Salt Fork State Park

Tuesday
Since we have no hand bell practice this week, we thought it would be a good chance to get away for a few days. Handbell practice starts at 6pm Thursday, so it means we can’t be back late from wherever we go for the day, and with two of us missing, that means there’s eight notes missing (including sharps and flats), which makes rather a hole in the rest of the choir, whereas with regular choir, there’s a couple of people left singing the part. We had originally thought of taking the camper away, but with at least a couple of nights frost in the forecast, and somewhat cool days, we opted instead to stay in the lodge at Salt Fork state park, which lies in eastern Ohio, east of Columbus, and is the largest state park in the state. The surrounding area is a lovely area of rolling forested hills and meadows. Plans to dam the creek for use as a water source began in 1956, then later switched to planning for use as a recreational area in 1960. An earthen dam was completed in 1967, and Salt Fork lodge opened in 1972. The park offers various recreational activities - boating, fishing, it has a long beach for swimming in the warmer months, hiking, horse riding, and it has a golf course. On top of that the lodge has an indoor and outdoor pool. We certainly plan to return sometime in warmer weather with the camper, and our kayaks. Whilst it is a huge lake, and therefore allows high horsepower craft, there are numerous smaller inlets, which would be good for kayaking. The other interesting thing for Roger, having been born and growing up in Guernsey, is that it is located in Guernsey County, so named since quite a number of the early settlers came from Guernsey. It was almost a three hour drive, so we arrived about lunchtime. Our room wasn’t ready yet so we had some lunch in their restaurant, by which time our room was ready. So after bringing our case in, we went off hiking, a nice trail near the lake, as far as the Kennedy Stone House, a historic stone built house dating back to 1837. The house was constructed with huge native sandstone blocks quarried on site, ranging from 14 inches to over 9 feet long. Wood for doors, window frames and flooring was harvested from the surrounding hillsides. It must have been quite a grand house for that remote part of the state in those days! Masses of wildflowers lined the trail, including Dutchman’s breeches, lower right, Jack in the pulpit, centre, carpets of White trillium, upper left and unfurling ferns, top left. The lower left scene is the view from our window at the lodge.