Wayne National Forest: Archer's Fork Trail

On May 1, Cool Guy and went hiking after a three week break due to allergies.  It was a bright, sunny, 80 degree day.  We arrived at Archer's Fork trailhead, which is next to an old cemetery, and found one truck with a ramp.  Must be a 4-wheeler.  Never saw nor heard it the whole time.

The trail began just down the gravel road from the cemetery.  It was very rough going at first with lots of fallen trees to scramble over or go around, hacking through briers and thorns.  Soon, though, we came to a fork and a sign which pointed the way to Great Cave.  Now the path cleared out, but it was very narrow, very primitive, and tough to hike.  Part of that, I'm sure, is that we were out of shape, but another part was that up went straight up.  No switchbacks, just straight up.

Happily, we were surrounded with myriads of spring wildflowers to distract us from the work.

Eventually, we got to the Great Cave, and it was great indeed.  It reminded me very much of something from Old Man's Cave.  It was huge and cavernous and at one end, water was dripping down over the lip.  We went down to the cave and had lunch.  Unfortunately, there was plenty of evidence of prior visitors: old campfire rings, a little trash, and lots of carved names on the cave walls, some graffiti.

After lunch, we hiked back up to the main path - straight up - and continued until we got to the turnoff for the natural bridge, our primary destination.  It was amazing.  A natural bridge is basically a cave with both ends open.  We went down the ravine, very steeply again (wish I had remembered my stick) and hung out in the shade there for awhile.  We noticed a bird's nest built on the wall of the bridge.  I don't know if that's a cliff swallow or what, but it was very interesting to watch the bird going back and forth to his nest.  We didn't hear any baby birds, so I'm guessing that Mr. Bird was feeding Mama-to-Be Bird.  The nest seemed to be made of moss on the outside, and it looked like a green fuzzy bowl just hanging on the wall.

Finally, we climbed back up to the main trail and headed back.  More uphill going back than going out, but soon enough we were back to the beginning, the car, and some air conditioning.

It was a great day for a hike, and the exercise felt good, plus so much more interesting than, say, a treadmill. (smile)  The bridge was worth the effort, but the overall hiking conditions were some of the most difficult we have seen.

Conkles Hollow

The entire family went to Conckles Hollow in Hocking Hills SP on March 25.  The weather was mild.  When we started the drive there, it was 30 degrees, and by the time we got home it had risen to about 45.  Perfect weather for hiking.

Conkles is the lesser-known treat of Hocking Hills SP, lagging behind Old Man's Cave.  Though I love OMC, the crowds turn me off.  Conckles is just as nice and has almost no one there.  When we arrived on that Friday morning, there were two other cars in the parking lot.  When we left, there were two other cars in the parking lot.

We did both the Rim Trail (2.5 mile loop) and the Gorge Trail (1 mile out and back).  We began with the Rim, deciding to go clockwise this time.  To get up to the rim, we have to climb a lot of stairs, but once at the top, it's pretty level the whole way.

What was outstanding about the rim trail this time, apart from the fantastic view was the icicles.  We could see them on the rock edges of the canyon, perhaps around a bend, and they were so long.  And then as the day began warming up, we would be lucky enough to see a mass of them crash below.  We got to witness that a few times.

At about the halfway point of the Rim, we came upon the lookout point and the waterfall.  When we had gone last summer, the waterfall was all dried up.  This time, we were lucky.  It was a lovely view across the canyon, and entrancing to watch and hear the water falling.

The opposite side of the canyon had quite a bit of ice on the trail, and that could be a little scary at times.  This side had more solid rock as the trail, and when it was a sheet of ice, it made us nervous about slipping.  There are no guard rails on the edge, and it's at least a 200 foot drop.  We walked very gingerly, and still, Cool Guy, Encyclopedia, and I each slipped once.  We were joking that Burt was next, and he said he'd save it for a big fall.

Eventually, we arrived at stairs bringing us to the floor of the canyon again.  We decided to do the Gorge Trail, which we had passed on last time here.  This trail is concrete paved and is for the enjoyment of those in wheelchairs, baby strollers, etc.  I thought it would be a boring walk, but it was wonderful.

