Pioneer Spirit

I realized late last week that I had lost my camera and case where I hastily got into mom’s car during the unexpected pick up. I lost many images from the previous 12 miles hike. I bought a new camera from Walmart and it has been a superior replacement so far with far more capacity on the card.

I began Friday’s walk from point 32 (Webb’s Summit) where I stopped last week in the hopes of finding my camera along the road..no luck.

I started late in the afternoon to accommodate Mom’s work schedule since I’m often forced to rely on others along the way. I hiked along 93 for about a mile before turning north onto route 668 into Perry County, turning east at point 30. I followed steep, winding gravel roads before entering the zig-zag section in Wayne national forest. The progress was slow the remainder of the hike toward Burr Oak due to the trail’s meander along every finger hill side. What would be a mile road walk became 7 miles of woods trail.

One upside to this section was the unexpected finding of 6 morel mushrooms in a reforested strip mine area. I set up camp by 7:30 and settled in for a 26 degree night in a 40 degree sleeping bag. Barred owls called all night and wild turkeys gobbled at dawn.

I shook the frost from the tent, packed up and began the day by 7:30 and passed point 27 warming up as I went. This section joins or crosses the road at 4 points on what felt like a series of pointless zig-zags cross country. Some of the trail was poorly marked with blue blazes and downed trees and it took a careful eye to scan for markers at places where 4 wheelers and horses shared sections.
I was glad to be back on the road at point 24 to 23 passing a campground and lots of oil pumps and storage tanks. I eventually crossed route 93 again before passing by Tecumseh lake where some boys were shooting at aquatic life with a bow and arrow.

I set up camp by 7:30 on stealth site just inside of the Hocking county line overlooking Salem road. Camping was easy since I don’t use fires, I was using a new MSR canister stove for this trip. I also tried a Platypus gravity water filter rather than a Kataydin pump filter. The Platypus system is better build but requires a lot more effort to fill the bags from creeks. The Kataydin uses a hose tossed into the water, the Platypus requires that you hold the bag open in a water pool which is harder in most cases.

The night was not as cold as the previous night but all I heard was late night traffic and a barking dog. I reached Murray City and the Athens county line by 9 on Sunday morning before walking the hardest and longest trail section to Burr Oak. After reaching Smoke Rise horse ranch, I was required to leave the roadway and cross through a series of farm gates past a herd of horses where I took a rest and filled the Platypus in a pond.

I passed by several Mushroom hunters along the way before making the final push toward my Truck at Burr Oak. I crossed train tracks and route 13 again, the first crossing of 13 was many miles to the north well above Mansfield.

I walked the main park road and crossed Tom Jenkins dam following the shoreline into Morgan county along Burr Oak Lake for about 5 miles before stumbling into the parking lot of the park office where my truck was parked.

Total miles hiked was 41.5 +/-

PS. I didn't find my camera but I did find: One deer antler, a quarter, a hunter's seat cushion, a walkie talkie and an autographed checkered Nascar racing flag.