Southern Ohio Hiker

27/05/2024

Go ahead and get wet . . . explore and appreciate nature!

27/05/2024

Return to Adams County. I was hoping to see the American columbo in full bloom. As is usually (always) the case, I was outsmarted by plants. All was not lost as I found a new honey-hole for columbo even closer to the parking area and I also went to Kamama Prairie.

19/05/2024

Went out to Adams County to a section of the Buckeye Trail off of Black's Run Rd. I was guessing that I would be at peak American Columbo. I was early. I was even too early for early meadow rue. Wildflowers are like comedy, there is something that is the most important part. It'll come to me in a minute. Memorial Day weekend will be a great time to do the hikes that I just did. Timing! That is the most important part.

28/04/2024

At Spring Grove Cemetery for the Ohio Tree Climbing Championship and I had to visit this old friend.

21/04/2024

Spent the weekend in the Edge of Appalachia and the Arc of Appalachia.

14/04/2024

Whipple, Ohio River Bluffs, and Quiverheart.

14/04/2024

When life gives you rain, take photos of raindrops.

14/04/2024

Blue-eyed Mary walk at Ohio River Bluffs.

11/04/2024

Rock Run Preserve next to Shawnee State Forest famous for its red trillium.

08/04/2024

You don't have to go to California, or New York apparently, to see a fault line. There is one visible in Ohio at Davis Memorial State Nature Preserve. The fault is visible in the stream, more easily seen because someone (not me) put a line of rocks on the shore. The bedrock on the right is Greenfield Dolomite and is layered and blocky. The bedrock on the left is Peebles Dolomite and is gentle and curving (per the sign describing this feature). The Greenfield layer is younger and is usually on top of the Peebles layer but, because of movement along the fault line, they are side-by-side like Ebony & Ivory, living together in perfect harmony. That is from the song, not the sign.

08/04/2024

I am getting better at not taking 542 photos a day and posting 267 of them. Three days of hiking boiled down to five photos.

31/03/2024

Trip #2 to Highland and Adams Counties. Went to Ohio River Bluffs, Cedar Falls (not the one in Hocking Hills), Quiverheart, Davis Memorial, and Shoemaker.

24/03/2024

Ohio River Bluffs and Gladys Riley Preserve. The bluebells are close but not quite peak. Blue-eyed Mary were hard to find - only a few and very small so these out-of-focus shots are the best I can do. Found a Golden Star Lily without a line of people waiting to take a photo of it.

07/03/2024

Some snow trillium and hepatica at Barrett's Rim in the Arc of Appalachia. There are hundreds of snow trillium there but they are not at peak yet. Very few hepatica. A couple trout lilies and a cutleaf toothwort were in bud but probably more than a week before many of those are blooming there.

07/03/2024

Helped build a section of floating bridge at the Arc of Appalachia. Then we had to paddle the 6' x 16' bridge across the pond to attach to the existing section. A bridge is not very aquadynamic so I was not able to stop paddling to take a photo of that unique experience.

27/01/2024

26/11/2023

Did a couple hours of invasive work on Green Friday at Cedar Run, an Arc of Appalachia Preserve, and also a short hike at Barrett's Rim, a Southern Ohio Hiker favorite at AofA.

05/11/2023

It was a perfect day to get some work done. 29 people helped at the Arc of Appalachia's Ridgeview Farm pulling and cutting & treating invasives. The carcasses were piled up so native plants can grow easier and any future invasives can be pulled easily.

03/11/2023

Great chance to volunteer at the Arc of Appalachia on what appears to be a great day. Say that you heard about it from Southern Ohio Hiker and receive 10% more baked beans. Content below is from A of A.

What a perfect day to work on Land Restoration!!
This Saturday will be a high of 61 & partly cloudy,
10 am - 2 pm at Ridgeview Farm at the Sanctuary
followed by a “comfort food” dinner

November 4, 2023 Saturday - Ridgeview Farm Work Day
10 am - 4 pm; held THIS SATURDAY at the Highlands Nature Sanctuary!

