Pioneer Spirit

I began the hike from Eastwood Park in Dayton at about 9 am Saturday and finished in Milford on Thursday evening at 8 pm covering a distance of 107.1 official miles without adding an additional 10 miles walked due to poor markings and off trail destinations.
I skipped about 5 miles through downtown Springfield due to time constraints. The missed segment is the equivalent of walking up high street from broad to 11th avenue followed by a walk down summit back to broad, sort of a useless section but I’ll pick that section back up by parking in town later.
I left Springfield for Yellow springs and the park beyond. I was camper #101 in John Bryan SP…they only had 100 campsites and the last spot was sold out before I arrived. I opted for a secluded stealth site in the brush not far from the Horace Mann statue.
I walked a couple miles each way to get in and out of the park. I hit a McDonalds in Xenia and a shake shop in Yellow Springs.
Most of the hike involved a nice bicycle trail with a horrible 2 day jaunt through Caesar creek state park. The upper end of Caesar creek was so poorly marked that I walked by the same location twice, once I came to a place the third time, I just did a quick parallel walk down route 380 and picked up the BT at another location. I just reached Caesar creek in the late afternoon in time to set up the tent as rain began.
I quickly burnt off my early morning momentum getting lost in the mismarked section so I didn’t get as far as expected that day. I walked for miles with wet feet inside of my ‘waterproof’ boots along miles of muddy, pockmarked horse trails. There were no services at the beach concession stand so I made do with what I had. I camped not far from the route 73 bridge.
I finished Caesar creek Wednesday and ended up hiking down into the valley across an iron bridge where I have a box planted. The trail heads up through waist high weeds onto roadways back towards the bike trail. I pushed hard Wednesday reaching Morgan’s campground by late evening just in time to set up the tent before a major storm hit.
I made the final 25 mile push on Thursday passing by and hearing screams from King’s Island, stopped in Loveland for some ribs and walking through camp Dennison reaching Milford Before dark.

107.1 + miles completed