Today was the first missed school day due to the Corona Virus Pandemic, and we made i a good one. I took the kids on a hike 80 miles or so from Cincinnati, in an area called the edge of Appalachia. Specifically we hiked Buzzardroost Rock an easy 4.5 mile out and back trail to a nice overlook. Considering how far it is from urban centers, I was counting on there not being many people out there... and I was right. We only saw three other people all day, and had a very enjoyable hike.
The trail was recently re-built an here is anew parking area and signage. One consequence of this new trail though is that the geocaches that were placed out here in 2006 and before, are now no longer on the trail's path. instead, to get to the geocaches, we needed to descend a steep hillside where the old trail used to be. The kids were game for this and we had fun scouting out the location of the old trail and finding the old geocaches.
Eventually, the old trail climbed back up the steep hillside and rejoined with the newer trail on the ridge-top. We made our last geocache find up there, an oldie from 2002, and one the kids really enjoyed pawing through the trade items (Ada scored a first aid kit!). A quarter mile more hiking and we were at the overlook, where it was cold and a bit windy, but we still had a good appetite for our picnic lunch.
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There weren't too many signs of spring out here, and overall I think it was colder here than it is in Cincinnati, Spring probably lags here by a few weeks. But Levin did spot a pair of blue birds, and there were some small trout lilies starting to bloom. I expect in a few weeks we'll start to see a lot more signs of spring.
Miles hiked: 5.5
Time: 5 hours
Geocaches found: 5
DNFs: 1
