17 April 2015 Going Home (Briefly)

I had a few days before travel took over again. I was happy at the thought of going home, but exhausted from the week's drive which included Evansville. The weather was super and we were looking for cache finds in Auglaize County. A chance to visit and walk a place called Dr Elizabeth Yahl Kuffner Nature Preserve sealed the deal for the homeward caching.

The nature preserve was an awesome place. Despite a little used marked trail there were so many wildflowers they were spilling onto the trail and became obstacles to avoid during my walk. I found the cache, but the walk was worth so much more.

I enjoyed every step at the nature preserve. After that I made my way to the nearby Miami and Erie Canal. The canal area was a thin strip of land with woods on one side. It was only about 100 feet from the road. There were promising bird calls and I spotted a few turtles sliding into the canal after I arrive. After that it got a bit weird. I spotted someone approaching from the distance. As he neared, I realized he had a cocked bow and was hunting something. It seemed a strange and dangerous place to hunt so my stay at the canal was quick yielding nothing more than the cache find.

My last stop was unplanned. I was once again ensnared in traffic on I75. With clearly nowhere to go and not way to get home in any reasonable time, I made a visit to the Lippincott Preserve near Lima. The cache page said the preserve was established as a bird sanctuary. I had no luck spotting birds, but the trail was dotted with a nice collection of wildflowers.