Day One-West Branch SP

18 miles. I will start with yesterday, wherein my cousin and his wife hosted a family reunion. A gathering of the living cousins on my Dad’s side of the family, along with spouses and a couple of generations of offspring. It was amazing to see folks I hadn’t seen in many, many decades. I learned some new stories about our ancestors and, in short, had a great time. It was a wonderful way to start my journey on the Buckeye Trail.

This morning I said goodbye to my cousin and his wife and drove the two miles over to the Trail, and the MacDonalds next to it, with my sister and Nancy. We had something to eat and then I set off heading south along the highway which is also the trail. In fact my entire 18 mile walk was a road walk. Going mostly south, it did work its way a few miles east.

Just past the halfway point I walked along the west end of the Ravenna Arsenal. This 21,418 acre tract was reserved by the Dept of the Army in 1940 for two facilities, the Ravenna Ordinance Plant and the Portage Ordinance Depot. Formerly part of DuPont, the Atlas Powder Co. was also housed there and ran the Ordinance Plant.

Durning WWII the plant employed 14,000 people and, due to its proximity, the small town of Windom housed many of them. The town experienced a 1200% increase in population as a result, according to the Census Bureau.

The site was active in manufacturing explosives or on standby until the early 1990’s. The manufacturing buildings eventually became a Superfund site because of the chemicals used in munitions manufacturing. Clean up was started and after it was reclaimed, it became a training area for the National Guard.

As I moved south of the Armory I came to my goal for today, West Branch State Park which is on the shores of the Michael J Kirwan Reservoir. This is where I am camped tonight.

Until tomorrow, Happy Trails!