The Show Must Go On. And It Did.
Introduction
In April, 2024, I rented a cabin in Lake Hope State Park, one of the state parks in Ohio. At the time that I rented this cabin, it had been about 7 months from the time that my wife, Sheri, had died. It was also a little over one month from when I retired from my career. At first, I had planned to retire at the end of March, but some things happened that made me decide to retire at the end of February, 2024, instead.
The two nights and one full day that I was there was very relaxing and I had a great time despite a heavy thunderstorm the first night that caused flooding and some noisy neighbors the second night. There was also a power outage that lasted for several hours the second night.
The cabins there are arranged in blocks, or groups, which are given names. In April, I was in a Forest cabin. Each cabin had a number and a name; generally, just the number is displayed on the reservation system. The cabin in April was named Cherry.
Early the first morning, I walked down the main road to the next group of cabins which are called the Wildlife cabins. I don’t think anybody was renting one of those, or there might have been just one rental taken. I walked around the driveway and saw some of them did not have names that I could see from the drive. I was curious what the difference was between those cabins and the one I was in so I picked a cabin at random, one I could not see the name of, and walked up to it. I could not get in since the doors were locked but I saw the name on the cabin and I stopped breathing for a bit.
This is the cabin I picked at random and walked up to in order to see what it was like compared to the Cherry cabin I was in.
Sheri was obsessed with hummingbirds and very much enjoyed watching them at her nectar feeder. When I saw this sign, I knew that I had to stay in this cabin. It seemed appropriate to rent for the first week of September, which would be the one-year anniversary of Sheri’s death. When I got home, I reserved this cabin for three nights. Things did not quite work out the way I wanted, but the September stay was incredible.
Here is a recap of my Lake Hope adventure.
Welcome sign at entrance to Lake Hope.
Less than one week before I was supposed to leave, the park called me and told me that the Hummingbird cabin could not be rented out because of an air conditioner problem.
The cabin I assigned after the one I wanted was not available.
The living area of my cabin.
The kitchen area of my cabin.
There are two bedrooms; one has a twin-sized bed and the other has a single bed and a bunk bed. There is a small bathroom with a shower; the door to the bathroom can be seen on the far left. The cabins have air conditioning and heating. The kitchen is fairly well stocked with cooking utensils and forks, spoons, knives, etc. The refrigerator is a bit small but can hold a decent amount of food.
The name of the cabin I was assigned after the one I wanted, Hummingbird, was not able to be rented to me.
My neighbor near my cabin.
A look down the ridge on one side of the main road. It is at least 150 feet to the bottom. I walked up this hill a little further away from here; the path was diagonally up, which helped – a little.
Some of the woods at Lake Hope.
A peaceful view of Lake Hope. This is at the beach and pontoon/canoe rental section of the lake.
Another view of Lake Hope near the beach.
Typical of the trails through Lake Hope property and Zaleski State Forest.
In Zaleski State Forest. This tree has a mohawk. The colors are used to identify the trail one is on.
On many of these trails, there are significant drop-offs to the side and care is needed to not get very far off of the edge of the trail. Hard to see in 2-dimensions how far down this goes.
Off to the side of one of the trails in Zaleski State Forest.
If I get hopelessly lost, I can sleep here. I did actually lose my place on this trail and took 15 to 20 minutes to get back on track.
Obstacles on the trails; not unusual to have to manage over or around these.
A beech tree blocking a trail. A bigger challenge to progress on the trails.
Lilies covering Lake Hope along the lake perimeter trail.
More lilies on Lake Hope along a lake perimeter trail.
We are not going to have fall colors in Ohio, at least not in southeast Ohio. It is way too dry.
Dry leaves fallen off of the trees with a uniform brown color. It is so dry.
This wall of rock goes up quite a ways from the trail that I am on.
