Big Z TR - Preacher Converted, Boy Scout s Educated

“Big Z Trip Report – Preacher Converted, Boy Scouts Educated

June 4, 2004

Someone else will have to add to the beginning of the report as I didn't arrive in camp until 9:30.

I reached the Big Z trailhead around 6pm, registered, packed up and locked up the car and was ready to leave when Dr. Deet and his cousin Pat (guy in the middle) pulled into the parking lot. I waited a few more minutes for them to get ready then we all left together. After about 100 yards down the trail I realized I left my backup photon light so I turned around, went back and got it. After about 3 miles (we took the long way in, not the shortcut) I caught back up with Dr. Deet and Pat just in time for it to start getting dark.

While driving to the trailhead it started raining so everything was wet. The trail was poorly designed and poorly kept…guess I'm going to have to go down there and do some maintenance. Overgrown trees, weeds, and other plants soaked us as we walked along the trail…not to mention MUD! There was more deep, wet, mud at Big Z than at a sorority mud wrestling event at OSU.

Most of us arrived at different times so different groups formed according to the arrival time as everyone headed for campsite two. Most of us took the 6 mile southern loop. Preacher, the only backpacker on backpacker.com, arrived at the trailhead by himself and opted to take the 3 mile shortcut in. It was his first trip in 20 years so we let him slide without giving him too much crap ;-) Even though he posts on the Martha Stewart Side, he's a great guy dedicated to what he does for a living and if we didn't scare him off, I look forward to more trips with him in Ohio. But since he's only hiked with TTers, and he's posted on our site…I guess that makes him an official TTer. Converted! ;-)

A little over halfway on the southern loop is a hidden lake or swamp. I didn't notice it on the map so it was a nice surprise, very pretty. I would say the southern loop is the easiest part of the trail…just a few climbs and descents. The entire trail stays somewhat close to a few roads and drops down off the ridges to cross the roads and streams.

I arrived at camp with Dr. Deet and Pat around 9:30. The rest of the gang, Prosecutor, Os1Johnson (far left) and friends (right), Preacher, PhantomSoul, and SloppyJoe56 (far left), already had a fire going. We heard them a little ways down the trail before they heard us and thought up a way to play a joke on them. I was going to hike into camp by myself and then Dr. Deet and Pat were going to ditch their packs and sneak up to camp pretending to be an animal in an attempt to scare a couple of them. But we took one step too many and they heard us and all of the sudden we had about 5 headlamps aimed in our direction.

We had the campsite to ourselves, which btw was extremely nice. Complete with a pretty clean latrine and running water! Campsite 1 (which we passed on the way) had a few people in it. Both campsite 1 and 2 were pretty small when compared to campsite 3.

After chatting around the fire for an hour or so, most elected to go to bed around 11pm. Prosecutor let some of Os1Johnson's buddies sleep under his tarp—they were going hardcore and sleeping out under the stars rather than in their military bivies. PhantomSoul and I were the last to go to bed around midnight.

June 5, 2004

As usual, I was the last one up. I had a very rough night learning to sleep in my brand new Hennessy Hammock. It's not so bad without a sleeping pad aside from being cold…but once you add the slick Therm-a-Rest[/b] it becomes a challenge. I also had it over loaded…I tied all my gear, including my pack, to the hanging lines or ridge lines inside the tent. I kept trying different sleeping positions until around 2:30am when I finally found a good one. Around 3:30am I woke up when I rolled over and my sleeping pad popped out of the bottom of the hammock. Lesson: don't hang the head higher than the feet if you use a slick sleeping pad as it will make you slide down further than you need to be. Also the sheer weight of all my gear on the hammock made it sag and I had to retie it in the wee hours of the night.

I think it was about 9am when I got out of bed after hearing others up for a couple hours. Os1Johnson and his crew were first to head to the next campsite (military guys don't mess around!). Preacher hung back for a few and chatted before he headed back to the trailhead. His boss makes him work on Sundays ;-) so he couldn't stay with us Saturday night. Dr. Deet and Pat were next to head out while Prosecutor and PhantomSoul took their time, as did I, packing up camp and having breakfast. The three of us departed camp around 10am as a group.

Today's hike encompassed the eastern half of the lower northern loop. I believe this was the hardest section, but don't take my word on it as my muscles were sore and I was tired from a sleepless night. But it seemed to me that this section had a ton of hills. Since we were only hiking 6 miles and had all day to do it, we vowed to take it slow, explore the area, learn the history, and take a long lunch.

We arrived quite early in camp…can't exactly remember the hour, but it was before 3pm. The first thing we did was crash. As it rained and was around 80F, there was a ton of humidity, it worked a number on the machine. Os1Johnson and his buddies had their packs on and informed us that they were leaving. A group of boy scouts invaded our campsite and without asking they just set up camp. Granted, there was room and there were many other campsites open and available when they arrived, they just seemed to like ours for some reason. If they had asked, Dr. Deet, on the scene, might have said okay and maybe Os1Johnson would have as well as asking would have acknowledged that we were in the campground first…but they didn't so the military gang left. Boyscouts 1, US Military 0.

