started our journey on February 12, 2006 and to date we have hiked a total of 513.8 miles.  Heading north out of Cincinnati from the trail head at the Ohio River Outlook, through Hyde Park and Milford, out the Loveland Bike Trail and on north we have made it to just south of Toledo where the trail turns east toward Cleveland.  That is 341.9 miles of our total.  I am always amazed as I drive north that I have actually walked from downtown Cincinnati, through Dayton, through Springfield, through Troy and Piqua and St. Mary’s, etc. 

Heading southeast out of Cincinnati we have walked through Batavia, Georgetown and on and on for a total of 171.9 miles.  We are just now heading north toward Cleveland.  Eventually our two ends will meet in the middle.

This hiking has turned out to be a wonderful adventure.  Originally I joined up just for the challenge of walking 1400 miles.  But the experience has evolved into so much more.  

There is of course the pure joy of being outside in all kinds of weather; rain, snow, blazing heat everything but lightening storms.  We have hiked during every season and early in the day, mid-day, or late day.  I typically lead the pack having a slightly faster pace and when I am off on my own, it becomes a meditation of sorts…letting the experience envelope me.  

Historical markers along the trail.

It has also become a huge history lesson, learning the nits and nats of Ohio history has been intriguing.  Like, north of Dayton we started noticing that the trail followed along some pretty large ditches.  Eventually we realized we were walking the tow path of the former Ohio canal system.  Those ditches were actually the prisms of the canals.  We found canal markers, canal locks and sites of former villages that died away as the canal system became obsolete.  We also found restored sections of the canal system at the Johnson Farm, in New Bremen, and again in Grand Rapids, Ohio.

And that’s just one little piece of history.  There are battle sites and former fort sites: names that repeat over and over again throughout Ohio towns or roads or buildings turn up on historical markers that name their role in this state’s remarkable history.

There are the animals we stumbled across; deer, fox, ground hogs, cows, horses, dogs, cats, eagles and on and on.  Two of our three pets currently living with us came home with me from the Buckeye Trail.  

You see the most interesting things in Ohio.

And of course there are the people we have met, both hikers that hiked with us, campground neighbors and characters we meet along the trail.  One memorable farmer just couldn’t understand what we were doing.  He really, really, really wanted to stop digging up the tree stump from his field and drive us to Covington, Ohio as that was just way too far to walk.  As hard as we tried to explain that a ride would defeat the purpose of what we were doing, he just didn’t get it!

During our recent September hike my campground neighbors were Gail, Kevin and Joey, the California surfer dog.  Gail and Kevin had left California two months earlier and were winding their way eastward toward Maine for the fall colors.  From there they would turn south and spend the winter in the Florida Keys before they began wandering home again next spring.  

Gail and Kevin carried with them every conceivable trekker toy….a two person sea kayak, two bikes, a huge RV that could have been a castle in disguise.  They looked like they were having a blast.

The many faces of the BT

The physical trail itself is a wonder.  It can be routed along major highways which are no fun to walk or take us meandering through state parks.  It can be routed along back county roads that allow for excellent mileage in a short period of time or excruciating uphill battles that slow us down to less than a snail’s pace.  Of course we all prefer the off-road routes, but on occasion we stumble across some interesting business that is worth the harassment of motor vehicles.  And we do know where every ice cream stand is located along the trail, believe me, we justify all those ice cream stops very easily!!  

Sometimes it is routed through the middle of a cemetery!

Can you spot the blue blaze?

The BT is blazed with sky blue blazes that can and are found almost any where.  On the back of signs, on the road itself, on fence posts and guardrails.  Sometimes they disappear altogether, that can make hiking a little tough if there are choices to make regarding branches in the trail.  Or, sometimes there are too many, as in downtown Piqua where blue blazes take off in every which way causing mass confusion in the troops!

So, today I was in the mood to write and the BT came to mind.  I hope we get to hike again in October and November…but time will tell, it may be next spring before we are off again!!!