Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park - Columbus, Ohio December 5, 2021 I spend a lot of time hating on winter. I had a rough adjustment back to Ohio and Kentucky winters after living in Arizona for three and a half years, and I think that first shock has stayed with me. But over the past …
I don't know about you, but sometimes, I'm pretty bad at doing things I want to do. For example, I've wanted to visit Cedar Bog, a nature preserve located in Urbana, Ohio, for months now. It's not far from Columbus, and it's an easy drive. It would have been feasible for me to make the …
It's summer 2021! That means it's time for cicadas, long evenings, dinner on the deck, and of course, plenty of daylight for hiking. A couple of weeks ago, my mom and I decided to kick off our summer hiking season when we both had a day off on Friday, June 4. While trying to decide …
Continue reading Shawnee Lookout: A Great Park in the Cincinnati Metro Area
I drive back and forth between Cincinnati and Columbus a lot. Like, a lot. I-71 is like another home at this point. Every time I drive north or south, I pass the sign for Fort Ancient Earthworks and Nature Preserve, and I never stop. I'm usually up against some sort of deadline, or trying to …
Continue reading A Detour to Fort Ancient Earthworks and Nature Preserve
The semester is winding to a close, and I've been fortunate to be able to go out for some really great hikes recently. April is prime morel time, and though between Wiggs and me we only found a handful this year, it felt like a victory for our second-ever foraging season. We have been spending …
Wiggs and I were so impressed by our first visit to Great Seal on March 5 that when another Friday rolled around we decided to make a second visit. This time, on March 19, it was exactly two weeks later. In the spring, two weeks can make a big difference. The first time we went …
Continue reading Great Seal Sate Park Part 2: Signs of Spring
Ah, early March. Glorious, hope-filled, golden early March. The world hangs on the edge between melting winter and waiting spring. The days–crisp, but no longer frigid–grow steadily longer, stepping ever more quickly towards flowers. My eyes are pulled downwards for the first time since October, searching the forest floor for mushrooms that I know aren't …
I always think about hiking, but I think about hiking the most when it is winter. Ohio has been covered in over a foot of snow for the past few weeks. Just about when I was recovered from COVID-19, the world turned frigid and the sidewalks froze over. Every run becomes a perilous oscillation between …
Continue reading Mishaps Make an Adventure: Paint Creek State Park, January 5, 2021
A week and a half ago I started feeling the beginnings of a sore throat, and then the next day I woke up with a fever. I decided to get a Covid-19 test, and it was positive. I have been in self-isolation for the past nine days with persistent fatigue, lack of taste and smell, …
Keeping my writing up-to-date is one of my numerous New Year's resolutions. I struggle to write as often as I'd like, despite the fact that, if I'm honest with myself, I really do have the time. But instead of updating my blog I sometimes decide to do things like binging all of The Queen's Gambit …
Sarahmarie Specht-Bird 