Connie Pond's idea of a great day is taking a short, leisurely hike along some section of the Buckeye Trail. Many of her hikes have been featured in Trailblazer, and she has provided several hike suggestions in the Short Hikes web page. This month she shares her story of just such a hike, and shows that surprises can happen on any hike.

The beauty of the Buckeye Trail is its diversity. While Bob and I have been walking the trail, we have never been bored with the sights and sounds. There is the soft quiet of a walk through the woodlands and the cool restful sound of a running stream. But, the most exciting walk, so far, has been the trek across Agate road in Guernsey County.

On the Bowerston map, Agate road is at Pts 43- 44. The walk is 1.8 miles of excitement. As we turned onto Agate from Twp 91; we heard a commotion in the distance. Just then a truck with two Beagles in the back came by and we thought that had to be the noise. But, it continued. Rounding the bend, we saw three dogs - two hounds and a Dalmatian -tied to a doghouse and a car shed. They barely gave us a notice. Shortly, we saw the bedlam - a million guineas!

Guineas are a chicken-like birds that the Chinese have historically used as watchdogs. They have a plump body and a skinny neck and head. The squawk they make when disturbed is deafening. There were guineas on the yard, the road, the driveway, and in the trees. Probably there weren't a million. Four dozen would be a conservative estimate. Besides the three dogs we saw earlier, there were another two dozen more hounds and other types of dogs tied to house around the property. They added to the chorus of noise. One Beagle puppy was chasing a rooster around the yard. Needless to say, no one gets next to this property without the owners being alerted.

Roscoe (our dog) and I hurried past and left Bob to do some camera work. The noise from the guinea farm continued for at least a quarter of a mile.
 
The silence that finally came was shortly interrupted by a sound like that of an automatic pistol. We continued "warily" walking and came upon a very well manicured hobby farm. Our first thought was that roof work was being done because the rapping sound continued. As we neared the farm, we saw a small flock of chickens and four gorgeous peacocks - two hens and two cocks. The peacocks followed us along the road for a while seeming very interested in Roscoe.

After we passed, we heard the staple gun sound once again. We don't know if it was the peacocks. Toward the end of Agate, another commotion was heard. This, it was easily recognizable as a bull, making love sounds (or distress sounds) to a heard of cattle. A farmer was feeding a flock ofsquawking chickens. As we walked by, Bob said "Howdy."  The farmer ignored us. I think he is deaf from living on Agate road!