Christmas with Marianne - Day 25

  When I arrived back at Marianne's after hiking yesterday, Sunny had sprouted Christmas lights. What fun! (I finished hiking before dark, but the picture is better this way.)

The way to the bathroom was blue blazed! Just for fun- I've been here before and knew my way around.

Here we are, Marianne and me!

It was 55 degrees outside! Very strange Christmas. We were walking around in our jammies and bare feet.

We opened presents with her boys and the girlfriend of one of them. They gave me another stocking full of hiker gifts- little snacks and chapstick and shoelaces! Then Marianne served a simple, but very nice dinner.

One of the things I have wondered about this year was if I'd get to missing other activities. Well, I won't miss puzzles! This is the 5th puzzle I've done since I left home. (One with Monica and Keira, 3 with Sue, and now 1 with Marianne). Marianne was kind enough to share the assembly of her Christmas puzzle with me. It's a collection of Smokey the Bear posters. Yes, we finished it before I blogged.

One other joke I should report- the church web site said their service was at 8 pm last night. We got there at 7:50... just in time for the final song! I had said I was concerned about staying awake for the service. Well, I had no problem. I stayed awake until the end.

I think I'm rejeuvenated, and ready to hike in the morning. I'll be one of the first to hike a new reroute in this part of Ohio. See you tomorrow.

See NORTA with Bill

NORTA with Bill - Day 24

  More Wabash Cannonball Trail today. Bill hiked with me all day. We went past the NORTA headquarters. This is Northwestern Ohio Rails-to-Trails Association. Bill is holding a pheasant feather he found.

Although we were hiking in a defunct rail corrider, there is a highly active double track line close by. We saw several trains. You know I'm always happy about that.

As we passed Wauseon, we entered the Gene Markley Corridor of the trail. I wish I could find a picture of Gene on line. I have a nice one at home. He was one of the early volunteers with NORTA and was a great supporter of the North Country Trail. He was a big guy, who carried a tiny Jack Russell terrier around on his shoulder.

This picture was on an interpretive kiosk. I took a picture of the picture. Gene was killed in an auto accident. I believe this is his wife nailing up one of the signs on the stretch named for him.

In the category of natural features, this is a patch of beautyberry far outside its natural range. I found some this summer that had been planted in eastern Michigan that was surviving, and now this patch. I suspect it escaped from a garden, but it's apparently surprisingly hardy.

And, it's always amusing to come across folk art. This fish was made from scrap metal on the side of a shed (private) along the trail.

These pigs were advertising a pottery business. Pretty cute!

Bill and I knocked off 15 miles at a pretty good pace. The weather was in the 50s, and the wind wasn't frigid. Amazing day-before-Christmas hike.

Miles today: 15.1 Total miles so far 356.

See Phantom Flashing

Phantom Flashing - Day 23

  Today, I headed east on the Wabash Cannonball Trail. I have not previously hiked any of this. It was not even part of the NCT when I did my first hike through here. I sampled a tiny piece a few years later, but not where I was today. Obviously (I hope) this is a rail trail. It does have a more natural surface than asphalt. Most is packed cinders.

This new bridge labeled Stoner's Crossing is right at the beginning of the trail in West Unity.

And some of the historic bridges are still in place, like this one over the Tiffin River.

But here's the weirdness. At one of the first road crossings, far in the distance I could see flashes of light. They were so bright, and in sets, that it looked like someone was using a mirror to send Morse Code signals. In another few seconds, the lights were even brighter, and bobbing, and I thought there was an illegal vehicle coming toward me on the trail.

Then I thought there must be a hiker ahead of me with something shiny on the back of his or her pack that was catching the sunlight (there was some intermittent sun). This was my best guess for quite a while, because I never seemed to get any closer to what was flashing. A few times, I thought it was a loose piece of metal on a post blowing in the wind, but I never got to it.

The flashing stopped, and then it started again, but only a few times. I zoomed the camera far into the distance, and captured this glowing blue spot. By now, I was just making up stories. A phantom train? Some kind of magical stone that was leading me deeper into the forest, never to emerge?

The flashes stopped for a long time, and then there were just a couple more. By now, I was beginning to suspect why I could never reach the source of the flashing. The crossroads were at just a tiny angle to the trail, and the sun was catching windshields or white side panels of trucks as they zipped by the opening in the trees at the trail crossings.

I was seeing these flashes as much as two miles ahead! But what was the glowing blue light?

The sky!

And what about that pointy thing that looks like a blue flame or a glowing crystal? A barn- also seen from more than 2 miles away.

After the trail got east of the little burg of Elmira it was more open, but this lovely avenue is the approach to Elmira. I'm sure it looked nothing like this when the train was actually running.

I also crossed to the south of the Ohio Turnpike today. This is I-80 and I-90. I'll be south of I-80 until part way across Pennsylvania, and I won't cross I-90 again until I get east of Syracuse, NY!

Enjoy a pretty fungus.

We also moved the trailer today, and Sue went home until March. She really got the routine down pat, and she's a good friend. I'll miss her. I'll have a new helper join me in a few days, for a few days. Meanwhile, I'm on my own. I'm now at trailer stop number five. I'm so bad... I did not get a picture of the trailer at #4, or of my hosts, Nikki and her husband. Bummer. I'll try to do better.

