American Discovery Trail: The Buckeye Trail

 

I realized today that I am walking along the Buckeye Trail for most of my hike through Ohio, and this is actually a pretty cool thing, and it explains to some extent why the walk through Ohio is so long, since Ohio is not that big.

The Buckeye Trail is a loop all the way around the outside of the state, going to or near Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo, Cleveland, and Akron. Only Columbus is left out because it is in the middle of the state. I have not heard of anything like this in any other state.

The trail is 1,447 miles long, which is a lot given that Ohio is the 34th largest state. If you look at a more detailed map, the trail jogs back and forth all the way along. The idea clearly was not to get around the state as quickly as possible. I joined the Buckeye Trail 30 miles after entering Ohio and will continue to follow it all the way to Cincinnati.

I have now covered over 700 miles and 12 segments of the American Discovery Trail. The latest one took me to Ohio SR 664. Now I am on my way to SR327. Not the most colorful place names, but there are parks and caves and stuff to see along the way.

Part of the Buckeye Trail near Akron. I won't be going there, but it's brick, so it looks nice.