Buckeye Trail (St Mary point 2 towards 3)

 I needed a hike today, especially as I needed more distance in general as the spring race season is right around the corner. For whatever reason, I headed up and hit Lockington Dam, and this time, the gates were open! (The parking lot, not the dam itself. Those floodgates might have been, I don't know.)

I got my hiking pole out of my trunk, thought I broke the lower segment, fixed it, and followed the blue blazes out of the park. I have to admit, it was one of the clearer hiking areas I've seen in some time, and was a good mix of being off the grid and then suddenly almost in someone's backyard just to be in the middle of nowhere again. And it had some great surprises.

Like this. Halfway between the dam
 and the next road.

I really did enjoy the randomness of this section, even if I did have to do some climbing over trees. 

They were easy enough to climb.

I once heard it said that they leave trees like this to prevent ATVs from being on the trail. I don't know if that is true, but it does make it interesting. I still remember hiking at a state park and finding a tree had fallen onto a bridge in such a way I didn't feel safe climbing over or under it. Thankfully the bridges were clear of trees. 

But how it got here is another matter.

I noticed that the far end of the trail (where the trail would follow the road, and I instead turned around) had a sign about being a trail for the Miami and Erie Canal. (I think that is also listed on a bike path section near Sidney, though that is not part of the Buckeye Trail.) On my return, I almost missed my turn off the path to my car. I saw it, wondered about it being access for something, and forgot that was actually the trail itself, where I had started the hike. So... yeah. It was really clear going forward, but I needed to turn. (Or did I? My watch said to turn...)

I saw this sign where I turned around.
Not where I started.

I got back to the car, updated the hike info on Strava, and decided to head the long way home. From the road I could see out my car window that had I not turned I would have come out on the road, next to another similar sign, as well as one saying that the Miami and Erie Canal Trail was an Eagle Scout project. Good to see, and even if it overlaps an established trail, it seemed nice. Either way, it was nice to get out and hike. Its been far too long.