Egg Hunt appeal finds for 1 player
Welcome to the Egg Hunt Court of Appeals.
For those who have no idea what I’m talking about: Every year, I hide 10 imaginary Easter eggs and challenge readers to find them by solving riddles. Then I reveal the locations, and, inevitably, disputes arise.
Let’s turn to Riddle 1, which said “Egg 1 is taking a nice nature walk/at a place that attracts avid fans of hard rock,/over 500 acres, straddling counties,/people still dig its mineral bounties,/cutting-edge stuff that really excites/with its piercing beauty and what it ignites.”
The hard rock in question is flint, found at Flint Ridge, a geological feature rich in the mineral used to spark fires and make tools and jewelry. Flint Ridge is an 8-mile-long area that lies in Licking and Muskingum counties.
And if I’d given the answer as simply “Flint Ridge,” there would be no dispute. But I gave it as Flint Ridge Ancient Quarries and Nature Preserve, a 533-acre state preserve in Licking County only. The preserve is just a part of the larger Flint Ridge.
I screwed up, in other words. Reader Mike Comber of Westerville
says a better answer to the riddle is Nethers Farm, a private business that is in Flint Ridge but outside the preserve boundaries. Although considerably smaller than 500 acres, it does straddle both counties and offers visitors a chance to dig for flint.
Reader John Thode of Westerville says Prairie Oaks Metro Park is the correct answer because it straddles Franklin and Madison counties, has lakes formed by rock quarrying and is the site of Indian mounds where arrowheads have been found.
Given the flaws in the riddle, I’m going to accept Nethers as a correct answer because it contains the key elements: flint and the two counties. Let the record show that Comber got all 10 riddles right.
I can’t accept Prairie Oaks because, aside from arrowheads and other artifacts, it’s not known for flint deposits. But I’m awarding Thode the Egg Hunt Distinguished Disputant Award for working hard to solve a flawed riddle.
Sue O’brien of Columbus filed an appeal on Riddle 8 (“Once it spanned Darby, now Alum’s its home ... ). The answer is the Beach Road Bridge, a 19th-century metal truss span that was moved from Beach Road over Big Darby Creek to the Alum Creek Greenway in Westerville.
O’brien said I should also have accepted her answer: “Westerville Truss Bridge.” She noted that some websites use that name.
I try not to be overly picky in the Egg Hunt, but I think the answer is a tad too vague, given that Westerville has more than one truss bridge. I did accept answers that located the bridge on the Alum Creek trail, regardless of the name used.
Although I must rule against her, I’m naming O’brien official civil engineer of the 2021 Egg Hunt for testing my knowledge of Westerville infrastructure.
And I thank her and everyone else for playing.
Joe Blundo is a Dispatch columnist. joe.blundo@gmail.com @joeblundo