The boyscouts were training for Philmont and another hike so they went to hike the upper northern loop (5.5 miles) with their packs on after setting up camp. Dr. Deet felt that he should move the fire ring since we were in the campground first and the boyscouts decided they would surround it. At Prosecutors suggestion we placed it dead even between our side and the boyscout's side so we could share. Prosecutor, SloppyJoe56, Dr. Deet and Pat all gathered and cut the firewood for a nice fire and when the boyscouts returned they invited them over to share the fire. Of course this wasn't good enough and the leader made mention that we took their fire ring. They then proceeded to violate the forest rules, Fires are not permitted except in grills or fire rings provided or in portable stoves and build a fire on open ground rather than share our fire. Great group lemme tell ya.

While they were gone Dr. Deet and Pat declared war on the boyscouts and decided to build forts. The [url= http://community.webshots.com/photo/150147707/150153376YOZJDv]TT Fort, shown from the air around 5,000 feet was much superior to the [url= http://community.webshots.com/photo/150147707/150153761lDozKy]boyscout fort[/b]. We of course won the war.

To our surprise around 5 (I think) [url= http://community.webshots.com/photo/150147707/150154053byoFNw]Bigpack[/url] showed up ironically with her big pack and even bigger sleeping bag. I still think she should have kept the trail name "band camp" ;-) An hour later some girls with backpacks were wondering around looking for a place to camp so I yelled at them and invited them to share our space. They picked a spot right next to the boyscouts…I bet they loved that! They were really nice girls and one of them came over and sampled a bit of [url= http://community.webshots.com/photo/150197304/150226295IqPCMl]Prosecutor's[/url] gourmet cooking (he made cherry cobbler in the fire and it was damn good—that guy can cook!) and played a game of [url= http://community.webshots.com/photo/150197304/150226428zvocHf]cards (blonde on the right)[/url] with part of our group.

Around 9:30 when it got dark the boyscouts surprisingly went to bed. We expected them to be running wild into the night. Quiet hours didn't start until 11pm and ended at 7am, but the boyscout leader felt that this was too late and decided to force a 10pm quiet time upon us. First let me say we weren't being loud, but as we wanted to set a good example we complied and got quiet even though we weren't breaking any rules and we were in the campsite first. At the 11pm official quiet time everyone but PhantomSoul and myself went to bed later around 12:30am after burning the rest of the wood.

Sleeping in the Hennessy was much easier tonight after I discovered the secret. It is still much different than a tent and takes some getting used too…it's very comfortable and very odd as your back is flat and your feet are elevated.

June 6, 2004

Prosecutor may have been the first person up in the entire camp area today. He got up early enough to catch a gorgeous picture of the [url= http://community.webshots.com/photo/150147707/150154855OlDEBg]sunrise[/url]. The boyscouts woke up really early (before quiet time had ended) and made a ton of noise packing up and leaving.

Dr. Deet had a flight to Florida to catch so he booked it out of camp before BigPack tried to [url= http://community.webshots.com/photo/150147707/150155443GisZjt]knock me out of my hammock[/url] at 8am to wake me up. We left camp by 9am with 5.5 miles to hike back to the trailhead via the western half of the lower northern loop. This part of the trail crossed a road 1 mile from camp. I decided that this was a great opportunity to slack pack so I ditched my pack in the weeds and hiked with 1 liter of water, a candy bar, and my camera as seen in the back of [url= http://community.webshots.com/photo/150147707/150155842yOiYYz]this picture[/url]. Shortly after we climbed a big hill and as I was smiling because I did it without a pack, SloppyJoe56 told me to stop smiling, lol. I still urged the rest to ditch their packs, that I could mark their locations the GPS but everyone else wanted to be a real backpacker and carry their pack. As for me, I'll gladly take the lazy route whenever I can.

This section of trail was probably the easiest and the muddiest. It follows a ridge for a bit then drops down and follows a creek to the trailhead. Along the path are some interesting [url= http://community.webshots.com/photo/150197304/150226516XlLtol]rock formations[/url] and [url= http://community.webshots.com/photo/150147707/150151297cjtfLH]rock ledges[/url]. At the end of the hike the remaining five of us took the opportunity to get a picture in front of the [url= http://community.webshots.com/photo/150197304/150226630pzFwcZ]Zaleski sign[/url]. With the exception of Joe who had to go home, the rest of us went to have lunch in McArthur. Prosecutor generously offered to pay! What a great guy! After a big lunch all of us departed and headed in opposite directions home.

