WE’RE BACK! We have finally returned to hiking the BT after a year’s absence! Even so we were delayed for two weeks due to unreliable rain forecasts- let the adventures resume! Although we initially planned to resume hiking on the western leg of the BT, the threat of high temps made us reconsider and start up on the eastern side since it appeared to give us more shade cover. We decided to camp at Salt Fork State Park because it was close to where we last left off in Bowerston at Clendening Lake. Salt Fork (SF) has a nice primitive camping area and it was not very occupied as we stayed from Sunday night until Thursday morning. We will use SF as our base camp the next few times as we finish up Bowerston and begin Belle Valley.
One challenge we immediately noticed was a lack of quality places to park the cars while hiking, although it was all small country back roads. Before we even began April and I fought about how best to get to the starting point! This was further complicated by road paving and closures within the park itself, forcing us off our planned route and onto VERY bumpy and dusty dirt roads. Somehow, we arrived on a dirt road with blue blazes and followed them to our first car drop off site. Wendy pulled off first near a Y-intersection and then we pulled our car off at the entrance to a field and began our hike. To be safe, we both placed a note on our car dashboards stating we were hiking the BT and gave our phone numbers as contacts. The start of Belle Valley was framed by two large vertical rocks that MUST have been placed there on purpose as they were surrounded by neatly tended landscaping- it felt like a good omen to renew our travels! We started out mostly on gravel roads with little shade but an abundance of cows- all of whom seemed curious about us then ran, or stampeded, away as we got closer to the herd. Maybe they thought we were there to whisk them off to the slaughterhouse? Any passing car, more so pickup trucks, created a dust storm to hike through. Nevertheless, there was a coolish breeze to enjoy if you focused on it while strolling through rolling farm country.
Our leisurely walk was interrupted by Wendy’s phone ringing, and when she looked it was a call from Cambridge, Ohio… was it spam? She answered and was surprised to find herself talking with a tow truck driver on his way to TOW HER CAR because apparently where she had parked had aggravated the landowner and wanted her car removed- he said it was private property and gave some excuse about mowing the grass. This was hard to believe. We explained to the tow truck driver our predicament- three miles from our starting point and about two miles from Wendy’s car, so it would be easier for us to just finish the hike! Was this possible? As the tow truck driver was contacting the property owner, Wendy checked her phone’s call history and saw multiple calls and texts from a local number (probably the owner), a call from the police, and the one from the tow truck. We were in full panic mode when the tow truck driver called back- Wendy convinced April to plead our case to him- thinking her Trini (she’s from Trinidad) accent wouldn’t help the situation- and April negotiated to let us just finish up the hike by promising we would be done in an hour… not a sure thing as we were running out of energy but what choice did we have? With some relief we resumed hiking and April called the owner (on Wendy’s phone) and apologized for our transgression, which the owner appreciated. We must have walked faster because we finished the two miles in 45 minutes…Wendy gaining speed as she approached her car, where she jumped in ASAP and picked up April and myself a little further away from the car but within sight of it, as if the extra few seconds really mattered. I guess she was understandably paranoid that maybe the owner was looking at his watch and counting down the hour we promised to finish by. All in all, we decided that the owner was being a bit picky (mostly Gary) albeit technically correct, but that all involved were generous and gave us the benefit of doubt and tried to help us out. See what adventures we missed by not hiking the BT? Who knows what will await us tomorrow!
