Thanks to the generosity of Mike Gerard, who is a highly influential individual in the park, and who brought out his small livestock trailer for me to borrow, I was able to go down to the much-touted Mohican State Forest for a nice long ride on Flash. I had heard so much about Mohican, from folks at just about every horse camp we've stayed at in Ohio, that I was really looking forward to it. I decided to get as much of the park done as I could, since I wasn't positive I'd have another chance to ride before we leave next week, so I chose the blue perimeter trail, described as being 14 miles (just a walk in the park for my maniac Flash!) There were a number of other trailers in the parking area, and I managed to have a brief chat with a rider who had just come in, and she suggested which direction to go to avoid any confusion. I headed out, carrying boots with me because I had been told that the rocks weren't too bad, but I tend to carry them anyway, just in case. And am I glad I did!! After two miles of rocky gravel fire road, I kept waiting to turn off into the woods, but that didn't happen. Well, it did, for about 100 yards before turning into gravel again, so I stopped and put on Flash's boots, which I should have done much earlier. We kept going, though most of it wasn't what I like in trails. A lot of it was on gravel forest or pipeline service roads, utility easements, and more gas well-head pumps than I think I've ever seen in one place before! At least Flash won't ever be jumpy at one again, since we must have passed more than half a dozen! There was only a few wet spots, and of course, we lost a boot in one of those, but since I had been close attention, I didn't have to go back very far for it. Eventually we did finally get into single-track trails through the woods, but that was by far the minority on this trip, and I can't say I was overly-impressed with the so-called trails here. Perhaps there are nicer ones elsewhere, and I hope I get a chance to try them out, but for the moment, my feelings about the place are less than stellar. Perhaps a ride up to the lodge if we get a chance. Anyway, I loaded up Flash and headed back to camp, then managed to relax a bit during the evening. The good news is that I stopped off on my way out yesterday and left my computer at the camp office so that it could download my files on their much faster wi-fi, and even though it wasn't done when I got back, it was up in the 70+ percent bracket, so it should be done by tomorrow morning, I hope!!
Speak Your Mind