A Visit to Whitehead Gorge

Yesterday was a scheduled Metro-5-0 hike at Clear Creek Metro Park. The Metro-5-0 hikes are aimed at the over-50 crowd (though they don’t check IDs).

This one was up to “The Gorge”, but I’m trying to convince them to start calling it “The Whitehead Gorge”.

Hikes this time of year are often a challenge in figuring out just what to wear. I’m good barefoot down to about 30° or so. However, the forecasts just aren’t good enough to know just which side of that the hike will start out at. In addition, it’s amazing how much temperatures can vary from hollow to hollow in this hilly area around Clear Creek.

I drove in the back way, through Revenge, where the temperature was 40°. By the time I’d hit Written Rock and the start of the hike, it was down to 29°—at that location. There was also a good layer of frost everywhere (that I somehow managed not to take a picture of).

Here’s a picture of most folks on the hike.

Start of the Hike at Starner House

This is at Starner House, the Park Headquarters, as we are getting collected. Temperatures there were pretty comfortable.

But then we headed along the trail across the frosty fields. My feet very quickly started cooling down. We’d obviously had a pretty hard freeze overnight, as the ground had the crunchy feel about it. Fortunately, we only stayed on that kind of cold ground for about 10 minutes, which was just about the time CIVD kicked in. And right after that we headed uphill. Within a few minutes my feet had returned to a comfortable state.

Here we are partway up the hill, with our Naturalist-for-the-Day (Katie, an intern down from Sharon Woods) showing us . . . well, I forget exactly what she was showing us at this point. Maybe helping us identify a tree? We tend to stop a lot on these hikes—there are always so many interesting things to be pointed out!

Stopping for a “Nature Moment”

In the foreground there on the right is the Head Ranger/Park Manager for Clear Creek, Ken Browne.

These hikes are always a whole lot of fun. Aside from the fun of hiking and learning, the people who also go on it are always are co-equally interesting, with a wealth of knowledge of all sorts on nature (and other things). One of the participants had recently bought property nearby. He was originally from West Virginia (interestingly, a direct descendant of both the Hatfields and McCoys!) and really knew his local flora.

My bare feet also attracted a fair bit of attention (as they often do). Since this was an older crowd, it was amazing the number who admitted that they’d gone barefoot as children all summer long, and none the worse for wear. I may even have induced a few of them to consider working they way back to being able to do so, at least a little bit.

On top of the ridge, and approaching Whitehead Gorge we spotted the area of sassafras trees that have been infected with the Nectria Canker. Here Katie is explaining it.

Sassafras Trees Infected with Nectria Canker

From there Whitehead Gorge was just a short distance. I find I didn’t take any pictures right there, so here’s one from last year’s hike.

The Gorge Overlook

You can see that there is a prominence looking out over the Gorge.

That doesn’t show up on the official USGS topo map at all. This is where Whitehead Gorge is:

USGS Topo Map of the Whitehead Gorge Area

Not a hint of the correct detailed topography. However, my LiDAR-generated topo map is quite clear.

Topo Map Generated from LiDAR Data

Not only can we see the double-nature of the gorge, but even the little prominence we were standing on show up.

By the way, that “prominence” is a big old rock. I went down below it a bit, where there was a bit of a shelter.

Under the Rock

Going down even farther, I got a good shot of how the rock was sitting there.

Things Are Looking Up

You can get a pretty good feel for the size of it from my fellow hikers standing on top there.

So, why am I calling it “Whitehead Gorge”? Well, for starters, it needs a name better than “The Gorge”. None of the other interesting locations in the park have such nondescript names. “Winnowing Rock” isn’t called “The Rock”; “The Ice Cave” isn’t called “The Cave”; “Beck’s Rocks” isn’t called “The Rocks”; and “Buzzard’s Roost” isn’t called “The Roost”.

So, why “Whitehead”? Well, looking at an old 1875 map, we see that this particular gorge was once owned by a man name “Whitehead”. I was also thinking that during the winter as ice formed on the rocks, those could metaphorically be considered “whiteheads”.

1875 Property Map

But yesterday I found a better reason. Continuing even farther down for a better picture, this is what I saw: The White Head.

The White Head

You can see it, with its mouth agape and beady eye looking off to the right.

Only “Whitehead Gorge” fits.

Anyways, yet another fantastic hike down at Clear Creek. All of the parks that Columbus Metroparks manages are really nice, and they do a great job managing them and putting on great programs. But somehow Clear Creek, right on the edge of the Hocking Hills region, seems special.