Bad Plant, Good Pictures

 
Here's a fairly common plant that everyone should learn to identify. It's poison hemlock, Conium maculatum. Yes, this is the hemlock that caused Socrates death.

It looks similar to wild carrot, but with a little careful observation you won't confuse the two.



For one thing, this is much taller than the carrot (Queen Anne's Lace) when it blooms. These are just in bud, but they are about five feet tall. You should be looking at those tall stems with ferny leaves in the foreground. "In the foreground" is a bit troublesome to me. These were growing right beside a rail-trail, and it seems to me this plant is dangerous enough that the management authority should be killing it.

The leaves of poison hemlock are dark green and very fern-like. In fact, in the spring it comes up in a clump that looks very much like a fern.



Here's one difference you can't miss. These stems get big and woody, and they are splotched with purple...maculate. What? You don't know that word? Sure you do. It's the opposite of immaculate, which means clean. (I know what it means even if my house never gets to that state.)



It will get a large umbel of white flowers, just like the Queen Anne's Lace, and all the other carrot relatives. This one is just forming the head of buds.



So many important food plants are in this family, the Umbelliferae (or Apiaceae): anise, carrot, celery, caraway, fennel, dill, parsley, parsnip, to name a few. But you sure don't want to mess with this one. A lot of plants get labeled poisonous that can give you a stomach ache, or diarrhea, and those aren't good. But this one is the real deal. Get the juice on your hands, and lick a finger, and it can kill you.

It likes poor or disturbed soil. It's often one of the first plants to grow up around construction sites. You're welcome.

	See Whimsy
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Whimsy

 
One of the most fun parts of hikes like this is discovering little jokes that are less likely to be seen in the woods.

Who could resist a chuckle at this mailbox?



This was perhaps our favorite.



Some homeowner had to use concrete to repair a section of sidewalk that was no longer level. So, rather than just make a boring flat ramp, he or she embedded goodies. I wonder if there is a secret message.



And just to prove that fun is where you find it, here's a nifty shadow of some grasses. Where did we see this, you ask? Inside a porta-potty, of course.



And commercial displays can even add to the fun. This restaurant had a welcoming lobster.

	See Ohio Ground Cover
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Ohio Ground Cover

 
There's one thing you'll never have a shortage of in Ohio in the summer.



At least the label got it right. Marie and I are both highly allergic to urushiol (the oil in poison ivy). Over the years we've learned how to deal with this menace that threatens to reach out and grab not only our ankles, but arms, shoulders and neck.

It's so verdant in Ohio that we've nicknamed it the Ohio Ground Cover. Road walks are pretty good sometimes. At least you don't have to watch out for the PI unless you get off into the green stuff.



How do we deal with it? We've learned that urushiol breaks down quickly in plain old water. Skip all the fancy products made to wash with. Skip the Fels Naphtha soap. Just make sure that you get everything that touched it wet within a couple of hours of contact.

That meant that almost every day as soon as we were done hiking we headed to a beach on some small lake and waded in to our thighs. Yes, with boots/shoes and clothes on. We took our hiking sticks in too. We leaned over and washed faces, necks, hands and arms.

Permanently wet feet are tolerable. Poison Ivy that requires medical care is not.

Did it work? Sure enough. Marie got a mild case on her chin, and I have a few dots on the tops of my toes. That is all. If you don't consider this a success, you don't understand. With the quantities of poison ivy we walked through it's a wonder we both didn't end up in the Emergency Room.

The advantage, if you can call it that, of hiking Ohio in the summer rather than spring is that you can see the dastardly green stuff. In early spring it may be just coming up and doesn't even have leaves yet, but can deliver a real punch if you walk through the tiny stems.

Anyway, although we enjoyed the foot trail sections, we are not really sad that a lot of the Buckeye Trail is on roads and wide multi-use trails.

	See Up! Or Not
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Up! Or Not

 
Day one... we walked to a nearby McDonald's to get dollar sundaes, and on the way back we looked up. Good thing the hot air balloons were higher than they looked. No crashes or entanglement in wires occurred.



Toward the end of the hike, we approached this large blue building. Do you know what it is?



It's the hanger for one of the Goodyear Blimps. This one is "The Spirit of Goodyear."



The map/guide said hikers might get to see it if they were lucky. We were lucky! We didn't see it take off or land, or even in the air, but we watched it move with the breeze on its mooring and took pictures. They were preparing it for a trip somewhere because it had a convoy of trucks and company vehicles lined up ready to move out.

In this shot you can see the light grid on the side that they use to spell messages.



Apparently this hanger is also the home/construction site of a new breed of blimp we did not see, a semi-rigid airship. You can watch a time lapse of that project- Building Wingfoot One. The hanger is located on Wingfoot Lake. I'm guessing the lake was named for the Goodyear logo.

Once, long ago, our family had a reservation to take a ride in the one based in Florida (there's also one in California). But the flight was cancelled because of strong winds. So close! It was neat to see this one.

	See New Friends
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New Friends

 
One thing about hiking where you are spending time on roads is that you are likely to interact with people. We got to know two couples well enough that we might keep in touch.

Our first day we went to the house next to the driveway to our campsite. We weren't sure if the site was private, provided by the landowner, or public. We learned it was public, but the couple who live next door do some volunteer maintenance. We ended up visiting with Theresa and Ron many of the days we were there. They were often out working or sometimes taking a break at their picnic table when we "came home."



They've spent years creating a beautiful landscape around their house with a large pond, waterfall, barns, flower gardens and rockscapes. They are folks who just enjoy country life. Two horses, four goats, Patch the dog, several cats, and a pond full of "koip"- Theresa's nickname for fish that are half koi half carp. Ron likes to tinker with machines, and Theresa gardens and quilts in the winter. Nice folks. You'll see their beautiful horses here eventually.



Another day, we were just putting out one of the cars, and the head and shoulders of a serious hiker with walking sticks and a backpack appeared over a rise in the road. Soon the rest of him came into view and, of course, we had to stop him to visit and ask what he was doing. He was keeping in shape to soon return to the Appalachian Trail to finish a thru-hike he's doing there to support Parkinson's Research. His name is Don Havener. His wife Kathie supports him with a mini RV.

Later that day we stopped at his home (per his suggestion) and visited some more. You can see his blog at Gen524



Marie likes visiting with random people more than I do, but these two encounters will remain with me. Nice folks. Amazing how you can usually find some if you take advantage of opportunities.

	See Flowers Large and Small
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