Pollywogs!

We FINALLY got around to hiking (some of) the Black Forest Trail.  Ever since I hiked the whole loop with Brian Richardson as a kid in High School, I’ve wanted to go back.  That time, I was young and hearty, lots of exercise with gym class in school, so even considering I smoked Marlboro Reds at the vistas and we got high every couple hours on the hike, I don’t remember it being terribly difficult.  Well, the fourth day it ended up being a bit monotonous (as in, most of the stuff we hiked I couldn’t remember hiking it previously…may have been due to only eating ramen noodles and smoking marijuana for 40 miles OR maybe because of ten years of the trail being used haha!).

The first time, my pack was set for four days and three nights, I owned nothing geared towards lightweight backpacking and my pack weighed 42 pounds.  This time, a much nicer “real” pack, lots of lightweight and small gear, and it was only 25 pounds.  Kelley’s pack weighted 15 pounds, and she had an easy time of it.  Girl is in good shape, I’m quite jealous…

I used this website as a resource for deciding to make this our first Black Forest Trail outing.  I was looking for an overnight to hike with Kelley, and that this made the BFT a loop that started and ended at the same parking lot, in a distance that was (barely) manageable over two days…SOLD AMERICAN!  I added the mile markers from the Black Forest Trail Guidebook to my photos so that you can reference what the camping available at mile 30.89 looks like, for example ;)  I also provided a lot of additional commentary on a photo-by-photo basis, so feel free to flip through them one at a time either along with our after reading this account!

The first day started great, if a little scratchy: we wore shorts…more on that in a bit.  Immediately starting out, we passed four middle aged men walking towards us.  We said good day and one of them quipped “it was almost fun”.  Undaunted, we crossed country to the top of the Callahan Run drainage, wishing I had worn pants due to the blueberry bushes growing over the path scratching at me constantly.  We passed two college kids coming the other direction, they looked fucking delirious from exertion and it was still early in the day!   Seeing a trail register entry that correlated pretty well with them, they may have been from a college in New Orleans and when asked “would you hike the Black Forest Trail again” had entered “Hell no!  Never!  Never!” if I’m remembering correctly.  Anyway, we descended into Callahan Run middle fork and AGAIN wished we had worn pants, as the stinging nettles (or as I like to call them “fucking nettles” or “god damn nettles”) were thick and right up against the path.    Thankfully they only sting and itch for a few minutes…

We ascended out of Callahan Run and along a ridge with a couple vistas, then descended into Naval Run.  Naval Run was nice, but a little damp and cool feeling.  It DID have a huge amount of camp sites though.  The ascent out of Naval Run nearly killed me from heat exhaustion, but once up top I was once again dogged, enjoyed all of the vistas except for the White Birch vista, and we headed down into Little Slate Run.  Near the bottom, the trail headed back up the ridge and I nearly burned the place down with rage.  “What the fuck!”  The last thing I wanted to do was climb higher, but sure enough we had a decent climb back up the ridge, then out and down a pretty steep descent into the actual Little Slate Run valley.  By this time it was nearly 8:30 and I was EXHAUSTED.  My body, which had been holding up reasonably well all day, finally failed, and my left knee tweaked.  Thankfully it waited until we were almost to camp and it didn’t bother me the rest of the night.

We set up camp, ate, relaxed a bit and headed to bed, in reasonably high spirits.  I was just glad to be horizontal.  Kelley couldn’t sleep but once I got used to the noises in the woods I napped reasonably for four or five hours.

The next morning at camp was great, we got up around 6am (actually got up with the sun shining in at 5am, but lounged for a bit) and enjoyed how pretty the area was for a bit.  7:10am in the Little Slate Run valley:

I think we were the last sluggards out of the area around 8:30am (the lower camp sites were occupied so we were lucky to find anything available at all).  Took 440mg of naproxen sodium and a 200mg caffeine tablet, and we ascended out of Little Slate Run.  It wasn’t nearly as bad as I had anticipated, and my aches from the night before quickly loosened.  After making it back up to the plateau, we had an easy 10 mile hike back to the car.   Well, it would have been easy but the aches slowly started returning.

I took another 440mg of naproxen sodium, and we continued out through a couple forest roads, the Pine Bog Trail, then the Blackberry Trail, and finally returning to the Black Forest Trail.  We rested for a bit at this juncture, had a bite to eat, and I was really wishing we were back at the car and didn’t have nine more miles to hike.  This sensation only got worse as the afternoon progressed ;)

We passed through a really neat open meadow with bogs and ponds in it, an area that was called the Barrens due to the soil having been destroyed by a forest fire, saw a spooky old pump house and a rattlesnake…and my knee finally gave out with about a mile left to go.  We were descending slightly into Yellow Jacket Hollow and it tweaked three times in a row.  The third tweak, it didn’t come back, and started feeling like someone had stabbed me.  We stopped and rested at a campsite a little down the stream from the trail (a lot of campsites available in this general area, this small side stream on the Baldwin Branch of Young Womans Creek).  Thankfully the rest of the trail was uphill as my knee doesn’t hurt nearly as much going uphill or on level ground as any downhill (no matter how moderate).  We made it back to the parking lot and I was never so glad to hear the sound of automobile traffic in my life.   That said, I can’t wait to get my knee back in shape and hike the northern loop.  Hopefully later this year!!!