First, there are all the microclimates.  A jungle of ferns here, a cave there, a gathering of slump rocks over there.  It was never the same look twice.  Then we reached the back of the canyon where the concrete ended and the waterfall began.  Oh, my.  This was the highlight of the trip!  Going beyond the sidewalk, onto the path that led us to the base of the waterfall, we were amidst rock overhangs, caves, ice sculptures.  It was so neat to be in the semi gloom, feeling very cold, surrounded by ice and water, and then look backward and see a fern forest behind us, like looking at two different worlds.

The boys had the best time knocking down icicles.  I mean, they were mesmerized for a very, very long time, just climbing among the rocks, finding icicles to knock down, and doing it again.

Burt was over at the foot of the waterfall and suddenly, he slipped.  It was an ice sheet he was standing on, and he went down hard.  The bigger they are, the harder they fall.  Yes, he was right, saving his fall for the grand finale.  Pained a little, but OK.  Nothing long lasting.

Cool Guy said it was the best hike ever, and Encyclopedia actually admitted to have a great time.

Boord Nature Preserve

This is a belated post about the last hike Cool Guy and I took in February.  On the 25th, we went to Boord Nature Preserve, which is between Barlow and Bartlett OH.  I have never heard anyone mention this place before, and I only found it because I was searching around on the internet and just came across it.  It is amazing to me sometimes what neat stuff is so near.

Being a nature preserve, we have to follow special rules, like no wandering off the path at all and no taking anything, not that we do anyway.

The trail for the preserve is only .75 miles.  Cool Guy and I have done this hike twice, and we agree that it is best to make it worth the drive and do twice, once in each direction.  It's amazing what you can see going the other way.

On this day, the sky was sunny, and the air was crisp.  When we arrived, about 10:30, there was still frost on the grass to begin the hike.  It is interesting that once we got under tree cover, there was no frost on the ground, which makes me wonder if the tree cover is also frost protection.

There was very little up or down, but that little bitty loop gave us so much.  We hiked through a pine plantation, through deciduous woods and the highlight, the waterfall and pool, which was actually running water at this time of year.

It is a quiet and lovely place.  We have never seen wildlife there, and have never seen another person or even a car on the road while there.  We've been twice and will more than likely go again soon.

Lamping Homestead Trail, Wayne National Forest

Saturday, Jan. 19 2013
Temp.: mid to upper 40's

Cool Guy and I hiked the 4 mile Lamping Homestead Trail at Wayne National Forest, Marietta Branch, today.  Looking at the map, I thought this was going to be quick and easy.  As usual, I was wrong.  Although the turnoff for the park was only 35 miles outside Marietta OH, it was 35 miles of winding road, and it took an hour to drive that 35 miles.  One notable thing was that we never met another car on the way there.  We did see two tractors, two hunters in a field, and three covered bridges, but no other cars.

When we arrived at the park, ours was the only car in the lot.  At that point, I thought it might be smart to text Burt and let him know where we were and that I would text him again when we finished.  That would have been a great plan if I had thought to do this before we started, but as it was, there was no internet, so we were alone and on our own.  Note to self: always let someone know where you're going BEFORE you get there.  Luckily, there were no problems and no need for the text, but one never knows.

The day was sunny, windy, and warmish.  I had on my heavy wool sweater, and it was great, except when it was too warm.  But the great thing about this hike was that it changed every 10 minutes or so.  We might be on a sunny stretch one minute, and then in a pine plantation the next.  The sweater was definitely appreciated.

After the first mile, we were given the opportunity to take the short loop and cut the hike to 1.8 miles.  Cool Guy was for that option, but I pointed out to him that the path wasn't muddy, the day was nice, and I would prefer that our hike take longer than our drive to get to it.  So we soldiered on the long loop, and I'm so glad we did.

We walked through one pine plantation during a strong bout of wind, and it was so cool to hear the trees creaking in the wind.  At first, I thought it was a bird shrieking, that is how it sounded.

The trail itself was varied.  We walked through meadows, on pine needles, leaves, jumped streams, crossed creeks, worked our way up slanted ridges, never level, and toward the end, slogged through and dodged around mud and ice.  Never a dull moment.

One moment on a ridge top gave us a nice vista, but for the most part, it was a woods walk.  I would definitely like to do this again in the summer because I think it would be a nice, shady hike.

The trail was well-marked, but even so, we strayed off the trail a time or two.  For me, an ideal trail would have every darn tree with a blaze.  Otherwise, I am going to miss the path somewhere, somehow.  But if we went too long without seeing a blaze, we would backtrack and find our way again.

