Trail Runner, good meeting you Friday morning at site 10 while you were bringing in water for others. Hope all is well and you'll be in our thoughts.
Trail Runner, good meeting you Friday morning at site 10 while you were bringing in water for others. Hope all is well and you'll be in our thoughts.
Mike--
•*¨*•♫♪ Here We Go ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸ ☺ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Steelers ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸ ☺ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Here We Go!!!
Spent a rainy night in site alone. Hope every thing is right with Trail Runner. Read his post about an emergency at home. I hiked a lot of the mountain bike trail Fri. And was surprised no one have arrived at the site by 6 pm. Found water still where Trail Runner had places it in the am. After preparing my dinner and consuming it I had to get into the hammock behind the bug net. It was quite warm but there was a breeze. Finished 4 chapters in my book and feel asleep. Awoke to thunder and lighting and got up and put my tarp in storm mode just as the rain started around 3:45am. Fell back asleep to the rain on the tarp. The sun woke me and I got up to find rain still on my tarp and mud puddles all around the site. Listening to the weather forecast on my weather radio, I learned there was a 50 percent chance of rain for Sat night also. No one had arrived from HF group so at 9am I packed up, leaving the 4 gal of water for the next campers to enjoy. When I reached the parking lot, I saw the forest service ranger questioning a man he had placed hand cuffs. I loaded up and drove off wondering about Trail Runner. So glad to here he had left the park and was not somehow part of what I had seen at the parking lot. I am begining to wonder why the rangers are so paranoid in the few encounters I have had with them. I will let Trail Runner relate his encounter with the F S ranger Fri morning.
I'm happy to report that everything turned out OK. I have a close family member with a severe bee allergy who got stung and didn't have his auto-injectors. Luckily got to the hospital just in time...Docs said 10 or 15 minutes later would have been too late. When I saw him yesterday he looked really bad. Saw him today and he looks almost back to normal...discharge tomorrow if no complications.
Thanks Meblawry and it was good meeting you as well. I didn't mention meeting you in my previous post because I only remembered your real name and the 1st part of your HF name.Originally Posted by Meblawry
Sorry I had to abandon you robblandon but it was good meeting you. I forgot to talk to you Fri. morning about that growling going on Thurs. night. I was listening to my iPod when I thought I heard you say something so I took my ear buds out and listened for a couple of minutes when I heard the growling/snarling. It went on intermittently for about an hour. Probably a skunk I think. I've heard raccoons growl/snarl up close and personal and it definitely wasn't a raccoon. Or a coyote. Can't say that I've ever heard an opossum so maybe that's what it was.
With regard to the Forest Ranger...after hauling in the water Fri. morning and walking back to my car and studying my various maps for a few minutes I was getting ready to drive down to the covered bridge when I heard a car coming up the gravel road. Thinking it was robblandon I waited until the SUV pulled into the lot and it was a Forest Ranger. He got out and I said good morning and he said the same. He then proceeded to ask if I was camping and had I registered. I said yes and turned and pointed at the registration card in my windshield a few feet away. When I turned back he had apparently noticed the neck knife I was wearing under my shirt and asked "what are you wearing under your shirt?" I told him it was a neck knife (CRKT Minimalist Bowie - 2" blade) and he said "do you mind if I hold that while we talk so that I feel comfortable." The last thing I want to do is make a guy with a gun feel uncomfortable so I let him take it off of me and put it into his pocket. We basically small-talked for a couple of minutes after that and then I asked about the parking for Park & Pack sites when you have multiple campers in a single site. He stated that they didn't want more than 1 vehicle per site in any of the lots and said something about having "problems" with finding unregistered (at the kiosk) cars in the lots and that they had had "people" park in the lots then walk off into woods to end there lives. I didn't think much about that at the time and then asked him if it was OK to have people park in one of the campgrounds and shuttle people to the Park & Pack site and he said that would be OK as long as they placed a registration card in their windshield. I said thanks and about then robblandon pulled up and the Ranger drove off. While I was relating my encounter to robblandon the Ranger returned and handed me my neck knife and then drove off again.
After reading about robblandon's encounter when he got back to the lot and thinking back on my encounter the whole thing seems pretty strange to me now.
Glad you all had a good time out and all things worked out on and off the trail.
A bit worrisome what the ranger was mentioning about folks heading into the woods to "end things" along with the events of the handcuffed individual that happened the next day...
Wow! I'm glad everyone is ok. I think that is so sweet of you, Trail runner for bringing in water, and I love the pictures Robblandon. Wish I could have made it. Sorry about the DNR stuff. I wonder what news articles we can find for that area. I know a person who lives outside of Loudonville, and works at one of the Canoe Liveries, she said there is one DNR guy with quite an uptight ego to deal with (most of us know that one). I'll have to call her and see if she knows anything about people ending their lives or what have you in the park and pack/wildlife area.
She and her husband are part of the folks that talk a lot about Big Foot in that area
...with the reports I'm able to locate, it basically seems like the pretty basic wildlife park issues anymore, of drugs, vehicle break ins and vandalism, wildlife violations, drinking, and of course the perverts meeting at them for "favors".
I'll keep digging around. I'm not sure that DNR has to report to city or county law enforcement? I think it could be State reporting and I'm not sure that the State has to report local runs at all? Which means it wouldn't be in the paper. My Adult Case Management history only dealt with city and county law enforcement. I know nothing about DNR or their reporting methods.
My friend states that there has been a lot of issues with vehicle vandalism and theft, and the male pervs meeting up, and of course she couldn't leave the conversation without the mention of BFRO meetings that the DNR did not like at all. There has actually been talk of shutting down the park and pack sites due to the issues with the pervs. I sure hope that never happens. We know locally that keeping the parks active cuts down a bit on the perv issues, but Hornshill park here locally is still known for it. You just drive up and then get out with a camera around your neck, and the cars scatter.
She didn't know anything on suicides, but there has been shooting accidents during deer season....but she didn't think there had been any for about 2 seasons running now, and that it only involved hunters, as most campers know to never camp there during deer season....unless part of a deer camp, which DNR put a stop to last year, due to the dangers and abundance of cars in a 20 member deer camp. YIKES!
Who knows the accuracy of the information, if it's fact or just talk around the town, but there it is.
Anyone else find out anything?
Then there is this http://ohiodnr.com/Portals/18/public...eport_fy00.pdf Where, I think it is page 9 mentions a suicide. It is an old 2000 report and I can't find any newer reports than 2009 regarding the parks. Doesn't mean they aren't out there, it's just that I can't locate right now.
Sorry I wasn't able to get out there. I'm still filling under the weather.
About animal encounters: I do know in Wayne and up to Hocking Hills there have been bear sightings. One of these was from my boss 2 weeks ago. There have also be bobcat sightings in the same area and in the north eastern part of Ohio. It may be time to start hanging proper bear bags.
I have not heard about people causing issues personally. I do have a friend in Mansfield that let me know that that area is the Meth capital of Ohio and they are out cracking down. A park area like that may be a good area for drug dropes and deals so be on the lookout.
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