Zaleski North Loop
Tried the north loop for the first time. It measures 14 miles and does a figure 8 back to the parking lot. I planned on passing the parking lot and hitting the first camp. Within 2 miles I noticed my shoes were a little loose and rubbing a little on the heel. Too late , as I had half dollar sized blisters on my heel. I stopped at about 4 miles to apply moleskin and found I had left my medkit in another bag. Compounding the problem was I was trying out my new Kahtoola KTS aluminum crampons.
I probably only needed these a total of 1 mile but used them a total of 12. The lightweight aluminum crampons weight in at 1 lbs 10 ozs with a bag (not included) and their lightweight version of anti-balling plates worked fairly well. These fit virtually all footwear and don't require mountaineering boots.
The Aluminum wears fairly quick when moving over rocks and mud , so the steel would work better in these situations. My feet hurt so bad at 12 miles these had to come off. It didn't help , the damage was already done. I'll have to rethink my footwear with crampons , maybee a sock liner will help.
Another piece of gear I tried was the Mountain Laurel eVent rain mitts.
These worked awesome in freezing rain and sleet. The eVent kept my hands from sweating @ 32 degrees Fahrenheit. A lower temperature my have required lightweight gloves.
Ice cave towards the end of the hike. After hitting the parking lot I didn't have enough will to hike another 2 miles and headed home. I'll probably do this again with proven footwear.
Cold Weather Gear
Being in the deep freeze of winter only leaves me one choice. More gear. I've been hoping to increase the temperature rating of my Montbell UL Super Stretch # 3 30 Degree bag by utilizing down clothing. I'll use clothing I'd probably need in winter camp anyway. I'm really trying to keep myself from buying a 0 degree bag that will cost $500.
Feathered friends down booties were a bit of a splurge. I have found walking around in the snow with outer covers comfortable enough. The covers slip off before getting into the tent. These will be nice to put on after a long day of hiking.
Montebell UL jacket and pants are about the lightest pieces of down gear you can buy. Weighing 7.7 ozs for the pants and 6.5 for the top. These are no frill garments , with no pockets, minimal elastic, and no felt lining. They keep me warm standing around in 10 degrees with a warm merino wool baselayer and lightweight nylon shells over them.
Big Agnes Copper Spur UL1 doesn't seem like winter gear, but it's replacing a lightweight, non freestanding , single wall , Tarptent Squall 2. It's only rated for three season use but I don't expect I'll have much of a snow load to test it's limits. Weighing in at a relatively light 3 Lbs 5.5 ozs with stakes, stuff sacks and ground cloth. I set this up in my snowy dark backyard without too much trouble for the first time. It has less room than my tarptent but I managed to get all my gear in and used my backpack as a pillow. I've got enough room to sit up in without hitting my head. A 37 inch peak height was enough for my 5 foot 10 height , taller people my have to hunch over a bit. Lengthwise I had plenty of room to spare and suspect it'll fit at least a 6'2" hiker. This will be my new winter and kayaking tent.
I got a chance to test this gear on a clear cold 0 degree night. I had my backpack set up with full gear and my new tent. I set up in the backyard and lasted about an hour. I wasn't shivering cold , but my feet were a little nippy. I don't think I'd of slept comfortably , and would've woken up shivering. It did get down to -5 degree Fahrenheit that night. With some handwarmers in my sleeping bag , I may have slept without too much trouble.
Some gear I need for comfortable winter sleeping:
A down inflatable pad to replace my Thermarest Neo-Air. I have ordered the Exped 7 down sleep pad and expect that will increase my warmth retention with twice the R-value of the Neo Air. I also have a Mont Bell UL Thermal sheet on the way, that may be used to supplement my 30 Degree bag.
Next on my list is a down beanie from BlackRock Gear.
Who's ready for winter hiking? Me.
Shawnee backpack trail
Located west of Portsmouth Ohio this 45 mile loop or 60 mile figure 8 promised a challenging hike. I started out , kinda late @ 10:00am at the trail head on Saturday. There was one other car their , with space for 50. At Zaleski I wouldn't have a parking spot on a Saturday morning. I had originally planned a 3 day 45 or 60 mile hike. I was in for a surprise.
I managed to make it to camp 1 @6 miles no problem, I don't think I even looked at the time. My first mistake was taking in the scenery , taking pictures, & stalking game , even though I had no intention of harvesting anything until the third day. I could have limited out on squirrel , flushed out grouse and a wood duck. On my way to camp 2, I saw a sign that read " camp 2, 4.7 miles". My watch read 3pm. My GPS read a 2.1MPH moving average. Sunset at 5 and change. Not only did I have pick up the pace, I couldn't take a break.
