The Bridges to 400 - Day 28

  Today I passed the 400 mile mark, and a tour of the bridges along the way is interesting. There were a lot of these fiberglass bridges placed by Henry County where the trail had to cross the canal for various reasons. This one is really new- but laid on original stone abutments. There aren't even approaches yet, but I managed to climb up (and down).

This is Damascus Bridge which crosses the Maumee, so I only passed over the approach. This is an historic site. Kickapoo Indians occupied it from 1742 until their village was destroyed by General Anthony Wayne in 1794. In the early 1800s a trading post and sawmill were built here and named Damascus. There was a village on the opposite side of the river, and ferry service. With the canal on this side of the river, Damascus was the busier town. As was true so many places, the railroads were the downfall of canals, and the village disappeared. Only the name remains... attached to the bridge.

This is a bridge for the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad, sometimes known as Henry Ford's Railroad. He got tired of not being able to control the supply of materials to his factories, so he bought a rail line. Previously it was a wandering, mediocre line, but he made it profitable and then sold it to the Pennsylvania RR. Since it ran north-south, it intersected all the major east-west lines, providing Ford with products. The tracks are still in place on this section of railroad.

A bridge of sorts, a box culvert provides safe passage for hikers under a busy construction driveway.

Here is a abutment for another track of the DT&I RR, where the track has been removed. I love how design used to be important, as well as functionality.

A road brige took me over US 6, oddly empty.

The trail passes under this Industrial Drive bridge over the Maumee.

And here's a bridge over a canal feature. I believe this has to be an overflow gate for feeder water for the canal. You can just see the bridge across the top through the trees.

It was a very nice day for hiking with temperatures in the mid 40s, until 2 pm. Then I walked in rain and then snow for 1.5 hours. But I wasn't cold. The drive back to Marianne's was a little hairy in sloppy wet slush, but I made it.

Miles today: 16.4. Total so far this trip: 404.6.

Now for the bonus section! In, I believe, 2006, Ester and I came down here to spend a week on a work crew that was building new trail. What I walked today used to be a horrible, dangerous road walk. We worked on some of the pieces I walked today. This nice gentle curve around a culvert does not have a huge root to trip on.

That's because Ester and I dug it up!

And, here on the left, you might notice that at some time in the past this trail has been benched into the bank. I did that! It's so rewarding to come back years later and know that you helped make this real.

See Buckeye Blue