I am proud of Cool Guy for doing the 4 miles without complaining.  For him, it's all about being done, though he enjoys it, he most likes knowing where the end is.  I'm sure it helped that we were very comfortable throughout, and though the trail was difficult in some places, there wasn't that much up and down.  It was mostly level, though uneven, hiking.

The hike ended with us going around an Indian Burial mound, something that really impressed Cool Guy.

Definitely going again, and next time allowing time to check out the covered bridges.

Hope Lake SP, Old Hollow Trail

Cool Guy was off school today for Veterans' Day, so we had a hike planned.  Forecast called for rain later in the afternoon.  No problem.  We set off early and didn't have too far to travel.  Skies were clear.

Our destination was Lake Hope SP, west of Athens OH, and south of Nelsonville OH.  The plan was to start at the Hope Furnace, a very old iron smelting furnace used to make munitions for the Union during the Civil War, hike the Peninsula Trail around Lake Hope and then do a second loop of Old Hollow Trail to get the gorge, caves and waterfall.  That was the plan.

The actuality was that AS SOON AS we put our hiking boots on and donned our orange vests, just in case, though hunting is not permitted, it started to rain.  This, at 9:30 am., not the projected 3:00 pm.  Well, just a few raindrops.  We had hats, and we had rain ponchos, so we put those on, quickly checked out the furnace and decided to do the Old Hollow first because it was short, hope that the rain would stop and then complete things with the Peninsula.

It didn't stop.  It never became a miserable downpour, but it became steady enough that we definitely felt we were hiking through rain, and I never saw Cool Guy so focused on moving forward, making tracks, gaining ground.

Despite the less than perfect conditions, it was a wonderful hike.  The loop was only 1 1/2 miles, but it was an interesting hike with lots of changes and interest.  The trail was easy in that it was very well marked with blue blazes and clear signs.  It was not so easy in its footing.  Hiking through it wet added to the difficulty because there was a lot of up and down, a lot of wooden steps with nothing on them for traction, many steep, some with missing steps.  There were a few fallen trees to scramble over, and one area of the trail was basically water seepage where we had to pick our way through the best we could.

Highlights of the trail included an old pioneer cemetery with engraved sandstone markers, some covered with moss.  Also, at the bottom of the gorge was where a waterfall should have been, but it wasn't wet enough yet, and next to the waterfall place was a really cool rock overhang so deep that it could almost be called a cave.  The whole thing was very lovely.

Another interesting thing about this hike was that we came upon several backpackers, the real kind with great big packs on their backs.  All were headed out.  They had been hiking the Zaliski Trail which shares a bit with Old Hollow.  We saw two men, and then later, two women and a German Shepherd, and at the end, we were being followed by a Boy Scout troop.  I'm assuming that at the start of the rain, the backpackers packed up and headed out.

Also of interest was a beaver dam which we saw at the beginning and end of the loop.  I have never seen one before, but I knew right off that this is what it was.  Pretty neat.

Cool Guy can't wait to go back and bring Burt and Encyclopedia.  It was just a little over an hour's drive, and there is a whole lot of different hiking to do, so we will definitely return.

Old Man's Cave

On Election Day, Nov. 6, Cool Guy, Annie Oakley, and I drove to Hocking Hills State Park to hike Old Man's Cave.  It's about 1 1/2 hours to drive there, and we arrived around 10:30.  What really stood out to me was that the parking lot was almost empty.  Old Man's Cave is one of the most popular hiking spots in Ohio, and Columbus is about as close to it as we are.  Every time we have gone there before, it has been a weekend, and the parking lots are full, and we have people in our sight at all times.  This mid-week hiking after the leaves have fallen was a brilliant plan.

One thing about Old Man's Cave is that it really doesn't matter what time of year to hike it.  There is so much beauty and wonder, that one doesn't need fall leaves or spring wildflowers to enhance it, though those are nice bonuses.  But any time of year, it is worth the drive.

We began at Upper Falls and mainly stayed on the gorge trail which allowed us up close views of the falls, pools, and caves, or really, just enormous rock overhangs.  Hiking down the stairs to the gorge, we were struck by all the work that had gone into making this such a hikable place.  My guess is that it was WPA at work in the 30's, building stone walls, hewing steps out of the rocks.  Cool Guy's favorite part was the tunnels through the rocks that the trail took us through.  We did that part twice.

