Wednesday Filler: Rugged Ohio

When most people think of Ohio they envision yet another dull tract of Midwestern land that is flatter than a pancake and nothing but farm after farm with shelter belts of trees marking the edges of properties.  An occasional city pops up to break the monotony, but it is yet another slightly impressive rust belt city that perhaps has seen better days.  Not so!

US 23 south near Chillicothe, Ohio.

What you see can fairly be called Appalachian.  Much of its flora and fauna are Appalachian species and the land itself is certainly more rugged than a mere pancake plain.  True, northwestern Ohio is among the flattest stretches of land on the planet, having been made so on the bottom of ancient and long passed Lake Maumee, but travel an hour south or east of Columbus and Cleveland and just a short trip east of Cincinnati and one encounters foothills of the great eastern wall.  I mean come on, does that look Midwestern up there to you?  I figured not.