Sheltowee Trace- Day 9- Lawful Evil

  You've seen those matrices of character motivations, right? I think at today's beginning we were probably Lawful Evil-- at best Chaotic Good.

We got off to a great start crossing the Red River again- this time on a nice pedestrian bridge.

Started up a 450-foot climb past Balanced Rock.

Uh-oh. Most of the climb is supposed to be up a stairway that goes to the top of the rock cliffs. Actually, this sign was at the other end. The one on this end said "Closed to Thru-Hiking." Now what?

First we tried a volunteer pathway that went along the base of the cliff to the left. It continued for almost a half mile until it ended. There was some scrambling involved, but it seemed promising until it didn't. With the electronic maps we knew exactly where we were and thought if we could get to a saddle point where there was a break in the cliff we could get up to the trail we wanted. But the vegetation got thick and unwelcoming so we abandoned that idea and went all the way back to the stairway.

Then we went back down lower (a hiker never wants to give up elevation gained) and tried to bushwhack the other direction to find the red line on the FarOut map. Well, we got ourselves on the line, but there wasn't even a volunteer trail and it was just going to take us back along the same edge of the cliffs.

Bill read some of the comments in the FarOut app and they all said some variation of "just take the closed trail." So we became evil lawbreakers and went over the barrier. Needed to get up there somehow!

Well, nobody said it was going to be easy! We finally made it to the top. Only took us about 2 miles of hiking and an hour-and-a-half to cover this mile of trail!

But once we were at the top we joined the Sand Gap Trail- an easy ridge walk. This took us over the top of Whites Branch Arch. So we didn't see the arch, but this has to be the top of it, called The Narrows.

That became an ATV trail, but it wasn't all torn up so easy walking. Then we joined roads for the rest of the day and came down off the ridge. Road walks give you a chance to use your imagination. This looked like a horse coming out to meet us.

And we found a big stone frog staring at us with his front feet tucked under him.

One thing that surprised us was how high up in the hiils there was evidence of farming with fences and gates. These goats do seem like a better choice than cows might be.

Another fun find was this praying mantis. I don't think I've ever seen one quite this color, but apparently they can turn gray when molting.

Once we got up to the top of the bluff, the hiking for the rest of the day was easy. We especially liked the Sand Gap Trail part.

Miles walked in 2026: 423.6
Miles hiked on Sheltowee Trace: 96.9

Sheltowee Trace, KY. Natural Bridge TH to Combs Cemetery Rd, and some bushwhacking. 13.4 miles (about 1 mile not ST)

See Day Off- SkyBridge

Buckeye Trail Completion, Day 3

 

Day three, Sunday April 23, was sunny but not hot. Our campsite was positioned perfectly along the trail, so we only had to drive a car to our starting location and walk back to camp. And then go retrieve the other car, of course.

We see a lot of the tiger swallowtails on our hikes, but they are always good for a picture. The scourge of the hike was autumn olive, in full bloom, but the butterfly seems to like it.



I know Ohio is the Buckeye State, and we did see plenty of buckeye trees, but sycamore also says Ohio to me. Here's a beauty.



Our early miles took us over a ridge with more of those great farm country views.



And the residents of the farms are always good for some fun. The sheep watched us with interest.



But the goats were more curious, although they didn't think we were interesting enough to stand up for. We thought this trio was especially funny. It would need a video, but the two goats that make bookends hardly moved a muscle. The one behind bars kept poking her head in and out and definitely wanting to escape. Just after I took the picture, another one, a color match for the two lying down peeked around the corner of the shed.



Horses are almost always curious about us.



After these 2.5 road miles, we entered AEP land (the reclaimed mining lands). There are 26 continuous miles of off-road foot trail here, quite a long stretch for the Buckeye Trail. Most off-road sections are multi-use, and often paved. It was nice to have so many miles in the woods.



We reached our campsite at 3 pm, and did some hill driving on the way to get the other car. The view from the top of Cobb Hill Road was impressive, and I put two pictures into a panorama. This gives a better sense of what we were seeing while we walked instead of the standard size pictures.



Miles for the day: 9. Total so far this trip: 26.1. Belle Valley, points 26-30.