People say that one must visit the Moonville Tunnel. Legend says that a signalman got drunk one night (methinks he got drunk every chance he could get) and tried to signal to an approaching train but got too close to the tracks, was hit and killed. Legend says that his ghost still appears trying to slow a train that has not run for many, many decades. I do not know why ghosts appear only at night; I was there in the middle of the afternoon and did not see a signalman, drunk or sober. I was too tired to come back after dark.
The world famous (?) Moonville Tunnel.
The Moonville Tunnel looking up toward the top of the tunnel; long ways up there.
The Moonville tunnel from the other end. It is a long ways up to the trees. As an engineer, I am highly impressed that something like could be built using the technology that existed 150 years ago.
I wanted to rent a canoe but no customers seem to be around during the middle of the week and the rental office is closed, so no luck doing that.
The canoes – rental shop is closed.
A peaceful view Lake Hope from the pontoon/canoe docks.
A view of Lake Hope looking away from the pontoon/canoe section.
Lake hope near the canoe/pontoon area.
Lake Hope walking away the canoe/pontoon section.
A trail along the inner perimeter of Lake Hope.
A stream heading towards Lake Hope. Should be some water here but looks like it has been awhile since that has happened.
Gazing from the ridge where the road going to my cabin is on towards a hill on the other side of a finger of the lake. I think I might have gone over to, and up and down, that hill.
The sun has recently come up on Lake Hope. If you look closely, you can see a miasma over the water.
Another view of the lake from a trail that goes around the inner perimeter of the lake.
An arch. And, an obstacle that is cut away so I do not have to crawl over it!
Once again, hard to see in 2-dimensions how far down it is, and how steep the slope is, if one gets a little too far off of the trail. Broken bones are almost a guarantee.
Over? Under?
Conveniently, a natural bridge over a gorge.
I have reached the summit of a very difficult trail. 250 feet of elevation in about 1/4 mile. Some spots very steep requiring a lot of effort to climb.
A somewhat easier way of climbing the trail instead of bare dirt. If it was wet, this would be very slippery
A camping area deep in the woods of Zaleski State Forest.
Another view of a camping area deep in the woods of Zaleski State Forest.
Gathering spot of a camping site deep in the woods at Zaleski State Forest.
The remnants of the iron furnace that was used over 100 years ago.
A cave near the remains of the Hope ironworks site. Reminds me of a miniature version of Old Man’s Cave in Hocking Hills State Park.
Looking up from the trail on the outer perimeter of the lake. Over that ridge is the campground.
Looking at a finger of the Lake Hope from a trail on the outer perimeter of the lake.
Conclusions
I did not think that it would be possible to top the experience that I had at Lake Hope in April but the September visit far exceeded my hopes. The peace and solitude were such positive things for me. Other than a few times that I was at the lodge at the park, I saw very few people. There was no noise from traffic, no vehicles everywhere I looked, just the sounds of nature, no human-made sounds, no places that I needed to be, nothing in particular that needed to be done; just me and my thoughts. And the stars! I am not used to looking up at the sky when it is dark and seeing so many stars. Nature truly at its best!
All this was very relaxing to my mind and my body. Might be hard to imagine it was relaxing to my body though. I went on several hikes in the woods, both in the park and forest, and encountered several places that required steep climbing and a lot of effort. I pushed myself to my limits and went beyond. There were several times that I stood staring at an incline and thought that the show was doomed, I could not go on. But, I summoned the strength to push ahead and the show did go on.
I discovered levels of fortitude, determination and resilience that I did not know I possessed. It felt good to overcome these obstacles and forge ahead.
The next step is to see if that physical determination can be translated to the mental challenges that come up and also get me wondering: Can the Show go on?
What is the Show? It is the second phase of the life that I have after Sheri went to Heaven. It is just me. Just like it was just me (with some heavenly help) getting past those obstacles I encountered at the park and forest, I am hoping that I can push through the mental challenges that lay ahead of me.
As side note: why Lake Hope? There are around 80 state parks in Ohio but just a few of them have cabins, Lake Hope is one of them. Most have campgrounds. I am thinking about camping but so far, it is just thinking.
I loved this!! Thank you, Joe!!!