April 30-May 1, 2006 - This was a two-nighter that I fit in before a business trip. I never hiked in my home state as I didn't get into hiking until I moved to the great state of Tennessee. I would never move back, but Ohio has a lot to offer and has its own beauty that I wish people would see. Or maybe not so it won't be overcrowded? Anyway, I started in the dusk and hiked in the dark to the first and closest campsite. I met up with a cool friend from Kansas, Ben, who was also attending the same business meeting. He was working on scaling all the fourteeners in Colorado and planning an Everest trip in 2008. We talked about work and life around the fire. The next day we hiked in the sunshine to an old swamp with old railroad berm bordering it. The area used to be an old depot and there was a mine nearby. We hiked on to the junction where Ben took the trail back to the parking lot and I continued on to another campsite. The campsites had water tanks for hikers, which was kind of weird, but nice. The campsite was mainly taken up by a boyscout troop and two other groups. It was pretty crowded, but I should expect his being within an hour or so from Columbus. The next day, I hiked back to the car and reflected on how pretty the backpacking loop was in the Spring.
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