Log 2016080101

About two days ago, I did some work on the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource (OTHR).  The part of the Buckeye/ North Country/ American Discovery Trail in the Hocking Hills has the greatest transit potential given where it is.  And in all the years that I've covered it, we've always had the Greyhound Affiliate: GoBus stop in Logan of Hocking County.  The area is also served by the local "Logan Public Transit. " on a reservation based service and a specific zone.

Well, Logan caters to the general public, but it's one of the only agencies that doesn't cover an entire county.  Instead, they cover the City of Logan, 2 whole townships and a 1/3rd of two others.  Previously, they had a 2 mile radius from the city limits.  I designed a downloadable map of that based on 2mi distance "as the crow flies."

At that rate, areas between Lake Logan and Hocking Hills State Park weren't in transit range because their spurs exceeded 3.0 miles.  But the distance between those areas was about 19 miles, which exceeds the 15mi + reserve.  Last year, I found a cabin for rent in the area that might accept hikers for two nights.  This year, the Logan Public Transit expanded to all of Falls Township in Hocking County, which potentially brings the Old Man's Cave Section, Pts. 14 - 16 into transit range, cutting the route to the Hocking Hills State Park somewhat in half.

Because it's necessary to complete the BT in one single hiking trip at this rate, OTHR's guide is based off of their abilities.  On the Buckeye Trail (BT), records of how long it has taken thru hikers to complete it have been recorded, but perhaps not averaged.  It's not a race, but between several hikers and members of the Buckeye Trail Association, most hikers come in at about 90 - 110 days.  OTHR comes in at 110, but it's mock hikers utilize a zero day every 5 - 9 days.  Some people can go 21 days without one.

Knowing somewhat of an average is what OTHR's thru hike rate is based on.  When I write a mock hiker based on this, I use the following parameters:

20mi per day in the west, north and east of Ohio
4.9mi reserve
4.0mi maximum amenity spurs (unmarked, the route between the trail to an amenity)
Total Hiker Output: no more than 24.9mi per day

15mi per day in the south of Ohio
3.0mi reserve
3.0mi maximum amenity spurs (unmarked, the route between the trail to an amenity)
Total Hiker Output: no more than 18mi per day

This is also applied to the North Country and American Discovery Trails when their not concurrent as covered by the OTHR. It's mock hikers use lodging and commercial campsites in addition to the free ones. The "reserve" is in case the amenity is closed, or there's no vacancy at a camping or lodging establishment. In this case, the hiker might have 3.0 or 4.9 miles to figure something else out before "running out of gas," or reaching the end of their stamina.  OTHR assumes that at the end of these the hiker will be at their end, so an automatic zero day ensues for any mileages surpassing 15, or 20.

These are written to try and suit most hikers and be realistic documents that can stand some scrutiny by the hiking public.  And it's only a thru hiker rate, too.  They can stand as a performance measure for these three trails, such that they could plan for the future by identifying it's weaknesses (unveiled by the document used that the mock hiker was used for) and try to make those areas better by something quantifiable.  You could kick in the 10 miler data next?