Full On CVNP is a virtual event put on by Western Reserve Racing. Participants are provided information about 24 hikes in Cuyahoga Valley National Park and complete them at their own pace. When complete, all of the 115 miles of park trails will have been traversed. Here is the story of my first couple of "hikes."
After parking in Jaite (corner of Riverview and Snowville), I take the connector trail over to Snowville Road. Oh, the muck! It's unavoidable, and it's ankle-deep. Shoe-sucking deep. And there's no place else to go. After an hour or so of mucking around, I complete the 0.1-mile segment. My plan had been to go North on the Buckeye Trail (BT) for the first hike on the list. It's a 5.6-mile route, where I'd return via the Valley Trail. I take a look to the right only to see that the BT in that direction is every bit as bad as the portion I'd just muddled through.
I consider quitting completely, but hey - I've come all this way. I'd be all dressed up with no place to go. So I venture across the street and start the BT South route. I don't know that much about this one; I'd only researched the BT North route for today. But my thought was that since BT North was first on the list (the hikes can be done in any order), too many hikers have gone that way, destroying the trail and leaving 300 kilograms of mud in their wake.
There is less mud this way. But only a little less. I ascend the steep hill, and this finally gets my heart pumping. The trail on the higher ground does appear to be slightly better.
It's quiet and peaceful here in the middle of the woods. No other human beings are about. It's snowing a little. I am actually enjoying myself. After about 2.6 miles (but not before some more bad muddy areas), I emerge, tired from the hills and the mud, onto Columbia Road. There are now three choices: keep going on the BT to wind up at Boston Mills (not a good option because it would involve several more miles of muck, and then I'd still need to get back to Jaite), turn around and go back the way I came (not a good option because it just about killed me to get even this far), or turn onto Columbia and then Riverview to return to Jaite via the roads (the only viable option). Which do you think I would go with?
Jogging back, I manage to make it to the parking area, clean off my shoes a little, stumble into the car, and drive home.
That was yesterday. I later learned that the BT South Hike was exactly what I did (except you're supposed to return on the trail instead of the road). Close enough - I get credit for hike 1! Now I'm starting out in the dark on my second hike. Except for me, it's a run, not a walk. It's on the Towpath (TP) after all.
Starting at Lock 29 in Peninsula, I go North on the TP, turn around at the Boston Store, and return the same way. Now, this is what I call fun. I love running on the TP. It's impossible to beat.
When I do return, I start immediately on hike #3. This is a run as well. It involves taking the TP South to Hunt Farm and returning the same way. This is even more fun. I was born to do this.
11 1/2 miles for the day. 3 hikes down, 21 to go. As for the rest, if they're not on the TP, I'll wait for the mud to solidify.
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| Buckeye Trail South - mud galore |
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