Hiking his way through Ohio
The Buckeye Trail is over 1,400 miles long and one man has been walking the trail since early in October.
Kenny Klatt, of Salt Lake City, is a hiker who has been spending his time going through Ohio on foot since early October, picking up a lot of miles and plenty of experiences since he started. His latest stop was in St. Marys, one of many different places he’s been to since he started.
“I’m thru-hiking the Buckeye Trail,” Klatt explained why he happened to be in St. Marys. Thru-hiking is when someone hikes a trail to completion in a continuous journey. “The Buckeye Trail is over 1,400 miles long, and I started in Mentor/ Cleveland, Ohio and I’m planning hiking around the state in a loop.”
This hike has taken him over 10 days so far, but he believes he’s making great progress. Having done about 30 miles a day so far, he’s above the average pace and is thankful that he’s done several other hikes before this in order to get his “trail legs.” He suspects he should finish around Nov. 20, just in time to get home for Thanksgiving.
“It’s a combination of a lot of things I enjoy,” Klatt said when asked about why he enjoyed this type of activity. “You get to enjoy it at a walking pace, which I find keeping it more natural. Be it biking or riding a car, you’re kinda zooming through that area.”
Being able to walk also gives him plenty of time to think, listen to music or listen to podcasts whenever he wants. He also gets to see many different things that he wouldn’t get to see simply driving by. It was something that formed when he was young with all the walks with his family as well as stories about people walking trails like this in their spare time.
He’s learned all about how to hike, doing his best to make sure he’s prepared for each stop. Most of it is making sure you have enough supplies for when you make to the next stop over and then figuring out what you need for the one after that.
“You just got to carry enough food
and the right gear,” said Klatt about the process. “You’re just pretty much hiking with three days worth of food, getting to the next town with the next resupply of food, getting more food and then continuing on with the trail.”
He’ll be ending his hiking season after this, and was certainly glad to see the fall foliage. Klatt will be going back to work and encourages anyone that gets interested in doing similar things to give it a shot.
“I think people starting out — if you’re wanting to do a long hike — people talk about wanting to do the Appalachian Trail, it’s really more mental than it is physical,” said Klatt. “And it’s just understanding and breaking it down into smaller steps.”
Klatt is very thankful for the help he’s received on his hike, as well as from the Buckeye Trail Association. He’s glad he was able to make it in time for St. Marys very own Buckeye Trail Town dedication, which is happening this Sunday at Memorial Park at 11:30 a.m.