Parks General Store

Grocer just off the middle of the Road Fork Section - Buckeye Trail/ North Country Temporary Connector:

Parks General Store

36800 OH-260

Sycamore Valley, Ohio 43754

(740) 934-2224

Hous: M - Sa 8a - 5p

In the unincoporated community of Marr in Monroe County, which is west of the Lamping Homestead Recreation Area of the Marietta Unit - Wayne National Forest.. The building has been there since 1977, Parks General Store since 1938. There is enough goods and variety for hikers to resupply here.

Mock Hiker - Little Loop - Buckeye Trail

Mock Hiker
Little Loop - Buckeye Trail
Set to the average Thru Hike Rate at generally 20 miles per day in this area
Burton, Mogadore, Massillon & Bedford Sections are written in the clockwise direction.  Akron is in counter clockwise

Compiled on 04/09/2017
Buckeye Trail Map & Guide Editions Used:

                        Akron Section - January 2012
                        Bedford Section - February 2012
                        Burton Section - November 2011
                        Massillon Section - February 2011
                        Medina Section - January 2017
                        Mogadore Section - July 2011

Disclaimer: My mock hikers are "cookie cutter" and have strict rules.  They rely on stated amenities and are meant to judge the performance of the trail and it's logistical abilities.  

BEGIN THRU HIKE

Day One
Burton Section. Pt. 01 (Northern Terminus) to 11
C - Big Creek Park - GPD
17 miles

Day Two
Points 11 - 21
Ld - Red Maple Inn
18.4 miles

Day Three
Points 21 - 26
C - Camp Asbury
15.5 miles

Day Four
Points 26 - Mogadore Section, Point 05
C - Shaw Woods Park - PPD
13.5 miles

Day Five
Points 05 - 08
C - West Branch SP
6.8mi on the BT
2.4mi on C spur

Day Six
Points 08 - 17
C - Countryside Campground
2.4mi on C spur
18.5 miles on the BT
0.1 miles from BT to C
21 miles total
EXCESSIVE MILEAGE

Day Seven~Zero Day~

Day Eight
Point 17 -  28
Ld - Quail's Covey Bed & Breakfast
0.1 from C to BT
17.5 miles on the BT
1.0 mile from BT to Ld
18.6 miles total

Day Nine
Point 28 to Massillon Section, Point 07
1.0 mi from Ld to BT
13.5 miles on the BT
14.5 miles total

Day Ten
Point 13 to Akron Section, Point 26
C - 3 Tent Sites
17.7 miles on the BT

Day Eleven
Points 26 - 15
C - Big Bend - SMP
18.6 miles

Day Twelve
Points 15 - 05
Ld - Stanford House
18.0 miles on the BT
0.8 miles from BT to Ld
18.8 miles total

Day Thirteen
Points 05 - Bedford Section, Point 01
Ld - Motel 6 Richfield
0.8 miles from Ld to BT
12 miles on the Akron Section
1.1 miles on Medina Section
1.8 miles from Medina Section to Ld
15.8 miles total

Day Fourteen
Points 01 - 09
Ld - Holiday Inn Express Oakwood Village
1.8 miles from Ld to the Medina Section
1.1 miles on the Medina Section
13.1 miles on the Bedford Section
1.5 miles from BT to Ld
17.5 miles total

Day Fifteen
Point 09 - 15
Ld - Inn of Chagrin Falls
1.5 miles from Ld to BT
13.4 miles on the BT
1.1 miles from BT to Ld
16 miles total

Day Sixteen
Point 15 - 22
C - Chapin Forest LMP
1.1 from Ld to BT
17.8 miles on the BT
18.9 miles total

Day Seventeen
Points 22 - 28
11.4 miles on the BT
1.3 miles from BT to Ld
12.7 miles total

Day Eighteen
Point 28 - Burton Section, Point 01
Northern Terminus
END THRU HIKE

Parking Search - 04/08/2017

The 88 mile trip for the parking search along Road Fork Section on The Wilderness Loop is only 4 hours long.  I've got all day Monday, so I expanded the search to 223.3 miles to include other areas that I'm promoting.  If I have all day and use some of the night hours, too, I might be able to pull this off.

My trail promotion area ultimately is between existing Buckeye Trail Association chapters, covering from the intersection of the Belle Valley and Road Fork Sections along the main loop to the east boundary of the Village of Chesterhill in Morgan County, the rest of The Wilderness Loop, 41 miles of the American Discovery Trail (ADT) - West Virginia and 32 miles of it's Ohio/ Kentucky that's independent of the Buckeye Trail (BT) concurrency in Southeast Ohio.

On ADT, I'm looking for 4 volunteers, 2 for each state to help them staff their state committees and then just local trail exposure.

The goals on the BT side are trail adopters and then general promotion.

Finally, assembling a chapter, or 3rd party association.

Car Maintenance and Check Engine Codes

I changed the oil , oil, air and cabin air filters today in accordance with standard maintenance procedures on my 2008 Chevy HHR LS.  But I haven't rotated the tires yet.  The odometer reads 180,862

The check engine light is on and the computer is showing codes P0449 as current and P0420 as pending.  I just looked up the first one and I think I'll have a professional garage fix these along with potentially replacing the right rear brake line.

Stem on the Loveland Section

The stem on the Loveland Section and the Southern Terminus are remnants of a time when the Buckeye Trail wasn't a circle.  The trail was originally routed from the Headlands Beach State Park on Lake Erie to Eden Park in Cincinnati and by way of Southeast Ohio.  But I wonder how the BT maps in the 1960's routed it because the Williamsburg Section is generally 55 miles or so today.  My guess is that there wasn't a Loveland Section and that Williamsburg was extended to Eden Park?

Units of the Buckeye Trail

A "section" is a defined unit on the Buckeye Trail.  It's broken up into 26 of them.  They range from about 45 to 65 miles in length.  In the beginning, the sections were divided at approximately 55 miles each.  Over time, moving the trail off-road either increased, or decreased that mileage.  Presently, I know that the Buckeye Trail Association (BTA) no longer has any official limits on total section lengths.

A subdivision of a section is "segment."  They refer to trail adopter assignments.  These are not very well known outside of BTA Headquarters, section supervisors and trail (maintenance) adopters.  But they are on official record.  And their sizes can vary much more.  Ideally, a maintainer probably shouldn't have much more than 3 miles off-road, 10 miles canal and rail trail and 20 miles on-road.  But if I section can get more volunteers, those numbers can be smaller.  But on occasion, it could have a volunteer with more time to commit to the BTA than usual, or there could be a gap to fill, so maintenance could be larger?

I'd recommend that the best way to express the trail to others when one doesn't know the section or segment is to just refer to it as a "portion" or "trail portion."  That unit is vague and not already in use officially.

Helltown

I believe that I've triangulated the location of Helltown, or the former Boston, Ohio in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.