Sunday, November 25, 2012

Purrrrfect Ending

It was a party of six for the final two hikes and a beautiful fall day to boot! I was joined by Joe, Cheryl, Ryan, Morgan and Morgan's friend Chase. Our first destination was to Miami University Natural Areas Hiking Trails. We hiked 3.77 miles in about an hour and 20 minutes. You would think that having six of us on a hike that one of us would have noticed the trailhead as we walked past it at the onset of the hike, but not so much! I guess being part of a small crowd, we were more interested in socializing than thinking about the trailhead. After walking about a half a mile, I looked at the Endomondo map and compared it to the map in the book and I could then tell we were going in the wrong direction. We turned around and as we walked I read the narrative in the book and I had a pretty good idea of where we went wrong. As soon as you leave the parking lot, there is a bridge and right at the bridge's end there is a set of stairs that leads down to the trail. There was a small sign, but we all missed it. Wah wah wahhh! There is always a silver lining though. Before we got to the trailhead, we saw a really cool historic log cabin and some horses. There was one particular horse who I thought looked like Mr. Ed, but Cheryl mistakenly called a donkey. He didn't seem to like that much because he kept staring at her. I think it was her high-pitched voice, but she felt it was because she insulted him. This is a really nice trail with some fun landmarks. Just after we met up with one of the biggest fallen trees I've ever seen, we came to a creek crossing made of concrete posts. We haven't had any new members to the "Fall on Your Butt Club" in a long time and I wondered if this was our big chance. I took some pictures as everyone was crossing and then I followed up from behind. As I concentrated on my footing I heard Cheryl scream and when I looked up she was on the ground laughing with everyone standing around her. Poor Cheryl! She didn't fall on her butt, she fell on her face!!! She took quite a beating and had red marks later in the day to show for it. As always she was a good sport and started making jokes about being the first member of the "Fall on Your Face Club." There was a a nice sized pond and another creek crossing with a cool footbridge made with swinging ropes. I crossed that one first and took video of everyone else crossing. Pretty funny!

As soon as we finished our hike at Miami University, we headed to Governor Bebb Preserve to complete the final hike before dark. Upon arrival to the Pelewa trailhead we were greeted by an unexpected visitor of the feline variety, a cute little tabby cat. She hung out with us while we took pictures at the trail sign and then when we started hiking she followed right along. I found this so funny and unexpected. I was thinking how I could see a dog following us, but a cat? As we kept going I expected that she would take off on her own, but she never did. She followed right along. When we returned to the trail sign, the tabby laid down in the dirt right where we had started. It was her resting place after completing her tour guide duties. Very cute! This was a nice trail, but there wasn't much to it. A good portion of it was meadow trail and as the sun started to set the sky was pretty. I was grateful that we had the four legged creature to make the hike more interesting. We hiked 1.23 miles in 27 minutes.

After hiking we all went out to dinner to celebrate. It was fun talking about all of the different happenings over the months of hiking. It's kind of a strange feeling knowing that all 60 hikes are complete. When I went to fill in my tracking sheet with the final mileage and dates, I was sad that there weren't any names of trails left on the list! What I am excited about is that I have all of these great places that I know about now to hike. Also, I can go hike when I want, wherever I want. No longer dictated by specific places from the book.

I learned so many things about hiking and about myself from this adventure. I learned a lot about navigating trails, using modern technology tools, and how to dress for different kinds of weather. Blogging about this experience taught me a lot as well. Knowing I would blog about each trail heightened my awareness of everything I saw and everything that happened during each outing. I learned that a little more dust on the furniture isn't the end of the world! Taking time for myself still allowed me to get my work done and keep up with household chores.

Depak Chopra says, "Spending time in nature will give you access to infinite creativity, freedom, and bliss." Until I spent significant time in nature this year, I couldn't truly understand this statement. I think today we often get so caught up in our daily activities that we forget to stop and take in all of the beautiful things around us. Every time I went out for a hike, I was so far away from it all that I felt a feeling of renewal.

