Winter Woods Walk

The first winter storm of the year swept into the Ohio valley with a vengeance last night.  When I got up this morning I found all covered in a blanket of white.  Most people moan and groan and complain that they're not ready for the cold. Not me I love the changing seasons and planned my day to get out and enjoy it.

I thought about cross country skiing but the ground is still a bit soft in places and the snow was very heavy and wet. Sometimes those conditions can make skiing more of pain when the slushy stuff sticks to the bottoms of my boards. So I just put on my pack boots and decided to go for a walk.

I tossed my camera in my backpack as I always do but with the gray stark scenery I didn't figure I would get any nice shots.  

To my surprise though, after a half hour into my hike the storm clouds abruptly cleared out from the west and an intense sunshine electrified my surroundings.  It was really amazing like a light switch had been thrown.

The Clear Fork went from cold steely gray to deep blue.  Truly a vibrant contrast to earlier in the day.  I spent a few hours in the woods enjoying the day and our first winter snowfall.  Once again I'm glad I threw in the camera.  It always seems the good shots come around when they're not expected but today I was ready.

Dysart Woods

Eureka Timberland

 A useful tool I've found for exploring my home state is the Ohio Atlas & Gazetteer by Delorme.  I was looking at this book the other day and I noticed a place listed in the directory of Unique Nature Features called Dysart Woods.  I'm always interested in visiting unique places so I mentioned it to The RoadQueen. The main logistical problem we would have to accommodate is the roughly three hour drive to the location in southeast Ohio not far from Wheeling, West Virginia.

With such a long drive the outing was more than I wanted to deal with in a one day trip so The RoadQueen got busy with planning the route, Inventorying and staging the camping gear.  I decided to use the opportunity to field test a new tent I bought that is much smaller and lighter than my other tent.  My old dome tent was worn out and not doing much good at keeping out rain so it was time to for replacement.  

I've pictured the Cabela's Extreme Weather Tent in this blog that I use for extended trips and Field Day operations in amateur radio.  That is an awesome tent but at nearly 80 pounds it's not the most convenient for small car camping. In the future I plan on doing more solo bike adventures and also tagging along with The RoadQueen to some of her horseman's camps so I needed a good small weatherproof shelter that's easy to move and quick to set up.  

Instead of a new dome I settled on a more traditional A-frame style tent by Eureka called the Timberline Outfitter.  It's not a backpacker by any means at ten pounds but the tent does have a long and favorable reputation among the Boy Scouts of America.  If it holds up to the intense use of the Scouts I'm sure it will more than suffice for my occasional outings. 

We chose Barkcamp State Park as our base of operations which is only a few miles north of Dysart Woods.  We left Friday after I got home from work and arrived at the State Park at Dusk leaving just enough time to set up our camp.  The skies were overcast and it began to sprinkle as we assembled our gear and slowly shifted to a light rain as the evening progressed.  Nothing like a steady all night rain to test a new piece of gear and I'm happy to report the Timberline passed its trial by fire perfect.  We slept dry and comfortable on our cots and found the interior of the tent dry the next morning.     

The sun was out first thing and quickly dried up the surroundings from the previous night's showers.  I absolutely love camping in the state parks after the summer season comes to a close.  Park use drops significantly and we were one of only a handful of campers utilizing the place.  Also the changing leaves of autumn make it one of the best times of the year to spend some time outside.

Here's a piece of gear I've been using for a while now at my camp for brewing coffee in the morning. It is called a French Press and in my opinion makes the best cup o' joe out there.

After breakfast we left the state park and made a short trip along secondary routes and quiet country roads of Belmont County towards our objective Dysart Woods.  

I've found all parts of Ohio to be varied and beautiful but I always love returning to the hills of southeast Ohio.  Following the signs we shortly pulled up along this house that once belonged to the Dysart family who lived on this land for several generations.  What makes this place unique is that the family managed to keep a 50-acre tract of their land as untouched forest never allowing logging or other destructive land use to occur.  The result of this today is the largest known remnant of original old growth oak forest in southeastern Ohio.

Ohio University in cooperation with The Nature Conservancy has taken on the responsibility of maintaining and conserving this special natural resource.  OU uses the forest as a natural laboratory for researching and studying the dynamics of a mature oak ecosystem.  As an added benefit the public is encouraged to visit the park and walk its foot trails that wind among the forest giants some as old as 400 years.

Up the road a bit from the farmhouse we entered the woods and pulled into a marked parking area where we found a kiosk and a trail map to guide us along the two mile loop.

It was a chilly morning and the air was fresh and clean but soon the sun was warming things up and casting down its golden light into the forest.  We couldn't have asked for a better day for walk in the woods.

Just into the walk the surroundings looked like any other deciduous forest except for every so often when we came upon huge trees towering far above the trail.

Here's a white oak giant whose branches don't even start until well above the lesser trees of the understory.  I couldn't help but just stand there in awe of  this living thing that has existed since before the USA was even established. 

Size is not always an exact indicator of great age.  The mass of a tree can vary due to species and local conditions.  Here is me in the frame for scale. These are some massive trees.

The trail map we found at the trail head outlined some of the characteristics that indicate that a forest may be "Old-growth".  We were able to observe many of these criterion on our hike.  Here long ago a tree fell over and heaved up its root mass leaving a pit.  Slowly the root ball decayed and the soil remained in a mound.  This is called Pit and Mound Topography. 

  

Standing dead timber and downed logs are also definite clues of an old growth forest.  We saw lots of  dead trees standing easily a hundred feet into the air and many laying on the forest floor in various stages of decomposition.

The cycle of life and dependency of one kind of organism on the other was evident everywhere. To me it never gets old wandering around in the woods and witnessing with my own eyes the wonder of nature.

