New hiker friend, Roxanna, gave Denali and me these patches today which were designed by her Girl Scout Troop. The girls decided we should each have one.
We started with 5.8 miles of off-road trail. It was pretty tough going. Lots of trees down in this section. I think it would be a nice section to walk if we hadn't had to work so hard.
Then we did some road walk, and saw this caboose at Murray City. Some of you know I'm a railfan, but I was not familiar with this line. It was a branch of the Hocking Valley RR. This was a huge coal area in the 1800s and early 1900s. In fact, some of what we walked today is area that was previously strip mined. The Snow Fork Line roughly follows Snow Fork (creek) north of Athens.
Murray City's other claim to fame or infamy is that it is where one of the perpetually burning underground fires is found. The coal seam will continue to burn until it is depleted. This fire has undermined buildings and roads, and vents foul-smelling smoke through cracks in the earth. We did not pass one that we know of.
We ended the day with two animal encounters. This beautiful horse really wanted us to come pay it some attention.
And then we saw this deer at the far edge of a small field. It was not moving a muscle. In fact, I had decided it was a target practice dummy because it stood still for so long. Then it bounded off into the woods!
Didn't break 1000, but we worked really hard for what we did get.
Miles today: 12.2. Total miles so far: 999.1.
Tomorrow we are moving the trailer to a new place, and not hiking. It's supposed to rain all day long. We've sure enjoyed our time here with Jeff and Kathy.
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6 comments:
Nice patches. Yes, the two of you definitely deserve those.
Interesting about the underground fires.
I hiked with a group of younger people maybe 10 or 15 years ago. After driving from my home to meet them in Highland County I was already exhausted. Then it was a quick hike with a very quick lunch along the trail and continuing a brisk hike. I told them to go ahead without me because I wanted a more leisurely hike, but one refused and decided to encourage me. I told her that I had hiked the trail previously and just wanted some rest but she insisted we could keep going. I felt very uncomfortable holding them back and did not like their patronizing words about how well elderly people can hike (I was in my 50's at the time). Now I hike only with people who can put up with my low-energy needs.
Ann- thanks!
Diana- "elderly"- ha!
Joan, I have forwarded this blog to several friends in the Facebook HikeMoCo group. I love it so much!!! The folks I forwarded it to regularly stride away and leave me in the dust. Cathy, Jannily, Susan - you know who you are!!!!
Hi Joan! Been offline for a while, so catching up on your progress. Love those patches. Always a treat to come across a caboose, and the part about the underground fires is really interesting. Hike on! April
Hi Texas- cool- thanks!
April- so much to learn
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