Trail

This weekend offers an exciting opportunity for backpackers, hikers, environmentalists, and those who love the woods and trails of southeastern Ohio to support environmental conservation and outdoor recreation. The Buckeye Trail Fest 2014 begins Thursday, April 24 and runs through Sunday, April 27. Offering an array of challenging, learning-oriented, and just plain fun events, Trail Fest has something for everyone, and the events just keep coming throughout the its 4 days.

Camp Akita, in the scenic Hocking Hills, provides the setting for Trail Fest. Offering cabins and a main lodge, registration and many activities are centered here. Hiking trails are readily accessible. Centrally located, Camp Akita is only a 35-minute drive from Columbus, and equally as close for those coming from Athens, Logan, or many southeastern Ohio communities.

Camp Akita employee Danita Wolfe is looking forward to having the event at the camp this weekend. “This is our first time hosting the Buckeye Trail Fest. Its my understanding that they try and host the event in a different location around Ohio each year. It is a 3 night event they arrive on a Thursday and leave Sunday. We have up to 165 this weekend they have people hiking in who left on Saturday and will arrive tomorrow and I believe it was a 24-mile hike.”

This year, those who wanted to completely immerse themselves in challenging and scenic backpacking experiences as a prelude to Trail Fest had their choice of two different “Lead-In Hikes.” Beginning a week to 10 days before the opening of Trail Fest, one lead-in hike originated in Burr Oak State Park and covered some 60 miles from Wildcat Hollow to Camp Akita, while the second lead-in hike originated at Tar Hollow State Park and covered 150 plus miles from Peebles, OH to Camp Akita.

Trail Fest Coordinator John Knouse worked very hard to have a multitude of opportunities that participants could be involved in . “Well workshops are pretty diverse; some have to do with camping and hiking. Trail maintenance, there’s one about quilting, I tried to set up a rappelling and rock climbing workshop but ran up against the academic calendar.”

An array of activities provide a chance to meet and get to know other people who love and value nature. Bicycling on the Hocking Adena Bikeway provides unparalleled view of the river and the wildflowers that adorn the bikeway and riverbanks. If you’d rather not bike, you can take a sign-making workshop, where you will rout and paint your own wooden sign.

Matt Volser, an Ohio University Recreation Doctoral Student is conducting a survival workshop at 1 pm on Friday. “I’m really excited, we get to talk about survival and backpacking, enjoy the outdoors’s, it’s a great time!”

A hospitality hour offers an opportunity for refreshment and meeting new people or re-engaging with old friends, and this is followed by a sumptuous supper in the Lodge. In case you are seeking more learning and excitement, you can take the “Haunted Hocking Tour” at Ash Cave, where you will look for spirits, or you can take the “Hocking Hills Geology Hike,” where you can become more knowledgeable about the Rock Stalls and black hand sandstone in the area.

Every day brings different things to try and se at Trail Fest. You can learn to make simple gourmet backpacking meals, Dutch oven cooking outdoors, the art of car camping, and how to make at least 20 knots with skill that will “dazzle your friends.” As if that wasn’t enough, you can learn to “Start a Fire in a Mud Puddle with a Wet Match,” and that is impressive even to consider!

On a more serious note, Trail Fest offers a one-hour workshop on the healing and therapeutic value of hiking after loss. The weekend is focused on reminding participants of the importance of caring for the environment and appreciating the enjoyment it brings to our lives. The guides, workshop providers, musicians, and all those who work so diligently to bring people together for Trail Fest are talented and dedicated people. Trail Fest attendance and the silent auction of donated items help to raise funds for the Buckeye Trail Association that is used toward the maintenance of Ohio’s hiking trails.

A map of the Buckeye Trail. Click the map to see the Google Maps page that will show you the names of the different areas that the trail run’s through.