Despite the mud, boyscouts, and minimal bugs the trip was great and a good time was had by all! It'll be a week before my pictures are up, in the meantime enjoy these albums:

[url= http://community.webshots.com/album/150147707oKXxfn]Prosecutor's pictures[/url]
[url= http://community.webshots.com/album/150197304mEbRSJ]PhantomSoul's pictures[/url]”

“Big Z Trip Report – Preacher Converted, Boy Scouts Educated

June 4, 2004

Someone else will have to add to the beginning of the report as I didn't arrive in camp until 9:30.

I reached the Big Z trailhead around 6pm, registered, packed up and locked up the car and was ready to leave when Dr. Deet and his cousin Pat (guy in the middle) pulled into the parking lot. I waited a few more minutes for them to get ready then we all left together. After about 100 yards down the trail I realized I left my backup photon light so I turned around, went back and got it. After about 3 miles (we took the long way in, not the shortcut) I caught back up with Dr. Deet and Pat just in time for it to start getting dark.

While driving to the trailhead it started raining so everything was wet. The trail was poorly designed and poorly kept…guess I'm going to have to go down there and do some maintenance. Overgrown trees, weeds, and other plants soaked us as we walked along the trail…not to mention MUD! There was more deep, wet, mud at Big Z than at a sorority mud wrestling event at OSU.

Most of us arrived at different times so different groups formed according to the arrival time as everyone headed for campsite two. Most of us took the 6 mile southern loop. Preacher, the only backpacker on backpacker.com, arrived at the trailhead by himself and opted to take the 3 mile shortcut in. It was his first trip in 20 years so we let him slide without giving him too much crap ;-) Even though he posts on the Martha Stewart Side, he's a great guy dedicated to what he does for a living and if we didn't scare him off, I look forward to more trips with him in Ohio. But since he's only hiked with TTers, and he's posted on our site…I guess that makes him an official TTer. Converted! ;-)

A little over halfway on the southern loop is a hidden lake or swamp. I didn't notice it on the map so it was a nice surprise, very pretty. I would say the southern loop is the easiest part of the trail…just a few climbs and descents. The entire trail stays somewhat close to a few roads and drops down off the ridges to cross the roads and streams.

I arrived at camp with Dr. Deet and Pat around 9:30. The rest of the gang, Prosecutor, Os1Johnson (far left) and friends (right), Preacher, PhantomSoul, and SloppyJoe56 (far left), already had a fire going. We heard them a little ways down the trail before they heard us and thought up a way to play a joke on them. I was going to hike into camp by myself and then Dr. Deet and Pat were going to ditch their packs and sneak up to camp pretending to be an animal in an attempt to scare a couple of them. But we took one step too many and they heard us and all of the sudden we had about 5 headlamps aimed in our direction.

We had the campsite to ourselves, which btw was extremely nice. Complete with a pretty clean latrine and running water! Campsite 1 (which we passed on the way) had a few people in it. Both campsite 1 and 2 were pretty small when compared to campsite 3.

After chatting around the fire for an hour or so, most elected to go to bed around 11pm. Prosecutor let some of Os1Johnson's buddies sleep under his tarp—they were going hardcore and sleeping out under the stars rather than in their military bivies. PhantomSoul and I were the last to go to bed around midnight.

June 5, 2004

As usual, I was the last one up. I had a very rough night learning to sleep in my brand new Hennessy Hammock. It's not so bad without a sleeping pad aside from being cold…but once you add the slick Therm-a-Rest[/b] it becomes a challenge. I also had it over loaded…I tied all my gear, including my pack, to the hanging lines or ridge lines inside the tent. I kept trying different sleeping positions until around 2:30am when I finally found a good one. Around 3:30am I woke up when I rolled over and my sleeping pad popped out of the bottom of the hammock. Lesson: don't hang the head higher than the feet if you use a slick sleeping pad as it will make you slide down further than you need to be. Also the sheer weight of all my gear on the hammock made it sag and I had to retie it in the wee hours of the night.

I think it was about 9am when I got out of bed after hearing others up for a couple hours. Os1Johnson and his crew were first to head to the next campsite (military guys don't mess around!). Preacher hung back for a few and chatted before he headed back to the trailhead. His boss makes him work on Sundays ;-) so he couldn't stay with us Saturday night. Dr. Deet and Pat were next to head out while Prosecutor and PhantomSoul took their time, as did I, packing up camp and having breakfast. The three of us departed camp around 10am as a group.

Today's hike encompassed the eastern half of the lower northern loop. I believe this was the hardest section, but don't take my word on it as my muscles were sore and I was tired from a sleepless night. But it seemed to me that this section had a ton of hills. Since we were only hiking 6 miles and had all day to do it, we vowed to take it slow, explore the area, learn the history, and take a long lunch.

