Trip Report - Zaleski O-Hang, May 2 - 4
Well folks, us Ohio hangers are back from Site C at Zaleski State Forest in Ohio, and I have to say, this was one of the more memorable trips.
I'll let Lukesteg, Bannerstone, and Treeslayer give a report of the earlier part of the day on Friday.
I rolled into camp C around 5:00 PM Friday evening, and although it was threatening to storm, I stayed dry for the 45 minute hike. With the skies getting darker, I got to setting up my tarp right away. It was up in porch mode, and I had my hammock and rest of my gear set up in about 15 minutes luckily.
Then the thunder started. Then Tendertoe and his brothers showed up. Then some sprinkles. Then some wind.
Then, a storm of biblical proportions hit. I'd guesstimate 1.5 to 2" of rain in about an hour. Lightning everywhere, winds were howling. I fired up the emberlit under my BMJ and made some food, Luke was screaming like beatlemania just hit under his cuben, and bannerstone was trying to say something to me, but I couldn't hear over the rain. Treeslayer was hunkered down under his DIY tarp. Tendertoe and his brothers were a little further downhill, and I can only presume they got their tarps up before the worst of it hit, because it didn't seem like thier weekends were ruined as soon as they showed up. I had to snug up a few guylines, and while I was out from under the tarp, I ran over to Luke's, and noted that his fancee feast was floating away (we were on the very top of a ridge, just to give perspective of how much water we had)
Once the rain slowed, we took stock of our situations. My tarp worked flawlessly, my quilts stayed dry, and I had luckily pitched exactly perpendicular to the wind. I believe everyone else stayed dry as well. We hung out under my tarp for about 30 minutes, until it stopped altogether, restoked the fire, and had a good night, despite 40 MPH winds. Tendertoe came up about 30 minutes or so after the rain stopped.
I pulled out my new "Bob Dustrude Quick Buck Saw" I got from fourdog...it was a huge hit this weekend. I chews through wood pretty darn quick.
Apparently, I slept well. The only time I woke up was when Bannerstone was up and sawing some firewood around 3:00 AM. However, I was informed I was sawing logs all night.
We woke up the next morning, had breakfast from the hammocks, and generally milled around for awhile. The winds were still high all day saturday, and it was causing the fire to burn quick, so we went on a wood gathering walk as a group. We did show-n-tell with some gear, and after everyone had lunch, Tenertoe and his brothers walked down to thier campsite to relax for a bit. Bannerstone headed home, and Luke, Treeslayer, and I decided to take a walk. We decided to go downhill to see how far a faint campsite trail led, and then noticed a hemlock ravine, so we explored a little further. I turns out, the ravine held a huge rock overhang, a waterfall, a little mini gorge, and a beatiful creek, only a few hundred yards downhill from camp C. Then we decided to go around the next bend, and found another ravine similar to it. Then we took another bend, and just decided to keep going until we hit the Moonville Rail Trail, hoping we could check out the haunted moonville tunnel. This was a fairly easy bushwhack and road walk, so we decided we would check out the tunnel, and loop back along the road to the trailhead, pick up the car, and drive around to the water access road to the campsite.
Well, we zigged when we should have zagged, and missed the tunnel, and ended up walking about a mile out of our way. Once we realized it, we road walked back to the trailhead, but not without stopping at the Lake Hope park office, where Luke spotted a vending machine, and was hoping for a mountain dew fix (there wasn't any).
We picked up treeslayer's car, and drove up King's Hollow road to the water access road to site C. All told, we were gone for about 3 hours, so Tendertoe was wondering where we got off to. Things kind of happen like that when you start exploring.
Saturday night was quiet and cool. We sat around the campfire and chewed the fat and I believe we all slept well. Again, I was informed that I put a chainsaw to shame over night, so I evidently slept well.
I woke up to water the plants right at 6:00 am, and I could notice twilight coming over the ridge, so I went ahead and stayed awake, restoked the fire, and made some coffee with the Emberlit. No breakfast from the hammock this time, since I had it pitched low with the doors. I just sat by the fire and cooked. We were all awake and packed up by about 8:30, and on the road home.
Here is a link to some pictures of the weekend, including our bushwhack.
Google+ Album
And a quick video of the waterfall/ gorge just downhill:
http://youtu.be/TiUwmccHny0
