Backpacker Magazine "Get Out More" Tour 4/29/2008

I attended the presentation by Randy and Sheri Propster at the Benchmark Outfitter in Cincinnati from 7:00 PM until 8:00 PM.

I had to work in Troy, OH today until 4:30 PM, and thought I would have no trouble making it to this event. I was about 60-70 miles away, and had plenty of time. (I thought so at the time). Traffic was stopped dead for over 45 minutes in Dayton on I-75 due to an accident, I had not eaten lunch yet, and started to worry about making it. By the time I had eaten, and driven the distance, I arrived tired, but excited at the Benchmark Outfitter at 6:55 PM. Ok... enough about me and my obstacles to fun.

Sheri and Randy are an interesting couple who have hiked the Appalachian Trail and have hiked the American Discovery Trail. They spend a lot of time backpacking, and have a lot of experience to share.

They covered 11 basic essential categories of things to take backpacking, which is an update to the circa 1930 "ten essential items" list. They showed some interesting gear and had some fun questions to test our knowledge. I won't reveal the questions in case you go to one of these events yourself. There were also lots of great prizes. There were so many that I even won a prize.

I highly recommend that anyone check this out who is a backpacker, or is interested in getting started. I consider myself a novice, but I am always looking for ideas and information from the more experienced. Attending this event could steer a new hiker away from making some expensive gear mistakes, and from making bad decisions on the trail. I would have never started the Buckeye Trail last year with my ill fitting Swiss Army surplus pack if I had been to this event before.

To find out more about one of these events near you, go to backpacker.com/getoutmore.

For more info on the Benchmark Outfitter, go to Benchmark Outfitter

Miami Whitewater Forest: Tallgrass Prairie Trail 4/6/2008

Trailhead

The prairie area

Small creek

A portion of the trail in the woods

Wooden walkway through some of the wetter area of the trail

The Tallgrass Prairie Trail is approximately 2/3 mile in length. It is a short trail, but has a lot of beauty in its short distance. The small prairie area at the half way point is very nice, and has an interesting sign with information on the history of prairie regions in Ohio.

This trail is about as far as it gets from the busy harbor area, and is a small trail that should not be missed.

For more information on Miami Whitewater Forest, checkout the link:

http://www.hamiltoncountyparks.org/parks/miami.htm

Here is a link to a small Google Map that I made for the Tallgrass Prairie Trail:

Google Map

To subscribe to the RSS feed for the images from this trail:

Image Feed

Miami Whitewater Forest: Badlands Trail 4/6/2008

Badlands Trail

View from the Badlands Trail

This is the point where you can choose the Inner or Outer Badlands Trail Loop

Today the temperature was around 65 degrees F, and sunny. This was the best day of the year so far for being outdoors. Today the trip was to Miami Whitewater Forest, and the first trail walked was the inner loop of the Badlands Trail. I had hoped to walk the Oak Leaf Trail and the adjacent Parcours Trail. I am not sure if it was caused by the recent flooding in the area, but both trails were closed for repairs, and the restroom was closed. There was a porta potty next to the restroom that is at the parking lot by the Oak Leaf Trail. The water fountain outside the restroom was also shut off. Fortunately, I had brought plenty of water, and could use other restroom facilities in the park. Since I could not walk these two trails, I crossed the road to walk the Badlands Trail, which was open. It did look like there were some trees that had fallen across the trail, but they had been cut through.

There are two options with the Badlands Trail. There is an inner loop that is about 0.8 miles in length, and an outer loop that is listed at 1.6 miles. Sinced I was with the kids, I concentrated on the inner loop, so I did not wear them out too much. The trail is listed as a Level 4, which makes it somewhat of a moderate hike.

To find more information and directions to Miami Whitewater Forest, the link to the Hamilton County Park site is:

http://www.hamiltoncountyparks.org/parks/miami.htm

A nice PDF map of the park and trails is at:

http://www.hamiltoncountyparks.org/aboutus/mwf_map.pdf

I added a small Google Map, but there is not much detail since this trail is heavily wooded and difficult to make out from the aerial views. It might help pinpoint the location and shows a little about what the area looks like. This should compliment the PDF map above.

Google Map for Badlands Trail

Winton Woods West Trail 4/5/2008

Distance marker at the start of the West Trail

View of the Winton Woods Boathouse neat the start of the West Trail


Trail passes near the lake

Small pond near the trail

The West Trail is a paved trail in Winton Woods that is a short "out and back" style of trail. It is 0.9 miles one way, which makes for a nice 1.8 mile out and back walk.

Today was a beautiful day that was near 60 degrees, and plenty of sun. The West Trail is to the west side of Winton Road, and is less travelled than the trail that circles the lake on the east side of Winton Road, and has some nice views of the western side of Winton Lake. It is a convenient place to drive to for a little exercise, when I don't have time to drive further. There are somewhere between 5 and 6 miles of paved and unpaved trails in the park, so there is a little bit of everything. Here is a link to a map of the trail. (You will need to have the Adobe reader to be able to view this PDF file):

http://www.hamiltoncountyparks.org/aboutus/ww_map.pdf

A link with more information about the park from the Hamilton County Park District is here:

http://www.hamiltoncountyparks.org/parks/winton.htm

The address to Winton Woods is 10245 Winton Road Cincinnati, Ohio 45231

The following is a small Google Map I created for this trail:

Google Map of West Trail