On a “Quality Time” November day in Ohio I took a hike on the Blackhand Trail near Newark,Ohio…
Located in Licking County 8 miles east of Newark on State Route 16, exit southeast on State Route 146 and proceed 1/4 mile to County Road 273. The preserve's entrance and parking lot are 1.5 miles south on County Road 273 just outside of Toboso. READ MORE
This cabin is near the main parking and trail head for the Blackhand Trail.
The paved Blackhand Trail extends 4.2 miles and is primarily used by bicyclists and pedestrians. Being an old rail line we are talking flat….
Side loop trail. Back to the bike path..
As a side note: “Floating the Licking River preserve is permitted. On the west side of the preserve (Upstream) there is a gravel parking lot that is used to access the bike trail. It is on Brownsville
road just before the intersection with Brushy Fork and adjacent to the Licking River. You can park there and launch in the river. Take out is just past the preserve on the east end after passing under the bridge on Toboso road.”
Deep Cut, where engineers did some blasting to cut through a large outcropping of bedrock .
Looks to me like a lot of people have crossed the barrier and done some climbing.. If you climb and fall at least you were warned. 
Not sure what the wall is about.
I think it would be really neat to see a train on these tracks/bridge.
Chestnut trail following the contour of the hill.
What’s a trail without a pipeline right away.
This is where I spotted the bald eagle.
First time I ever saw a bridge/path across a creek that looked like that.
I wonder what the “gate” is for??? seems out of place to me.. I don’t think you can hike in Ohio without seeing a cornfield.
Keep that electricity moving..
Short stretch of unpaved bike path. I’m not sure extreme caution is called for.
Time to turn around and head back. Even though the temperature was in the 60’s it was starting to mist a little and I wasn’t prepared for any kind of precipitation. I had about 4 miles to go so I would say I moved at a very brisk pace back to the trailhead.
The only other person I saw on the trail was a lone biker..
It was a great day for a “Quality time” hike. In the future I’ll make sure to have an “emergency” rain jacket with me. Thanks for stopping by “My Quality Time.” Now, you get out there and do some hiking and enjoy the great outdoors…. (Better than thinking about politics. LOL)
Did you look for any fossils? I attended College in KY, and we were taken for fossil hunting in KY and OH as apparently the rocks (sandstone/limestone) here are famous for preserving fossils.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, you asked for blight-proof tomato. Any of the hybrid tomatoes that are developed nowadays will be blight-free. I am yet to suffer from it (fingers crosses) and thus don't know which ones are blight free. I tried growing the heirlooms and the hybrids and all were okay. Perhaps you can ask the Ohio Agriculture Extension for the best tomatoes for your place.