Dave and I hiked the Ash Cave to Cedar Falls trail yesterday evening, perfect day for a late afternoon/early evening hike. We saw exactly 2 people on the trail. Well, we saw them twice, once on the way out and once on the way back, but they were still just 2 people. The forest was absolutely lovely in the late day sun, and our tranquility was complete, except for those 2 people! By the way, this trail is 3 miles long, so a total of 6 to get back to the parking area.

We were thrilled to see that the Ash Cave Fire Tower is now open to climb. It’s located on this trail, but also accessible from a parking area at the corner of State Route 374 and Chapel Ridge Road. Built in 1934, the tower is 80 feet tall and you can see far and wide from the top. We were a little concerned about the fragility of some of the platforms at the end of each flight of steps. They appear to be the original wood. While most of the steps have been replaced, it’s obvious some of the platform boards are really, really old. In fact, on the first platform, two boards have fallen or been kicked off. I’ll report to Forestry today.