Bicycling friends Ted Kmet and Gary Courtright examine another rocky segment of the abandoned rail line between Brinkhaven and Killbuck. When this 16 mile stretch is completed for bicycle and horse use we will be able to ride from Fredericksburg in Wayne County to Mt. Vernon in Knox County, OH. Gary and Ted (lower left) negotiate a section heavily rutted by horse and buggy traffic.

MOUNTAIN BIKING A RAIL-TRAIL--

I do not think I have ever ridden a bike trail and not encountered any other people—until three of us recently rode the Mohican Valley Trail between Danville and Brinkhaven in Knox County plus its incomplete extension for another 4 miles or so on toward Glenmont.

The latter section ultimately will be a 16 mile segment of the Holmes County Trail. For now, the four miles we rode from Brinkhaven toward Glenmont is a mostly crushed cinder, weedy buggy trail which ends when it encounters County Road 75 in Holmes County.

This also is the first time on a rail-trail I’ve ever wished my mountain bike had four-wheel drive.
The trail surface from Danville to Brinkhaven ranges from loose stones to packed gravel with lots of dusty, pulverized sand in between. Bike tire tracks compete with those of horse’s hooves and buggy wheels; usually with more of the latter.

While that segment makes the choice of a mountain bike very wise indeed, it ends at the largest covered bridge in Ohio; a 370 foot behemoth that spans high above the Mohican River on the approach to the Brinkhaven trailhead.

From there on you will sometimes question even the adequacy of your mountain bike.

There is a heavily rutted section as you approach the crossing of SR 62 that obviously is a quagmire in sloppy weather.

From SR 62 on to the intersection with Holmes County Road 75 the relatively smooth and always noticeably ascending grade lurches through heavy woods.

Sometimes route 62 traffic can be heard.

Mostly it is silent, dead silent; the marvelous quiet being the absence of human-produced noise. The three of us saw at least twice that many Whitetail Deer. We came to regard game trails crossing our route as major intersections.

Ant hills were everywhere along the weedy margins; usually in the form of perfectly shaped cones two to three feet tall. I noticed the birds mostly because of their absence; a robin here and there; one small patrol of vultures doing their macabre but natural duty.

We had to climb a steep incline to get up to the county road 75. I wondered how in the heck a train managed that ascent.

Up on the road we encountered a sign that announced, “Trail Closed—under construction”.

When we turned around to scramble back to Danville, now about 9 miles distant, we were confronted with another sign that said the same thing.

Hmmmm.