(Oh yeah, there was the usual piece of missing trail. This time, quite a big piece. A new gas pipeline is being installed and the trail was bulldozed and filled with brush piles. To go around overland required pushing through autumn olive groves. So we went back to an access road and walked out to a real road to rejoin the trail at the bottom of the hill. At least it wasn't long or hard to figure out what to do.)

	See Day 2
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More of Sylvia's Neighbors

 
Although the lambs were the big hit of the walk Sylvia and I took on Monday, we were surely entertained by other neighbors of hers.

I'll present them in the order we met them. First, the very friendly goats who came right over and demanded grass from the other side of the fence. We complied.



Next were the cows. They weren't all that interested in us, but the calf was a little curious.



Oddly enough, the horse was also uninterested.



The black sheep of this family sure didn't think of himself as an outcast.



And his little white goat buddy decided to walk with us till he ran out of pasture.



The sky was blue and there was almost no snow that day. Chuck says they are now all white again. We sure are here! But who knew that I'd only have to go a few miles south of me to have a mini-spring vacation. It was great!

I got extra work hours tomorrow, so I'm going to bed early after I make a salad. We have a party tomorrow too.

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Where Are the Treats?!

 
Oh! Hello. It's a human we don't know. That's ok, maybe it has treats.



How about treats for my brother?



Treats for my cute little sister?



What do you mean, you didn't bring any?



I'm serious, strange human, WHERE ARE THE TREATS?

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A Goat of Every Color

 
Out working today, and I passed a field of goats. Of course I thought of Pricilla.



Of course I had to stop for pictures. It was a back road where there weren't going to be any traffic problems. We had a little black goat. She was reserved.



We had a little white goat who was curious, and looks like she has a wonderful sense of humor.



And then, we had the little dappled goat. She was clearly the pet. She came immediately to the fence and wanted her ears scratched and her nose tickled, and probably treats. But I didn't have any. So sorry, little cutie pie!



I'm still smiling from this close encounter of the goat kind.

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More Farm Fun

 
These were not all taken on the same day, and they are from several locations, but I've created a collection to keep Old McDonald happy.

First we have the friendly pony.



Followed by the longhorn steer. I took this one from a distance, not wanting to find out how friendly the beast attached to the horns is. But he sure has pretty markings.



This little girl was clearly a pet. She maaaaed enough to make Priscilla happy, and thought I should have had food in my pockets.



What is there to say about chickens? They are funny, that's for sure. One of them kept barking, making me think there was a little dog nearby. Figure that one out.



Next we have a black "runner" duck. Ducks like this are more often seen in Europe (so I read), and they don't fly.



Two of these critters get a second shot. The goat was clearly peeved that no treats were forthcoming.



And the black duck. I really like these upright ducks. I used the picture above to show its usual posture in the best way. But I think this is a nicer picture of the two ducks, who are clearly friends.



I wouldn't mind having a few farm animals. The problem is, I'd have to stay home. My terminal wanderlust and animals are not compatible.

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I Had a Following

This happened a couple of weeks ago, but I forgot to use it in a post. Sorting pictures today reminded me and it is still good for a big smile. At one place where I wasn't taking pictures (hoping to get directions to a place I couldn't find- it turned out they gave me the wrong address), no one was home. Well, no human was home. I walked into the yard (had parked a fair distance away through the woods on a driveway that looked promising, but wasn't). I was greeted immediately.


These mixed friends are clearly well-loved, hand fed, and expect all humans to deliver. I was quickly surrounded. Multiple goats and chickens, but only the one duck.


Interestingly, the duck is one of those European kinds that walks very upright. It was quite adorable.

They followed me down the driveway. I was getting a little worried- not wanting to lead them into mischief in the road. They followed me through the woods all the way to my car! Not good. I finally started throwing sticks at them to encourage them to go back to their own yard. I hate doing stuff like that, but talking to them in a friendly way only made them come closer. I would have been happy to be nice and make their acquaintance, but they needed to go home!

They seemed a bit like the musicians of Bremen.

My animal encounter today wasn't so good. I got nabbed by a little Jack Russell terrier. Ruined shirt and pants and a blood blister that smarts, but he didn't break the skin.

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