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

Arrived at Salt Fork

  I am at the Trail Fest at Salt Fork State Park, Ohio, and all is well. Bill and Bob are in the Lyme Lounge (Bill's camper), Diane has the aqua tent, and I'm the orange one. Arrived in time to get it up before the rain started. Not serious rain... it would be nice if it stayed that way.

I did miss dinner, but they saved me a container. So, I got to eat about a half hour ago. Bill checked me in, but I signed up for the wrong hike, so I hope they let me change that. It doesn't return until 4 pm and I have something else I have to do in the afternoon.

Working backwards on the day... the closer I got the more iffy the weather looked. Here's a storm cloud coming in over the hills we are camping in. The car got a brief but nice bath.

The bulk of the day was spent dealing with this. The picture is after I threw the ruined tire back in the car. So you can see I did not exaggerate about shredded. The wheel was OK. Thank goodness for that.

I will not expound on the day. Bill and Diane got to listen to me rant on the phone quite a bit. Bill made the mistake of calling me at the apex of my irritation. It was not one of Joan's better attitude days. However, I have 4 new matching tires of the right size which are hopefully a step or two above crap (jury is still out on that). And I was able to make it to the Trail Fest yet today. Finally left Toledo area at 3:30 pm.

I have not missed an annual Conference, Celebration, Trail Fest or whatever other name it has gone by since 1995, and I wasn't going to miss this year's because of a stupid tire problem.

And now I am going to stop and go to bed.

See At Mariannes's

At Marianne's

 I think you are just going to get one picture. I am safely at Marianne's for the night, but not without one little adventure.

First of all I left home 4.5 hours later than I wanted to. OK, that's not too bad for me. But it did meant that I wouldn't quite make it to Marianne's before dark.

So, I'm under 10 miles from her place and one of my tires decides to expire. Not just go flat... it shredded. Now, I'm on the side of a 4 lane highway in the dark. I can see the Welcome to Ohio sign from where I am. But... what town should I call for service? And should I choose Michigan or Ohio? Didn't matter. The only numbers Google would give me were 800 numbers that just dispatch someone to wherever.

However, the guy I got spoke Spanglish so bad I couldn't understand him. When I finally figured out what he was saying, they can't take you anywhere unless you know where you want to go. What? I'm on a trip... I have no idea what places are in the area.

I called 911 thinking they might at least give me a couple of local numbers. I explained that there had not been an accident, and there was no health emergency, but I couldn't seem to get assistance. They said they would send someone, but wanted to know the address of where I was. Now, this seems odd to me. Last time I called 911 in a much more rural area, and I tried to tell them where I was, they said they just pulled the coordinates from my phone. So they can't do that in the greater metro Detroit-Toledo area? Weird.

But, it was easy to explain where I was. Southbound on US 23, right at the state line. I could literally see the sign. I offered to give them the coordinates, but they said they'd find me.

OK, let's clarify something. I know how to change a tire. But I wasn't interested in doing so in the dark on the edge of a busy highway. I am aware of way too many people who have died that way.

A huge SUV with flasher-flinger blue and red and white lights pulls up. I couldn't see a thing, but the guy finally comes far enough away that I could tell it was a Sheriff deputy.

Can you believe it!!!! He changed the tire. I had emptied the back of the car and gotten the tire out while I was waiting for them to come. Of course the car is loaded for a month of camping, right. But I succeeded. He said, "We don't usually do this..." Maybe looking like a little old lady was good for something tonight.

With the lights from his vehicle, we could see what we were doing, and the flashers kept traffic away from the edge of the road.

Anyway, I got to Marianne's an hour later than expected, and then we chatted for a while.

I'll deal with the tire in the morning. I hope I didn't ruin the wheel.

See On the Way to the Train

2026- Rock Garden Report #3

 There hasn't been a full rock garden report since May! Somehow, it wasn't a great year, although things are filling in quite nicely. I haven't weeded a third time, and that's not going to happen at all unless the weather is still cooperative in late October.

This angle made a nice-looking view today, though.

I'm not sure if it was the heat or what. I thought I was doing a good job of watering regurlarly when it didn't rain, but anyway, some of the sedums have nice blooms. This is 'Dazzleberry.'

'Coraljade'- one of my favorites because it changes a lot over the season.

This one was new last year, and I'm also happy with it. 'Oriental Dancer.' It's spread quite a bit.

Here's the one from friend Margaret that seems to be reliable. The tall sedums are mostly renamed as Hylotelephium. I think this is 'Rosenteller.'

Perhaps the best looking one this year is 'Vera Jameson,' from my friend Betty.

This is not rock garden, but the Coleus have held their own, and certainly look better than nothing in that part of the front bed.

This has been a fast, no-frills report, but I'm in flat-out panic mode now. I was doing well, but several things this morning took way longer than I expected, and now I'm in a rush. And it looks like I'll have to pack the car in the rain in the morning. O well.

In other news: errands all morning, including a chance for a short visit with my friend Betty who has had some serious health concerns this year. None of us is getting younger.

I finished the mowing in a light drizzle. I finished one of my major projects, and am within an hour of finishing the other one.

All the stuff to go in the car is in the middle of the kitchen, but it is not packed or organized yet. And there are a couple of things I have not been able to find. Not so happy about that. Nevertheless, I will leave mid-day tomorrow!

See 2026- Rock Garden Report #2

Reptiles, Living History, Kayak, Rock, Arch

 September 21, 2019. On this day we did a couple of touristy things, but two of them pretty much happened by accident. Perhaps you can tell from the title that we packed the day full.

The first one was purposeful. We went to a museum that had reptiles of Kentucky. It was pretty interesting, but most of the critters weren't labeled. You know how I feel about that. These might be a red-eared sliders.

Then we happened to stumble on a living history day. This was really interesting. It was at a reconstructed log house at Gladie. There were all kinds of displays of historic crafts, and lots of Native American crafts as well. Kids got to start a fire without matches, try their hands at grinding corn by hand, etc.

Here are some woven mats.

This is the interior of the Gladie Cabin. The event was huge, and free to the public. We could have stayed much longer, but...

We had stumbled on this opportunity the day before, and even though it was pricey, we decided that would be our big splurge. This is a kayak tour through an old limestone mine, all underground.

The day was fading, but that was perfect to visit Chimney Top Rock because the late light was hitting it nicely. This was only a short walk from the car.

And... we still had time to squeeze in one more arch, another very short walk. This one is Princess Arch.

You can never say that we don't know how to pack a day!

This will end my series on Kentucky for now. We hiked one more day on interesting trails, but nothing as spectacular, and visited a couple of places on the way home.

I think tomorrow I'll share the end of season garden goodies, and then I'll be on my way on Wednesday!

In news at home: I am within sight of completing the two big paperwork/computer projects! Errands, laundry, mowed (just one more piece to go tomorrow), some dealing with plants because it will certainly frost once or twice before I get home, some packing (that's also almost done but is awaiting a few odds and ends). I also got to spend about an hour with Cathy. Her girls are all there and are acting as gatekeepers because all kinds of people want to come by and help do something. Doug was much loved in the community. But Bekah let me know that Cathy would like to see me before I left. She's doing as well as can be expected.

See Auxier Ridge Trail