July 4th Mid State Trail hike

Just to North of Little Pine State Park

Rock person

Lee and I spent the weekend of the 4th hiking almost 17 more miles of the Mid State Trail from Silver Springs to Ramsey Rd. over 3 days. It is a vigorous hike with a lot of steep climbs and steep descents. Speck, the Chihuahua walked all of it with us and didn't break a sweat. I wish that were true of both of us. We finished each day before noon to avoid the heat. The bugs were at a minimum due to low amounts of rain we have had in June. The hike has a lot of foot trippers in it, little rocks and roots that keep you watching the trail unless you fall. A lot of nice ridge walking, which Lee says is her favorite, partially because it is the flattest part of the hike. We have now complete over 100 miles of the trail which is 325 miles long. It is getting more time consuming to drive to starting points and I will have to say we will be camping over once we get much past Woolrich on the map which is the 120 mile point. Our little hikes keep us connected to the woods while our cabin is being rented out. We did run up to Leetonia on the 4th and it looked like most all the people had left by noon. 

Small dog big heart!

Still love Leetonia the best. I camped out on top my hill last weekend in the hammock with the little dog. That was a huge mistake as he snored and farted all night. I didn't sleep as well as him. Still loved being back home. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

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.

Hike to Sand Run Falls

Top of Sand Run Falls

Rope down to Falls

Sand Run Falls

You know the old saying, "You don't know what you've got til it is gone," is so true. Now that I can't just walk out the door of the cabin and go for a hike. I have to drive to get back into the woods. Drove down to just outside of Arnot and walked down to Sand Falls. It is a very beautiful falls and pretty easy to get to. It is on the Mid State trail and I am sure quite a treat for any hikes doing the complete trail. I walked on a bit of a short cut to falls which was about a 1.5 to get to falls all downhill at a fairly gradual pace until you get to the falls. At that point there is a rope to help slow your descent down to the falls and help you climb back up the about 25 foot drop. It was just under freezing today and a very light snow, but quite warm for this time of year. I enjoyed my visit with nature and will be going up to camp tomorrow to check on things and who knows do another little walk up the mountain. My job change that doesn't require the kind of physical labor I was doing before I moved to town has put a few extra pounds on the mountain girl so time to walk them off and what better place than in the mountains and woods I love. Mountain girl, logging out.

Hiking Chihuahua Style 11.38 miles Cedar Mt loop

"Really, I have to carry my own water?"

Yes he did walk the whole way with me, but I carried the water. It was a bit warm walking up Leetonia Rd to Wilson to Ridge to Cedar Mountain and back up Leetonia Rd to home. The lack of leaves on the trees gave us little shade for our walk around the block. The bugs are out but not too bad as the wind blew most of them off us. I only saw a few cars one being Jeremy Bechtel one of the local Forest Rangers. He did mention I had been the only one he ever saw walking on the road that wasn't hunting. We caught up on the weather particularly the long winter, animals spotted recently; noticing near us a stop sign metal partially eaten by a porcupine. He hadn't seen many bears yet, but the warm weather had brought quite a few people out to keep tabs on. Jeremy was looking for the four-wheelers who are coming up the pipeline and other areas. So for you that don't know you will get a ticket for driving one anywhere in the State Forest. He verified the trees I saw cut along the pipeline are part of a pipeline widening project.

After he left I continued on my way on a beautiful blue day not a cloud in the sky. The walk periodically was accompanied by birds singing and woodpeckers pecking. I saw an area where turkey's had been searching through the leaves for food. It was quite a long area on the edge of the road towards the end of it I looked up to see a turkey scurry off into the woods. Since my walk started at 10 am and went through the middle of the day the animals I saw where kept to a minimum as most like early morning or dusk hours. 

This loop is about a mile longer than my Cushman direction loop and my feet started wishing it was a mile less. The bridge on Cedar Mt road is done except for any railing they might put up so I am not sure why they are waiting so long to take the road closed signs down. Speck and I enjoyed sitting on their straw-stuffed tubes along the creek for a bit, while I ate an apple and listened to the sound of the creek flowing. I sat there long enough for another person to wonder why I was in the middle of no where...really....I am beginning to think no one takes walks anymore, which is very sad. This person was not a local camp owner or he would have known better than to ask me if I was lost. Just walking around the block for a mountain girl. 