Dinner: veggie burgers, mac and cheese, homemade cast iron baked beans, apple crisp.

Bring work gloves. We will supply all the tools.

We have been holding these spring and fall work days for well over ten years, and the results are stunning. Ridgeview’s fields are now completely free of invasives, and we’re tackling one woodlot at at time, creating one of the few meadow landscapes in Ohio not marred with invasives. We are making phenomenal progress as measured in increased bird life, insect pollinators, an incredible showcase of fireflies, and recovering woodland wildflowers. So very gratifying.

Seldom do we recall a workday with weather this perfect, so please do join us. We will be working in an entirely new ribbon of woods on a hillside terrace not far from the house - just behind the chestnut orchard. Compared to most of our work projects, this site is a relatively easy job. We anticipate that w will be stunned by the progress we will make together. It will be deeply satisfying to appreciate how beautiful this woods wil be to us when we are done. Most of the invasives we will be removing will be bush honeysuckle and they aren’t super tall so it will be a piece of cake. We are going to TRANSFORM this hillside!! Teamwork is Dreamwork!!!

Ridgeview Farm is located one mile west of Rainsboro on Highway 50. From Highway 50 turn south on OH-753 at the blinking yellow light. (do not turn north of 753 at Rainsboro) One mile or so down the road you will see N. Shore Drive coming in on your right, and at 1.3 miles you will pass McCoppin Mill Rd. on your right. You will now enter a fairly developed section of the road on your left, where obviously a farm has been divided into relatively small house lots. Begin slowing down. Where these small house lots end, at mile 1.85, you will see a sign that says Beaver Cemetery on your left. Turn left into the drive just before three giant maples. The drive immediately splits into two. The left leg goes back behind the small house lots to the public cemetery and the Ridgeview Farm trailhead. The right leg goes into the two story light bluish gray, a large restored old red barn, and a carriage house styled two car garage which is now clearly visible – this is Ridgeview Farm Staff Residence. Take the right leg and park on the left side of the garage.

Note: Ridgeview is hard to see when the leaves are out and the driveway off 753 comes up fast so if you pass it the first time, don’t feel badly, you are in good company! If you see a little brick schoolhouse on your right, you just missed it.

Email [email protected].

03/11/2023

While there is obviously no whitewater rafting this time of year and at this water level, I feel obligated to post a video of the New River. It is admittedly not as entertaining as seeing me get thrown from a raft and bashing my head against an underwater rock, but I did not get hurt making this video. Your loss is my gain.

03/11/2023

Photos from the Endless Wall Trail on top of the New River Gorge and the Stonecliff Trail ................ down by the river!

01/11/2023

I ventured out of Southern Ohio and into KY (Carter Caves) and WV (New River Gorge).

01/11/2023

Someone turned off the electric fence that keeps me in Southern Ohio and I found myself in the New River Gorge in West Virginia. This waterfall was along the Kaymoor Trail near Fayetteville.

19/10/2023

The first unofficial public appearance of Southern Ohio Hiker will happen at MadTree tonight as well. 6 - 10 PM.

Night in the Trees is tonight! Don't miss this magical happy hour filled with trees in the beer garden featuring fire pits, specialty drinks and live music.

09/10/2023

Anna's performance starts a little over a minute into this clip. Yes she did stun the crowd because she started out having trouble adjusting the microphone and mumbling quietly to herself, just as you would expect any 14-year-old a couple hundred miles from home, on stage in front of 300 people would do. And then this happened. The video doesn't quite capture the way her voice echoed throughout the hills surrounding the camp.

20/09/2023

A view from the bottom of Killer Rock Hollow including a pool that had a couple of fish 2" long (not seen in video). Not huge, but I didn't expect to find fish there.

20/09/2023

A 360 degree view of Killer Rock Hollow (my own name) in Hocking Hills.

20/09/2023

Spent some time off the beaten path (actually off any path) in Hocking Hills. I have descriptions of these and other Hidden Hollows of Hocking Hills on my blog. https://southernohiohiker.blogspot.com/