We arrived quite early in camp…can't exactly remember the hour, but it was before 3pm. The first thing we did was crash. As it rained and was around 80F, there was a ton of humidity, it worked a number on the machine. Os1Johnson and his buddies had their packs on and informed us that they were leaving. A group of boy scouts invaded our campsite and without asking they just set up camp. Granted, there was room and there were many other campsites open and available when they arrived, they just seemed to like ours for some reason. If they had asked, Dr. Deet, on the scene, might have said okay and maybe Os1Johnson would have as well as asking would have acknowledged that we were in the campground first…but they didn't so the military gang left. Boyscouts 1, US Military 0.

The boyscouts were training for Philmont and another hike so they went to hike the upper northern loop (5.5 miles) with their packs on after setting up camp. Dr. Deet felt that he should move the fire ring since we were in the campground first and the boyscouts decided they would surround it. At Prosecutors suggestion we placed it dead even between our side and the boyscout's side so we could share. Prosecutor, SloppyJoe56, Dr. Deet and Pat all gathered and cut the firewood for a nice fire and when the boyscouts returned they invited them over to share the fire. Of course this wasn't good enough and the leader made mention that we took their fire ring. They then proceeded to violate the forest rules, Fires are not permitted except in grills or fire rings provided or in portable stoves and build a fire on open ground rather than share our fire. Great group lemme tell ya.

While they were gone Dr. Deet and Pat declared war on the boyscouts and decided to build forts. The TT Fort, shown from the air around 5,000 feet was much superior to the boyscout fort[/b]. We of course won the war.

To our surprise around 5 (I think) [url=http://community.webshots.com/photo/150147707/150154053byoFNw]Bigpack showed up ironically with her big pack and even bigger sleeping bag. I still think she should have kept the trail name "band camp" ;-) An hour later some girls with backpacks were wondering around looking for a place to camp so I yelled at them and invited them to share our space. They picked a spot right next to the boyscouts…I bet they loved that! They were really nice girls and one of them came over and sampled a bit of Prosecutor's gourmet cooking (he made cherry cobbler in the fire and it was damn good—that guy can cook!) and played a game of cards (blonde on the right) with part of our group.

Around 9:30 when it got dark the boyscouts surprisingly went to bed. We expected them to be running wild into the night. Quiet hours didn't start until 11pm and ended at 7am, but the boyscout leader felt that this was too late and decided to force a 10pm quiet time upon us. First let me say we weren't being loud, but as we wanted to set a good example we complied and got quiet even though we weren't breaking any rules and we were in the campsite first. At the 11pm official quiet time everyone but PhantomSoul and myself went to bed later around 12:30am after burning the rest of the wood.

Sleeping in the Hennessy was much easier tonight after I discovered the secret. It is still much different than a tent and takes some getting used too…it's very comfortable and very odd as your back is flat and your feet are elevated.

June 6, 2004

Prosecutor may have been the first person up in the entire camp area today. He got up early enough to catch a gorgeous picture of the sunrise. The boyscouts woke up really early (before quiet time had ended) and made a ton of noise packing up and leaving.

Dr. Deet had a flight to Florida to catch so he booked it out of camp before BigPack tried to knock me out of my hammock at 8am to wake me up. We left camp by 9am with 5.5 miles to hike back to the trailhead via the western half of the lower northern loop. This part of the trail crossed a road 1 mile from camp. I decided that this was a great opportunity to slack pack so I ditched my pack in the weeds and hiked with 1 liter of water, a candy bar, and my camera as seen in the back of this picture. Shortly after we climbed a big hill and as I was smiling because I did it without a pack, SloppyJoe56 told me to stop smiling, lol. I still urged the rest to ditch their packs, that I could mark their locations the GPS but everyone else wanted to be a real backpacker and carry their pack. As for me, I'll gladly take the lazy route whenever I can.

This section of trail was probably the easiest and the muddiest. It follows a ridge for a bit then drops down and follows a creek to the trailhead. Along the path are some interesting [url= http://community.webshots.com/photo/150197304/150226516XlLtol]rock formations and rock ledges. At the end of the hike the remaining five of us took the opportunity to get a picture in front of the Zaleski sign. With the exception of Joe who had to go home, the rest of us went to have lunch in McArthur. Prosecutor generously offered to pay! What a great guy! After a big lunch all of us departed and headed in opposite directions home.

Despite the mud, boyscouts, and minimal bugs the trip was great and a good time was had by all! It'll be a week before my pictures are up, in the meantime enjoy these albums:

Prosecutor's pictures
PhantomSoul's pictures”

“Big Z Trip Report – Preacher Converted, Boy Scouts Educated

June 4, 2004

Someone else will have to add to the beginning of the report as I didn't arrive in camp until 9:30.

