WALKIN' IN

THE WOODS--

Jim South from Ashland, treasurer of the Mohican Trails Club, followed by his wife Cheryl leads the 5 kilometer segment of a series of hikes held recently at the Mohican State Park Campground. A second shorter segment was led by a park naturalist while other trails club officials led more adventuresome folks on a 10 kilometer challenge through the forest. In the small picture some of the nearly 80 participants enjoy pre-hike refreshments in the campground commissary.

AND IT WENT THUSLY--

Remnants of a gentle morning fog clung to the towering pines as we assaulted the stiff grade leading to the north rim.

Already the trailing half of the 60-some members of our 5 K group was strung far behind. Even in a group of enthusiastic hikers individual velocity in attacking the sharp incline varied widely.

Switchbacks followed switchbacks as the narrow, rock-strewn and often heavily rooted path worried itself up the hill. The respiration rate climbed and an occasional exhalation would briefly fog the glasses in the crisp morning air.

I remembered camping far below this trail last spring and seeing bicycles buzzing through the forest up here. A challenging bike trail is sometimes co-located with this system of hiking trails.

I was really glad I was not on a bicycle that hiking day.

Mercifully, the column would stop occasionally for a breather and I would find myself gauging the elevation yet to be conquered.

Mildly then, the grade diminished and we enjoyed a rolling passage on the leaf and pine needle carpet along the crest of the ridge

A slightly nervous herd of seven Whitetail Deer emerged into view about 50 yards ahead of us; first startled by our presence then prancing around as if to get a better look at those strange and colorful apparitions (us) that were flanking their presence.

They soon tired of our annoyance and disappeared into their otherwise quiet realm.

By then it felt like I had climbed a ladder to the top of a 10 storey building, but later, back at the camp store with a hot and tasty bowl of chili, topography maps revealed the ridge was about 300 feet max above the river near our starting location; really, just an invigorating walk in the woods.

Check the trails group here: http://www.mohicantrails.org/.