Connie Pond - Follow the Blue Blazes: A Guide to Hiking Ohios Buckeye Trail

Follow the Blue Blazes

A Guide to Hiking Ohios Buckeye Trail

Second Edition

Connie Pond and Robert J. Pond

Foreword by Steven M. Newman

Ohio University Press Athens

Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701

ohioswallow.com

2014 by Ohio University Press

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This guide is made possible, in part, by the generous support of the Buckeye Trail Association.

Photographs not otherwise credited are by the author.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Pond, Connie.

Follow the blue blazes : a guide to hiking Ohios Buckeye Trail Connie Pond and Robert J. Pond ; foreword by Steven M. Newman. Second edition.

pages cm

Includes index.

Revised edition of: Follow the blue blazes : a guide to hiking Ohios Buckeye trail / Robert J. Pond. 2003.

ISBN 978-0-8214-2121-5 (paperback) ISBN 978-0-8214-4504-4 (pdf)

1. HikingOhioBuckeye TrailGuidebooks. 2. TrailsOhio Buckeye TrailGuidebooks. 3. Buckeye Trail (Ohio)Guidebooks. I. Pond, Robert J. II. Title.

GV199.42.O32B836 2014

796.51'09771dc23 2014029647

This guidebook is dedicated to present and past members of the Buckeye Trail Associations board of trustees, staff, team members, and trail crew and to hikers and maintainers of the Buckeye Trail.

to the Second Edition

Any seasoned hiker knows well that the Great Outdoors of today is a nearly endless trove of natural and man-made wondersall waiting to tease and inspire the mind and soul of every explorer, from the novice and to the veteran. This is particularly true in the Buckeye State. Indeed, it is Ohios abundance of wildlife, fauna, and history that helped sway me over thirty years ago to make my home here in the heart of the USA.

Rarely a day passes at my rural cottage overlooking the Ohio River that I am not entertained by the sight of wild animals or gladdened by the lush vistas. Why just this morning I watched a glossy brown-furred mink rubbing his neck and cheeks against the rough bark of a creekside maple. And nearly every evening some fourteen deer graze in a field just yards from our kitchen window. If I could have a quarter for every time my wife, Darci, and I have been delighted by the wild critters, or by another bit of historical gossip concerning this hill, and or by a postcardlike scene in the surrounding forest, I would be a wealthy man. As if it isnt enough that Daniel Boone and countless bison as big as trucks once trod through the gap in our hill and that on the ridgeline above the cottage there are Indian graves, Ive even had locals swear that the legendary Indian slayer Simon Kenton was once tied to the gargantuan gnarly oak behind our home.

And yet, as fascinating as my own little slice of Ohio may be, I well know from doing many long and short hikes throughout Ohio that our spread along the Ohio River holds but a smidgen of all the natural and historical delights to be found in the state as a wholeespecially if one is fortunate enough to explore along the path of what is known as the Buckeye Trail. Thus, I was thrilled to learn that longtime hiking enthusiasts Connie Pond and Robert J. Pond would be updating and making even more user friendly his first edition of Follow the Blue Blazes, which has become one of the most popular (and definitely the most comprehensive) Ohio hiking guidebooks.

Follow the Blue Blazes has been an invaluable source of information whenever Darci and I have laced up our boots and hit our favorite sections of the Buckeye Trail. Not only do the books detailed directions and uncluttered maps keep me from becoming lost (and thus too worried or tired to enjoy the setting), but Roberts simple and folksy bits of background information on the plants and animals of the area keep me excited at what I amand may yet beseeing. This book is like having along your personal guideone who deeply loves Ohio and wants to share as much as possible with you. One who truly is hoping you will have as much fun as he is having.

A perfect example of what Im talking about is the hike at Fort Hill State Memorial. Darci and I have often hiked that ancient Indian gathering area, located not far from our home, and before we had Follow the Blue Blazes to guide and teach us, it was a hike past unusual man-made dirt formations, stream-eroded cliffs, the occasional beaver, and many spectacular old trees and colorful wildflowers. But when we took along Robert Ponds guidebook, it was if we were on a completely different hike. Suddenly, the flowers and the trees had names and a surprising history; the old cabin in the forest opening had faces and a purpose; the fort was not a fort at all andbetter yetbecame more mysterious than ever. The guidebook added so much clarity. And that clarity brought with it a heightened appreciation of just how much humans and nature have transformed Fort Hill into the treasure it is. And it isnt just the wilderness that Pond brings to life with such keen precision. Many of the books Featured Hikes lead the reader into delightful cultural centers of rural and urban Ohio.

My favorite example is the charming river village of Ripley. This is where I pick up our mail and prescriptions and do our banking. I have walked the streets of that history-rich settlement more times than I could count, and I thought I knew its abolitionist history and landmarks as thoroughly as anyone. Not so. Follow the Blue Blazes showed me that somehow I had missed out on the basketlike coffin made of wooden slats in the Ripley museum and that many of Ripleys residents had actually returned escaped slaves to their owners for the bounty money.

As adept at philosophizing as at instructing, Robert Pond makes the varied worlds and winding paths of each of the Buckeye Trails sections so much easier to appreciate and navigate. In following Robert Pond through the pages of Follow the Blue Blazes, I find myself at turns in the company of a sharp scout, a kindly neighbor, an inspirational teacher, andif I may say soa kindred spirit to the likes of Thoreau and Robert Louis Stevenson.

The wealth of anecdotes and the concise, easy-to-follow format of this book ensures that it will be a welcome addition to any hikers knapsack. Robert Pond has long been experienced in the art of teaching, and it shows in the disciplined and comfortable manner in which he guides us though each segment of the Buckeye Trail. Whereas other guides might prod us along for the sake of merely hiking, Robert Pond, the wise teacher, encourages us to pause, to gaze more closely, to thinkeven to be inspired. And that, dear friend, is exactly the sort of guide something as special and fascinating as the Buckeye Trail should have.

Steven M. Newman

Worldwalker Hill

to the Second Edition

Ohios Buckeye Trail has changed greatly since Follow the Blue Blazes was published in 2003. Thanks to the efforts of the many volunteers who participated with the Buckeye Trail Crew in organized work parties, dozens of miles of new off-road trail has been established. The reader will have to participate in new trail building with hand tools in order to appreciate what 1 mile of newly benched trail involves (one estimate is up to 500 man-hours per mile of new off-road trail). The new Marietta Little Loop has been developed to showcase the Wayne National ForestMarietta Unit, with its Archers Fork Trail and the Easternmost section of the Ohio River and has added 114 miles of on-road and off-road trail. Indeed, the association has changed as well, with new leadership determining the next evolution of this now over 1,400-mile trail around Ohio. The association now has a full-time executive director and an office in the small southeastern town of Shawnee. The 1888 Century Barn on Tappan Lake, near Deersville, has also been renovated for meetings and overnight gatherings of members and volunteer trail workers.