I reached the Big Z trailhead around 6pm, registered, packed up and locked up the car and was ready to leave when Dr. Deet and his cousin Pat (guy in the middle) pulled into the parking lot. I waited a few more minutes for them to get ready then we all left together. After about 100 yards down the trail I realized I left my backup photon light so I turned around, went back and got it. After about 3 miles (we took the long way in, not the shortcut) I caught back up with Dr. Deet and Pat just in time for it to start getting dark.

While driving to the trailhead it started raining so everything was wet. The trail was poorly designed and poorly kept…guess I'm going to have to go down there and do some maintenance. Overgrown trees, weeds, and other plants soaked us as we walked along the trail…not to mention MUD! There was more deep, wet, mud at Big Z than at a sorority mud wrestling event at OSU.

Most of us arrived at different times so different groups formed according to the arrival time as everyone headed for campsite two. Most of us took the 6 mile southern loop. Preacher, the only backpacker on backpacker.com, arrived at the trailhead by himself and opted to take the 3 mile shortcut in. It was his first trip in 20 years so we let him slide without giving him too much crap ;-) Even though he posts on the Martha Stewart Side, he's a great guy dedicated to what he does for a living and if we didn't scare him off, I look forward to more trips with him in Ohio. But since he's only hiked with TTers, and he's posted on our site…I guess that makes him an official TTer. Converted! ;-)

A little over halfway on the southern loop is a hidden lake or swamp. I didn't notice it on the map so it was a nice surprise, very pretty. I would say the southern loop is the easiest part of the trail…just a few climbs and descents. The entire trail stays somewhat close to a few roads and drops down off the ridges to cross the roads and streams.

I arrived at camp with Dr. Deet and Pat around 9:30. The rest of the gang, Prosecutor, Os1Johnson (far left) and friends (right), Preacher, PhantomSoul, and SloppyJoe56 (far left), already had a fire going. We heard them a little ways down the trail before they heard us and thought up a way to play a joke on them. I was going to hike into camp by myself and then Dr. Deet and Pat were going to ditch their packs and sneak up to camp pretending to be an animal in an attempt to scare a couple of them. But we took one step too many and they heard us and all of the sudden we had about 5 headlamps aimed in our direction.

We had the campsite to ourselves, which btw was extremely nice. Complete with a pretty clean latrine and running water! Campsite 1 (which we passed on the way) had a few people in it. Both campsite 1 and 2 were pretty small when compared to campsite 3.

After chatting around the fire for an hour or so, most elected to go to bed around 11pm. Prosecutor let some of Os1Johnson's buddies sleep under his tarp—they were going hardcore and sleeping out under the stars rather than in their military bivies. PhantomSoul and I were the last to go to bed around midnight.

June 5, 2004

As usual, I was the last one up. I had a very rough night learning to sleep in my brand new Hennessy Hammock. It's not so bad without a sleeping pad aside from being cold…but once you add the slick Therm-a-Rest[/b] it becomes a challenge. I also had it over loaded…I tied all my gear, including my [url=http://www.epinions.com/content_130696515204]pack, to the hanging lines or ridge lines inside the tent. I kept trying different sleeping positions until around 2:30am when I finally found a good one. Around 3:30am I woke up when I rolled over and my sleeping pad popped out of the bottom of the hammock. Lesson: don't hang the head higher than the feet if you use a slick sleeping pad as it will make you slide down further than you need to be. Also the sheer weight of all my gear on the hammock made it sag and I had to retie it in the wee hours of the night.

I think it was about 9am when I got out of bed after hearing others up for a couple hours. Os1Johnson and his crew were first to head to the next campsite (military guys don't mess around!). Preacher hung back for a few and chatted before he headed back to the trailhead. His boss makes him work on Sundays ;-) so he couldn't stay with us Saturday night. Dr. Deet and Pat were next to head out while Prosecutor and PhantomSoul took their time, as did I, packing up camp and having breakfast. The three of us departed camp around 10am as a group.

Today's hike encompassed the eastern half of the lower northern loop. I believe this was the hardest section, but don't take my word on it as my muscles were sore and I was tired from a sleepless night. But it seemed to me that this section had a ton of hills. Since we were only hiking 6 miles and had all day to do it, we vowed to take it slow, explore the area, learn the history, and take a long lunch.

We arrived quite early in camp…can't exactly remember the hour, but it was before 3pm. The first thing we did was crash. As it rained and was around 80F, there was a ton of humidity, it worked a number on the machine. Os1Johnson and his buddies had their packs on and informed us that they were leaving. A group of boy scouts invaded our campsite and without asking they just set up camp. Granted, there was room and there were many other campsites open and available when they arrived, they just seemed to like ours for some reason. If they had asked, Dr. Deet, on the scene, might have said okay and maybe Os1Johnson would have as well as asking would have acknowledged that we were in the campground first…but they didn't so the military gang left. Boyscouts 1, US Military 0.

