Portraits of Adventure / Vultures Knob / Jessica Rynski
Jessica Rynski
Vultures Knob, Wooster OH
August 2026
"You know what I'm gonna miss the most? That dirt road. Because you have to go slow in and it's so worth it... it feels like it takes like 25 minutes, you have to go so slow... but as soon as you turn you're like, oh my gosh, almost there.” In a way, this reminds me of Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. I think about the 50 car parking lots essentially on top of the trailhead at other parks. While Accessibility should be included in planning, there is something special about the friction you encounter getting to the trailhead. There’s no replacing the anticipation and giddiness when it’s the road less traveled slowing you down. For many just like Jessica, this 1/2 mile crawl on a stretch of pitted gravel road earned its own place in the experience of Vulture’s Knob.
Ohio isn’t flat… at least not all of it. Leave it up to Jessica and her husband, Ryan — between skiing in winter and mountain biking in Summer, they’ll find the terrain. Moving from Columbus to Ashland, they discovered mountain biking in 2016, at Vulture’s Knob. "There was no one really out here... I couldn't believe it wasn't getting utilized more, the hills are so good, the bridges, the trees. It kind of reminds me of the Northwest.”
While it might have begun here in Ohio, bikes do travel. Places like Colorado, Oregon, North Carolina, Montana, Canada, West Virginia… “this is top tier.” Jess and Ryan at one point took their bikes out to Glacier on a backpacking trip. “we dropped our car off at one location and biked 18 miles to the starting point, then dropped the bikes off with the park ranger... our bikes have been all over.” Hiking and riding trails from the above, there’s no doubt she’s got a good idea and reference for what a trail can be, and what it can represent.
"I just thought I would always be here.” Things in life we cherish the most are often the most fragile. In the back of our minds, we understand the effects of entropy on these places, but never expect to lose them so suddenly. In a world where these spaces are constantly under attack, it’s the times we look back on with 20/20, wishing we were more appreciative and present. Eventually, this once landfill had recovered to a point where it became valuable enough to sell. When someone has the opportunity to cash in on 125 acres with no stake in the community, money talks. Unfortunately many like Jess had similar thoughts of “I just didn't feel like I could make a difference, just like one person."
10 years from now, Jess hopes to remember and share the “density of surprises, there's so many little surprises at like every quarter mile.” The diversity, and amount of features, and creative use of space this trail achieved is fantastic. It has certainly been a living trail over the years with re-routes, amendments, etc. A trail built with the rider and their experience as priority number one, not a line item, box to check, or viewed solely as a revenue generator. There’s a unique character unearthed with hand dug single track, it carves a life of its own.
"I feel silly, I didn't really come to the Thursday night rides until the summer. I didn't meet anyone until the last race. Why didn't I do this sooner?” She thought she knew all of the features and spots, that is until she rode with one of the board members, Nate. We’re social animals, and Jessica is by all means a social person. You'd never guess from how naturally she fits into the group that she almost didn't come at all. There’s a sense of openness where everyone was included in conversations, jokes, and of course the ride. One season of Thursday night rides looked more like 20 years of friendship and community with this crew.
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