Jason Reinhardt proposed to his wife at the top of the furnace. Years later, after a decade spent trying to save the place outright, he rode it one more time and decided, on his own, that this was the last lap.
I’m All In. I’ll Be There.
I Just Thought I Would Always Be Here
Conquer the Knob, Ride Anywhere
Abdel Halloway teaches ecology at Case Western Reserve University, thinking about nature more than experiencing it. A birding workshop at the University of Akron Field Station pulled him outside.
Brett co-owns Bath Hollow Farm, a wedding venue, and volunteers with 3 Trackers skiing. He returned to Warsaw Park, once his grandfather’s neighborhood, to help Open Trail Collective clean it up.
Addie Slutz started riding Vultures Knob at six, following her dad from the sidelines to racing NOMBS the year it launched. At 20, riding is still what keeps her and her father close.
Meg Dailey was eleven when she talked her dad into hiking the Appalachian Trail. At thirteen, she maintains a section of the Buckeye Trail, swamping logs and painting blazes.
Kim Love-Ottobre took over as BTA Trail Town Coordinator on a cold call six years ago. Her work is building relationships between the Buckeye Trail and the towns it runs through.
Valerie Gardner found the Buckeye Trail through a college service project in 2020 and never stopped showing up. She now chairs membership and co-founded the BTA’s Lake Plains chapter.
Christina Bergman found hiking while waiting on surgeries, deciding she might as well be in pain somewhere worth it. She now supervises the Buckeye Trail’s St. Mary’s section.
Matthew Edmonds hiked his first 12.5 miles on the Buckeye Trail in old Army parade boots. Sixteen years later, he’s logging trail data and pushing for 10,000 volunteers.
Richard Morgan didn’t start hiking seriously until his fifties. Curiosity carried him seven thousand miles across Ohio, and he still clears his section of the Buckeye Trail by hand.
Vicki Proctor knows her Buckeye Trail section well enough to picture what happens if nobody shows up for a few weeks. She keeps at the slow, patient work without needing recognition for it.
Cindy Sommers chairs the Central Ohio chapter of the Buckeye Trail Association, handling the emails, registrations, and details that keep hikes running. Her new project, Scioto Saturdays, breaks a long section into six shorter hikes so beginners can ease into the trail.It All Begins Here
It All Begins Here
It All Begins Here
Eric got his steps in on a muddy stretch of Cleveland Metro Parks, solo this time since his wife, also a photographer, usually joins him.It All Begins Here
It All Begins Here
Joey Carter survived multiple heart attacks in his early thirties and kept coming back to the skate park, the same thing that carried him through and now anchors the story he shares on his YouTube channel.It All Begins Here