Sheltowee Trace- Day 1

 Bill and I were hiking at 8:09 this morning. That was awesome. It didn't heat up badly until after 2 pm. Here we are at the Northern Terminus.

OUr very first blaze of this hike! The trail is blazed pretty much adequately. Here it's nail-up blazes like this one and some arrows. The treadway was about half packed earth, and half loose rock. The footing on that can be difficult. Things are really dry. We would have had wet feet most of the day, but none of the stream crossings had any water.

A lovely Frittalary on some Wingstem flowers. Not going to look up what kind- I'm fading fast.

We started with a climb. Then we were up on a ridge for most of the day. The afternoon had a big down, then an up and down, and one final up. Not many views from the ridge though. This is the best I could get.

When we crossed one of the creeks (sorry, I'm not going to look that up either. Maybe I'll do a better job another day) there was this swinging bridge. Kind of fun, kind of weird. It does swing.

Up to the top of the next ridge. Shades of North Dakota- we shared the space with some cows. Of course you know I'll compare this to the NCT. The poison ivy is like Ohio. It hangs off the trees in an attempt to grab you. The loose rock is like New York.

We took the requisite selfie at the beginning. It's so wonderful to have Diane to take care of us. She had food ready pretty much when we got back to camp. She does a lot of the details that chew up time away from hiking. And she says she's having fun being with us.

The part that's pure Kentucky? We got in seed ticks again, like in 2019. This time I knew what had happened right away and proactively worked hard to get the little nasties off. Last time, they made me sick. But I think we acted fast enough and have the situation under control.

The temperature, depending on the thermometer made it to something between 87 and 92. Hot, very hot. I was strugging a bit the last 1.5 miles, but I made it. And the mileage... the trail wasn't exactly on the line in the FarOut app in a couple of places. The official mileage was 13.8. Bill's tracker said 14.2, but I thiink I'll stick with the 13.8.

Miles walked in 2026: 337.6
Miles walked on the Sheltowee Trace this trip: 13.8

Sheltowee Trace, Northern Terminus to Rt 799. 13.8 miles

See Three Amigos Roughing It

Three Amigos Roughing It

 We three are getting very comfortable with working together in camp. (Diane, Bill, me)

Today was all about reorganizing the stuff and getting ready to hike tomorrow. Of course that included some errands in town, so you can see how hard we roughed it. (Not much). We picked up a roasted chicken and a bag of salad with chocolate for dessert.

We have those who would like us to share our dinner.

There are four of them, and they come right up to the table. One looks older and three are young and skinny. We are trying to be really careful about the tents and car doors. Diane got a picture of one of them begging.

The larger visitors aren't very worried about people either. This is right next to our campsite.

Tomorrow we hike. We checked out the trailheads and are all packed up! Hoping to be out at the crack of dawn.

See To Kentucky

To Kentucky

 Today was mostly travel. We did a load of laundry at the park where we were because they had reasonably priced washer and dryer in the showerhouse!

Then we hit the road! Crossed the Ohio River 3 times as the interstate swings into West Virginia, back to Ohio, and then finally into Kentucky. Here's the middle of the three bridges.

We drove right along the Ohio River for part of the way. This was the best picture I could get from the car.

We stopped at a Denny's for lunch. That was a nice break from camp food. We did have dinners at the Trail Fest, and they were good, but this was just a nice stop.

We stopped to replenish supplies at a store, which Bill and Diane did while I drove to make sure we could leave a vehicle at the end point for hiking day 1. It will work fine. The Sheltowee blaze is a turtle, but this is the National Recreation Trail sign.

We arrived at our campground home for the next few days on Cave Run Lake. We have sites right across from each other. Two tents and a trailer. That's us.

OK, it's dark and the skeeters are out. Tomorrow is a day off to reorganize our gear and our brains. Hiking starts Tuesday. It's going to be a brutally hot week, so we're working on a plan to try to hike early in the day.

Gotta go. I'm being chewed!

See Ohio Trail Fest- Saturday

Ohio Trail Fest- Saturday

  Last day of the Trail Fest in Ohio. Started with a hike to two locations of interest within the park. There was also a good place to get a picture of the actual reservoir- Salt Fork Lake.

We walked to a shelf cave called Hosak's Cave that has a little waterfall flowing over the top. Well, it's not TOO small- probably 25 feet high.

The other place is Stone House. This was built in 1840 and belonged to one family until it was sold to the state when the reservoir was built in the 1960s. It's made from blocks of local sandstone.

In the afternoon, I attended a workshop about the American Chestnut that was very interesting. I learned some stuff. Then I got in on the second half of another workshop about land protection.

Next up, the Buckeye Trail recognized those who finished hiking the entire 1440 miles of that trail this year.

And I gave a short presentation about the Long-Distance Hiker Recognition program for the North Country Trail.

Then we finally had dinner! Tacos and stuff. After that was the actual awards program. Organizations such as the NCTA and BTA depend strongly on volunteers and giving them recognition is a big part of keeping that morale up. One thing the BTA does is to give out scholarships. You may remember that I stayed with a family in the Dayton area on my big hike.

Their oldest daughter, Oakley, won one of the scholarships!

It has been a whirlwind of activity. Nearly everyone knows me, and I do nonstop talking, hugging, joking, and answering questions at these events. Great stuff, but exhausting.

Now, I'm going to bed!

Miles walked in 2026: 323.8

See Ohio Trail Fest-Friday

Ohio Trail Fest- Friday

 Started the day with the longest hike that is offered. It was about 7.75 miles total with 5.25 of them being Buckeye/North Country Trail, and the rest a connection to loop back to the cars. It was hilly, muddy, humid and buggy. Perfect! There was a pretty good sized group, but I didn't get any pictures that show how many.

We took a snack break at one point where there were fewer bugs. The two younger women were our hike leaders. And Juki the pup.

I had a lot of trouble identifying where exactly we were. I didn't realize the BT maps weren't installed on this phone. (They are now.) But I think this is Salt Fork Creek.

One couple that was on the hike were Kim and Bob Rosatti from New York. Bob is the volunteer who has taken over Mary Coffin's role in trying to complete trail through the Adirondacks. Between him and Will Brazill- the NY/VT Regional Trail coordinator that Bill and I met last year things are really coming together.

In the afternoon, I attended one of the workshops on some Ohio history. I didn't know that Salt Fork State Park is the largest SP in Ohio.

Then I had to finish my presentation for tomorrow on the Long-Distance Hiker program. Got that done!

Nice short talk by Mary Mertz the Director of the Ohio State Parks. She really supports the Buckeye and North Country Trails.

After dinner, they showed an award-winning movie called Ohio- Wild at Heart that was really beautiful and worthy of awards.

There was a campfire after that with Bigfoot stories. I skipped that. I'm pretty overwhelmed with people stuff. All good, but I think I'm at my limit for the day. Back in the tent.

Milies walked in 2026: 319.8
NCT miles hiked in 2026: 128

See Arrived at Salt Fork