If you don’t know, I love hiking. I have always loved the outdoors, but especially after I sold my horse in 2018, I needed a reason to get outside. I won’t lie, Covid definitely put this hobby on the fast track for me, but I think I would have found it eventually. How else does a 20-something childless female spend quality time with her dogs? 😂 Last year, I found out that there is actually a National Hiking Day, every year on November 17th. This year, I decided I would take that day off work and take my dogs somewhere fun to go hiking that day.
I originally wanted to go somewhere super adventurous and new, like Cuyahoga Valley National Park or Hocking Hills in Ohio, but ended up staying a little closer to home and revisiting one of my favorite spots. Oak Openings Preserve Metropark in Swanton, Ohio is about an hour from home for me, and has so many trails that are really well maintained. The particular trail I really like is the Oak Openings Hiking Trail (according to AllTrails). While the whole trail is about 17 miles long, I’ve only done about 5 miles of it, but for the last year and a half-ish, my favorite part of that 5 miles has been closed. When you get a little further on the trail, there starts to be some fun little elevation changes with creeks, rivers, and bridges that I just adore. I went that morning not knowing if that part would be open, but decided if that wasn’t open we could try a new part. I was in a bad spot mentally (had no idea I would be so bad when I had requested the day off 3 months ahead of time – pat on the back for August Tabby) and really just needed to be with nature for a while. My goal was to get 3 miles in for the day.
When we got there, there were only 2 other cars in the parking lot, which I love, but probably isnt unusual for 11am on a Monday. We started off in the direction we usually take, and when we got to the part that had said closed before didn’t show any signs of being closed! We forged forward and finally made it to my first favorite spot; a small creek with a little bridge going over it. Rebel thinks we go on hikes so she can play in water, so of course she got right in. Sadie will go to the edge to get a drink, even though I always bring them fresh water on our hikes. She is a chicken though, and usually doesn’t get in the water the way Rebel will. I think someone forgot to tell her Springer Spaniels are supposed to love water? 🤷 We kept going when Rebel decided she was ready, since she is the one I have to keep on leash. But my next favorite spot was further than I remembered 😅
We were coming up on 3 miles from the car (oops 😜), and I was actually getting ready to turn around when we finally came to my favorite spot: the big bridge! Honestly, it might have a real name, but I don’t know what it is. There are about a dozen wooden steps down from the top of the slope on the side we were coming from, and the bridge goes over a larger creek. Of course I had to let Rebel play in this creek, too. One thing I enjoy doing while I’m hiking is taking pictures of nature, so the girls sniff and explore while I try to get some cool photos. I got some pictures of the creek and bridge, and we headed back toward the car.
On our way back, we stopped back at the first creek to try to get some better pictures of some mushrooms I thought where cool while Rebel romped around, and that was the first time we ran into another human on our whole hike. This particular spot runs pretty close to a road, and there were two older ladies walking. One of them noticed me and said they were lost and looking for the yellow trail. I let them know I was actually on the yellow trail, so they weren’t as lost as they thought. I let them pass me when they got to me, since I was still taking pictures and I like to take my time and let the dogs smell almost anything their hearts desire. It wasn’t until we were less than a mile from the car that we passed one other person walking their dog.
While I stand that any hike is a good hike, this was just what my soul needed. A day with my girls to not worry about anything, and relax in the sun for a few hours. We all got some good exercise in (6 miles total!), in the good weather that was holding on before it got really cold and snowy just 10 days later. Its also a great day when we only see 3 other people on the trail. And you can’t forget missing work to do it 😉 If you are in the mood for an adventure, I definitely recommend Oak Openings for a day, or maybe even a weekend! I know I will definitely be taking more time off to go hiking next year.
