Milford-Mansfield Ohio Tour 2008
Day 3 - Trapper John's 4-Mile Campground to Rustic Knolls Campground
- [ Pre-Ride: Cardinal Greenway ]
- [ Day 1 ]
- [ Day 2 ]
- [ Day 3 ]
- [ Day 4 ]
Sunday, October 5th, 2008
Dave and I woke early. We had a small fire going, started from the embers of the previous night, to help take some of the edge off the early morning chill. I took a few early morning photographs along the Big Darby Creek. We were on the road by about 7:30 a.m. We stopped for coffee in Darbydale and then continued following State Route 665, turning left at Pleasant Corners onto US Route 62 / State Route 3 towards Grove City.
Our original plan to get through Columbus entailed zig-zagging through Grove City and Columbus until we picked up the Olentangy Trail. After some thought the previous night, we opted to go straight up SR 3 to West Broad Street in Columbus. It was a good decision since the road shoulder and road traffic was no problem riding into downtown Columbus, plus we avoided the potential confusion of navigating a meandering route through a large, unfamiliar city. The one bit of excitement was when I tipped my Burley Nomad trailer at a 45 degree angle as I swerved to miss a pot hole and a traffic sign leg that suddenly appeared in my line of travel as we got into Columbus. I never felt a thing, yet Dave said it was a truly amazing sight and a lady in a car was looking extremely amazed, gesturing with her hands as to what she had just witnessed.
We got to the Scioto River where there was an American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event going on. We stopped for some pictures of downtown Columbus and the Scioto River and then pressed on, looking for the COSI where we expected to pickup the Olentangy River Greenway trail. Somehow, though, we managed to keep going straight down Broad Street way past where we should have picked up the trail. About four miles or so down Broad St., after crossing the Scioto River, we came to Alum Creek. We noticed a trail paralleling the creek.
After a brief review of our maps and Dave G talking with a trail user, we headed up the Alum Creek Greenway Trail and, when the trail ended a couple of miles later, we cut left and picked up Sunbury Road. The road was not the best to ride on, narrow shoulder and lots of traffic, but at least it took us up towards Westerville. We veered left again at Morse Rd. and picked up, I believe, part of the Ohio to Erie Trail into Westerville along Alum Creek. We picked up E. Dublin-Granville Rd., followed the signs to SR 3 and crossed under I-270 and on to Westerville. We stopped for lunch at an Arby's. It was only about 11 a.m. We had made excellent time, all things considered, getting through metro Columbus.
The next phase of the ride was a long ride along US 36 / SR 3 out of Westerville. There was a partial bicycle trail (the Ohio to Erie Trail again) through Westerville, although we didn't pick it up again until nearly out the northside of town. Once that ended, we cut back to US 36 / SR 3 and continued riding towards Bangs, OH. We picked up some beer at a convenience store outside of Sunbury. Dave G managed to get carded (first time in nearly 30 years!). And on we rode...
While stopping for a break outside of Mount Liberty, OH on an old farm road, I spotted a small snake by my feet. At first, I thought it may have been a copperhead, but Dave didn't think so. After we completed the trip, a book that Dave had led us to believe it was a prairie garter snake. However, after returning home and doing some online research, it appears the snake was actually a Butler's garter snake. In any case, the snake was an interesting find on the trip.
We continued on and noticed a lot of political signs asking for funding for bicycle trails. Hopefully that will get approved and some more of the B&O railroad bed will be converted into a multi-use trail. We thought some of the trail may have been open, but when we diverted to the trail, we found it consisted of very rough stone, just enough to make you think it may be open, but obviously still not ready for actual use yet.
We got into Bangs mid-afternoon and followed the signs to Rustic Knolls Campground. We wound up pushing our bicycles and trailers up a few of the hills on Keys Rd. since they were fairly steep and we were fairly tired, but the campground itself was very nice. They were getting close to closing for the season, so I again indulged in some half-priced ice cream sandwiches.
We essentially had the campground to ourselves and found a relatively secluded spot. We showered up, gathered firewood for the evening, cooked up some grub, imbibed in some adult beverages and smokes, and talked for a good while about this and that. We heard many owls throughout the night, yet rested well considering this was the longest riding day of our trip.
Total miles ridden this day: 63.6
Total tour miles: 164.1
Trails ridden:
FYI: Trails may overlap each other
Videos
Riding Into Westerville
What Snake Is It?
Boogie'n Snake
Additional photographs
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