by Erick Wikum

Last year’s Tour de France bicycle race occurred during a severe heat wave in Europe with temperatures in the high 90s. According to the NBC Sports Network telecast, while teams typically provide riders with one water bottle per hour, during the heatwave, teams provided riders with triple that amount. This example clearly illustrates that heat, humidity, intensity and duration can have a drastic impact on the amount of fluids needed during exercise.
According to the Mayo Clinic’s website, symptoms of dehydration include extreme thirst, less frequent or dark urination, fatigue, dizziness and confusion. Insufficient fluids can lead to cramps, exhaustion or potentially life-threatening heatstroke. See this link for more information.

Next time you are preparing for an outing on the Little Miami Scenic Trail, whether to walk, run or bike, carefully consider your hydration needs. Err on the side of bringing more fluids than you need in case conditions or the duration of your outing differ from what you expect. Having additional fluid will also allow you to come to the aid of a fellow trail user in distress.

Fortunately, the marketplace offers a wide variety of hydration solutions, including the following:

Bottle: Plastic bottles come in various sizes. Some are insulated to keep your beverage cool. Some are equipped with hand straps for easy carrying. Properly dispose of (recycle) disposable plastic bottles.
Cage: Water bottle cages can be attached to bicycle frames, seats or handlebars.
Hydration belt or vest: Hydration belts and vests include slots to hold one or two water bottles along with pockets to carry snacks, keys, etc.
Hydration backpack: Hydration backpacks include fluid reservoirs of various sizes, a drinking tube, and pockets to carry other items.

Good old-fashioned water can go a long way towards meeting hydration needs. A wide array of sports drinks, which replace electrolytes lost during sweating, are available in bottles or powder or tablet form. No matter which type of fluid you choose, bring enough. Stay hydrated, stay safe and enjoy your trail outing.

September 2020

Have you ever wondered how many people use the trail every year or any particular day? The Friends group has been monitoring trail use for many years through the use of counters that beam across the trail. As technology advances and data becomes more important for justifying grants and survival of the park, so does our need to adapt.

On a beautiful Wednesday morning, Rick Forrester (FLMSP) and Wade Johnston of the Tri-State Trails Green Umbrella Organization met at the site of our current counter to install a state-of-the-art infrared counter with WiFi capability, superior to the current counter.
Selecting a spot near the current fence, two holes were needed. One fits the wooden pressure-treated post containing the sensors embedded in a chamber inside the post. The second hole houses a heavy-duty plastic chamber connected to the sensor post via an underground cable. Wade provided additional protection for the cable via plastic conduit.

Installation was generally straightforward although digging in the railroad bed rubble is always challenging. Rick had brought a five-foot iron straight pry bar that greatly sped the process. The electronics package is quite robust (weather protected) and, after a mistake of not threading the cable through the proper hole in the plastic chamber, all went well. Installation took about two hours.

After a short call to the support team at the manufacturer’s website to register the serial number and get the wifi talking properly, the counter fired right up. We could watch the counter work right on-site with a laptop Wade had brought. Tri-State Trails will coordinate the ongoing monitoring, maintenance, and data analysis on a per-year cost basis.

The original counter and the new counter will be run side-by-side for about a month to compare data.

Editor's Note: Last year, our counters recorded 1.3 million trail uses. This year has seen greatly increased trail use due to the coronavirus.

August 2020

by Peter Kurtz

I knew immediately that I was approaching Loveland. Didn’t even need to see the 41.0 mile paint mark on the trail. Running in the grass alongside the trail between Fosters and Loveland, there it was. Another sign of human presence: a neatly tied, green doggie poop bag.

I’ve been running this four-mile section of trail since the mid-1990s. I use it for exercise runs and marathon training. It’s one of my favorite places outside of my home. I’m also a trail volunteer and co-adopter. The Fosters-Loveland trail section is so familiar to me, I’ve bestowed pet names on every natural landmark and manmade marker. The culvert. The clear-cut. Mrs. Butterworth’s. Tornado Alley. The Herdtner bench.

Maybe it’s the coronavirus, or maybe it’s just overpopulation, but lately I’ve been seeing increasing numbers of pedestrians, runners, and bicyclists along this section. And as always, with people comes trash. And the latest trash fad is doggie poop bags being left along the side of the trail.

I’m not sure why these thoughtless pet owners cannot tote their bags a few hundred yards to the nearest trash receptacle. Do they expect others will pick up their litter? Do they expect these bags and their contents will decompose within 24 hours? Is it a selfish and misguided “Individual Freedom” kind of thing?

During my Saturday morning runs, I try to pick up the paper labels, gel wrappers, and plastic water bottles I inevitably see that have been discarded by the “Weekend Warriors.” But it’s difficult to escort bags of animal feces—at least while my legs and arms are pumping. So there they remain.

I apologize if this essay sounds overly harsh. But I have to be honest about how I feel. And I don’t think I’m alone. I fully realize that, unfortunately, there will always be litterbugs, and not everyone has the time or inclination to be a trail steward.

But I urge my fellow trail stewards to consider keeping an eye out for these bags. Granted, it’s asking a lot to scoop them up with an ungloved hand. But if you can safely remove them, or place them in a prominent location so they can be removed later, such a gesture is appreciated. And if by some miraculous chance you witness someone in the discourteous act of leaving their poop bag¬—a littering act typically performed surreptitiously—please reprimand them (politely).

And if you’ve been guilty yourself of discarding your own doggie poop bags, please in the future escort them to the nearest manmade receptacle. It’s not just about you. It’s also about the trees, the wildlife, and the rest of us humans who share this amazing Trail and its vicinity.

Editor’s note: We understand that in some areas trash receptacles are not easily available. Why aren’t there more trash cans along the trail? They need to be frequently emptied, and in most areas there is no one to do this. So please use the cans where available, and be prepared to take refuse, including doggie poop bags, home with you to discard properly.

August 2020