Category: Hiking the Buckeye Trail

Bitten by the Hiking Bug—Part Two
April 17, 2016

Bitten by the Hiking Bug—Part Two

by guest blogger Bonnie Spencer   Part 1, Part 3 April 17, 2016 Day 4: St. Marys to Spencerville (13.5 trail miles) After ten days away from the trail due to various commitments, we headed back north. I had my ice cream list . . . and my umbrella; a rain coat; a pair of old rain pants with dry, broken elastic and a large safety pin to keep them up; a garbage bag in case I needed to cover my pack; and CW’s extra Frogg Toggs jacket. We had been fortunate to have wonderful …
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Bitten by the Hiking Bug—Part One
April 10, 2016

Bitten by the Hiking Bug—Part One

by guest blogger Bonnie Spencer Part 2, Part 3 April 10, 2016 When I agreed to go with CW on his 150-mile Buckeye Trail circuit hike last October, I didn’t expect to do any long-distance hiking beyond that. However, soon after I returned his daypack to him, and while my ankle and toes were still healing, I was already thinking about the next big hike. Concerned that I might be going crazy, and not ready to commit to anything yet, I kept those curious thoughts to myself for a while. But eventually they emerged, greatly …
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A 150-Mile Hike by a Non-Walker—Part Three
November 7, 2015

A 150-Mile Hike by a Non-Walker—Part Three

by guest blogger Bonnie Spencer   Part 1, Part 2 November 7, 2015 Day 9: Island MetroPark to Canal Lock Park in Tipp City (16.1 trail miles) It had been a week since our last hike and we were ready to get back on the trail. We would have a long day, not only from the trail mileage but also due to extra shuttling. Our plan was to break the hike into two segments. One reason was so that CW wouldn’t have to drive out of Dayton at the end of the day in rush-hour …
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A 150-Mile Hike by a Non-Walker—Part Two
October 23, 2015

A 150-Mile Hike by a Non-Walker—Part Two

by guest blogger Bonnie Spencer   Part 1, Part 3 October 23, 2015 Day 5: Horseman’s Group Camp to Access Ramp at Spring Valley-Paintersville Road (10.6 trail miles) After two zero days, we were back in Caesar Creek State Park. My ankle was still swollen, but the pain wasn’t bad enough to keep me off of it. We began hiking at 10:15, taking the Moonlight Vista Bridle Trail from Horseman’s Camp to get back to the BT. After a mile on the BT, we reached the second saddle dam and saw another red-blazed trail to …
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A 150-Mile Hike by a Non-Walker—Part One
October 13, 2015

A 150-Mile Hike by a Non-Walker—Part One

by guest blogger Bonnie Spencer   Part 2, Part 3 October 13, 2015 I must have been out of my mind when I said I would go with CW on his 150-mile Buckeye Trail circuit hike this year. Last year Jim and George backpacked the Wilderness Loop with him. This year there wasn’t anyone who could spare the time needed to cover such a distance. CW changed his original plan of continuing from the Wilderness Loop and decided to do a segment of the trail closer to home and largely on bike trails. I think …
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Back in the Loop—Part Seven
August 26, 2015

Back in the Loop—Part Seven

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 August 26, 2015 The Final Leg When I was still in school, Dad took me to see the giant coal shovels operating in eastern Ohio. They had names like Silver Spade, GEM (Giant Earth Mover or Giant Excavating Machine) of Egypt, and Mountaineer, all of them now extinct. The AEP (American Electric Power) has reclaimed 60,000 acres that were strip-mined by these and other shovels into an outdoor recreation area known as ReCreation Land. They planted over 63 million trees, created hundreds of …
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