A few days ago, my husband and I headed over to the Longbranch Farms located a few minutes away from our home and took a hike! The sky was gorgeous and it was warm..50 degrees…compared to recently.
Tag Archives: hiking
Hiking at Mt. Rainier
Hiking at Mt. Rainier National Park is another great experience. My husband and I visited there in July of 2011 and were fortunate to have beautiful sunny weather!
Hiking the Colorado Trail
Hiking the Colorado Trail is a perfect way to spend the day! The scenery is picture perfect! I hiked a portion of the Molas Trail, an 8 mile round trip hike, that descends to the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, and follows the Colorado Trail for a little ways.
Hiking Olympic National Park, Washington
Hiking in Olympic National Park, Washington is a feast for the senses! I was blown away by the natural beauty! I was there in July of 2011 and the weather was glorious.
Hiking Petra
Hiking Petra is an electrifying experience! Although the landscape seems stark…it’s alive with energy! Over the course of two days, I was able to hike for miles through the ancient grounds, high into the rock formations. These horse and buggies are available for those that aren’t able or don’t want to walk.
Hiking the Grand Canyon
Hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon is another “must do” if you love hiking like I do! My adventure was back in 2007 and although I hiked down solo…I met a couple of guys to chat with along … Continue reading
Hiking Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is as grand as everyone says! I was fortunate to hike about 14 (long and rugged) miles of it one day back in 2006 while traveling solo for a week through California! That’s me…looking small beside the … Continue reading
Wonders of Winton Woods
The Park of choice for last night’s hike was Winton Woods on the West side of Cincinnati. I used to live in that area when I was a single mother 20 years ago. I haven’t been to that Park in years and it brought back lots of memories! We walked the loop around the small lake. I’m not sure how far that is…probably about 2 miles and then walked part of it again and veered off onto another path.
There’s the lumberjack…
I haven’t gotten to swing in a while either. I asked the lumberjack if he would take photos of me.
He was delighted after he took this photo, because the timing was great for capturing me jumping from the swing…
The colors weren’t as vibrant as at Sharon Woods, but there were some other interesting photo ops. I purposely stood off-center for this shot under a bridge…thinking that would give it more appeal…
This photo makes me want to go sit on the bench. But knowing me…it wouldn’t be for long!
Just like Sharon Woods, there is a Boathouse there for rental of paddle boats, pontoons and aluminum canoes.
After using the restrooms, the light streaming in caught my attention. I couldn’t decide which photo I liked better…so I posted both!
More color!
I enjoyed the stripes in this shot…
I like the kayaks’ bright colors against the muted earth tones!
I hope you’re enjoying a tour of Cincinnati’s finest parks!!
Related articles
- Sharon Woods on Fire (travelspirit333.wordpress.com)
- Places to Go, People to See (streetvibes.wordpress.com)
Sharon Woods on Fire
This Autumn has been unbelievably colorful! We walked 2.5 miles around the small lake at Sharon Woods Park in Cincinnati last night. Although the Lumberjack normally walks slower than I do when we hike, I found myself running to keep … Continue reading
John Bryan State Park…Painted Yellow
John Bryan State Park is located outside of Yellow Springs, Ohio (which is about an hour North of Cincinnati). One of the reasons I love to hike there is the variety of trails that are available. John Bryan is sandwiched between Glen Helen Nature Preserve and Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve and together they offer over 38 miles of hiking trails.
The weather was perfect for hiking today…mid 60’s and sunny!
The Park was filled with yellow…
I took three different photos of the bridge. Which one is your favorite?
A beaver’s been chewin’ on this tree…
Reflections are so cool…
I must have known to wear yellow so I could match!
P.S. I’ve decided to buy a mini-van for my upcoming road trip! I’ll post more details soon!
Related articles
- Walking Mariemont, Ohio (travelspirit333.wordpress.com)
- #23 – A Tour of My Own Backyard (35tomatoes.wordpress.com)
- Discovery Trail (sagetribe02.typepad.com)
- Natural treasures await at Cuyahoga Valley National Park (indeonline.com)
Walking Mariemont, Ohio
If you’re ever in the Cincinnati area, I highly recommend taking a stroll through the Village of Mariemont. Especially in Autumn! It’s a small community…about 3,500 residents. Yesterday, seeing that we had another glorious fall day, I parked in the town square, where a number of upscale restaurants are located and went exploring. The hiking club I belong to have an urban hike scheduled there on Sunday. I passed the Quarter Bistro Restaurant and thought their outside seating area looked quaint and a bit European…
As I meandered from street to street…I wasn’t prepared for the spectacular and riotous display of color. Everywhere I looked there were varying shades of orange, red, yellow and green! The houses were quaint and most were decorated for Halloween.