At one point the trail led us along an open hillside on the edge of the forest where we could look out to the surrounding hills.  It is hard to imagine that at one time most of the eastern U.S. was covered with endless forest.

Other trees we noted in the woods were plentiful maples and huge beech trees with their smooth gray bark. Cherry, black walnut, hickory and tulip trees also thrive in the area.

Above is another characteristic of an old growth tree.  Notice the at the base of the tree how the trunk widens out.  This is called the buttress.  A mature tree needs a sturdy base to remain in place.  Imagine the forces of wind during a storm that act upon a 140' tall tree.

I've not yet made it out west to see the great redwood forests but until then I think I can safely say these old boys are the oldest living things I've had the good fortune to meet in my short time on this Earth.

On the way back from Dysart Woods we toured a bit more of picturesque Belmont County. 

Arriving back at camp we got busy getting a fire going in preparation for a steak dinner and campfire potatoes cooked over an open hardwood fire.  We enjoyed the rest of the day relaxing and admiring the golden sunlight and colorful leaves around the campground. And later as night fell we stoked up our fire watched the stars come out and a three-quarter moon slowly raise up clearing the trees while a pack of coyotes yipped and howled in the distance.

Camping is a lot of work and it takes a bit of preparation to make it work smoothly but I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.  Spending a few days and nights outside of four walls and a roof cleanses the spirit and recharges the batteries like nothing I've ever found.

Hiking At Spangler Park

   The recent heat wave and rain has got the insect population thriving but this weekend conditions were mild and cool.  Generally in the heat of summer I avoid the deep woods with the annoying constant attack of mosquitoes and biting deer flies but when the weather cools it's always a treat to get out and enjoy the forest.  Taking advantage of this opportunity for adventure we strapped on our hiking boots and headed out.

Spangler Park is a 320 acre city park located about five miles west of Wooster, Ohio in the hills of Wayne County.  A walking trail network winds around steep ravines draining into a creek called Rathburn Run.  Crumbling Ohio shale is visible many places from the trail.

I always love hiking in a new place I've never been before.  The fun is wondering what sight lies just around the next bend or over the next rise.  As is the case with many parks and natural areas we have visited Spangler Park was teeming with animal and plant life and even some interesting fungus.  We had several encounters with whitetail deer and their little fawns at home in the forest.

At one point my son's sharp eye caught sight of some debris caught amid a rocky cut winding down a nearby hillside.  Countless years of runoff had eroded away the soil creating steep sided ravine filled with rocks and small boulders.  As we carefully climbed up the drainage we found all sorts of broken glass, pottery and a few rusty pieces of metal wedged among the rocks. 

In the previous century in rural America it was common practice for a homestead to create a dumping area in an out of the way corner of the property to dispose of no longer needed items.  In times past most people were much more thrifty than they are today and commonly saved and reused all sorts of household goods.  But even in lean times human activity still creates refuse and this is what we discovered; someones old trash pile. 

  

Antique blue glass from an old Mason jar and pottery shards.

Vintage Pepsi Bottle from the 1940's or 50's

In flatter areas these refuse piles can remain undisturbed in a quiet corner of a woodlot and all kinds of interesting things can be found.  Unfortunately the steep hillside and churning action of the rocks had broken up most of the bottles we saw but we did find a few unbroken examples of old brown glass Clorox bleach bottles, clear perfume bottles, small ornate white glass makeup containers  and porcelain Mason jar lid inserts. 

Some non-glass items we found included an early electric clothes iron and old boot heels and shoe leather.  Just everyday items cast off as junk by a family long ago.  An interesting little window back in time.  My son is big into television shows like American Pickers and Pawnstars so he is interested in antiques and old fashioned things.  He had a great time digging through this old stuff. 

The only piece I carried away was this little porcelain and glazed insulator.  It was part of a gang of three attached to a rusty iron bracket.  One of the three was missing and the second had some chips in the glazing so I left it behind keeping only the best one to put on display in my outdoor insulator collection.

A glade of Hemlocks growing on a cool shady hillside.

As we neared the end of our hike we came upon a roped off area.  Investigating further we found this abandoned well. It was covered with a metal wire grate to prevent someone falling In.

Creepy!

14 Miles At Mohican State Park

On Saturday my friend Charlotte and I met at Mohican once again for a winter hike.  This time I suggested we walk the first several miles of the mountain bike trail. I wanted to try this trail for something a little different and also because the conveniently placed mile posts would make it easy to track our progress.

We got started just after 9:00 am in perfect conditions with temperatures in the upper 20's F.  A gentle snow fell most of the day and coated the pines and the forest floor with a thin blanket of white.  I took the following large size wide angle shots along a ravine where we stopped to listen to the water gurgling its way down the hill.

Looking Up

Looking Down

The opening picture shows the 7 mile marker where we took a short break before retracing our route back to the trail head.  Our plans were to make it at least a 10 mile hike but we got to 5 with still plenty of time left and fresh feeling legs so we pushed on a couple more miles.  The mountain bike trail was well designed and hugs the topography of the land to minimize the difficulty of steep grades while travelling by bike.  This formula also seems to make for an ideal foot path and we were surprised to see quite a few trail runners as well as mountain bikers taking advantage of the frozen yet rideable trail surface.

After six hours and none worse for wear we made it back to the trail head. I love that keen sense of accomplishment that only comes after a hard day on the trail and we are both very proud to have set our  new personal bests for distance on this hike.

Earlier in the week we both picked up new medium duty boots and their performance was outstanding during the 14 mile break in.  I've been without a proper hiking boot for a couple years and I sure notice the difference now that I have a little ankle support and a firmer sole under my feet.

It was a gorgeous day in the woods and I couldn't think of any place I'd rather be.  Judging by all the smiles and friendly greetings of other trail users I'm confident I wasn't the only one thinking that.