I had to see the serpent

We woke to thick fog that persisted for over an hour after we hit the road, so I have no idea what that part of Ohio looks like, but by the time we reached Serpent Mound, it was bright and sunny once again.

Located about 45 miles east of Cincinnati, Serpent Mound is miles from any major road and there is minimal signage, so they clearly don't get many visitors.  The Garmin was some help, but I still managed to a miss a turn going through the metropolis of Locust Grove.

The quarter mile long effigy mound, believed to have been built around 1100 AD by Fort Ancient Indians, is on a spur of rock overlooking Ohio Brush Creek at the edge of a massive, 300 million year old crater.  The loops of the snake's body mark the direction of numerous annual events such as sunrise on the summer solstice, but no one really knows what motivated its builders.

For them, it was obviously a special place, probably even sacred.  For the modern visitor, however, the artistry, astronomical knowledge, and physical effort on display here have so little in common with the world as we know it that, sadly, the site can register as little more than an interesting oddity.

There is a 2 story wooden tower to give you a better idea of the overall layout of the mound and I took a bunch of pictures from it, but the only way to really see what's here is with an aerial photograph.  This is the best shot I could get, and it really doesn't do it justice.  The head of the snake is in the distance on the right, the tail to the left.  Enlarge the photo to see the people on the path to give a better sense of scale.

After lunch in the parking lot, we backtracked to the main highway then headed south.  At Portsmouth, we crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky and followed it upstream into West Virginia where we've tucked in for the night.

Day 18
Columbus, OH to Milton, WV

Daily Mileage:  228.4
Total Mileage:  4,829.8