I passed by this little park…
If you need motivation to get out and exercise…a place like this will do it!
The lawns were landscaped beautifully…
This was another area with benches to sit and relax and if you stand at the stone wall, there’s a beautiful view of the countryside…
Just when I thought I had seen the most brilliant colors…I walked down this street and was blown away by the beauty!
Here are my two “artsy” photos…
I discovered through the hiking club I belong to that perhaps the world’s largest Serpent Mound is located in Mariemont. This was reported in August of last year! So…having just seen the Serpent Mound in Adams County over the weekend, I was excited to hear about this. A blog called “Goddesschess” has a great post about it–if you’d like to learn more.
The Madisonville Site was–according to the Ohio Historical Society–the location of a large Ft. Ancient population. I’m learning all kinds of things about Cincinnati!
At one point on my hike–being the explorer that I am–I saw a tunnel and decided to go through it to investigate. There wasn’t much to see on the other side, but as I was going to return, I heard male voices coming through the tunnel, so I ran up the hill and found a little pathway back to the front of the tunnel. Whew! I was a little scared since there was no one else around. They were probably harmless, but it’s best not to take unnecessary risks!
I had to take this photo of the birds perched on the telephone wire…
A girlfriend met me there after she got off of work and we hiked it again. I’m glad I went early to get my photos…because she’s a fast walker! After hiking we went to another restaurant in the square called The Dilly Cafe. It’s owned by one of our friends Chuck Warinner. We both had the Seared Ahi Tuna Sandwich with Sweet Potato Fries. It was tasty! They have wine tastings and outdoor seating. Lots of fun!
Thanks for coming along and may you find time and motivation to explore your own hometown!!
Related articles
- Serpent Mound (travelspirit333.wordpress.com)
- Coyote Extermination Conjured in Cincinnati Suburb (earthfirstnews.wordpress.com)
- Fall Running at Mt. Airy Forest (dannykester.wordpress.com)
Photography while Hiking
Sometimes I wish I lived somewhere other than Cincinnati, Ohio…. somewhere closer to a beach or mountains…but when I look back through my blog posts and photos, I realize there are lots of things to do in this area, natural beauty abounds, and best of all…I have some wonderful family and friends!
I haven’t been jogging for the past few weeks because my neck and back were hurting. Since I’ve quit, they’re getting better, so I’m trying to hike more. We went to East Fork State Park last night and hiked a couple of miles. It’s only 30 minutes from our house. First, we stopped at the beach and let our maniac dog…Jake…out. He took off chasing the geese and I started snapping photos! That’s him in the center at the water’s edge…
I really enjoyed having the birds so close to me. It’s magical when you hear their wings flapping as they circle around you!
I enjoy everything about photography. I love looking at the photos afterwards… deciding which ones are my favorites. It’s interesting to see how the colors change as you change the angle of your camera. The sky is so blue in this one…
It was very difficult to take a photo of Jake because he never stopped moving and was quite unpredictable! His enthusiasm is evident though…
We tried a new trail this time. It’s a 31 mile perimeter trail…but we only went one mile in and then returned before dark.
We stopped at the dam on the way out to capture the sunset…
Randy thought this photo was “artsy”…
I’ve never tried taking photos while the vehicle was moving. I like the effect…
Thanks for joining me. I’ll see you soon!
Related articles
- Hiking in Autumn (travelspirit333.wordpress.com)
- Rules of the road (thinspiralnotebook.wordpress.com)
- Red River GorgeOUS (mybublogs.com)
- 988 days. New Hike (vickitravels.wordpress.com)
- Serious Hiking in East Asia (runkeeper.com)
- Upcoming Events (abirdersnotebook.wordpress.com)
- This pretty much sums up my day. Amazing scenery & hike…. (mgalligan.com)
Hiking in Autumn
My dog Jake lives to hike with us! He knows when we put on our hiking or jogging shoes that soon he’ll be out running in the woods! He races in and out of the doggie door, unable to contain his excitement. If we take too long, he’ll stick his head through it to see what we’re doing…
I had to take a picture of some of the trees above the roof of the house before leaving for the woods…
And the front yard. We live on 5 acres (of which 4 acres is wooded) at the end of a lane and love the seclusion.
