Though we are still not technically on the road for awhile,
it’s spring in the Midwest and we are occasionally getting out to see some
sites nearby. Last week we had a sunny, warm day that followed many days of
rain, so we decided to head out somewhere to hike where there were boardwalks—or
at least solid rock paths.
We started at Charleston Falls, near Tipp City. The preserve
was far more crowded than usual; the warm weather after a long winter
apparently brought out the crowds, especially homeschooled kids and their
families. We took the path less traveled back through prairie meadows (only
slightly mushy) to the top of the falls, then wandered down the stone paths to
the bottom of the falls. There was water going over the falls, though not a
lot. The falls are fed by small underground springs several miles to the east, and
the stream creating the falls plummets almost 40' as it flows to the Great
Miami River, one mile to the west.
After we left Charleston Falls Preserve, we took a scenic drive up to Tipp City proper and had lunch at a Cassano’s Pizza. The pizza was delicious and fueled us for further adventures. On to Siebenthaler Fen, northwest of Xenia, where a mile-long boardwalk trail wanders through the fen, which is part of the Beaver Creek Wetlands Association.
The fen (which is a swampy wetland where peat forms) was alive with red-winged blackbirds, and we also
saw a couple of very large snapping turtles. We gave them wide berth (because
they do snap), but we came across a young guy who was holding one—carefully—and
standing in the fen, which was proving to be not easy to get out of. Especially
when you are holding a large snapping turtle. We didn’t know what he had in
mind, but we stayed until he got on to fairly solid ground, still holding the
turtle. Once we were sure he wasn’t going to get sucked into the muck, we moved
on, hoping he had the good sense to put the turtle back.
Snapping turtle at Siebenthaler Fen
We climbed to the top of the viewing tower in the fen and
looked out over the wetlands, where there were still more red-winged blackbirds
than anything else, though we did also see a small frog and a lot of Eastern
skunk cabbage along the trail. Skunk cabbage is a hardy plant that turns up early and
especially likes swampy ground. The plant generates heat as it grows, so it can
even push through the last of winter ice to pop up early. The first time I
encountered it was in an old-growth hemlock forest in British Columbia (I
assume it was Western skunk cabbage there), and there is a good reason for its
name, it does smell strongly. Nevertheless, it is edible (though apparently not tasty),
and it has been used medicinally to treat a lot of ailments, including coughs
and congestion.
Swamp cabbage starts growing even when
the wetlands still have ice on the surface
Our day trip still had a couple more stops, first at the
newest Ohio State Park, Great Council, in Oldtown near Xenia. It’s on the site
of the former Tecumseh Motel, and it’s a state park now because it is (maybe)
the place where the Shawnee leader Tecumseh was born. It’s not a large park;
mostly it’s a museum dedicated to the Native Americans who lived in the area,
from prehistoric tribes through the Shawnee, including Tecumseh and his
brother, The Prophet. It was an interesting museum, though it is so new the
displays are still in progress. Lots of reproductions of early maps of Ohio
that were interesting. The interpretive center building itself is loosely
modeled on a Shawnee longhouse.
The museum building at Ohio's newest state park,
Great Council in Oldtown, near Xenia
Our final destination of the day was Caesar Creek, and we walked the short distance from the park headquarters to the lake, where we encountered a very talkative cardinal below the viewing deck. On our way back out of the park, I asked about the “Pioneer Village” that I’d often seen signs for at Caesar Creek (but had never seen). Mike navigated to the Pioneer Village and we spent an hour walking around it, reading the signs and peering into windows of old log cabins that were originally built in the area in the late 1700s and early 1800s. It was very interesting, and an unexpected look back in history. We read that one building had already been there, and most of the other buildings had been dismantled and rebuilt in the Pioneer Village during the 1970s. The whole village could use some upkeep and repairs, but it is still an interesting look back at Ohio domestic history.
Our final stop was a bit of a backtrack to Waynesville,
where we had a delicious dinner at the Village Family Restaurant to end a long
day of wandering and walking. A good reminder that there’s a lot to see in our own
backyard, too, during our year mostly “on the road.”
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