The boyscouts were training for Philmont and another hike so they went to hike the upper northern loop (5.5 miles) with their packs on after setting up camp. Dr. Deet felt that he should move the fire ring since we were in the campground first and the boyscouts decided they would surround it. At Prosecutors suggestion we placed it dead even between our side and the boyscout's side so we could share. Prosecutor, SloppyJoe56, Dr. Deet and Pat all gathered and cut the firewood for a nice fire and when the boyscouts returned they invited them over to share the fire. Of course this wasn't good enough and the leader made mention that we took their fire ring. They then proceeded to violate the forest rules, Fires are not permitted except in grills or fire rings provided or in portable stoves and build a fire on open ground rather than share our fire. Great group lemme tell ya.

While they were gone Dr. Deet and Pat declared war on the boyscouts and decided to build forts. The TT Fort, shown from the air around 5,000 feet was much superior to the boyscout fort. We of course won the war.

To our surprise around 5 (I think) Bigpack showed up ironically with her big pack and even bigger sleeping bag. I still think she should have kept the trail name "band camp" ;-) An hour later some girls with backpacks were wondering around looking for a place to camp so I yelled at them and invited them to share our space. They picked a spot right next to the boyscouts…I bet they loved that! They were really nice girls and one of them came over and sampled a bit of Prosecutor's gourmet cooking (he made cherry cobbler in the fire and it was damn good—that guy can cook!) and played a game of cards (blonde on the right) with part of our group.

Around 9:30 when it got dark the boyscouts surprisingly went to bed. We expected them to be running wild into the night. Quiet hours didn't start until 11pm and ended at 7am, but the boyscout leader felt that this was too late and decided to force a 10pm quiet time upon us. First let me say we weren't being loud, but as we wanted to set a good example we complied and got quiet even though we weren't breaking any rules and we were in the campsite first. At the 11pm official quiet time everyone but PhantomSoul and myself went to bed later around 12:30am after burning the rest of the wood.

Sleeping in the Hennessy was much easier tonight after I discovered the secret. It is still much different than a tent and takes some getting used too…it's very comfortable and very odd as your back is flat and your feet are elevated.

June 6, 2004

Prosecutor may have been the first person up in the entire camp area today. He got up early enough to catch a gorgeous picture of the sunrise. The boyscouts woke up really early (before quiet time had ended) and made a ton of noise packing up and leaving.

Dr. Deet had a flight to Florida to catch so he booked it out of camp before BigPack tried to knock me out of my hammock at 8am to wake me up. We left camp by 9am with 5.5 miles to hike back to the trailhead via the western half of the lower northern loop. This part of the trail crossed a road 1 mile from camp. I decided that this was a great opportunity to slack pack so I ditched my pack in the weeds and hiked with 1 liter of water, a candy bar, and my camera as seen in the back of this picture. Shortly after we climbed a big hill and as I was smiling because I did it without a pack, SloppyJoe56 told me to stop smiling, lol. I still urged the rest to ditch their packs, that I could mark their locations the GPS but everyone else wanted to be a real backpacker and carry their pack. As for me, I'll gladly take the lazy route whenever I can.

This section of trail was probably the easiest and the muddiest. It follows a ridge for a bit then drops down and follows a creek to the trailhead. Along the path are some interesting rock formations and rock ledges. At the end of the hike the remaining five of us took the opportunity to get a picture in front of the Zaleski sign. With the exception of Joe who had to go home, the rest of us went to have lunch in McArthur. Prosecutor generously offered to pay! What a great guy! After a big lunch all of us departed and headed in opposite directions home.

Despite the mud, boyscouts, and minimal bugs the trip was great and a good time was had by all! It'll be a week before my pictures are up, in the meantime enjoy these albums:

Prosecutor's pictures
PhantomSoul's pictures”

“Eh, good enough.”

“sounds like it was fun, I'll check out all the other pics later.

An extremely well written and thorough trip report Dub!”

“Wow Dub, excellent trip report. You pretty much summed it all up. I just wanted to add that, on my first trip out of the Northeast, while it was nice to encounter a serious lack of rocks (about all 5 rocks in the state of Ohio were on this trail), the ridiculous amounts of mud made the trail as slippery and challenging as the wet slate and limestone rocks would have back home. And, although I hear it's pretty common out in the Midwest, I was really suprised by the ridiculous amounts of poison ivy that has literally taken over much of the forest floor out there. Also, I didn't have to use my brand new Katadyn filter at all because both of the campsites had running taps for water that was already cleaned for drinking! How's that for luxury backpacking?

I was the first of our group at the trailhead arriving just before 2 PM, Prosecutor arrived soon after and we met (almost in an awkward way, but let's just say I was able to hold the door shut enough to avoid disaster... [insert embarrased look here]) Soon after SloppyJoe56 arrived, and just before 3, OS1Johnson and his friends arrived. Now that we were all assembled, we set off.