Hiking is a great way to spend time with friends and family. This was one of the greatest gifts of the 60 hikes.  I am eternally grateful to everyone who joined me for one hike or many hikes. Having other people to share in the adventures made the experience that much more fun.

I don't see this as the end of hiking for me or the end of my blogging about hiking. I'd like to write a post about hikes from the book I would recommend. I'd also like to write future posts about new hiking trails that I tackle that are not a part of the 60 Hikes book.

Some final stats:
60 hikes down with 0 hikes left!
Completed in 10 months and 18 days 
About 196.5 miles hiked
1704 page views of this blog from 10 countries
3 four-legged hikers (2 dogs + 1 cat)
Frogs - too many to count
Mileage on my car - don't want to count
Calories burned - lots
Calories consumed - probably more than burned between trail snacks, creamy whip stops, and Quaker Steak and Lube celebratory dinner

Thanks also to all of the readers of this blog! You inspired me to keep on hiking and keep on blogging!

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Snap! Crackle! Sniff!

As I set off today for my two final hikes of this adventure, it only seems appropriate to squeak in a quick blog post about the two hikes last weekend to Hardy Lake State Recreation Area and Pennywort Cliffs Nature Preserve. These hikes were over 100 miles from my house. Since I live just 20 minutes from downtown Cincinnati, I am still confused about how the "within 60 miles of Cincinnati" was established, but so be it. I have come this far, so we gassed up the car and headed on the road.

Hardy Lake State Recreation Area has a really nice trail. As we set off, it was unbelievable the thick layer of leaves on which we were walking. It was so loud, that if we wanted to say something to each other we either had to stop to say it or shout at each other. There were plenty of leaves on other hikes recently, but for some reason the dryness of them on this day made them extra loud, along with the crackling of twigs and branches we couldn't see under the layers of leaves. The first landmark that we reached was McClain Cemetery. The sign said that the oldest occupant is John McClain who was buried in 1770. There was a cement wall surround the graves that were so old you could read what many of them said. As we continued on the trail, we reached the lake. The scenery was beautiful on this sunny day. My favorite part of the trail was when it followed along the edge of a peninsula jutting out into the lake. We didn't realize how peaceful it was until we stopped to really appreciate the scenery. At this point after hiking about 2 miles both Joe and I agreed that between the snapping of the twigs, the loud crackling of the leaves and the sniffling from our noses due to fall allergies the sound was getting really annoying! After taking quite a few pictures we headed back to the car and on to find Pennywort Cliffs.

Here's what Tammy York writes in her book about Pennywort Cliffs Nature Preserve: "Finding the trailhead is an adventure in itself. It is easy to miss-repeatedly. The entrances to Pennywort are simple cut-ins through the standard overgrowth of edge species such as multiflora rose and poison ivy. This alone probably discourages less-adventurous hikers who would turn around and head for a trail system in a more civilized setting." Really, Tammy?  I travel over 100 miles to get to this trail and that's the best you can do within 60 miles of Cincinnati?  I am baffled, befuddled and bewildered by this choice. Let me just say that finding this trailhead was just as Tammy described and thankfully we were hiking in what was not poison ivy season, so we were probably more game. When we thought we found the trailhead, Joe said, "I don't care if you want to skip it." I said, "What? Skip it? I am three hikes away from my goal. I am not skipping this hike." We drove up and down the road like Tammy said would happen. Her landmark was "barns" which there was only one across from a gap in the woods that had a white sign that wasn't much bigger than a sheet of copy paper and was as white, with no printing on it. I had the sports tracker going so we could watch the trail. We decided we would hike until we felt like it got too hard to follow and then we would just turn around and travel back the way we came. As we hiked along on top of the leaves wondering if we were even on a trail, we came upon a picnic table which I told Joe was on her map, so I got out the sports tracker and compared the map in the book to the map on the sports tracker and sure enough they matched perfectly. I was shocked that we were actually on the trail. It felt like we were wandering through the woods. Finally we came upon a fork in the trail that didn't looked cleared and you could tell not traveled on frequently. We decided this was the point to head back the way we came. I was satisfied that we made at least an effort to tackle this location.