We had a little trail magic today, as backpackers Troy and Sandy Carpenter let us park the trailer in their driveway for the day at Alvordton, so we didn't have to drive all the way back to Jonesville to get it after I hiked.

Miles today: 15.4. Total this trip: 340.9.

See To Ohio, with Buddy?

To Ohio, with Buddy? - Day 22

  The sky was beautiful all day long. Sue actually got a much better picture than this, but you can take my word for it.

True to every time I've been there, these southernmost miles of Michigan were a wind proving ground with nothing to mitigate the blasts. Even the corn fields were reduced to stubble. There was snow just long enough to demonstrate that the wind was blowing it horizontally at 30 degrees and about 15 mph. Brrr.

But we made it to the famous sign at the border.

Sue played hopscotch with me so I could take my breaks in a car out of the wind. In between, she visited geocaches. There were quite a few along the route.

We parked near the sign to eat lunch, and Sue surprised me by going out of her way to get a whole tub of buckeye candies. Yum! No, we did not eat all these or give any to the dogs despite how interested Sophie looks. But we did have a few!

Just another half mile and here's the proof that I'm really in Ohio now.

You might think there were no adventures to be had on such a bleak road walk. You would be wrong. At the store where she bought the candies, Sue ran into someone she knew years ago.

And then there was Buddy. I think Buddy is a Boxer/Newfoundland mix. He is big. He was also exceedingly friendly. He came loping out to the road across a corn field from his house to greet me. He has a habit that silly dog-lover me finds strangely endearing. He gently took my hand in his mouth and began to lead me down the road.

So, 99 percent of friendly dogs will just escort me to the other side of their kingdom and then go home. This dog went beyond his fenceline, and past the next house. By then he was clearly in the adventure for the long haul. He was ranging about 100 feet in front of me and just looking back from time to time to make sure I was still coming along.

I called Sue and said I needed help to return this big dog to his farm. We were now about a half mile away. She came. He wanted to make friends with Sophie and Anabelle. Sue tried driving back toward his farm. He followed for a while and then realized I wasn't coming and he came back to me! So I had to walk all the way back to the farm. He would not tolerate anyone grabbing his collar. He never was agressive, he just knew he was big enough to twist away. He'd had practice!

Turns out his name is Buddy. His owner is a little old lady (definitely littler than me, maybe not older). Buddy is an outdoor dog. Buddy likes adventures. She said he's followed people to Hartly (2.5 miles away), and he followed some bicyclists for 4 miles in the other directon. She managed to engage him with a stick while we drove away. Sue returned me to my regularly scheduled programming of hiking.

I think poor Buddy needs some teenagers to play with. Clearly the cows aren't holding his attention. I'm quite sure he would have gone all the way to Ohio with me!

Miles today 15.5. Total so far: 325.5.

See True Blue Gumby II

Lost Nation = 300 - Day 21

  First things first- You all need to keep calm if I say I am tired, or had a tough day. There are going to be days like that. There are going to be days I don't feel like walking (haven't had one yet, but I will). There are going to be days I will think about quitting. If people start worrying about my health or recommending diet changes, etc... well, I'll probably just stop being honest with you. Long hikes don't have 100% perfect days, so get used to it! Overall, just assume I'm fine unless I say there is a serious problem.

OK, that's done. Now let's talk about today's hike. I started on the Baw Beese Trail. There was a juvenile trumpeter swan on Baw Beese Lake. I love seeing more trumpeters! They are native and almost went extinct in the 1930s.

This sculpture of a Mother Bear and Cubs is realistic and endearing.

I had forgotten that the eastern end of that trail is more natural surface which was most welcome after all the pavement pounding I've been doing. This is a not-so-unusual shot of Baw Beese Lake, but I took a very similar one in 1994 when I walked here the first time, also in winter. I just wanted to take one again.

Then I entered Lost Nation State Game Area. This is a real gem for SE Michigan. Today's challenge, though, was that one of the logs of this bridge has washed away. The remaining surface is very narrow. It's too low to skootch across on your butt. It's too high to stabilize yourself with a hiking stick, and the bed is muddy.

I tried it three times, but knew I wasn't going to be able to get across without dunking at least a foot. Alternatives? I could have waded and then called Sue for dry clothers. But, there was this fallen tree downstream. It was a mess of trapped branches and stuff, but it was higher off the water. Yup. I sat on it and got across without getting wet. (Note for anyone concerned with my agility... I made it through this maze.) Sue thinks drone footage of this feat would be laughworthy. I agree!

The rest of Lost Nation was a delightful, quiet walk in the woods. My last for a few days. Bright yellow fungus of some kind.

Lake Number Eight (that's its name).

And a beautiful bend in a small stream. I got across the other three log bridges with no problems. They each had more like 8 inches of flat surface on top.

Today I felt fine. The weather featured temps in the 30s, but it was dry with little wind. Very nice walking weather. Miles today: 15. Total miles so far 309.5. Yes, I'm over 300 miles!

See Lost Nation 2019 See Chief Baw Beese Treasures