Inner Princess Unleashed!

With the gift of the time change, I got to go out on my first evening hike with my brother Joe this week to Chilo Lock 34 Park and Crooked Run Nature Preserve in Chilo about 21 miles east of Cincinnati. This park sits on a peninsula right along the Ohio River. It was beautiful! The temperature was 82 degrees and we hiked about 2 miles in 45 minutes.  We wore shorts and short sleeves - more about that later!

One of the things that Joe and I noticed first as we entered the trail at Crooked Run Nature Preserve was the very green grassy forest floor. We both felt that there was something different about hiking in this wooded area than other places that we have hiked. Most of the trees were smaller with some large old trees sprinkled here and there. Like when I've been on other forest hikes, I noticed large vines, but they really stood out amongst the small young trees. Later in the hike we met up with a woman who was working to clean up the trail.  She explained that the property used to be a farm, which revealed that this was a young forest.  Now, the unusual sites we were seeing made sense. When we walked around the park after the hike, we read on some of the signs that the park and nature preserve area are the site of where several families lived during the depression. Their fathers worked on the dam nearby.  The families farmed and lived very well compared to most other people during this era.

There were some great water views along the trail.  On one side of the park is the Ohio River and on the other side is Crooked Run.  This is a great bird watching spot.  There are nicely cared for structures for people to hide in to watch for various water birds that live on Crooked Run. The woman we talked to said to listen for the loons, but we weren't fortunate to hear or see any. The water here was so still, you will notice in the pictures that it reflected the surroundings and the sky like a mirror. As we looped around and headed back down the Ohio River, the sun was starting to set and it glimmered on the rushing water.

When we finished the hike, we walked around the park area. It's a great spot for families. There's a little museum and visitors center, which was closed while we were there. There is a nice picnic area and playground and a very cool restored paddle wheel boat, the Jennie Wade, that people can climb all over. As Joe and I were driving home, we both agreed that it was a great way to relieve stress from our day.

Growing up I always considered myself more of a tomboy than a prissy girl, preferring to wear pants over skirts (I still love my blue jeans and baseball hats best!!!)  But when I started out on this venture in 2012 I was concerned about being too whimpy for the cold weather and too prissy to truly enjoy sloshing through the mud.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much I was loving this until...on the ride home Joe said, "Tick!" and he pulled a tick off of his neck.  YUCK!!! My immediate thought was - that's it no more hikes for me!!!!  I was scratching and itching all over after that just at the thought of having a tick on myself.  When we got to my house and were getting ready to eat dinner he told me he found another one and we suddenly looked like two monkeys at the zoo checking each other.  I was feeling very squeamish!  I'm happy to report that the inner princess didn't keep me from hiking again this week and I will post again in a day or two.  I've got to keep her down as bug season comes upon us or I will never achieve this goal.

15 hikes down, 45 to go!!!  If you'd like to suppress the diva in you and unleash the tom boy, join in for an upcoming hike.  Of course, gentlemen are always welcome.

P.S. Haven't had many comments lately. I need some shout outs peeps!