In this episode, we traveled to Twin Creek Metropark and Germantown Metropark in Germantown Ohio. You can backpack through these two parks following the Twin Valley Trail, a roughly 30 mile loop that travels through the two parks and through Germantown itself.

We started out by parking one car at the Sled Hill parking lot in Germantown Metropark. This would be our exit. Then we took our other car to the Hopewell parking lot and started on the Twin Creek Orange Trail north towards the Cedar Ridge Backcountry Campsites. We passed by the Hopewell Earthwork, then Dogwood Pond, and the banks of the Twin Creek.

As we exited Twin Creek Metropark, we hiked through the neighborhoods on the southern end of Germantown before walkthrough the length of the biketrail in Kercher Park. We then stopped and had some Gatorade from the Shell Station before getting back on the brown trail and finally making it to the Cedar Ridge Backcountry Campsites. Bryan cooked up some backpacking spaghetti, always nice to have a backpacking meal.

The next morning, we made backpacking pancakes. Backpack breakfast. Backpacking meals. We then headed out on the brown trail again in the Germantown Metropark just outside Dayton. We saw the Limestone Outcrops, the Bob Siebenthaler Natural Area, the Old Mill Frontcountry Campsites, and eventually made it to the Dam Spillway. We walked up to the White Tail Shelter, the Sunfish Shelter, and the Valley Overlook where we stopped to have some lunch.

Next, we passed along the Germantown Dam before following along the Twin Creek towards the Old Forest. Eventually we made it to the Oak Ridge Backcountry Campsites and met up with a friend to have some more backpacking meals and some backpacking candy. We spent the night and enjoyed the stars in the meadows. The next day we hiked towards the exit at the Germantown Sledding Hill, passed through an Old Forest again, and stopped at the Twin Valley Welcome Center before leaving.

For our posthike meal, we had Captain 9's pizza, including the taco pizza. It took like 45 minutes for the pizza for some reason, but it was suitably delicious.