We’re BACK! Was predicted to be a great weather weekend so we (Wendy, April and I) decided to attempt our first camping road trip to far away BT trails…was not as smooth sailing as expected. We found free tent camping at nearby at Harrison State Park, which was close to Tappan Lake, and drove down on a late Friday afternoon so we had time to set up camp before dusk. Pretty minimal amenities, but not a lot of people and found a nice site in the western campground of park. April and I forgot the poles for our tent (mistake #1) so I scrambled to set up a lean-to with a rain fly we packed for our gazebo, not the tent rain fly (mistake #2). We settled in for the night and were greeted by many owls at dusk. It got colder than expected, so we went to bed early, April roosting in Wendy’s tent. We got off to a fairly slow start but once we arrived at our starting point we met Cindy and Holly (?) walking up the hill to see their neighbors lambs- had a nice chat with them, very friendly! It was nice back roads the entire day, going from asphalt to dirt, although it was MUCH hotter (80o+) than we expected or were prepared for! Near the end of our day a friendly dog introduced us to his owner, who kindly let us fill our water bottles from his hose. We were dragging at the end (about 9 miles today!) as we crossed the dam at Tappan lake going toward our car parked at the spillway. As we were walking some random guy in a van pulled next to us and asked if we were hiking the BT, and when we answered “YES” he invited us to the Buckeye barn down the road for dinner and drinks as there was some Trail training event going on there and he thought we might like/need it (we probably looked the part). He patiently waited as we finished or hike and at our car he introduced himself, none other than “Steve Walker” president of the BTA! Who would have expected that good luck! The barn was an old beauty at the end of a long gravel road, very secluded, with acres of open fields surrounding it. Many tents were set up; Steve made some introductions, among them a friend that Wendy already knew who was there, but we were too tired and dirty to be sociable, so we drank some water and said our goodbyes. We did find out, however, that the general store nearby in Deersville makes some good sandwiches and offers a BT ice cream bar- colored blue of course- and some of the cost goes to the BTA if you buy one…sounds like a win-win! Also turns out that camping is free at the barn if you are a BTA member and let Steve know beforehand. Getting back to camp we quickly made a classic hot dogs & beans dinner for its simplicity and tried to stay up but faded fast into our sleeping bags.
Woke up the next morning to turkey calls… a lot of them! On April’s morning run to the restroom she had to wake up some camp neighbors from their pop-up tent because somehow their table had caught fire right at the time of her passing by- how lucky/strange is that? We planned our hike at about 5 miles today as it was all trails along the lake and not many places to park the car. This was a nice forest trail that went along and above the lake, up and down, with lots of good views- very pretty! The excitement of this day was crossing an apparently condemned footbridge over a stream! FYI we went across one at a time without incident, but it did look a little shaky and we honestly didn’t have the energy for a huge detour. Near the end, before the last long climb up the hill, there were a series of about 5 beaver dams next to each other, stacked like rice paddies into a mountain side, and we even saw the resident beaver swimming in the top pond! That was a perfect ending to a long hiking weekend and when we came into the open along the roadside we were greeted by a welcome breeze to cool off- even better. The long car ride back was somewhat of a struggle, but the weekend away rekindled our desire to keep plugging away at the BT!