This spot is located right around the corner from my house. Definitely worth a stop!
We stopped along the way for a quick photo of a farm. I love the texture and color of the drying soy bean crop…
These photos are a combination of two different hikes we’ve taken this week. I am very grateful to have a park within five minutes of my home that is over 500 acres with hiking trails and that I usually have to myself!
The leaves are glittering like gold…
I couldn’t believe how beautiful the trees and reflection were when we arrived to the lake. If you’re a photographer, you know that almost giddy feeling of enthusiasm when you see something beautiful.
I recently realized that my camera has enabled me to appreciate and observe more of the beauty that surrounds me in people, nature and things.
This is from a hike a couple of days ago as dusk was settling…
Fog had descended upon us as we finished the hike…just in time for Halloween!
Get out and enjoy the beautiful outdoors! Some people aren’t able to!
Related articles
- Hiking Is the Perfect Exercise (beautifulandlovely.com)
- Awesome # 204: Autumn (jodieawesome.wordpress.com)
- Wasn’t Pretty! (gerisroom.wordpress.com)
- The Hiking Ensemble for the Clueless Hiker (giancinephile.typepad.com)
Taste of Blue Ash and 38 Special
Yesterday was another busy day. We started with a 3 mile hike at Long Branch Farm & Trails. I love to trail jog and hike there because it’s only 5 minutes from my house and it’s lovely! First we hook Jake up in the back of the truck where he proceeds to whine and howl the entire way because he’s so excited…
Next we enter our enchanted forest…
We follow along the trail feasting our eyes on all of the nature…
Cross over some creeks or in Jake’s case — wade through them…
Emerge into a clearing….
Take a peek inside the corn fields…
Do a hand stand because I can…
After a quick shower…it was time to hop on the Harley and take the back roads to the beautiful suburb of Cincinnati called Blue Ash. Every year they have an event called the Taste of Blue Ash that lasts the entire weekend with well-known musicians, lots of food and plenty of people watching! And it’s free!
Of course, I went off of my Paleo Plan again and had a pulled pork bbq sandwich and some fried pickles…
The bandstand…
People watching…
My girlfriends April and Anne and Chris…
This balloon was way way way up in the sky…
The band “38 Special” sounded great and they had all different colored lights…but the blue were my favorite…
My friend Frank…
We had a great time! Hope you’re getting out and enjoying life (especially free events)!!
Related articles
- What fun looks like in your 40′s and 50′s (travelspirit333.wordpress.com)
- Request a song off of Jimmie Van Zant – Feels Like Freedom (foleymon.wordpress.com)
A Day in the Country
I had a nice day hiking with my husband at Stonelick State Park, which is located North of Cincinnati and only 20 minutes from our home. We got a late start–about noon–so it was really hot and humid. Here are some photos from the hike…
We had fun playing Tarzan on a vine…
He got a little close…
There was an antique machinery show at the Park…so after our 4 mile hike we checked out all of the cool stuff! I really enjoyed talking to this guy–his name is Jack Miller and he does custom forging–the old fashioned way–a real “blacksmith”. I would love to learn to make things either by welding or this way.
Here are some of his wares…but he also makes decorative pieces.
I’m not really into antiques, tractors, or old cars…but some of these were really unique…
This is an orchard tractor. The sides are shielded to protect them from tree branches, etc.
I loved this Studebaker and the attached little camper. I had checked into buying one of these…I could pull it behind my little honda…sleep in it…it has a fridge & cooktop. So cute!
To top off the day we had a bite to eat. I usually eat really healthy…like sprouted whole grain bread, salads, oatmeal smoothies, etc., but I had a cheese (artificial–I think) steak hoagie, Pepsi, and deep fried Oreos! The Oreos were really good…but now I’m paying for it–sore tummy!!
Hope your day was great!!
Sherry Lachelle Travels 