Between the two hikes we hiked over 4 miles in about an hour and a half of hiking time. I don't even want to think about the travel time. UGH!

Today I set out for hikes 59 and 60 with a band of merry hikers. The temperature is supposed to reach 60 degrees and be sunny. It's amazing the outstanding weather that has prevailed throughout this whole experience. I'm not sure how I'm feeling that we are completing this today, but I'm sure I'll be ready to write about it when it's all said and done.

58 hikes down and 2 hikes left!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

An Interesting First

On Sunday, November 4, I set off to tackle three of the seven hikes that remain. It took me about an hour and 40 minutes to travel 84 miles to Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge. I was hopeful after traveling that far that I would be rewarded with some awesome trails. When I entered the park there was a  large sign that said "Deer Hunting Today - Check In at Visitor's Center." I got a little butterfly twinge in my stomach at that point. Then, my stubborn inner self said, "I didn't drive this far to not get to hike today." So I proceeded. Previous to arrival I decided that I would start with the longest hike on the East River Trail that was supposed to be 3.6 miles long. I followed the directions in the book, but had no luck finding the trail head. As I drove back through the gravelly park roads, I decided I would hike one of the other trails and then head to the Visitor's Center to ask about the location of the East River Trail.

I got out of my car at the Richart Trail with my ears cocked. I was listening for the sound of gunshots. I don't know what I was expecting...to hear constant rapid gunfire? The sun was shining, the day was beautiful and I was ready to go. I took a picture of myself at the the kiosk because this is what we have done on almost all of the previous hikes. I'm glad no one happened by because I'm sure I looked pretty ridiculous. Richart Trail is 0.9 miles long. The beginning of the trail is mowed grass and it's still really green. It was amazing how quiet it was. You can really appreciate the solitude when you are hiking alone. And then my thoughts started to wander: What if the hunters are using bows and arrows? I really wouldn't hear them if that is the case. I started to make as much noise as I could with my feet as I walked. Silly! Some of the trail follows along one side of Richart Lake. There is a pretty gazebo with an overlook. I stopped to take some pictures and then hiked back along the trail to my car deciding that all was clear and I was letting my imagination run away with me.

Next stop was the Visitor's Center to ask about the trail head for the East River Trail. When I walked through the door I was greeted by two older ladies. One of them was doing some computer work and the other walked over to see how she could help. I told her I was looking for the trail head for the East River Trail. She said, "Oh that trail was closed a little over a year ago. It was just too hard to maintain." I said, "Well that's a first! I have hiked over 50 hikes this year and none of the other trails have been closed." I showed the ladies my book and they both congratulated me on my efforts. They asked me how many miles I've hiked this year and I told them that I've hiked over 180 miles. The greeter then told me that she used to volunteer on the trails and that she hiked 500 to 700 miles a year. WOW! I couldn't believe it! She then showed me some alternate trails in the park that I could hike, also warning me about which ones to stay clear of because of the bow hunting  for deer that was taking place in one area of the park. Then my little voice in my head said, "Next time, you WILL check the Visitor's Center first!"

All of the hikes were relatively short. I hiked the Chestnut Ridge Trail that was 0.5 miles. This trail is in the book. I replaced the closed East River Trail with hikes on the Turkey and Bird Trails (1.95 miles) and the Wood Duck Trail (0.64 mile). The trails were really flat and didn't present much of a challenge except that at times it was hard to follow the trail because almost all of the leaves are off the trees and are on the ground now.

Considering the time and distance traveled, I probably wouldn't head out to Muscatatuck Wildlife Refuge again, but the sun was shining, the solitude was rejuvenating, and the ladies at the Visitor's Center were interesting so it was a pleasant day.

56 hikes down and 4 to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!