Date: 2008-03-18
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Miles today: 0.0

Almost there.I'm still tying up loose ends here, trying to get my Cleveland life nailed down so that I don't have to worry about it while I'm away.Unfortunately, right now, I'm fighting a rather ugly bronchial infection. Less than two weeks until we hit Springer, and I'm laid up in bed. Pretty dang inconvenient. The weekend was good, 'though. Oatmeal, her friend Persa, Jim and I went camping down in Southern Ohio. Friday was covered by thick fog, which made for interesting effects when the sun set and the world was blanketed in pink. We have friends who own a farm near Marengo, which backs onto one of the tributaries of Alum Creek. Thanks to all the snowmelt, the "creek" was a raging river. The initial plan had been to camp on a bluff in the forest, but getting to that spot required fording the river, which wasn't going to happen. So we pitched camp on the corner of their property behind the cow pastures. Everything was thoroughly saturated, and it took us nearly an hour to get the fire going. By the time we'd roasted a few hot dogs, we were all damp and ready to go to bed.I was the first one out of the tent in the morning, and set about making coffee...fortunately, the fire still had some hot embers, and it took little effort to get it going again. My other sister, Julie, joined us at the camp, and after coffee and oatmeal, we walked down to the spring house to fill our water bottles, then drove south to Hocking Hills, where we spent the day hiking.I've lived in Ohio my entire life, and I was amazed by the grandeur of the area...the sculptured sandstone cliffs and caves, the majestic waterfalls...it was all like something out of a fairy tale, the whole area covered in thick moss and hemlock trees.We climbed around Rock House, which was my favourite stop of the day: a huge cave, like a clubhouse, with a beautiful cascade at one end that tumbled down into a deep gorge. We then drove down to the Old Man's cave area, where we hiked part of the Grandma Gatewood trail to Cedar Falls. This area's a bit more developed than Rock House, but still lovely...the river cuts through the gorge, making beautiful forms in the rock, the water is a clear bluish green. The trail runs down through a tunnel, and there were huge icicles hanging from the cliffs alongside of it. A bit dangerous, yet stunning. Cedar falls was raging...the sheer volume of water going over the falls is breathtaking. I wanted very badly to go swimming. We jumped back in the car and finished out the day at Cantwell Cliffs, which is an area studded with recess caves and cascades. Had it not been for the cold and my wet boots, it would have seemed too perfect to be real.Not a high-mileage hiking day, but a day filled with beauty, a day that reminded me once again why I hike.Back at the camp, we got the fire built back up, then started cooking our evening meal of chili and smores. The sky had cleared, and we could actually see the stars and the waxing moon. I changed into dry socks, then spread out my Tyvek by the fire. We sat around talking and sharing food, enjoying the warmth of the fire. I decided to cowboy camp, and got my gear out of the tent. Situated next to the fire, I was toasty-warm, and fell asleep watching the flames change colour, yellow and green, at the core of the fire.The following morning, Oatmeal and I took a little walk to warm up, and we were talking, realizing that we get to live outdoors for the next half a year. This is both daunting and exciting as hell.Before heading back to Cleveland, we stopped by Vera's place to say hello and fiddle about with gear...she has a Gregory Makalu that I'm fiddling about with to see if I want to carry it instead of my old pack. It's got some nice features, to be certain, but I almost feel bad leaving the Behemoth at home after all this time training with it.