This was originally posted on the NCT Friends Yahoo Groups Site.
It describes my hike on December 31, 2009 (New Year's Eve)
Today is a day of a Major Milestone
and a Major Foul up on my part.
I met Ron Sootman at the Pittsford Road
Trailhead at about 8:15 in the morning.
We decided we would put Ron's SUV in Waldron
and we would come back to the Trailhead.
We made it back to the trailhead and started
walking down Pittsford Road. We hiked down to
Losney Road where the NCT turns, and decided to
take a slightly different route. On the way
back from Waldron we had seen a couple farm dogs
on the loose on Losney Road. Maybe it should be
call Loosedog Road. We decided to
hike down to the next road and turn.
So we turned on Squawfield Road instead, but we
encountered a plow on the road before we
got to the intersection. I really didn't think
it had snowed enough for plowing, but the
crews were out working the roads.
Today is completely a Road Hike. So trying
to cross creeks and walking up steep hills
are not on the agenda today. Most of the
views were of barren farm field, farmsteads
and woods. In fact the woods were far between
which made it hard to find a place to pull
up to a tree. If you know what I mean.
Our route was going to take us through a
crossroads called Lickly Corners. First
we seen a graveyard up on a small hill
then we saw a church, and that's about it
for Lickly Corners. The Church is call
the Lickly Corners Baptist church.
We then made it over to Tuttle road, which
is the official route of the NCT. In fact
we saw some blue blazes on Telephone poles
every once in a while.
Well it's a straight hike to the border
on Tuttle Road. I was trying to get Ron to
hike into Waldron, then hike to the Border,
But he would have nothing of it. He wanted
to hike the official route.
It actually makes me wonder why the official
route doesn't go through Waldron. It would make
a nice little Trail town. So we hiked town to
the border and turned left on Territorial route.
This is still the official route for another half
mile.
Well the first thing I wanted to do when I got to
Ohio was take a pee. But there were no woods around.
Eventually I had to kneel down in some tall grass.
We walked down to the road where the NCT Officially
turns into Ohio and took some photos at the road
sign.
By the way, the major milestone was me setting foot
in Ohio for the first time. I have never been in
Ohio before.
But it was short lived because soon we were hiking back
to Waldron. This is about 2 extra miles that are
not NCT miles. Waldron is a nice little community
in rural America. I took a lot of photos. On the
street, I met up with Rob, who thought I was someone
else. I explained what I was doing, took a photo,
gave him my card for my website and
continued on. At this time, Ron was about a block ahead
of me because I was stopping to take photos.
We made it back to Ron's SUV and took a photo
at the endpoint of the hike. We decided that
we would go back to my van and then head to
the Sidekick Cafe in Osseo. I told Ron I would
pay for it since he helped me so much on the trip.
It was about 2 pm when we were at the cafe
While we were at the cafe, I decided to set my
Spot messenger out on my car to relay an OKAY
message. We had really good food and we decided
that we would drop my van off Lake Baw Beese Park
and Ron would spot me a few miles down the
Trail. Ron had to get back to his house for New
Year's Eve plans.
When we got to Lake Baw Beese Park, I realized I forgot
to take my Spot Messenger off the top of my van.
It was somewhere between Osseo and Hillsdale.
I thanked Ron and he was on his way, and I went back looking
for the Spot Messenger. I drove the 5 miles
about 4 or 5 times looking for it, to no avail.
I then called the Spot Messenger Service and told them about
my lost Messenger. I thought maybe they could locate
it somehow, but they couldn't.
Oh well, maybe it will turn up someday.
Tonight, I drove up to Battle Creek where I may do
some hiking tomorrow.
regards from me, Tman