EDITOR’S NOTE
Miles Together I
t all started with a walk — a first date. We didn’t call it that at the time, but that’s what it was. Melanie and I hadn’t seen each other since high school (and didn’t really know each other then), but then we struck up an Instagram correspondence over 1980s vinyl records and dogs and, finally, decided to meet up and take a spring walk in the woods. We both had grown up at the southern end of the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail in Tuscarawas County, so we opted for a walk along the path, from Canal Lands Park in Dover to Fort Laurens, the site of a Revolutionary War fort, in Bolivar. Along the 3-mile route, we caught up, we shared our stories. My rat terrier mix, Ted, trotted between us as we passed under the reach of greening branches and along the ruins of old canal locks to our left and the waters of the Tuscarawas River to our right. It was the start of our adventure together, but also the first steps in a journey along the Towpath Trail that would fill the year to follow. We walked a small portion of the route during the summer, but as the more moderate temperatures of September approached, a new idea came to mind: Let’s walk the 90-mile length of the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail by May 1, the anniversary of our initial walk. We tackled the portions between Tuscarawas and Stark counties first, then hiked parts of the Towpath Trail through Cuyahoga Valley National Park as fall took hold. On any given day, we would go 7 or 8 miles, and we quickly figured out that parking a car at two different trailheads was a key to making the most of every mile. Melanie kept detailed notes of where and when we hiked and our total mileage count, which grew as the months passed. During a year when we were getting to know each another, our weekend hikes were a way to get away from distractions and connect — be it through meaningful conversations or stretches of peaceful silence together as we took in the sights along the trail, from wildlife to history to how modernity has reshaped the route. (You can learn more about the trail and what we saw along it starting on page 60.) Even Melanie’s foot fracture near the end of our year-long hiking adventure didn’t derail it. We borrowed a wheelchair, and on a beautiful late-April day, I pushed her our final 7 miles. It was a fun accomplishment, and one that already has us thinking about trails we’d like to tackle next. Each year, we focus the June issue of Ohio Magazine on the outdoors, with nearly everything within it tied to that theme. Our hope is it inspires you to unplug, gear up and spend some quality time surrounded by the splendor of summer in Ohio.
Chairman Lute Harmon Sr. President & Publisher Lute Harmon Jr.
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