Great Hike

With Lisa out of town, I wanted to try and get in a few post-work hikes. Last night, I went to Jacobsburg SP straight from work, near the town or Wind Gap, and at the foot of the Blue Ridge and the AT. This is one gem of a park. This was intended to be a scouting trip for future outings, but will not be my last visit to the park.

I got there about 6pm, and walked until about 745. I figure that I did about 5 miles or so. The section of the park that I did have a really nice variety within the trails. I started in a gorge, and headed towards some historical structures, remains of an old settlement and gunworks. From there, I followed the trail up another hill, where it evened out in some open grasslands/fallow farmfields (great for birds!). It then went back into the woods, and finally back along Bushkill Creek, on the helmock-lined side of the ravine.

The creek has several access points, for wading, educational programs, fishing, and even dogs.

Jacobsburg is also an Environmental Education Center, which has outdoor classrooms, the afore-mentioned historical structures, and other activities. In the spring (beginning of April), they have a Woodcock Walk, where they take you into the fields to see the "sky dance" of the Woodcock. I have to remember to see this in the spring. They also have a bird blind, to hide out and watch the birds at the feeders.

The trails were nice and wide, and well maintained. Most of the trails here are multi-use, so they are double-track, and wide enough for hikers, bikers, and horses. I saw a garter snake, lots of birds (up close with a Downy Woodpecker), and lots more rabbits.

The weather cooled off nicely for the drive home, where I saw a hawk watching the median of Rt 33 from a light pole, and a hazy pink sunset over the Lehigh Valley. All this, while hearing Coldplay's "Don't Panic" on the iPod mix, was a great cap to a great outing.

Reserve Yours Today...

I saw this on the way home from Jacobsburg SP. It should say Dream Homes.

... and One AT Quitter Found in MD

At least I didn't become another statistic:
2 hikers die in Utah desert, 1 in S.D.

Find Your Spot

Lisa forwarded this site to me today.

http://www.findyourspot.com

Forget Fortune Magazine's Top Spots. This site lists places where YOU would like to live, based on what important to you. I put in my criteria, and told it to look in New England, Mid-Atlantic, and the Rockies.

Whats interesting is the amount of places in MA and VT. On top of the list is Williamstown MA. This is like 10 minutes from where Lisa and I will go with Deb and Phil in October. Sweetness. Lewisburg PA is also on the list, and I was thinking about a more mountainous PA location for my next job (post-grad), especially around here. Some excerpts:

Your Top Spots

Williamstown, Massachusetts Old New England At Its Best
This town's Clark Art Institute features one of the largest collections of Renoir and other Impressionist artists in the world...

Northampton, Massachusetts Arts Town Extraordinaire
This small town at the foot of the Berkshires has been recognized for its cultural offerings, many of which are supported by the area's five colleges…

Burlington, Vermont The Enlightened Town
Located on the banks of Lake Champlain, this small art town boasts dozens of galleries and theaters…

Middlebury, Vermont Progressive College Town
This recreationally lucky spot is located in Vermont's Champlain Valley, between the Green Mountains and Lake Champlain…

Morgantown, West Virginia Best Little City in the East
Once at the heart of the land battle between the French, Native Americans, and Colonists, this spot today is best known for it's top-notch university…

Brattleboro, Vermont The Hub of New England
England's King George II chartered this Vermont town in 1753…

Plymouth, New Hampshire New England’s Recreation Haven
After viewing the amazing ice sculptures at this spot's Main Street Ice Festival, warm up at the Festival's chili cook-off…

Lebanon, New Hampshire River Valley Town
Set at the confluence of the Connecticut and Mascoma Rivers, this town was formally chartered on July 4, 1761 by King George III of England…

Lewiston, Maine Cities on the Riverbank
This Maine town celebrates its French-American culture with its annual Festival de Joie...

Plattsburgh, New York The Lake City
This beautiful spot on the shores of Lake Champlain is the primary business hub of northern New York…

Johnstown, Pennsylvania Gem of the Alleghenies
You'll find the best traditional music and ethnic food in Pennsylvania at this town's hugely popular Folk Fest…

Lewisburg, Pennsylvania Pearl of the Susquehanna
This town on Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River is admired for its outstanding examples of Federal and Victorian architecture…

MD AT

Call me "Burgerfeet". I will get to that later.

Prologue:
On Friday morning, Lisa was leaving for her weekend in AC with her friends, and I for my Maryland Appalachian Trail trip with Vijay, but not before we went to Sine's 5 & 10 for breakfast.

I met Vijay in Harper's Ferry, and we left my car there, and shuttled ourselves up to Pen-Mar, to begin the hike. I must say that the view from Pen-Mar Park and the surrounding area is really nice. The views are to die for.

After scouting our parking and trailhead, we swung by Rocky's Pizza to get subs for dinner. This place is in the guidebooks, so we figured that the source was reliable. When we approached, not only did we see 3 Pontiac Fieros parked outside, but we also saw that there was a new banner sign outside, for CJÂ’s Pizza. When we walked in, there were no letters on the sign board, and barely any menus printed up. Vijay quipped how it reminded him of the empty 7-11 in CO. Turns out that CJÂ’s opened the night before we showed up. Talk about odd timing.