A word of advice to all ya Midwesterners (or anyone not used to hiking big hills, for that matter): never let a northeasterner lead the group. Let me tell ya, we come up to this little rise of about 200' or so, so I start walking up it like any little rise back home, not too fast, but sparing. About halfway up the hill, I notice there's no one behind me. So, I stopped and after when everyone else caught up and caught their breath (myself included), my leadership was gone, as I was apparently "running straight up the mountain". No hard feelings guys -- I really did enjoy the slower pace that followed. I just thought that was a funny story about a clash of hiking cultures ;)

Anywhoo, the rest of the afternoon's hike was pretty uneventful -- just meandering thru the woods. Dub's story picks up well from camp that night. Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised with Ohio -- very different from the Northeast, but definitely manages to hold its own. If ya want, you can check out the rest of my pics here -- you know, the ones that were too cool for Dub to incorporate into his story ;)”

“Great touch putting links to the photos so people could follow along on what was happening. Third time was charm.

Let me add to the trip report. Even though this was Preacher's first backpacking trip in over 20 years, and he did exceedingly well. He had a fast pace into camp (beating the trip organizer- Dubs) and was able to pare down his pack weight to 25 pounds. The guy is a natural. And he gave great insight around the campfire to some of the brouhaha suffered on the other side recently. Too bad he forgot all his stove fuel.

Trying to sneak up to the camp, were you? We thought it was a parade coming into town. Ha.

Weren't being loud? You be the judge. A bunch of Trail Talk people from the "dark side" drinking bourbon, 151 rum, telling jokes and lies sitting around a campfire after sundown. Do you think you could go to sleep early without asking them to tone it down?

Generous? When the diner is so cheap that lunch for four people with two appetizers cost $28.00, I would be wary of an offer of, "I'll buy lunch today, you can pick up the next tab".

Phantom Soul is a human GPS. He had never been there before, but was able to tell us what to expect up ahead without looking at the map. Dr. Deet is signed up go to Green Beret school and it was a pleasure to hike with such a patriot.

Dubs, you gave perfect directions to the park. You posted a specific trip plan and followed it. Eleven people were supposed to go on the trip, and a total of eleven people attended in all. Just not the exact same eleven that signed up for the trip. Kudos to Dubs for taking the time to organize a trip that the attendees all enjoyed. The Ohio's Zalesjki State Forest requires no permits or fees. There is drinkable water at each campsite. The trail intersections are well marked, This is a trip that should be enjoyed by more backpackers.”

“You goof, your pics are in the story and listed at the bottom!”

“Oh, and preacher only beat me in cause he took the 3 mile route instead of the 6 and he left an hour earlier ;-)”

“Yeah, I know, but I just couldn't post my story without slapping my own link into it....

Me? No, I'm not vain...

BTW, Dubs, I forgot to thank you for the great trip. I'm going to have to try to match the planning for the pines trip, but that's still a ways off -- maybe try and pack a second night into there somewhere to make the trip more attractive to people from farther away. Heh, I can imagine it now...."Backpacking Road Trip to......New Jersey?" [Insert Record Scratch followed by dead silence here] Bwa Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!

Anywhoo, I'll be looking forward to the Sods...for who know what kind of mischief we might cause there.......”

“The Sods aren't that far away! In fact, they are 5 hours from me as well.”

“Great trip report and photos guys, sorry I couldn't make it I had to trade this for this past weekend's on-call shift in order to get out of on-call for SodFest, see you there.”

“Dub you put together one hell of a trip I had a great time. Meet a lot of good people,but those hills kicked my butt.Which means a lot more practice hikes,if you plan to go there again count me in”

“great reports guys. checking out the pics now.”

“GREAT trip reports & thanks for sharing the pics!!!”

“See what happens when a preacher leaves the trip? Invasion!

Sorry I couldn't stay longer, but I had a great time. Thanks for allowing me to join the group. As for being converted (something I know a thing or two about), you keep on thinking that...hehehe...

As was mentioned, I really enjoyed just sitting around the campfire Fri and sharing insights and thoughts overall. Prosecutor, I had a ball with our various conversations and topics. We both look at situations/people throught he same lense - guilt, but in your profession it is for the sake of justice, while mine is for grace and mercy. I really wish we could have spent more time together; I truly enjoyed our talks.

Phantom, you talk about as fast as you hike a hill!!! I really appreciated your enthusiasm, and you are welcome in Ohio anytime.

OsJohnson and friends, thanks for the meal Fri, the fun and encouragement, and for sharing about your family. As was mentioned, I too am thankful for the dedication to our country you are providing. Hope you guys had a great trip.

Sloppy Joe, wish we had more time together - thanks for the save on my new tent poles!