Leo felt a bit left out but he can't make it that far. Speck didn't seem to have a bit of trouble, although he appears to be resting quite well now. 

You can play the flyover to see where we walked or go to this link for a map. Oh before I forget we saw our first hummingbird today! Mountain girl,Paula, logging off and resting the toes.

A Thanksgiving day walk

Scooter carrying food and water

Walking up Leetonia Rd

Wilson Pt Rd turn

Lee Fire Tower site

Heavy Mt Laurel and wrong turn

Beginning half-mile trail

There is a video with this so if you get blog by email and want to see video you will need to go to the lostinleetonia.com website.

So I decided to go on an eight mile hike for Thanksgiving. The weather was perfect and it saved me tons of calories eating a big meal. I took only Scooter with me as I knew the trail was going to be too rough for Speck, the Chihuahua and Leo had cut his foot on a hike the previous day and I didn't want him to damage the foot anymore.

I packed Scooter up with all the snacks and water and we headed up Leetonia Road from the house. It was 22 degrees out so I dressed in layers and found out my sweatshirt was too hot by the time we walked a mile up the road. Hiking upwards creates it own heat and the sun was warming things up quickly. When we turned onto Wilson Point Road I thought the worst of the hike was over now it would be mostly downhill when we got to Half-mile trail.

I took a picture at the old Lee Fire Tower site, I remember as a kid coming up there and climbing into the lookout station when they still had rangers that looked for forest fires. The new technology of satellites sadly ended the need for a fire tower and it was torn down in the late eighties. My mother who never liked heights barely could stand even watching us climb up in the tower that moved in the wind. I had seen a marker on the ground up there and was going to take a picture of that as well, but the leaves hid it so well I couldn't find it.

Just about a quarter mile past the fire tower site I saw what I thought was the beginning of half-mile trail. It didn't take me long to figure out it was an old logging area so heavily covered in Mt. Laurel even Scooter refused to move without encouragement. Mountain laurel has very crooked branches that seem to grab at you as you try to make your way through them. We both tripped and stumbled looking for what I thought would be the trail soon. Once you go so far through hard brush it is hard to think about turning around and going back through it again, but that is exactly what I had to do.  At first I thought the trail had disappeared in the logging and laurel as you hear me state on the video. So I decided to walk farther down Wilson Pt road and within another half mile I found the sign and trail.

The trail was overgrown with Mountain Laurel, but not to the point a small path had disappeared. The further down the trail we went the less Mountain Laurel, but there was a lot of debris and downed trees across the path. Half-mile trail's name is deceiving because it is not a half mile long in fact it is nearly two miles long. The only reason I can figure they called it that is if you drive from the point on Cedar Mountain Rd where it comes out to the place on Wilson Pt Rd it is about 5 miles so going through the trail cuts that in half. Well, a bit more than half. The trail is beautiful going down the side of the mountain along a creek bed, which at one point you feel like you are getting close to then it stays an even distance from you most of the way down as it descends with you. It is only the last half mile of the trail you see the water close to you.  It is a shame the trail has not been better maintained for if a hunter tries to use it to bring back game it is pretty much an obstacle course. However it is pretty well marked and nice as a long hike.

At the bottom of the trail they are working on one of the bridges so the road down to Leetonia is temporarily closed. During my entire walk I saw only birds, some chickdees and about six grouse. There were however signs of deer and turkey scratching things to eat from the ground. The walk with my mountain laurel detour and taking time to eat a lunch took me four hours and I covered about eight miles. Certainly this is no speed record but it was a nice hike to appreciate a wonderful day in the woods. I felt especially thankful for the opportunity and the health to complete it.  Scooter crashed when we got home tired from being the pack animal. The other dogs were full of energy and I think a bit put off they didn't get to go. Have a great Thanksgiving from Leetonia and remember to enjoy the things we get for free that are priceless. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.