We went canoe camping this year, a rare treat but increasing in frequency it seems.  Started at Hamilton Bottom and we camped at ‘the island’.  With the water being so high (the Cedar Run gauge read over 2 feet) the trip from Hamilton Bottom to below Waterville seemed to take no time at all, and the next day’s float from the island to our house went even quicker.

Putting in at Hamilton Bottom (map) added some much needed creek time to the first day.  Also, you don’t have to pay the beer troll a toll…AND, the creek is much quieter without the hordes of people roaring by on motorcycles with no fucking mufflers on them.

The island campsite is getting a little old, wearing away.  I’m actually surprised it has lasted as long as it has.  These trees are the only things holding the place together:

Once the island has worn away, there is a rough camping site a few hundred yards up the creek from the island’s tip, as well as a rough site in a small pine plantation just across the creek from the island’s tip.  The pine plantation site spooks me out for some reason though.

We took a bit of beer with us, ended up being about a six-pack short as once my beer was down to a six-pack and I was ready for bed, Kelley said “it’s too early!” and we dipped into the reserves.  With all of the animals crawling around just past the fire’s reach, the sooner I could pull the covers over my head the better…I’m such a puss, considering I’ve camped here alone before.  It really is true, the older I get the more of a pussy I am…BUT I SWEAR TO GOD, I was talking about how there were probably bears and mountain lions and coyote’s and as soon as I said the word coyote we both heard one bark on the west creek bank.  I laughed out loud and was grateful it wasn’t sniffing at the lights edge, wondering if we had anything good to eat…yes, I am a puss.  Pussy pussy puss puss…

Had a really nice time altoghether.  Got to see carp spawning everywhere (and missed an amazing picture of a school looking bright blue in very shallow water…DOH!), saw a ton of ducks and other birds, an immature Bald Eagle below Waterville which roosted across from our camp over night (at least, it looked larger than the mature Golden Eagles I’ve seen), just a wonderful time in general.

Took one of our cast iron pans and made home fries for breakfast in garlic and olive oil.  Really happy with the way it cooked on a campfire, and the experience seems to have improved the surface as well.  But boy was the bottom sooty!!!

Can’t wait to go again!

We hiked a portion of the Loyalsock Trail this spring, a short loop as we utilized some side trails.  Hiking up to Smith’s Knob was a nice hike with moderate climbs.  The very last incline was a little steep, but I managed to kick it into low gear…

The hike was amazingly beautiful, there were portions where the forest was just so grand.  Very, very old hardwood trees…they really are beautiful when nearly full grown.  These babies we have around here are just little slips compared to a full sized black cherry or oak tree.  The pictures barely do them justice, go see them in person!

It is surprisingly hard to find a good online map of the Loyalsock Trail, so I found a gigantic one online and uploaded it to flickr, as the original host was TERRIBLY SLOW.  I also created a smaller map detailing the route we took.

Full Loyalsock Trail map:

Smith’s Knob detail:

Regarding our route, finding the parking was pretty difficult.  I had tried using google streetview to find it, but ended up finding the wrong place.  When we finally did locate the parking, I made sure to take good photographs!    We climbed up the blue route, cut across on the yellow route, then back on the Loyalsock Trail, and then down back to the car on the white route.  Each trail was clearly blazed and easy to follow, except for the first decent on the white blazed trail.  It appears to no longer be maintained, although it is very clearly marked.  Basically a scramble across open forest for about a quarter mile down to a grade which gradually and easily descends back to the parking spot.

We hiked the Golden Eagle Trail in early May, as we do every year.  Very nice hike, and I found that with doing the Bob Webber a few times before it was a bit easier than normal.  My body wasn’t as sore, and the first uphill wasn’t as difficult.  Kelley still had some problems, but has since started a pretty aggressive workout routine and could probably beat me to the top now…

It was pretty quiet on the trail this time, didn’t pass anyone. The trail maintenance folks had come through earlier that morning, but must have gotten in at like 6am.  The trail was in great condition and beautiful, as always.

For reference, here are our images from the first vista looking north. Three years and four days…

May 3rd, 2006:

May 5th, 2008:

May 7th, 2009:

Next year we’ll have to go on the 3rd again and see if those few days are what is making the difference or if the general temperature trend is warming in our area.

I am going to spam a couple things I should have posted long ago, and just kept putting off…

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The Bob Webber Trail, redux…March 27th, 2009…

We hiked it again a few days later.  This time, on the way back because we felt so great and that the hike was nearly effortless, we took the side trail down to a pretty nice rock outcrop on the way back. Those pictures are on pages 4 and 5 of the slideshow. It was pretty neat, felt like you could nearly jump down into the creek from the outcropping…of course Pine Creek is only about three feet deep here heh…

Hiking the trail with only a few days rest between, my cardiovascular system was much improved.  It seems the ideal rest time for me is less than two weeks, or else I start losing those gains.  I bet if I did it three weekends in a row, I could pretty much just jog to the top…

Kelley is getting tired of the hike, but I think it’s great.  The length is perfect, the view at the top is wonderful, and the alternating moderate and severe slopes make for a very good workout.  I probably should do this once a week regardless of whether Kell wants to, just to keep my knees in tip-top condition.