Hoofing it in Hocking 11.9 miler

Well today I started out making breakfast at 0400! Then it followed by me driving 3 hours to the Hocking Hills State Park. I chose a route that I did last time, and I added 5.5 miles to it. I believed the route I had calculated was closer to 11.25 miles.  Well, when I was done today to my surprise it was 11.9 miles.

I chose this stretch because it was away from the majority of the popular attractions.  There were also limited access points to the trails I was going to hike.

This hike would have the most ascent 2129 feet and the decent of 2172 feet I have done in an extremely long time. This obviously was all done throughout the hike and not all at once. It was nice to feel my body go through and complete it.  It’s still amazing me to me after all these decades of how swinging your arms to keep pace with your legs can assist you in hiking.

I would have to share this trail with the occasional pasture puppies’ “horses”. I saw 4 horses and a crew of hikers coming towards me. I only saw the hikers once and the horses once. I took this for a win today.

I carried two extra water bottles today and my 70 oz bladder in my Atmos 35. For snacks all I had were cliff bars.  I was off my pace today but I was still happy with the 4 hours and 35 minutes it took me to complete the hump. I was taking plenty of photos to show you fine folks the trail.

The route went from dirt soft/hard, muddy at times, river rock road, to number 57 stone, and soft pine needled pathway. I had to cross a few creeks, but it’s late July and I had no issues.

I felt my hands swelling from dehydration but had plenty of water. I needed to drink more and more often during the hike. At the end of the hike, I had to put water on my head to assist in the cooling process.  My body temp was starting to overheat with the pace vs how much water I was not taking in. I paid close attention to this or so I thought.

I am not as sore today as I thought I would be and that was a personal win for me. I hope you enjoy the photos.

Be well,

Sonder