Sweat at Sunrise

Independence Day celebrations started REALLY early for Joe, Cheryl and I as we set out to spend part of our day off conquering three hikes. Due to the extreme heat, I suggested starting our first hike at sunrise, so I picked Joe up at 4:30 in the morning. We met Cheryl about 15 minutes later and we were on our way to Adams County, Ohio. We hiked a total of 6.65 miles at Buzzardroost Rock, Adams Lake State Park and Chaparral Prairie State Nature Preserve. It was a truly sweaty and bug infested experience!

We started with the longest hike to Buzzardroost Rock. Finding the trail head was a little bit challenging causing us to start our hike about 15 minutes after sunrise officially started. The temperature was about 68 degrees. That sounds cool, but it was very muggy and it didn't take long for the sweat to break. The soil trail was curvy and rocky with lots of ups and downs. We got an amazing workout! We traveled 3.55 miles in two hours. The first thing that I noticed about this trail was that it was different than others we have hiked in the warm weather. Even though it was in the woods like the other hikes, we could really see the terrain - we weren't walking through a maze of green brush. It was truly beautiful, especially with the early morning light. This is an out and back hike and as we headed to the overlook (the halfway point) we were mostly hoofing it uphill. A recent storm dropped trees along the trail and we had some minor detours, but because there was not an abundance of ground cover, it was easy to keep track of where we were going. By the time we got to the overlook, we were all ready for a break and what a fantastic break it was! There was an awesome view of the valley below and a much appreciated breeze. We took several minutes to enjoy the view and study the next hiking location. Joe and Cheryl refueled with some protein bars, we all drank some water, and we headed back down the trail to the trail head. On the way back, we stopped to take several pictures of Buzzardroost Rock. It was so HUGE!!! How huge was it, you ask? It was so huge that there were full size trees growing out of it! We didn't have much farther to go to be back at the trail head, but it was a slow and steady climb back to the car and we were grateful when we got there. I would love to return to Buzzardroost to enjoy the views and to get a challenging workout.

We jumped in the car, cranked the A.C. and headed to Adams Lake State Park. The trail here was a big contrast to the first trail. Most of it was a paved surface along the lake. The morning sunlight on the water was pretty. There were a lot of geese on the water and some beautiful water plants. After hiking along the lake, we came to the kiosk marking a more traditional hiking trail. A good portion of this trail is prairie land and the trail was sunny. There were some neat plants that can endure the hot sun and dry weather and still maintain their green color. The coolest thing we saw on this trail were these incredible ant mounds. They were so GIGANTIC!!! How gigantic were they, you ask? They were so gigantic that some of them are more than 4 feet high and some are more than 20 years old! Next we followed a small loop that winds its way through the woods. The shade gave us a little relief from the hot sun. It was now around 78 degrees and more humid. After completing the loop we headed back along the lake and finished the 2.1 mile hike in about one hour.

At this point, it was about 9:45 in the morning and we decided that it might be good to get some food. Then we would have a short 1 mile hike left and we could head home. These hikes are in the West Union area, a very small country town. As we headed into town, we noticed that people were lined up all along Main Street - YIKES! We realized a Fourth of July parade was about to begin! Scratch the search for somewhere to eat, we didn't want to get stuck unable to get through the streets, so we headed to the trail instead. I am sure the locals were wondering who these outsiders were that were driving around in circles around their "city blocks." We smiled and did our best parade wave!

In about 10 minutes we arrived at Chaparral Prairie State Nature Preserve. Just like the name says, this was mostly prairie land. Now the temperature was 84 degrees. We saw a lot of the same plants that we saw at the other prairie trail. Joe was in the lead, as was true the whole day, and Cheryl and I were a little bit pokey - the tiredness from the other hikes were kicking in. Our feet were starting to hurt and our muscles were feeling sore. Cheryl stopped to admire some light green moss and I noticed she had some ticks on her.  After pulling several off of her, our speed suddenly picked up and we were practically running to catch up with Joe and get away from this tick infested trail. When we got to the car, we found a couple more on Cheryl and I pulled another one off of her in the bathroom at lunch. She found three more on herself when she got home. Needless to say, the two of us were itching and scratching for a couple of days with tick paranoia!

Despite the ticks, I can't think of a better way to spend a holiday than being out on the trail. 36 hikes down and 24 to go!!! The weather is continuing to be toasty, so I am thinking about an evening hike for this week.  I guess this is how I will have to roll in order to continue hiking in this crazy hot weather. If you like to sweat, join in!