BTA

Jul 18

Diane Wright

Great Miami River Recreation Area, Dayton, OH

September 2025

Diane’s section of the Buckeye Trail looks simple at first. It follows paved bike paths, sidewalks, and small towns rather than deep forest. But that surface level view hides the work she carries, which is almost entirely human. Diane maintains relationships the way others maintain footbeds and bridges. She stays in touch with park staff, hiking groups, partner organizations, and the constant flow of people who discover the trail for the first time in her section. For her, a well kept trail is as much about connection as it is about terrain.

As an ambassador, she loves watching someone realize that adventure is waiting right outside their door. Hikers stop at her booth, or join a holiday walk through a small town lit with luminaries, and say, “How did I not know this was here?” She has seen those same people return, posting that they are 40 miles in, then 200, then volunteering at Trail Fest because the trail changed something in them.

The Buckeye Trail changed Diane, too. A ten mile COVID walk with her husband shifted how she sees herself and the world. Now she gives that same opening to others, guiding them, welcoming them, and quietly shaping their first steps on a trail that reshaped her own life.

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POA Subjects

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

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CHAPTER BLOG

What’s next

Each chapter is handled with care, honesty and respect. Here is what is takes to be considered for the next one

E 185th Spillway

A spillway rebuilt so steelhead trout can find their way back to Lake Erie. Coming Fall 2026.

Vultures Knob

A 50 year old private trail, its final season open before logging moves in on land once used as a landfill.

3 Trackers

An adaptive ski program where students and volunteers make the slopes work for everyone.

Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Where this project began, a free national park that taught me how much people shape a place.

The Buckeye Trail

The volunteers who keep a 1,400 mile trail connected across Ohio, one blaze and cleared log at a time.

The Gorge Dam

A dam removal on the Cuyahoga River and the people affected by the restoration. Coming Fall 2026.

The Connecting Thread

Kite surfers, mountain bikers, skaters, people met in passing rather than by appointment.

University of Akron

Portraits of Akron students building a life around the outdoors, met through a campus climate symposium and the people who followed.

Diane Wright

Josh Reuck

Diane Wright

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josh@joshreuck.com

Josh Reuck Photography