Backpacking Trip

Last week, March 27 - 29, I went on a backpacking trip with Ben Hess and Rich Wathen. We went to a place in southeastern Ohio called Shawnee State Forest. We planned a 40 mile loop trail that we backpacked in three days. It was a rugged trail to begin with with a lot of ridges to climb, streams to continually cross, and ravines to traverse. The fact that it had been raining the day before and that day and the creeks had risen to a high level, and the trails had become very muddy made it that much more difficult. At least we were all in good shape and up for the challenge! On the first day we hiked 12 miles. The second we did 18 miles and the third 10 miles.

Day 1:
The Beech leaves were pretty. We had MANY views like this!!!

Ben doing one of the MANY challenging creek crossings!!!

Another creek crossing.
(Picture by Ben Hess)

Because of all the rain the trail often times became a secondary stream!
(Picture by Ben Hess)

On the top of one of the many ridges that we were on!
(Picture by Ben Hess)

Ben Hess and I about a half mile away from our first nights camp.
(Picture by Rich Wathen)

Thursday nights camp. This was at the end of day one.
Notice the smoke from the wood? Ben tried hard to get a fire
going but it was raining and the wood was too wet.

Day 2:
Ben Hess going up a ridge ahead. We had already done a REALLY big
climb to get to this point!!!

I was trying to figure out how to get across yet another stream!
(Picture by Ben Hess)

A pretty Hemlock grove.

Ben and I.
(Picture by Rich Wathen)

Ben crossing on some logs.

This was a large creek. The log is about 10 feet above the water.
It was challenging to compensate balance and judgment for our packs!
(Picture by Ben Hess)

Taking a short break!

Ben and Rich.

Rich and I at our second campsite. This was the prettiest one. We were
in a hemlock grove at the juncture of two streams.
(Picture by Ben Hess)

Ben and I at our second campsite.
(Picture by Rich Wathen)

Our second camp. It had stopped raining in the late morning so we were
able to find some dry wood and have a fire!!!

Day 3 was much dryer and the easiest part of the trail was at the end. Not nearly as many up and down ridges or tough ravines with streams to work through! Overall it was just great to get outdoors and enjoy God's creation and time with friends!!!

Turkey Run State Park

On Tuesday Kristen and I went to Turkey Run State Park. It was a perfect day. The temperature was mid 40's to low 50's and the sun was shining!!! It was a great time to go because there was hardly anyone else there. There was a bit of ice and snow that made the hiking a little more difficult down in the ravines but it was very pretty!

The icicles and snow with the sun were beautiful!

Massive icicles EVERYWHERE!!!



This was a cool little waterfall! Tough picture to get though!

Breathtaking!


A view of the river.

A massive tree had fallen and was just begging to be climbed so I answered the call!

Another pretty little waterfall!

The stream that was trail #3!

Pacers Game!!!

Back on February 9th Kristen and I went to a Pacers game with a couple of her friends. It was a great time! We got seats on the first row right behind the row on the floor and just to the right of the Pacer bench! The Pacers actually won this game also!!!

Warming up!

Getting ready to play.

Kristen and I with Larry Bird in the background!!!

They got just a tad bit of height on those jumps!

The bench.

Boomer!

Boomer's grand finale!

Car Show!!!

This past Saturday I went to the Indianapolis Car Show. I have been doing this every year for years. This year I was joined by Kristen, Jonathan and Anne, Micah, and Bill Baldwin. Always a good time just being able to check out the new cars coming out without the pressure of dealing with sales people!!!

Ford Mustang Cobra

Kristen liked the color scheme of this one!

A tad small for me!

In a BMW Z4.


Ahhhhh, the new Camaro coming out next year!!! Pretty sweet!!!

Micah and I!

Kristen and I!

Kristen and I in a Corvette!

The bros and I!
L to R: Me, Micah, Jonathan

Tecumseh Trail Marathon

Back on Saturday, December 1st I ran the Tecumseh Trail Marathon with Ben Hess. It was the toughest race I have ever done (and I have done several)!!! The marathon was located down in the hills of Brown County. We started at Morgan Monroe State Park and ended in Yellow Wood State Forest. I found that trail running is completely different with all the hills and everything else you have to watch out for on rugged trails! It was just awesome that both Ben and I completed this race!!!

Ben and I with our sock gloves before the race!

In the start area ready to go and trying to keep warm!

Coming up the hill at mile 9. Doesn't the "trail" look amazing! This is a decent section!!!

Ben Hess at mile 9!

Another of the MANY hills. This one at 18.5!

Ben at 18.5.

Going into the final sprint in a race against Greg, the guy in gray at the end!

Finally completing 26.2 miles!!!

Ben completing!!!

Kristen Schlegel and I right after I finished!

Mom and I at the end! It was great to have friends there that cheered us on at different points of the race! Always gave that extra boost!!! Plus great pictures thanks to them!

Ben and I after 26.2 miles. Not quite as energetic as the beginning!!!