Saturday, January 9, 2016

A Walk in Our Woods

The start of Misner Trail

Misner Trail
Climbing up to Cushman from Francis Leetonia Rd.

Cushman View or should I say no view

Corner of Leetonia Rd and Wilson Point
Lee and I were up in Leetonia again this weekend as the weather has stayed mild. It was between 34-36 degrees on our Misner Trail, Francais/Leetonia Rd, Cushman, Leetonia road loop about 9 miles. The only surprise on the trail was the top of Misner trail is covered in cut trees as they are logging up there. That made for a difficult last 200 yards of climbing over, under and around the trees. We saw several deer tracks and heard a dog barking. Now I know some of you are saying that was probably a coyote. But unless a coyote has developed a very low bark like a shepherd size dog, I am pretty sure it was a dog. The way the mountains echo it was difficult to figure out where it was coming from but we heard loggers as well so thinking it might have been one of their dogs. The last half mile of the top of the mountain was very foggy. I don't think we could see more than a couple hundred feet at times and about 3 degrees colder than the bottom. The footwork on the road was a bit tricker than I planned for a took a knee slide at one point. That will teach me to remember my ice cleats...guess being in town has already made me forget the basics of winter in Leetonia. The roads weren't bad for cars if you go slow no chains are needed today. We said, hi, to Mick as we passed his spot overlooking Cushman although you couldn't see a thing today with all the fog. The sign for Cushman View was missing last year and now the post resides over the hill. By the time we made it to the Corner of Leetonia Rd. and Wilson point Rd. we were glad the rest was downhill. It was nice medium jacket weather hiking as long as you were moving it was comfortable. All in all we covered 9 miles in about 4 hours which included lunch and a few breaks as we made it up about 900 ft of elevation climb. We have been glad the weather has stayed mild and hope to squeeze a few more trips up before the roads close. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.


Posted by at
Labels: , , , ,

2 comments:

Unknown said...

AM I just imagining this or did I communicate with you a while back and mentioned the Misner Trail/Hollow?? lol

I had taken a few friends on that hike and my girlfriend at the time - that later became my wife - on that very hike.

I've recently hiked up the Cushman via the 'Gas Well' road. Its a road in name but I'm not even sure my 4x4 with high clearance could make it to the Gas Well Camp - there where Butler Hollow runs on up to Cushman. I'm pretty sure that camp is going by another name - I've always referred to it as the 'Gas Well ' camp though since it's up Gas Well Hollow.

I met Harry Finkbiner (Jr.) up at the store back in the mid 80's and started to learn to fly fish. He mentioned to me, back then, that if I ever got up there to give him a call and he'd go fishing with me. I've been doing just that for the past 30 some years now. I was/am so lucky to have him as a fishing buddy.

Maybe I should try and stop by in Leetonia this Spring to see if you are back in the house? Not sure which one it is but I bet if I as Tom or Deb at the store they'd let me know.(only if that's ok with you)

Take care and keep writing - I enjoy your stories of the area.

CS ( I think I signed a message to you in the past that way)

February 9, 2016 at 7:58 PM
eaglebear said...

Gas Well camp is a tough one even for the 4 wheeler as you said. I have been back there with my FJ crusier, but it is rough. That is a beautiful hike as well...love the meadow. I will be back and forth to my place in Spring, but I am renting it out a lot through AirBnb by the end of May so it will be hit or miss catching me on weekends. Glad you are enjoying the hikes.

February 10, 2016 at 3:49 AM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)