Hiking at Miami Whitewater

A few weeks ago, Kara and I had our first free weekend since we had arrived in Ohio. After we had enjoyed our hiking so much in Hawaii, we thought that we would see what southwestern Ohio had to offer. We decided on Miami Whitewater State Forest, which is less than 5 miles from our house. The funny part is that it is actually quicker to get on the interstate to go there, since it is only one exit away.

Ready to Go

Always a Little More Stylish

We went on two different trails in the morning - the Timber Lakes trail and the Badlands trail. On the Badlands trail, we saw an awesome sight - a red-tailed hawk sitting about 15 feet above us in a tree. After waiting there for a few minutes, it decided to swoop away, and it was incredible to watch gliding through the trees.

Mr. Hawk

On the second trail, I did not bring my camera or backpack, but we saw an owl sleeping in a tree at about the same distance from us as the hawk. After Mr. Hawk could not help us with our pressing question, we had to see if Mr. Owl was as smart as everyone thought he was.

Blast! That impatient Mr. Owl! The world may never know....and he owes me a Tootsie Pop.

Mallards

There is also a lake in the center of the park, which we walked around and saw some ducks. This one below has a little bit of a duck-mullet. Business in the front...party in the back.

View of the Lake

After checking out the park pretty thoroughly, we decided to get our new picnic box out and enjoy a picnic. The park had a lot of picnic areas, so we settled down in one, had some lunch, and took a nap. It was the end of a great adventure!

Trying Out Our New Picnic Set