Portraits of Adventure / BTA / Richard Morgan
Richard Morgan
Caldwell, OH
October 2025
Richard didn’t grow up dreaming about hiking the Buckeye Trail. He didn’t even start hiking seriously until his early fifties. What pulled him in wasn’t some big life shift. It was curiosity. He just kept wanting to see what was around the next curve, and before he knew it, he’d walked thousands of miles across Ohio. He talks about it like it’s nothing. “I’m just walking,” he’ll say. But seven thousand miles is not nothing.
His section tells a different story about the work. Richard spends countless hours clipping briars, clearing branches, repainting blazes, and cutting out downed trees after storms. It’s the kind of work hikers rarely notice because it’s done right. They pass through in seconds without knowing how long he was out there keeping the path clear. He doesn’t complain about it. He just shrugs and keeps going.
The trail has handed him strange little moments along the way. A logbook entry thanking him for a well kept stretch. A random hiker who becomes a partner for twenty six mile days. A blimp hangar tour because he happened to walk by at the perfect time. That’s how Richard talks about the trail. Not dramatic. Not poetic. Just real. Just a life built out of small miles, steady work, and a curiosity that never really stopped.
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