After doing that part twice, we went on down to the Lower Falls, which were even more spectacular, I think.  One scene I think we'll always remember is the family of either Middle Eastern or Pakistani origin.  Two of the men in the group wore swim trunks and actually stood under the falls.  Now, it was a nice day, sunny and 50's, but not a whole lot of sunlight gets to the gorge, and the water was freezing.  It was fun to watch their fun.

After spending some time in the gorge part of Lower Falls, we went up steps and hiked along the rim of it.  Cool Guy found a rock overhang that he could scramble up, with a little help from Annie, and he liked perching on that ledge, just hanging out.  The inside of it, sandstone, was carved with names and initials going back hundreds of years, I think.  It's neat to look at the etchings.

We left Lower Falls and followed the path, thinking we might be heading to Cedar Falls, but we were on the wrong path.  Instead, we found a new area to us, Broken Rock Falls.  It's exactly as it sounds.  Enormous, ENORMOUS rocks lie about as if some giant child had flung them.  They are house size and covered with moss, lying at odd angles.  At the end of the trail, way up top, there was a small stream of water falling down onto the rocks.

The rest was just backtracking, finding another tunnel with stairs leading up to the top and back to the parking lot.

In some ways, this was an easy hike.  To see all these wonders, one really only need hike about a mile.  We kindof did everything twice, sometimes on the rim, sometimes in the gorge, and sometimes going back for a second view, so my guess is that we covered between two and three miles.  The paths are very clear and well-worn.  No getting lost, no scrambling over trees, roots, rocks.  But there are a lot of stairs, some steep and narrow carved into the rocks, others easy and wide.  I would say in general it is an easy hike, and that is obvious by the number of people who are able to bring their children and the number of people with dogs.  But it can be made as challenging or as easy as you'd like.  Cool Guy certainly exerted himself more than the average hiker, walking ahead of us, coming back to hurry us up, climbing all over the place.

Hocking Hills SP is always worth the drive.  Next time, we will do Cedar Falls and Ash Cave, hopefully all in one outing.

Kroger Wetlands

Burt, Cool Guy, and I bundled.  That is, we combined a hiking trip with a grocery shopping trip.  I love to combine things in trips, being the super-efficient person that I am.  Ha.  When it works out that way, great.  This morning, I knew that I had had to go grocery shopping, and I really wanted to do a hike.  Nothing huge like Fort Hill, just a little, local hike.  Kroger Wetlands was just the ticket.

It is located behind (surprise) the Kroger store in Marietta OH.  My guess is that the land was donated by Kroger, but I don't know for sure.  The trail is maintained by a local hiking group, and we could tell that a lot of time and care has been put into it.

The main attraction of the Kroger Wetlands is, duh, the wetlands, which means lots and lots of migrating birds.  There is the water, the marshes, the bugs, the wildflowers: all wonderful things for the birds, and all in an island of solitude in the midst of urban/interstate sprawl.  It was hard to believe that we were so close to the hotels, highways, and, yes, grocery stores, but it felt that we were miles and miles away.

The trail was just a flat, simple loop.  Nothing fancy.  We had glimpses of the marsh area and sometimes the path went right up to it.  There were two observation decks, and several signs identifying the birds and plants.  We saw lots of ducks, cattails, lots of other marsh plants, and we heard lots of birds, but I'm afraid that we were making a little too much noise and weren't still enough for long enough for the birds to begin to come out.

You see, it was drizzling all morning.  I had to use my best persuasion to get the guys to even consider coming out, but I knew once we got hats on, as long as it wasn't really really raining, then we'd be OK.  And we were, but at the same time, we also weren't going to just sit waiting for birds to show up.  That will have to be for another trip.

I think the highlight of our walk was finding the tree trunk 3/4 chewed through by a beaver.  I don't think I've ever seen that before.  We noticed that many, maybe most, trees near the water's edge had been wrapped in a wire mesh, probably to keep them safe from beavers.  I'm sure it's difficult deciding whether and how to best manage various animals' and humans' interests, as in why it would be more important to allow a tree to live rather than let the beavers set up housekeeping in the wetlands.  I'm not doubting or disputing the decision to wrap the trees, but I am curious about the reasoning behind it.

For a little bitty, flat, 1 mile loop, we certainly saw a ton of neat things, breathed some fresh outside air, and really enjoyed our time, drizzle and all.