Ssummer 2014 Edition: A Series of Remarkable Experiences and Hiking Life Lessons by Blue Blaze Bugsie
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| Ancient groove marks from harvesting the stone |
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| That's me |
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| Boardwalk at the old quarry |
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| Ever the supportive hubby, Dave |
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| More groove marks |
We then head back to the car and drive up the road to the Old South Church at SR 306 and Eagle Road where I begin today’s hike.
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| Bye Davey |
After a short roadside hike down Eagle road the trail heads north and off into Penitentiary Glen I go. The blazes take me down a narrow trail and I pop out into a lane of crabapple trees which are loaded with its lovely scarlet colored fruit.
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| The path, just through the trees |
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| Looking down the path |
As I pass the last tree I get my first view of the marsh. Coming into wide expanses after being on narrow paths is like walking into a beautiful room in a showcase home to me. I like to experience all the treasures it has to offer right from the door: the way it’s laid out, the smells that reach out to me and the way the rush of air brushes at my face. I am captivated at the threshold as I take it all into my head then photograph it for memories. The marsh is surrounded by trees of all types on every side with a large pond in the middle. The beautiful colors were twofold as they were reflected in the water along with the brilliant blue color of the sky. The long wooden walkway that intersected the pond would have to be foregone today, as the extra time had already been spent at the quarry, so I only got to imagine what it would look and feel like to be out on it. What views that must have offered! As I followed the trail I got to watch all the birds visiting the man-made nesting boxes and homes dotting the marsh landscape.
The blue blazes pulled me away from the pond down yet another wooded trail which took me away from but then back again to a different side of the marsh and thus was the pattern as I made my way through and around the glen. Finally I was onto darker and darker trails that had maddeningly difficult hills up and down and even a creek to fjord, as I walked I learned that this very area was the reason for the name Penitentiary Glen, it was very difficult to walk it let alone what the early settlers must have felt taking their wagons through there!
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| One of my favorite photos of this walk |
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| Inspired a poem
Lengthened shadows;
shorter days
Harvest moon’s golden
gaze.
Turning leaves,
falling down:
Yellow’s, red’s,
russet browns.
Acorns scattered on
the street
Crunch beneath children’s
feet
Farmer’s reap what
they have sown
Tilling fields where things
had grown
Beds of flowers fade
away
Waiting for a new
Spring day.
As the land prepares
to rest
Animals shore up
their Winter’s nest.
Honking geese, awing
sight,
Practice formations
for their flight.
All the sights and
all the sounds
The smell in the air
the look of the ground
Every end is a new
beginning
Summer’s passed and
Fall is dawning.
091209 bac
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I found myself getting quite exhausted on this hike and as I finally made my way back out and then onto Booth Road I was relieved it was almost over! I walked down the driveway of Penitentiary Glen’s nature and wildlife centers and the out onto Booth Road.
One last steep haul took me down to Chardon road, onto the property of an old schoolhouse turned nature interpretive center for school children and future potential parking spot for my last leg of the Bedford section of the Buckeye Trail.
Blue Blaze Bugsie
Use the links at the right side to follow my journey backwards or use http://blueblazebugsie.blogspot.com/2011/08/blue-blaze-bugsie.html to jump all the way to the beginning to read it in order. Select "newer post" at the bottom of each journal entry to continue reading forward.
