October 5, 2019 solo hike - Near West Branch State Park OH - ~6 miles

I desperately desired a fall camping road trip. So despite Brian being unable to join me, I went to Ohio for a wonderful long weekend of exploration.

One of the two hikes I did this weekend was at West Branch State Park near Ravenna Ohio.  The park surrounds an enormous reservoir (Michael J Kirwan Reservoir) and has a lot of different areas scattered through its 5,352 acres.  I parked just North of the bridge across the approximate mid-point of the reservoir  (Rock Spring Road).  The Buckeye trail (Ohio's statewide very long distance trail) passes through the park so it was my hope to follow it for about 3 hours then return.  Unfortunately after maybe 3 miles I got to a piece of trail that walks along a road and though it seemed to be blazed, after maybe 1.5 miles of hoofing it along a dull country rode I lost sight of what I thought were the blazes and the only local I had a chance to ask was unaware of the Buckeye trail going down his road other than right where it popped out of the woods. 

So I turned around and had a satisfying fitness hike but not the most interesting exploration hike.

Marker

Very minimally constructed bridge

This photo doesn't really give you scale but this concrete culvert cover was at least 20 feet above the creek and you don't see it until you are on it.  Pretty scary actually.



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