Spoiled

Folks may have noticed that I haven’t really done any barefoot hikes since I got back from Out West. I did one organized hike at Clear Creek on the solstice (but didn’t blog it), and just the other day I did an urban walk around Newark, A Walk with the Currents. But that’s been it.

What’s going on?

While I have been busy with a lot of other things, I suspect a good part of it is that I was just spoiled by the beauty and grandeur of the four corners area. I’d think about going out, and then say to myself, “Oh, I’ve been there before.” “There’s nothing really new.” “Why bother?”

Well, yesterday I finally headed out. I went to Zaleski State Forest. I planned a hike that took me to one location that was rather special to me, and with the addition of some new places.

The hike started at the Hope Furnace, headed north, and took the White Oak trail to the ranger station. From there, it was bushwhacking.

The first thing I noticed was that my soles were spoiled. I’ve done nothing special while barefoot but play tennis. As I noted in Barefoot Hiking vs. Barefoot Tennis, barefoot tennis tends to wear down a thickened sole. So I noticed all the scree (small rocks and pebbles) that were on the trail.

But then I started to bushwhack. While you have to watch your step more carefully when bushwhacking, in general it is easier on the soles because of the leaf litter. So that ended up being good stimulus to try to build my soles back up.

As I headed to the special place . . .. Oh, let me talk about that special place. It’s the first hidden recess cave I found once I first started going off trail. It’s not a big cave, but it is nicely cozy. It is quite hidden, so I doubt that too many other people have ever been there. Whenever I’ve been there, I’ve never seen another human footprint (deer tracks, though). And getting to it requires a rather steep descent, and a lot of care as to where to put one’s feet. Of course, bare feet are best for doing that.

Anyways, as I headed to the special place I realized that the hollow I was heading up split. I was walking on the left side of the hollow, when in the past I’d always walked on the right, so I’d never headed up the left side. And then I debated with myself whether to deviate from my plan.

Well, what was the point? The point was to explore and have fun. To the left it was. What a great decision.

It led to a gorgeous recess cave.

A Cave Between Stony Hollow and Irish Ridge (click for a really nice large version)

That’s a composite picture, stitched together from 3 separate shots I took. It’s about 40 feet high (not obvious from the picture), and the cave is probably 150 feet from side to side.

Spoiled? How silly of me.

It struck me that the western scenery is more scenic because you can see it—there’s a decided lack of greenery. If Ohio were that devoid of plant life, it would be equally spectacular. It would probably even have cave dwellings, but it doesn’t because the recess caves are too drippy. Another thing that was
limiting on my trip out west was that I really couldn’t bushwhack. It’s not allowed in National Parks (though, frankly, the first time I visit a place I have all I can handle just exploring the official trails).

But they really are not that dissimilar. For instance, the topographical height at Chaco Canyon wasn’t more than about 300 feet. That’s Hocking Hills. It is just that at Hocking Hills, you cannot see all that because of all the trees. But southeastern Ohio is still spectacular in its own way.

Going back to the picture, the waterfall (now dry) is a two-stager. If you look carefully, you can kind of see that at the top of the cave. Here’s a view of that from higher up, and off to the side.

The Upper Ledge

Obviously, a dead tree fell down and now spans the difference between the two levels.

If you go back to the first picture, on the left you can see a narrow horizontal gap, about a foot high. That is where a large slab of rock separated from the ceiling. Here’s my first attempt to take a picture down into the gap.

Back of the Slab (flash version)

Not too good. The flash illuminates the floor and ceiling, but does not penetrate deeply.

Here’s a different, more successful attempt.

A Good View Between the Slab and the Ceiling

No flash. I rested the camera right on the slab. The shutter must have stayed open about 10 seconds. But I really like the picture. (And you can line up the features with the flash picture, if you like.)

Leaving the cave was the usual Zaleski challenge. The walls of the hollows are really steep, around 45° or more (and of course, that’s where bare toes are unbeatable). And you can also see why they don’t get the exposure of the scenery out west. In this picture I’m probably about 500 feet from the cave.

Where’s the Cave?

It’s that dark spot in the middle.

From there I headed over to the special cave. Here’s a shot of that.

The Hidden Cave

It’s quite a bit smaller, about 10 feet high and 40 feet wide. One cool thing is the layer of coal way in the back. From inside the cave, you can see why these caves are so hard to get into.

Looking Out From Inside the Hidden Cave

You can see why bare feet are so valuable around here. Toes really, really help when clambering about on those steep slopes.

Another place where bare feet are so invaluable is that they can use paths that the booted have difficulty. Here I am using a stream for a path.

Sandy Run, as a Path

Yeah, you can do that with boots, but then you have to deal with wet boots. With bare feet, it’s a breeze, and they dry out as soon as you leave.

From here, I bushwhacked up a steep slope (toe-grabbing again!) and hit the official Zaleski Backpacking Trail.

One of the really nice things about bushwhacking here is that the Zaleski Backpacking Trail doesn’t go near any really decent recess caves. If you are willing to go off-trail you’ll see all the good stuff.

As I continued on the official trail, I made it to Point F, and its little recess cave. This is probably the largest cave along the whole trail.

Point F Along the Zaleski Backpacking Trail

Those of you who’ve done the trail will recognize it as a nice place to stop and have lunch, or simply a rest. But it is small, only about 10 feet high and 25 feet wide. It’s nice, it’s comfortable, but not it’s not spectacular. For that you need to bushwhack.

And when you bushwhack, you realize that southeastern Ohio need not hang its head in shame compared to out west. It really is spectacular in its own way.

You just have to search it out a bit more.