Day 1:
We started at 315p, and we continued along the 4.x miles for the next few hours until the Devil's Racecourse shelter. This was the easy destination for our first night, and we had hoped to have enough time to make it to the Cowall shelter, about another 4.x miles down the trail. We ate dinner on the trail, and made it to the Cowall shelter about 730p. We snacked, filtered water, and tried to get to bed, for our early start the next morning. Sleeping was difficult, due to the humidity, my light sleeping, and our sheltermates' need to treat water after curfew.

Day 2:
After an early wake-up at 430a, we got walking by 515a. This was our 20-mile day. The day was so long that a lot of the details seem to run together. We stopped about every 2 hours for a snack, some water, and a little rest. I had a blister by about 9am, which I repaired, and moved along.

We crossed I-70, and only got one honk. On the southern end of the bridge, the trail came up through someone's yard, where they had their own log (and cute dog). This got me to thinking about my dream of owning our "B&B on the AT".

We stopped for lunch at Dahlgren (mile 14), a supposed “hiker’s oasis”. This has an open field for camping, as well as picnic tables, well water, a bathroom, and a shower. An oasis, yes, but worthy of a zero-day, probably not. However, there was an inn/restaurant down the road (beer?). We met up with a diabetic Richard Dreyfus, who was running out of food (and $). I had extra food, and could even use to drop some pack weight, so I donated some to his cause.

This is where I noticed that my feet were beginning to turn into ground chuck. I had about 6 blisters on my feet, and my calves were overworked. Actually, I had a grape on my big toe. We only had about 7 miles left, so I knew I would be able to make it through today, but still left the next day in question. We lost another hour for lunch, water, and bandaging. I drank so much water, but sweatedatted out so much. I hardly recall urinating all day long.

We had our last, and probably worst climb after lunch. This climb totally killed me. About an hour after the climb, I told Vijay that we would have to bail out. I was shot. We called Tracie, who eagerly left from Baltimore to come and get us. She showed up at about 515p at Gathland State Park, and took us to bail out my car in HarperÂ’s Ferry. We ate at The Armory Brewpub, and then went to pick up VijayÂ’s car. As we were approaching Pen-Mar near sunset, we had another display of the scenery from this area. It was great to see the sunset, with the moist air settling in the valleys between the sequential (and sequentially-fading) ridges. I followed Vijay back to his place, where I showered, licked my wounds, and went out for some beers.

Epilogue:
I appreciate VijayÂ’s sunny outlook to my injury, and the damper that it put on the goal. However, our accomplishment places us to have only 10 miles left to finish MD (4 of which are flat on the C&O Canal). I also appreciate the beers on Saturday night, the roof over my head, and the breakfast on Sunday. Thanks to Tracie for bailing us out of a sticky situation.

As of Wednesday, my legs and feet are healing well, although still a little sore, and by LisaÂ’s account, swollen as well. I should be in good condition to tackle the next challenge that may come along.

About us finishing the hike, I hope we do it before September, when Vijay leaves for Nepal and France. We intended to stay at the Maple Tree Campground on Saturday night, but had to scrap that idea. So, we might look into staying there the night before we finish the hike. The place looks interesting. They have treehouse cottages.

Vijay's pictures.

New Photoblog

So I have decided to begin to share my interest in interesting photos by beginning a Photoblog. I will start by adding some older pictures in my inventory, then adding new ones as time and seasons come along.

-Joe

Impromptu Weekend

On Saturday, Lisa and I met up with Debbie and Phil (and the dogs) to go on a hike in Ridley Creek State Park, near Media PA. Its a pretty nice park. It has horse stables and designated horse trails, as well as hiking trails and a paved multi-use trail. There were a good amount of people running on the multi-use trail. All of the trails intersect and interweave with each other throughout the park, ensuring an endless variety of trails on multiple visits to the park.

Some of my only complaints are that the trails could have been a little better maintained. At times, the brush had taken over the trail (as is evident by when I got stuck on the thorny bush, and the constant threat of ticks), and the trail could have been better marked (only trail junctions were spray-painted on the trees).

After 4.x miles, we had our packed lunch on the picnic tables, and caught up on things. It sure was nice to have another couple to enjoy the outdoors with. We're looking forward to more outings, even up in our area.

Mom C. made dinner reservations for the four of us at Bonefish Grill in town. The food was great. Heck, I enjoy any type of seafood.

On Sunday morning, we wanted to go check out The Funplex up in Mt. Laurel. We wanted to do some go-karts, and that was about the highlight of that trip. The place is tuned more towards children. Its disappointing, because there should be more places like this for adults. I guess that what Dave & Buster's is for.

We made it back to Qtown in time to have dinner with my parents, and see the (other) dogs.

The weekend was a little exhausting, but still fulfilling.

Hike photos here.