Hiking in the Ohio

Ben and I have gone hiking twice this year, so far. Both times, we were happily surprised to find impressive scenery. One of the great things about Ohio is that the landscape is so GREEN!!! Humidity only has a few perks -- 1) you don't need as much lotion. 2) moss grows everywhere and makes for very colorful and vibrant landscapes. Our first hike was back in April to a place called Bryant Park.

(Ben hiking through the mossy rocks)

I really loved taking pictures of a lot of the things that grew there


Here's me at the beginning of our trek

Here is a cool picture of a rock that looks like it was split by the trees growing in between:


WE most recently went to Hocking Hills State Park for July 4th Weekend. We actually camped out, thanks to our new fabulous tent (we forgot to take a picture of that). We made eggs for breakfast that morning. And here is one happy camper:


We started out that morning with a 6 mile hike from Old Man's Cave to Cedar Falls and then came back again via the Upper Falls Trail. The difference in landscape is so dramatic from anywhere else we've seen out here! Here's the start where it opens up into Old Man's Cave (named so because a reclusive old man made this place his home in the 1800's)


There were trees growing upside down in the canyon. It was cool to see how they maneuvered and found their way to the sun:




























The trees also liked to grow right over the rocks. It was really cool to see their rootwork:








Crazy, right!?! There were also a lot of butterflies flying through the gorge. One of them sat down on the ground for some cameo close-ups:




I couldn't control my urge to want to get some tall landscapes in this place It was just such a deep place, and the trees were so tall and cool. I wanted to try to capture that. (Besides, I love the stitch feature on my camera. I think it's cool.):
























Another remarkable feature of this hike: how well groomed and carefully crafted it was. The stonework made me feel like I was visiting Helms Deep from Lord of the Rings (I know, I'm a total nerd).









There was a whole lot of green, as you can tell. But there was also some amazing contrast in color in some of the rocks. We wondered how on earth those colors got there.







An indispensable feature for any awesome hike is WATERFALLS! This hike did not disappoint. Here is what they called Lower Falls:



Here's a video of us at Whispering Falls (sorry that it's sidewise. I thought I'd be able to flip it later just like a photo. Apparently not.)


And here's Cedar Falls (fun fact: there are no cedar trees here. They are hemlock trees. But the people who got here first and named the place didn't know that)



Ben found a tree he wanted to hang out it. We recommend, if you try the same thing, to bring something to brush away the spiderwebs first; :)



All that hiking made us very hungry. Ben was especially hungry. Here's a picture of his perfectly-cooked hobo meal (he was very proud):


It was huge. If you need a proportional comparison, here's a picture of Ben's HUGE hobo meal next to my normal-sized hobo meal:



We finished the day with exploring the area by car (one can only hike for so long) and then heading into Logan, Ohio to watch the fireworks. I was grateful for many things that July 4th. I am grateful for a country that preserves cool places like this. I am also grateful for the small towns who live near them so I can buy an Icee on a hot day. I am grateful for fireworks ( they were totally cool. Sorry we forgot to take pic's of that!). And I am incredibly grateful I do not live way out there and that there are places like Cincinnati to return to. You know, places with shopping and fancy restaurants and shows to go see. What can I say? You can take the girl out of the city, but.....

Mt. Timpanogos

I went on a smashtastic hike last weekend up Mt. Timpanogos. There were waterfalls, beautiful valleys hidden in the mountain, wildflowers and relief from the heat in the valley. There was also lots of horse poop, but that wasn't a highlight. Though, at times, from my fatigue and sore backs of my knees, it made me think how I wished we had horses. When we finally reached the top, we could see the urban sprawl over the whole valley. Amazing. Utah Lake looked HUGE.

Parts of the hike were treacherous. I don't like hiking across narrow stretches covered in rocks and snow. There's no firm footing to be had there. I'm also afraid of heights, which makes most hiking experiences a bit of an adventure for me. You see, I have no problem going up. It's only the prospects of how I'm going to get back down and at what speed I will be descending that grip me. I proceed downwards with great caution. I worry someday I might be like the cat in the tree, too overcome by my fear of coming down that I will be stuck wherever it was I dared to climb to. So far, however, I've been able to come down. Thank goodness.

It took us TEN hours to complete the hike. And that includes having slid down a big glacier to cut the time down by about 1 1/2 hours. The glacier was an adventure too. Kind of steep. I was somewhat concerned no official body of government had approved sledding here and deemed it safe. But the rest of the people on the mountain didn't seem phased by that. So down we went. The snow gave me scrapes all over my arms and my bum. As I had not planned to be sliding down a glacier that day, I neglected to wear appropriate clothes that don't "ride up." But, you'll be glad to know, I am healing well. I just have a very itchy bum. And since it's not at all socially acceptable to scratch one's bum, it's kind of a nuisance. My fingers and hands tingled for a few days as well. It's a phenomenon I like to call freezer burn. I experienced it once before when I had to climb a steel fence in Russia in the middle of January.

The experience reminded me of reading a very long book. As we made our way back down the trail, I found large sections of the trail which I had completely forgotten. It had just been so long since we'd passed that way. Just like when you go back over a long book. You go over it again and you find these entire sections and chapters with details that had completely left your memory. But when you find them again, they are familiar to you. And it's kind of exciting to realize how much has happened since you passed that way before. It's very fun to be on that kind of a journey. By the end of the hike we were all exhausted. Many were sunburned. Many were sore. I slept for 12 hours the next day. But it was beautiful up there. And sometimes, it's really just great to be on a journey.