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Assorted Bob Fitness Bob Gravity's Rainbow Uncategorized VR Bob

The end-of-the-semester-head-clearing hike

Map of the hike. Athens in in the lower left; Dow Lake/Strouds Run in the in the upper right
Map of the hike. Athens in in the lower left; Dow Lake/Strouds Run is right of the hike outline.

As the semester grinds down, I catch myself looking intently at any stand of trees I encounter. For 16 weeks, I’ve allowed my urge to hike, bike or kayak be suppressed by teaching duties. It’s bullshit, really. I could easily carve out time to spend in the woods during the semester. But I don’t, leaning on this convenient crutch to indulge my sloth.

And then it’s over. No bang. A few whimpers. Grades submitted. Crutch splintered. Time to go hiking.

The bridge over Cucumbertree Run on Rockhouse Trail
The bridge over Cucumbertree Run on Rockhouse Trail

As Fall 2016 fell into the rearview mirror, I set off for Sells Park, a short drive from my house that I’d bike in warmer weather. From Sells, I can hit the Athens Trail and create several interesting little loops to get my hiking mojo back.

The Rockhouse Trail blaze
The Rockhouse Trail blaze

I headed out Rockhouse Trail to Turtlehead Cave, where I shot a few 360 photos, then picked up Athens Trail, Finger Rock Trail and Trace Trail to do a big loop around the ridge that slices between Athens’ east-side strip-mall hell and Dow Lake. It’s a wonderful contrast. Half the hike snakes above east Athens and all it has to offer — Walmart, Lowe’s, Kroger, McDonalds, a confederacy of cars and lots and lots of asphalt. The buzz of traffic on East State Street rises up into the leafless woods, tires squeal, and dogs bark in the buffer zone subdivision between my sylvan retreat and the chaos of East State.

Benz selfie on Rockhouse trail
Benz selfie on Rockhouse trail

The trail zags north, a dog threading its owner through rabbit-infested fields, until it turns north, following the ridgeline toward Dow Lake. It enters Strouds Run and gets quieter and quieter and … bird sounds. A random tumbling branch finding the leaf-strewn forest floor in a muffled snap. Solitude.

This is two separate hikes.

First, the urban hike, one of my favorites, wherein I get to smugly float above city sprawl. My life has been filled with variations on this hike. A bucolic stroll through Denver’s Washington Park, enjoying green space and lakes in the Mile High City. A romp with Ozzy through D.C.’s Rock Creek Park, a wonderful green knife that slices into the heart of the District. Commuter cycling along the daybreak arroyos of Albuquerque, watching dawn traffic on the Big I,  pedaling cloudlike above it all, troubled only by potential encounters with the occasional passed-out homeless person strewn across the bike path.

Second is the remote ramble. Sometimes, I need to get farther from the exhaust and crush and cacophony of civilization. I retreat to Big South Fork, Mount Charleston, the Buckeye Trail. Or the second half of this hike.

Moss-covered boulders along Rockhouse Trail
Moss-covered boulders along Rockhouse Trail

The trick now will be to keep going. I always close the semester with an orgy of activity only to sink back into my day-to-day sloth. A head cold already is conspiring to lead me in that direction. But I’m determined to make the most of this intellectual cease-fire between semesters. Aside from my other goal: to finish off the wily, elusive Gravity’s Rainbow.

Here’s a 360 photo I shot at Turtlehead Cave:

Topo map of my hike
Topo map of my hike
One of the coolest things about hiking in and around Stroud's Run is the informational signs along the way. i always stop to read them, even if I've already done so multiple times. This one is for Turtlehead Cave, a key sight along the Rockouse Trail
One of the coolest things about hiking in and around Stroud’s Run is the informational signs along the way. i always stop to read them, even if I’ve already done so multiple times. This one is for Turtlehead Cave, a key sight along the Rockouse Trail
This sign is on a stretch of Trace Trail that I hadn't hiked before. Love these informational signs.
This sign is on a stretch of Trace Trail that I hadn’t hiked before. Love these informational signs.
Categories
Assorted Bob Fitness Bob

Bike ride to Nelsonville

I took advantage of a gorgeous morning to ride up to Nelsonville and back on the Adena Hockhocking Bike Trail. This is a quick video of one of my favorite sections. The ride takes you along the Hocking River, the Ohio University Campus, Hocking College and then into Nelsonville. It ranges from sunny stretches to tree-lined stretches like this.

Rode a total of almost 38 miles at an average speed of just over 15 mph. Having a tough time getting the average higher than that.

Route for ride to Nelsonville and back

Categories
D.C. Bob Transition Bob Uncategorized

Athens, Ohio: A love story

I took advantage of a gorgeous winter day in D.C. to walk down to the National Mall with Ozzy. He did great in the heavy pedestrian and vehicle traffic along 14th Street, but he was underwhelmed by the Washington Monument, preferring to focus on the fat dog-ignorant squirrels that were scurrying around in search of benevolent tourists.
I took advantage of a gorgeous winter day in D.C. to walk down to the National Mall with Ozzy. He did great in the heavy pedestrian and vehicle traffic along 14th Street, but he was underwhelmed by the Washington Monument, preferring to focus on the fat, dog-ignorant squirrels scurrying around in search of benevolent tourists.

