A
Series of Remarkable Experiences and Hiking Life Lessons
(clicking on photos will bring you to a slide show of them)
The maps I ordered had come quickly,
but a hiking related injury and weather kept me off the trails for a few
weeks. With much amusement, and a touch
of embarrassment, I have to share my initial thoughts about the maps; they were
“….not what I expected” “...wordier than an actual map, talking pretty much
about distance, section by section, big jogs in the trail, crossing major
roads, etc. The map is not very detailed
[on how to get to a trail].” I laughed
when I re-read my journal. Lesson
#17: Let experience speak for itself. Give something plenty of tries before giving
up on it altogether. It is obvious to me
today that I just was unfamiliar with the maps, but as I got used to them they
have been a true blessing over these many hikes. I still spend a great deal of time figuring
out how to get to a new segment, where to park my bike and car and how to get back
and forth between them, but once I am there at the trail, there are few secrets
about where to go, just plenty of opportunities for adventure.
Although the sun was out, dark clouds
were hovering low in the fall sky, even my son had commented on them as I drove
him to school for his birthday, so I dressed warmly adding a hoodie under my
“park uniform” to protect myself from the cold and wind. This hike, segment 4, Bedford section,
actually started last hike when I crossed the Towpath in front of the Frazee
House on Canal Road.
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| Frazee House, Canal Road, Independence, Ohio |
Using my Google
directions I drove directly to the end of my hike, dropped off my bike and
scouted out the route I would later take back.
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| Sagamore Creek at Sagamore and Canal Roads, Independence, Ohio |
Retracing my steps to where I ran
into my good Samaritan on Sagamore Road I bumbled around for a few minutes
trying to figure out where the next blaze was hiding, which was just on the
other side of the guard rail (as indicated on the BT map), but it was obscured by
all the trees so I hesitated until I finally spotted it well up the hill.
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| Blue Blaze just over the guard rail....just like it states on the BT maps! |
I started immediately up a steep incline through
a thick forest, mixed with both fir and deciduous trees. Here and there through the thicket I would
catch a glimpse of moving water, how far down I wasn’t certain.
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| Looking down to Sagamore Creek, Walton Hills, Ohio |
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| Big tree with plants |
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| Plants in the big tree |
 |
| Up close of the bark on the big tree |
There were mammoth trees with their thick exposed
roots as long as they were tall clinging to the sides of the hill to keep from
sliding off into the abyss.
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| Trees clinging to the sides of the hill |
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| Up close of roots |
Once on top the trail ran close to the edge on this
woodsy ridge. When I would pop out into
a bare rock clearing I could see where the ground fell away dizzyingly, its
sheer drops giving birth to plenty of falls where water was left to helplessly tumble
on down into these deep, moss and leaf covered ravines so steep that no matter
how I tried my photos could not capture the depth I saw with my eyes nor the awe
that I felt standing at the edge.
This
was the scenery that went on forever as I wound my way back and forth through this
forest and as I went from one set of mini gorges to another I would cross
through their feeder creeks and storm drainage tunnels, neatly stacked with
sandstone.
The many images and colors of this fall day’s palette
captured my imagination and my heart as I roamed through envisioning it as an
early day pioneer might have experienced it while making their way on foot up
into the next county. I spent a great
deal of time taking photos and videos of the most varying scenery which before I
would have thought impossible to have in one small area. There is a lot of real beautiful country up
through here and I hope if one thought hiking the entire BT would be too much
of a trial that they would at least hit this one segment. Maybe I was able to notice because I was
calmer, with trusty BT map in hand, or perhaps it was just too gorgeous to
miss. Either way this section was the
most beautiful of the Buckeye Trail hikes I had taken to date and to this day still
remains one of my favorites (and I had only gone half way!)…to be continued (scroll to Spring 2013 to read the rest).
by Blue Blaze Bugsie
To read all the adventures in order use the index links at the right side of the page or select this: First Post, Spring 2011.