Panic mode sets in. Getting to an official camp site isn't that important to me. Getting water is. It's dry in Ohio, and the water is scarce. Every campsite @ Shawnee has cistern water sources and a privy. I'm double timing it over the harshest terrain I've ever hiked. 600 to 1200 elevation foot inclines. It doesn't sound like much if you've ever hiked the Appalachian trail, but for an Ohioan flatlander, it's torture.
A sign, ".5 miles to camp 2". You'd think a half a mile would be easy after traveling 12, it wasn't. I took my first spill in 4 years with hiking poles. 8 layers of dried leaves took out my left foot, and right pole on a 45 degree downhill. My head landed softly in that pile of leaves. Luckily one of the many rocks that line the trail wasn't protruding. Later that evening I decided not to hike this trail solo again.
4:45 I make it to camp 2. Privy. Check. Fire Ring. Check. Water , no dice. Luckily a dry creek-bed is 50 feet from the privy. Looking upstream I see nothing, downstream some promising depressions reveal some nasty pools of water. I'll know in a few days if ingesting a few liters of filtered human waste was a good idea. I found out later this campsites water source is a mile down the road.
After a night of watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 4 for third time, I broke camp at about 9:30. I figured the next day wouldn't be as grueling , no hunting, limited pictures, and hopefully easier terrain. Wrong , the terrain was harder. Later I found found the elevation gain and loss to be over 9000 feet. The last 5 miles was a cakewalk, and i cut my losses and headed for home with a paltry 24 mile 2 day outing. I had a three day food supply and would need 4-5 to make the south loop.
Trail Head registration. A nice display, but no maps, Print your own @ ODNR's website.
A stream crossing early in the trip.
A fire tower on the next ridge. I'm not sure if it's accessible on the south loop or not.
I tried many times to capture the steep switchbacks, but the pictures don't show how steep they are. This is a gentle 100 foot ridge climb after a tough 400 footer.
Camp 2 @ sunset.
Filtering water in the morning. The Camel-back quick connect kit makes this easy.
Sticking around camp late to ensure the fire was out , and drying the tent.
Empty parking lot. I never saw or heard another person or car until the last 5 miles near the boy-scout camp. Overall this trail is probably my favorite in Ohio. It's in the largest continuous forest track in state and offers plenty of wildlife and solitude.
Zaleski South Loop
I took a quick day-hike to take advantage of the cool morning and changing leaves. I took a challenging shortcut that ended up not being any shorter. 10.4 miles in 4.5 hours. 2.3 mph moving average. Taking a slower pace allowed me to hear some deer over a ridge and allowed me to get within 30 yards of their crossing. Stealthy I moved towards that point , and a minute later I was faced by a large buck. This deer must have thought I was a tree , it walked straight towards me. Within 10 yards as I stared directly into it's eyes, I raised my hiking poles as a defensive posture. The big buck fell over loosing it's footing trying to make a quick 180 degree jump. It was more afraid of me , as I was of it. Curiously it stopped 50 yards away, looked back bewildered , snorted and bolted over the hill.
On overlook
Ginseng ?
Old school telegraph lines.
Pond View.
Wildcat Hollow Northern Loop
I've hit Wildcats northern loop a few times , Notably a year ago after a large blow-down. Hiking over trees in freezing temperatures , a heavy pack , and a 6 pound rifle was torture. Looking over reviews on the internet , you'd think this trail as impassable to the novice hiker. I can happily report all blow-downs have been removed or circumvented. Another surprise was the distance hiked was only 12 miles. Most references cite it as a 15 mile loop. Trip Odometer of 12.1 miles , Moving average of of 2.9mph in 4 hours 9 minutes. This was accomplished "slack packing" with a base weight of mostly 3 liters water , about 10 Lbs.
Terry demonstrating the proper technique for dispatching a horde of approaching Bloods. Hike-by style. I actually fired the Ruger LCP for the first time: missed a pop can from about 5 yards. With the low sites, and double action only, this is truly a last ditch weapon.
Found a cool little primitive camp less than a mile from the trail-head; i wouldn't sleep in it.
Overall with the trail maintenance this is one of my favorite hikes. No water is provided , and this time of year their is very little for filtering. The views are spectacular . although not picture worthy , as your under trees for most of the hike. Game evidence was pretty sparse this year , I only saw one squirrel , no deer and very little track sightings. Bring some water during dry seasons , and enjoy the hike.