You’re not gonna get to Uber in Athens …

A First World problem, to be sure. But losing our favorite urban car service is one of the numerous concerns my wife, Lara, and I have as we discuss our impending move from Washington, D.C., to Athens, Ohio. After almost four years in the District, we are completely smitten with the city.

Bored on a Saturday? Walk over to the Phillips Collection in Dupont Circle to chill in the Rothko Room.

Craving seafood? A quick Metro ride and short walk along the Potomac River  lead to the Maine Avenue Fish Market, the oldest continuously operating seafood market in the United States.

Need some drama? Choose from not one but two incredible Shakespeare theater companies — not to mention numerous other theaters within walking distance of our Logan Circle digs.

How could Athens compete? We are appalled at the prospect of having to buy a car after relying on Metro, Uber and foot power to get around D.C. But we pack up and head west in a U-Haul and our brand-new Prius. I’m about to begin a one-year appointment as Scripps Howard Visiting Professional in the Scripps School of Journalism. While I relish the opportunity, I dread what we are about to lose.

Ozzy rides shotgun in the U-Haul during the drive from Washington, D.C., to Athens, Ohio.
Ozzy rides shotgun in the U-Haul during the drive from Washington, D.C., to Athens, Ohio.

***

I’m standing in front of  Passion Works Studio in Athens, shaking my head at the scene before me. A strange little  pug of a man is running back and forth in front of the storefront, chasing a mouse. He and the mouse perform a frenetic dance, back and forth, back and forth, until the mouse drops down into a sidewalk grate. Pug man looks up, chagrined to realize I’ve been watching the entire time.

I think I’m going to like Athens.

We’ve been in Athens a few weeks, and most of our fears have proven unfounded. Our Prius sulks in the driveway most days as we walk from the house we’re renting in the Near Eastside Neighborhood to the Hocking River, to restaurants, and to Court Street. The Hockhocking Adena Bikeway prompted me to dust off the bike I bought in D.C. but was too afraid to use because of the cutthroat traffic. Lara buys a bike. And we spend the summer pedaling the bricks and exploring our new home.

Lara pulls over on the 18-mile Hockhocking Adena bikeway to enjoy the view of the river.
Lara pulls over on the 18-mile Hockhocking Adena bikeway to enjoy the view of the river.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at Athens’ magnetism. When we announced we were decamping from D.C., I received several unsolicited emails from Bobcats I’d worked with over the years. Each gushed about the town and offered a list of things I simply had to do upon arrival. Being a linear list-loving kinda guy, I got right to work.

Here’s an excerpt from one email I received from a 2006 alumna:
If I had a summer to spend in Athens, here are things I would do:
  • Go to the Concert Under the Elms. Every Wednesday, on the College Green.
  • Take my dogs to the dog park on West State Street. (My imaginary dogs, that is.)
  • Eat Miller’s Chicken.
  • Go to the Athens Farmer’s Market.
  • Go to First Friday in Nelsonville.
  • Go to a Copperheads baseball game.
  • Get drinks at Tony’s and get a hot dog at O’Betty’s.
  • Eat three meals in one day at Casa Nueva. Hang out in between meals in the bar area.
  • Go ca-brewing in the Hocking Hills.
  • Go for a hike to the old pioneer cemetery at Stroud’s Run.
  • Hike at Old Man’s Cave.
  • Get Avalanche Pizza.
  • Spend way too much time at Donkey Coffee.

I’m proud to say I crossed most of these items off my list … and managed to uncover even more.

An email list wasn’t enough to explain the allure of Athens for one Bobcat, a 2012 graduate of the Scripps School of Journalism. She worked up a hand-drawn map of Uptown, complete with recommendations and occasional snarky comments. If you click the map, you’ll get a larger version that’s easier to read.

A hand-drawn not-quite-completed map a Bobcat alumna gave us when we departed D.C.
A hand-drawn not-quite-completed map a Bobcat alumna gave us when we departed D.C. Click it for a larger version.

After six months in Athens, it’s official. I’m over D.C. She’s history. I’m all about Athens. And I’m clearly not alone. In talking to students and alumni, I came to realize this town has a seductive allure that’s often hard to explain. But I decided to ask the students in my Magazine Feature Writing class to try. For their final project, they were instructed to write a feature for a site I set up called CourtStreetStories.com. I gave them a lot of flexibility in what they’d write, demanding only that it be focused in or near Court Street, the main artery. The work on this site is the result of that. It’s not perfect. In some instances, it doesn’t share my infatuation with Athens. But there’s some good long-form storytelling here.

( I wrote this post in December and it fell off my radar. After agreeing to another year of teaching at OU and buying a house here, it seems even more relevant now …)