3.19.06
chilly (40°F)
1 hour
1.5 miles
deer skeleton
none

On a brisk, but sunny, pre-spring day I met my match in the form of a shallow creek's slippery slope.

Today's hike was not much more than a good excuse to stretch the legs and start working towards getting ready for some serious Spring hiking. Lori and I decided to hike the horse trails out at Litzenburg Memorial Woods, about 15 minutes west of Findlay, Ohio. I'd walked the wooded short-trails behind the historical house, but hadn't walked the extended horse trails across the highway. I tried last fall, but since deer season had just begun, the posted hunting season signs convinced me I should wait until a safer time.

Hiking around Findlay is dismal, to be kind. Just not much to choose from and nothing of much distance unless you count the 4-1/2 mile gravel access road that rings the town's reservoir. What's left are a couple of short wooded hikes that merely whet the appetite but do little to get my Winter legs into shape. But, you hike where you can when you have the time, so on this particular Sunday we found ourselves tromping the soft muddy bridal paths hoping to make an interesting walk out of what seemed to be a somewhat boring route. So much for premonition.

As you can see on the map at the right, the West-side path include fording a small creek. Normally, that's not an issue, but we've had some rain and snow the past few weeks and everything was a bit muddy. We walked down a bit from the obvious crossing, the water being a bit deep to wade through, and even past the fallen tree where others had likely crossed. It seemed too narrow and we were a bit concerned about slipping off, so on we went another 10 yards or so to a point where the creek seemed to narrow and the banks' slopes not so great.

As I got near the water's edge, to my dismay I learned to late how slick the mud was and suddenly all I saw was sky! And damn, that water was COLD! As soon as I hit the water I hunched up to get my butt out of that cold water and Lori thought I'd hurt my back. In leaning over to help me get up, she then slipped and down she came, although somehow she managed to miss the water and only get a little muddy. Me? I wasn't so lucky. I'm still cleaning the leather jacket I was wearing two days later! (Picture provided by Lori of HoardedOrdinaries.com.)

We managed to continue the hike and although cold and damp, I had enough clothes on my upper body to compensate for the cold lower body, and we finished the hike in the sun. Back at the car I had to do some careful placement of my leather coat on the car seat (clean side down while I sat on the muddy back...but then, my jeans were muddy anyway!).

As usual, all worked out okay. I did, to my delight, discover that my new hikers (Asolos) are waterproof and never experienced any dampness in my socks. As any hiker knows, you can survive a lot of such dunkings so long as your socks stay dry.

Next time I go out to Litzenburg it'll be Spring and I'll be able to walk the hilly woods behind the old barn. Again, not a long hike but a pretty "away from it all" sort of saunter. And when I find some longer weekends to work with, I'll be off to explore Southern Ohio hikes such as Hocking Hills. When I do, I'll update HikeThru with new thoughts and hopefully, tasty pictures.