The 2010 Cuyahoga Challenge has this hike listed twice: once together with the Pine Grove Trail (for 2.3 miles) and again by itself (0.5 miles).
We decided to slip this one in on the way home today. The weather was improving (still very windy) but it was now mostly sunny and warm.
This trail changes just about every time we hike it.
The first time around this loop this season, it had been dry and all these little gopher mounds of dry dirt were everywhere. (We never did see what created them, so we're only guessing that this was gopher. Or chipmunk, perhaps.)
This time it had rained, so these were starting to wash away.
This time we found a little girl peering out from this oddly-shaped tree trunk.
She wasn't there before!
The older hikers let the younger ones run on ahead. While we were lagging behind, we heard two loud "crack" noises from a ways off the trail. It was incredibly windy and we weren't sure if a tree was coming down or if it was coming down on or near us. Or even if it was coming down today.
Well, pretty soon my wife was able to point it out.
And with a great creaking, it fell another 20 degrees, just while we were watching it!
We saw no one else on the trail.
And it was a good hike.
The Forest Point Trail (approximately 0.5 miles) can be found near the Octagon Shelter in the Virginia Kendall Unit (pdf) of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
