What In Blue Blazes-Following The Buckeye Trail-Prologue

This past weekend(Oct.20 &21),
Nikolas,
Tyler and I finally got to complete our first section of the twenty six section Buckeye Trail(BT).We first started this section in July [click here],but unlike then,because Adam had football,Robyn,Millie and he were unable to attend this trip with us.

The BT is a 1,435 trail that traverses the four corners of the state of Ohio.It is divided into twenty six sections.

We started at the St.Mary's section simply because it was the section closest to our house.When we did the southern part of the St.Mary's section this past summer,we followed the trail's BLUE blazes along dams,woods,roads and towns in ninety degree heat.We Started at Lockington dam and ended at Lake Loramie State Park.It was a nice two day adventure .The distance was around twenty one miles.


For the second half,Tyler,Nikolas and I planned on arriving at Lake Loramie State Park(pt.16 on the BT map)Thursday evening,camping out,and getting an early start Friday morning(They had no school on Friday because it was an 'In Service' day).We planned on hiking until somewhere between pt.21 & pt.22 on the BT trail map;camp for the night,and then hike the next day until pt.25.We were then going to camp and finish up Sunday.It would be around 23 miles of hiking.


Alas,our plains changed.The boys were finishing up a hunting course,and they didn't get home from it Thursday evening until well after nine.The weather map showed 100% rain until 5:00 am the next morning.Since we would not be arriving at the camp sight until well after 10:00,and we would had to sleep in the rain,we decided to just to forgo the night's camping and just get up early and plan to be hiking by 8:00 the next morning.

Now,right at this point on the trail,the BT is joined by the 4,600 mile North Country Trail.The North County Trail goes all the way from New York to North Dakota.The BT is also joined by the Miami-Erie Trail.The Miami-Erie trail follows
the remains of the old Miami-Erie Canal.So we mostly followed it's tow path.This meant that we were in for some good hiking.The path was extremely well maintained...
...and,if you know anything about this part of N.W. Ohio,very flat.
Autumn was in it's prime.We made good time,and had a good time doing it.

It was very interesting seeing how

different com-

munities embraced the canal.In some places it was little more then a drainage ditch.Others,an accepted part of the community,and,as such, just seemed to fit.Yet,other places embraced it,making it and themselves celebrants-greater somehow together.


IN the end,we made such fantastic strides the first day(over 13 miles),that we only ended up camping one night. Because we finished the section so quickly(around 2:00 pm Saturday),Robyn,Adam& Millie picked us up,took us back to the car.We all celebrated by going to BW-3's and having some excellent wings.An excellent weekend adventure.