Backpacking (Zaleski and TVT)

Sam got a new, actual backpacking backpack for Christmas, so we finally gave it a try last month. I had a Monday off, so the boys and I headed to Zaleski for an overnighter on a Sunday afternoon. I hoped it would go better than my last trip to Zaleski, which was Henry's first (and last) backpacking experience, where we got lost and walked several extra miles on the road. Henry still hasn't let me forget about that one.

The weather was cloudy and cool, perfect backpacking weather, until it started to rain as we pulled into the trailhead parking lot. We cooled our heels in the car for about 20 minutes to let the rain pass, and the weather was fine after that. The only other rain we got was overnight, where we could enjoy the gentle sound of the rain on the tent's nylon.

We were hiking the south loop of Zaleski, which I have never hiked before. It starts off with a steep climb from the parking lot, and the trail rolls quite a bit after that.

There were some nice views over the valley where the old rail line ran, back when the Hope iron furnace was active:

This picture doesn't show it, but the trail drops off very sharply just to the right. We moved past this quickly!

The trail dropped down to large pond:

Where beavers were active, though we didn't see any:

There was a lot of blowdown on the trails that required us to scramble through, over, or around them. This was an easy one:

I spotted this little newt on the trail on our way out the next morning:

This trail was wide and easy, but a lot of the trail on day 2 was brushy, muddy, and tangled:

But it was worth it to find these cool caves along the trail:

I was more impressed by this giant mossy rock than the boys:

We were doing fine on the way out, until we lost the trail at this blowdown. The trail curved, but we stumbled through it to follow a creek instead. Turns out, the ODNR doesn't typically make hiking trails than run down creeks.

But one detour aside, the boys did great and had a good time. We did about eight miles on the first day, and 6.5 on the way out. Even with all the hills and brush, the boys didn't complain and toughed it out. The only concern was their packs: Sam's was too big for him, and Henry was using a cheap daypack without a waist belt. I would fix that for our next trip:

This past weekend, I took the three kids to the Twin Valley trail near Dayton. This was where Sam had his first trip, and this was to be Kate's first trip as well. The forecast called for thunderstorms in the afternoon, but it looked like the dark rain clouds were all well north of us when we started.

Twenty minutes down the trail, this was us:

Even in a steamy poncho walking down a muddy trail, Kate was still grinning and saying how much she liked backpacking. 

We were trying out walking sticks on this hike. After our last trip, my mom sent each of the boys a wooden walking stick (thanks Mom!). The same day those arrived, we also got a pair of collapsible hiking poles from Amazon. So, everyone had a walking stick, and we could compare the old school wooden stick to the modern aluminum pole. Our consensus was:

Wood: better hand grip, more solid feel, silent

Aluminum: lighter, sharper tip has better grip on the ground

We'll probably remove the rubber tips on the wooden poles and carve a point into them. That should improve their trail grip a lot.

All the kids did fine on this trip. We walked backwards from the loop Sam and I did earlier, so our longer day was the first day. It was about 6 miles to camp and dinner. Henry really wanted to try an MRE:

The self heating was super cool, but no one like the actual entree (we had the chorizo). Who would have guessed army cooking wasn't the best?

We had to go mid week as this was the only day I could reserve a campsite, but it turned out we were the only campers at the three Cedar Ridge backcountry sites. Maybe the weather forecast scared everyone off (we only saw one other hiker on the whole trip) We had site A, but for future reference, B looked the best:

Twins at the Twin Valley Trail on day 2:

The kids were up at 6:00 am on the next day, so we had a fine, cool morning to hike out.

After our last trip, I ordered a new, smaller pack for Sam, gave Sam's pack to Henry, and stuck Kate with the cheap daypack. Since Kate cheerfully soldiered through a trip with the daypack, I ordered another pack like Sam's after we got back. We're set for our next trip!