Log 2015081102

I drove though all of Bear Run Rd/ C25 and part of Archer's Fork Rd/ C9. And I can confirm now that the bridge construction on both roads are complete and they are no longer closed at the points that I mentioned on my personal section supervisor's page.

On this log, I mention counties in addition to unincorporated areas, townships, cities and village names in Ohio because Google Maps & Earth doesn't always snap. When you have trouble, try writing your seach query something like:

"Brownsville, Monroe County, Ohio."

Or

"Sitka, Washington County, Ohio"

And 9 times out of 10, that will get you better results. Buckeye Trail maps only display a little more than the area it needs.  Often times, it may not be able to display every town within 4mi. And with out additional overlays in Google Maps and Earth, they won't display counties.  So, if the prospective hiker is more of a "low tech" person, I'd recommend using an Ohio Atlas by Delorme to estimate the trails position in relation to what's around it. In fact, I might even go so far as to highlight it's roads and use a pencil to approximate the off-road trail.  Several members of the Buckeye Trail Association's "Trail Management Team" (which include it's "sawyers," or chainsaw operators) continue to use this paper book map because it displays Ohio's township and county roads.

Log 2015081101

"Jolly" is was what the U. S. Post Office called the town that is now the unincorporated community of Brownsville in Monroe County. Brownsville is 5.8 miles from the Village of New Matamoras of Washington County and 3.3 miles from the Road Fork Section - Buckeye/ North Country Trail at the Ring Mill Campground in Monroe County in the Marietta Unit of the Wayne National Forest. A picture of the old town is located in The New Frontier Restaurant in New Matamoras of Washington County.

At present, there isn't a post office in Brownsville.

Log 2015081001

The inaugural post for this log was made on July 7th, 2013.  Which means that in 2 years, 1 month and 3 days, I have published 297 posts and have 2,779 page views.  In my opinion, that's spectacular.  Should it keep up it's pattern, it should surpass 300 published posts and 3,000 pageviews.

Today, I drove to the Community of Whipple to get my mail at the Post Office.  And on my way there, I decided to go there by way of the Whipple Section on-road trail.  When I got to the former village, construction crews had traffic forced onto OH-821 Nb because the Ohio Department of Transportation and the local oil & gas industry were demolishing the old rail bridge that went over the highway.

As I'm told, the story with this is that the local oil & gas trailers can get stacked high.  With the bridge being low, it's been slammed into several times.  And the re-route around Whipple (the Community of) is a long one.  So, with the railroad being defunct, a local oil & gas company is paying to have it demolished and it should be completed on 08/15/2015.

But while I was in Whipple, I picked up my mail and a package today at the Post Office.  It's too bad that they're closing this location on September 25th because even though I have to drive about 10 miles from Marietta (which also has a perfectly good PO) to get it, I like having my mail right there just off the trail.  And so far, I've been able to listen and engage some of the residents there and I'm beginning to like them.

With that being said, I just received my Velocity Clip for my bicycle.  It's a smartphone mount that cranks down on the device and keeps it from slipping out and hitting the road.  And for the past few days, I've been having trouble replacing my front intertube.  This is the first time that I've ever had to do this on a road bike.  The tube on my previous attempt kinked and blew.  Unlike a mountain bike, only about 80% of the flattened road bike tube would line the interior tire.  But days ago, I got some advice from someone at the Marietta Adventure Company and he said that it needs to be filled with a little air first to get it's shape right.  Well, I did that today and learned that because of my 1982 Motobecane's (bike brand) brakes, that I had to insert the wheel in with the tube uninflated and then pump them up.  Afterwards, I got the Velocity Clip mounted and positioned correctly.

The plan for tomorrow is to re-inspect the Whipple Section - Buckeye/ North Country National Scenic Trail from Pts. 04 to 01 collecting the same information that I did on Pts. 04 - 06. Then ride my bike on road from 01 back to 04.

Log 2015080803

Correction... today will just be for scouting for a fording opportunity from NFS land on Alexander Road to the BT/NCT in the Little Muskingum River flats.

Log 2015080802

There's been a change in plans. I'll be reinspecting Pts. 04 - 06 from Bear Run Rd/ C25 to Brooks Rd/ T94 near Cow Run Rd/T19 in Lawrence Township of Washington County.

Log 2015080801

The DR Mower is a big 400lb machine.  From what I'm told, it's like a large lawn mower with a snowblower's front end and using it is very physical.  But I've been told that the 200ft gain/ loss on either side of the Little Muskingum River flats is just too much for it. And I should look for some kind of way to ford it when the river is real low.  The problem is that I can't guarantee that we can do that while we have access to federal property on both sides.

But I just got help from a colleague who lined me up two possibilities today.  One is somebody in the area who owns a weed whacker and the other unit is in Michigan now and won't be back for a week.  The problem with the weed whacker is that the flats are 1.1 miles long and the brush that has to get cut three feet wide is three feet tall itself.  The only thing that we have going for it them is the fact that I can still see the forest floor though them, so it's not very thick.  But I imagine that with two of us, it would probably take an hour and 20 minutes just to reach it on either end and an additional hour between the two of us to cleaning.

But it might be easier to ford the weed whackers across the Little Muskingum River from NFS property on Alexander Road in Lawrence Township of Washington County?  When I was considering how the DR's might do it, the TMT and I discussed using a couple creek mouths that terminate into the river, but gradually incline from it back to the embankment.  Maybe this is back on for the weed whackers and I need to go do some more in-person research?

Log 2015080301

At 155,743 miles on the odometer of my Chevy HHR LS, the rear brake shoes and drums, cylinders and one brake line between the axle and cylinder were replaced by Pioneer Chevrolet in Marietta of Washington County.

I attempted to do this here at the house I'm staying at, but when I went to remove the brake line from a cylinder, it twisted. I could have physically replaced it myself, but having an air bubble that big seemed like it was out of my league. So, I had it towed across town and my bill was combined to total $296.01 considering that I had already purchased about $190 worth of parts for it at Auto Zone in Marietta of Washington County.

The parking brake now engaged in three clicks (like it's supposed to) instead of nearly all the way up like it was. My driveway is so steep that I was chalking the car with it in gear, the wheel cocked hard left, the parking brake up and it was on chalks. But, not anymore. I'm confident to take it blazing on Whipple's on-road now.