Tar Hollow Fall Hike
Located east of Chillicothe, Ohio this 20+ mile figure 8 offers a challenging day hike/ car camping trip. Unfortunately I thought it was a nice overnighter with a backpacking camp on the ODNR website. About 2 miles in; the backpacking camp had a parking lot and the campsites needed reservations from the general store. Not an easy thing to come by @ 7oclock in the morning . Next time I'll reserve a campsite and have steaks and cool beverage waiting for me.
The trail itself was pretty challenging with steep climbs , a lot of dead-fall, and sometimes confusing red blazes. Being a new trail , I made the mistake of starting the trip on a side trail (blue blazed homestead trail which added 3 miles to the trip). The trip was 15.5 miles with 6 hours of moving time with a moving average of 2.6mph.
The 75 foot fire tower @ the not-so-backpack camp 2 miles in. The tower is climbable , but felt a little to rickety for me.
Zaleski South Loop
Took an overnight trip for the first hike of the summer. I only managed 12 miles in about 8 hours between the 2 days. The second day I abandoned the planned hike of the north loop due to sore calves and heat.
An overlook about 4 miles in.
The same cliff at another angle.
An overgrown pond.
A slightly nibbled on mushroom.
Tarp Tent Squall 2
I've been beating the heat by staying inside , but figured I'd shake out , and clean out my favorite tent. I did some research before buying the Squall 2. It's a non-freestanding single wall tent. Non-freestanding tents have a disadvantage of needing a place to stake. Sand , rocks , and hard dirt present challenges. I've used large rocks , logs , and burying my stakes sides-ways in the snow to get a taught pitch. It's advantage is weight.
This thing is light , 2lbs 6 oz's with seam sealing , and silicone beading on the floor to prevent slippage. I choose to seam seal it myself , but they'll do it at the factory for a nominal fee. I recommend using the same seam sealing mixture of 50/50 white gas and GE silicone 2 on the floor (recommended by the manufacturer). If you pitch this tent at an angle , you'll find yourself scooting down to the lowest point without it. I used a a tic-tac-toe pattern to accommodate vertical and horizontal baffled pads.
Handing 70 mph gusts , the Squall 2 is a little shaky but held it's ground. To be honest , if I wasn't more worried about logs blowing down and killing me, I'd of fretted more. This isn't a 4 season bomber and it wouldn't handle a snow load. I've never had it in a driving rainstorm , but imagine, and have heard the tent has an issue with misting. I can't say for sure , but I suspect this has to do with it's phenomenal ventilation. Having ventilation all the way around; humidity and condensation shouldn't be a problem , unlike most single wall tents.
Packs down fairly small with the rear aluminum poles removed I can halve this size.
Front half requires 1 or 2 hiking poles. I prefer 1 for ease of entry . 2 is supposed increase stability , but requires yoga skills I don't possess. Their is a carbon fiber strut between the front guylines. The beak is rolled up in this picture but extends out to the front.
Inside front. The bathtub floor un-clips for more space , clips up for weather protection.
Rear. This end should be placed into the wind for maximum strength.This isn't staked out and perfectly taught. In actual use I find it's nice to get it set up , let it stretch for an hour or so , then tweak it.
Check them out @ http://www.tarptent.com/products.html
Paint Creek to the Scioto
Started the trip Friday evening at Waters Edge Canoe Livery. Did a quick four mile paddle to unknown campsite. A thunderstorm rolled in right before sunset and got everything in camp wet , except my sleeping bag which stayed in the dry-bag inside my kayak until the rain subsided.
A camera phone shot of the campsite during a break in the weather.
The morning after my camera showed moisture problems.
After getting off to an early start Saturday my friend ran into a tree tipping his kayak and dumped his camera in rapids. It was never found. It's waterproof , and I'll be out their next week to find it.
I was afraid to bust my camera out at this point , so some of the best parts of the trip were without pictures. Cruising down to were Paint Creek Meet the Scioto River had some of the best rapids and scenery. About 5 miles from were they meet , the Scioto River get a little deeper and slow moving. I'm guessing the fishing would be good around here.
Taking a lunch break on the Scioto on a large Island.
We ended up porting out about 20 miles into the trip , about 15 miles short of the goal of Pee Pee Creek and Lake White in Waverly. A moving average of 3.6 MPH made this a pretty easy paddle. Next time will be with fishing poles.
July 4th Ohio River Trip
I took a 12 mile solo trip down the Ohio River , west of Gallipolis to some private property in Athalia Ohio. I managed a 3.5 mile per hour moving average with a light headwind.
The barges look innocent enough , but their wakes could become 2 foot rolling waves on certain shorelines.
I wasn't of afraid of this old barge that apparently sunk and is now used for erosion control.
Ohio River Sunrise at camp in Athalia the next morning.
Ohio River diving board , or a 16 foot duct taped ladder.