A Quick Hike

As of lately I have been a nut for night photography, not that you couldn’t tell. So I have been itching to get into some dark place where the sky would produce as many stars as possible. A few weeks ago I had my chance. We had a snap of cooler weather meaning it was dropping into the low seventies at night. I decided on a Friday I would head down to a back pack trail and do a quick overnighter around a 5-6 mile loop stopping halfway to camp and take some photos in an open field that would give me a clear shot of the sky.

The tall pines at the beginning of the trail.

 I got off work right at five and jumped in the car to head south. The computer said it was an hour and half trip to the trail head so I guessed to be on the trail by seven. I stopped in this little town for gas and food where the people are the typical Appalachian type with some younger folk mixed in due to a technical college in town. The old rustic mining town is nestled in a few foothills and surrounded by forest. You know the picturesque village with a town square that they used to hang horse thieves in. The kind of place you might hear a banjo play and can pick up a jar of white lightening with your hamburger at McDonald’s. With names like Jim Bob, Smokey Pete, and Bubba there are never a shortage of characters. After gas and snacks I made my way out of the booming metropolis northeast stopping just outside the edge of town for water. I have been to this trail several times, each time stopping at this “watering hole” to fill up my bottles for the hike. On the side of a large hill, there are no REAL mountains in Ohio, is a large cement wall maybe ten-twelve feet high and in the middle of the wall is three pipes about two inches in diameter. Pouring from the pipes is some of the freshest, cleanest, coldest water I have ever had. Someone at some point in time had tapped into this spring and made it an easy access to fill up jugs and bottles. I have met some interesting people there as well. One fine gentleman who had a beard that would make the Duck Dynasty guys proud was complaining to me how they wouldn’t let him sell milk jugs filled with the water on the street corner or at least I think that’s what he was spitting out through the few teeth he had left. Walking back to the car I noticed he had about thirty full jugs and about thirty more to go. This time was less eventful but still produced a kindly old man who just simply nodded and said hello.

Trail net

By the time I finally got on the trail and was hiking away it was close to eight and night was just over the next hill. I moved fast down the trail trying to make it to the open field before I had to hike with a head lamp. I usually hike fairly quickly because I carry a light load but this night I was moving double the speed. Now if you have ever hiked in Ohio or anywhere on the east coast during the late spring to the beginning of fall and especially in mid-summer then you know that spiders love the open space of a trail. They will build not small, but expansive “trail nets” across the trail that could literally stop a small animal and because the lines are so thin and it was creeping dark time I saw none of them until I was in it. After an hour of hustling down the trail through overgrown brush and spider webs I came to a huge clearing that leads up to a road and I was positive that once I reach the road, turned left to get back on the trail the field will be just up a little and down into a valley. Thirty minutes later and no field, just past nine by this point, I decided I’d better call it a night. I parked my stuff on a flat spot next to a ridge line with some rocks jetting out on one side of the trail and a smooth slope on the other.

Fire

 It had rained a few days prior making the wood a little wet and building a fire a real job but I got it going and worked on cleaning up the previous camper’s trash. I piled some wood by the fire to dry out then moved on to setting up the tent. After my camp chores and a well deserved oatmeal cream pie I hiked a little on the trail looking for an open spot in the canopy, actually an impenetrable fortress, of trees. It was so thick it probably would protect someone form a missile attack but was horrible if you wanted to photograph some stars. I was so set on making the open field I never once looked up to make sure I stopped somewhere with a least a slight view of the sky. I spent the next few minutes cussing and aggravated that the purpose of this trip was lost and I wouldn’t get the night shots I wanted. I gave in and sat by the fire to pout. A few minutes later, after being hypnotized by the fire, I had forgotten why I was upset. I broke out the camera to shoot some fire photos and ended up making my way down the trail just a few steps further than before and found a small window looking straight at a sky full of bright stars. I took a few shots and decided to call it a night.

View from my little window

The next day I was up and packed by seven. Having hiked about four miles the day before I knew I wouldn’t have long to go to reach the trailhead, plus a light rain, more spider webs to barrel through, and back to my normal pace helped slow me down enough to enjoy the scenery. I made it to the car never finding that field but with a handful of descent photos and a good hike in. A quick stop for a hot coffee in a small burg and I headed home.

"Really, the only thing a psychiatrist can do that a good (fishing) guide can't is write prescriptions."
                                                                               -John Gierach