Dub, great trip - probably even better since I had to leave early! See, we bp.com'ers can hike!!!”

“Preacher! Hey hey, so now the conversion is complete! (you just posted.) It was great meeting you too!

As for the fast speech, I get that here in Jersey from time to time as well. Must be a bit of that Long Island left in me that I was talking about; out there everyone talks that fast -- like if we were practicing for long-distance phone calls (heh heh)...

If When we hike together again, I promise to try to slow it down. As for running up the mountain hill, last one to the top is a rotten egg...”

“AWESOME REPORT! THANKS FOR SHARING IT GUYS.”

“Dub, great trip - probably even better since I had to leave early! See, we bp.com'ers can hike!!!"
preacher

Okay, I admit that a couple of you hike...but bp.com will never catch up to TT as far as trips go. As you've seen over here we hike more often and have a ton of fun! The Hike of the Century (awesome if you pull it off) over here would be nothing more than "this weeks hike." You don't have to plan a trip a year in advance to get 10 people to show up. I planned this one in an hour and had 11 show. Hang out over here. Backpack more. Have more fun. Make tons of new friends who actually backpack (as opposed to sometimes talking about it on their computer). And did I mention backpack more? ;-)

So when should we plan a trek to Vesuvius? The fabled land where the Oskar/WVa hike took place.”

“Hey Dubs, you are trating backpacker.com like a farm club. When their posters reach 4,000 posts like Preacher and are ready to backpack, you recruit them to this forum and get them to go on a trip. What a guy!”

“LMAO! It took 7000 posts to get Sarbar and Sequoia here ;-)”

“Ah, jealousy is a sad, sad thing. :D

And no, phantom soul, the conversion is not complete...I still want to get into heaven someday, and still haven't figured out how to explain to the Big Guy that I hiked with TT'ers, let alone switch forums! :D”

“The Boy Souts didn't win We did. A night at home without the wife or kids, is a win in any married mans book.

The hike out for me was a lot better since it was all down hill, and I figured out how the straps on my pack work thanks to Slopey Joe.

It was a good time, but I really don't like crowded camp site that and the house being emty is why we left.

I am still thinking about going agian over laborday if anyone care to join us.”

“There were a lot of people at camp, but really no one was noisey or crazy. Too bad you guys didn't stay!

Laborday sounds like a plan...although in my experience most OH parks are most crowded on holiday weekends.”

“I forgot to give you my address before you left. Could you send the pictures to my office

Brad Johnson
LGB
701 Jefferson
Suite 302
Toledo, Ohio 43624”

“Great report, Dub. Nice work with the bolded text and the links in the story.

Based on the picture taken from 5000 feet, I bet the TT fort is very imposing up close. :)”

“Now to get Matt to remove the first two posts of the story where all the links didn't work.”

“Great TR, Dub!! (I finally found it.) You can post all mine in the future for me since you know all the nifty tricks. I really hope you plan another trip very soon as I'd really like to go on another trip with you and all your minions.”

“Thanks for a great trip Dub. As I said to PhantomSoul on the trip, whoever says chivalry is dead has not backpacked with any TTers. Between sharing a sleeping pad around the fire ;), taking frequent breaks on the path when I needed to breathe again, and buying me lunch, I felt quite like some kinda royalty. Can't wait to bp again, tho this time I'll try to show up on the first night and stuff my sleeping bag INSIDE my pack. =)”

“bigpack, go to Wal-Mart and look in the camping section for a rectangular fleece sleeping bag. They weigh 1.5lbs and are a little bigger than a football...1/3 the size of your current sleeping bag. The only bad thing is it only protects to 55F so it's only good for late Spring, summer, and early autumn. And the best thing...they are only $15.

Before our next trip together send me your gear list and I, being a gear slut, will bring lighter items for you to borrow on the trip to make things a little nicer :-)”

“"Hey Dubs, you are trating backpacker.com like a farm club. When their posters reach 4,000 posts like Preacher and are ready to backpack, you recruit them to this forum and get them to go on a trip. What a guy!"
prosecutor
12:44:33 AM
06/08/04

Ouch...I can feel the chill over 800 miles away... LMAO!”

“Nice trip reports, sounds like you all had a great time, mud and all.

PhantomSoul is Ohio the place where recuperating backpackers go to get back up to speed?”

“LMAO at Must Hike! Ohio: where Northeastern backpackers go for physical therapy. You are too much...

But seriously folks, I traded the Catskills to go to Ohio (there's something you don't see an NE-er do everyday); Ohio seemed so exotic -- and it was in its own way. It was different. I liked it though, and would definitely go back out to the Midwest.”

“You think Ohio was different, wait until you see the Sods”

“Mmmmmm.......Sods.......[drool]”

“Sounds like u all had a really good time. Great report”

“Great Report!”