We got an early start out of Cleveland so that we could get some BT biking/hiking done before the 3:00 pm check-in to our Independence Dam State Park campsite. Great idea failed from the start. We planned to meet at city park called Legion field in Defiance, around section point 5. Once we got there, we found that the field and expected parking lot were being developed for new housing construction, so had to park at a nearby hardware store. Then we went back to our starting point at Independence Dam Marina to begin biking. As we were eating lunch before setting out, April noticed an approaching black sky, even though weather forecasts had predicted pretty good days for this adventure. Change of plans- we decided to cancel biking and try to set up camp between periods of heavy rain due to roll in. So, we packed up our bikes, gathered Wendy’s car at the hardware store and proceeded to set up camp. As Wendy set up her tent, we put up our ‘pleasure dome’ over the picnic table – the rain slowly increased in intensity to the point where April and I didn’t even try to put up our tent – after about an hour the rain stopped, and we set up our tent. Because it was now just before dinner, we decided to drive into Defiance and walk through town, section points 7-5, then come back and eat. This was a good decision!
We started at Pontiac Park, where there was a stone memorial to an enormous apple tree, past a favorite fountain of Wendy’s (not!) spouting a strange shade of blue water, underneath A LOT of circling vultures. Next on our path was the public library again made with that copper-colored beautiful stone (see the church in Napoleon on previous entry), and Fort Defiance, which had a ton of historical markers! Apparently, this city played a large role in the War of 1812 and conflicts with native Americans as settlers moved west. The rest of the walk was uneventful except it was worth noting again how many beautiful churches could be seen. At the end we stopped in at a Dollar Store so Wendy could buy her 5th camping chair since she forgot hers, again, and I squabbled with the salesclerk about which face cloths to buy. When we told her we were hiking the BT she remarked that it might be too dangerous now-a-days to do it, she certainly would not attempt. Went back to camp, ate, lingered by a nice fire and crashed. Unfortunately, I woke up at night because the fire had rekindled itself enough to throw off a lot of light and flames, so I went out to extinguish it.
