149: A walk on the Buckeye Trail

(On the Buckeye Trail.)

It’s another gorgeous, sunny, blue-sky day here in the Bogs.  It’s colder than it has been for the past few days.  Around 35 degrees instead of 60.  The wind is a-whipping, too.  It spent most of the night making things shake, rattle, moan, creak, and whistle.  I know because it was another relatively sleepless night for me.  I hope this is not the start of an insomnia pattern.

(Reaching towards the sky.)

M and I decided to go for a short hike on the portion of the Buckeye Trail that is just a few miles down the road from us.  It’s a relatively sheltered area, the trees blocking the worst of the wind.

(Near the start of our hike.)

The thaw has worked on most of the trail but there were areas deep into the woods that were still mostly snow covered.  Another side-effect of the thaw was water.  There is one section of the trail covered with a goodly amount of water and we had to detour around it.  That’s pretty common in the spring and during a winter thaw.

(Ferns enjoying the sunlight.)

I was surprised by the number of trees that have fallen since the last time we explored the trail.  One area looks almost as though a tornado swept through, large trees piled on top of each other, some completely uprooted.

I took some photos of the piles of trees but it’s one of those instances where it’s hard to get a true idea of the size and scope of things.  None were worth posting.

(The wing of a bird.)

We found this very sizable wing along the trail back in the woods.  I’m not sure what type of bird it’s from although the size makes me think it was a hawk.  If any of you birders out there can identify it for me, I’d appreciate it.

(Feather caught in a tree further along the trail.)

It was a lively walk, meeting our objectives to get outside, enjoy the day, and get our heart rates up.  It’s a trail we’ve hiked many times, yet it seems different every time we’re out there.

(Deep in the woods.)

We met a man with a dog along the way.  The dog looked like one of those types that is supposed to be mean, but it was a real sweetie (or “cupcake” as the man said).

(The dreaded bridge.)

Long-time visitors to my blog might recognize this bridge.  It showed up here once as “the haunted bridge.” Of course it’s not really haunted.  But it is a bridge I don’t care to cross because it’s been falling apart for years.  The railings that used to be along the sides have now completely fallen off or been pushed off by vandals.  I suspect it’s the former.  It wouldn’t have taken much wind to knock them over.  M keeps insisting that it’s solid, and he’s probably right.  We haven’t fallen into the creek yet.

(Papery leaves in the sunlight.)

After our hike we drove over to look at the reservoir.  Some of the Buckeye Trail we were on runs along the reservoir, but there are no clear views of it.  Sometimes there are folks ice fishing out on the reservoir.  With the thaw, I figured that would be pretty unlikely today.  I was right.  I did watch a large flock of geese come in for a landing.  They were too far away for the photo to turn out well (I tried).

(Mogadore reservoir.)

It’s Day 9 of my 10-day yoga challenge.  I was not up at 6am but did do about 20 minutes of yoga this morning.  I plan to continue beyond day 10.

Today’s music:  We’re listening to Mountain Stage.  When M and I lived in southern Ohio (where Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky meet), we used to occasionally go to Charleston, West Virginia to attend one of the live broadcasts.  It was always fun and enjoyable.

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