Iced AT

So as usual I'm way behind on this blog.  Those are the breaks I suppose.  I wanted to post a few pictures and some notes about a hike my little hiking group did back in February.  Yes, I realize that is seven months ago.  What can you do...?

Anyway, back in February we decided to hike the AT section from Smith Gap to Little Gap.  It had snowed quite a bit up until a few days before the hike, so I was watching the weather pretty closely.  Brian had been up to the trailhead on Smith Gap road a day or two ahead of the hike and said he was able to get up there pretty easily with his truck and that the road was clear.  Anyone who has ever gone up Smith Gap road knows what a nightmare it can be in good weather, much less in ice and snow.  The word "road" is used in the loosest sense of the term.  So I figured if we could get up the road with no problem and get to the trailhead, we would be good to go.

Saturday morning came and Larry, Brian and I met at the Little Gap trailhead.  Brian and Erin were meeting us at the Smith Gap trailhead, where we agreed to start from, because we figured going up the rocks at Little Gap would be too treacherous in the ice and snow.  We got started about 8:30 from the Smith Gap trailhead.  As soon as we hit the trail we noticed that there appeared to be anywhere between 8 to 18 inches of snow in any given spot.  The snow had a hard pack on top of it - not quite thick enough or glazed over enough to be solid ice, but not quite strong enough to support one's weight in all spots.  The pace of the hike quickly fell into a rhythm of ten or so steps on top of the ice, then a slight shift of the body ended with a foot breaking through and into the soft snow underneath, followed by the other leg breaking through the ice, et cetera et cetera. 

I have never had a hike take quite so long for the distance hiked (we finished in about 5 1/2 hours for 7 miles) or kill my legs quite as much as this one did.  It felt like the trail would never end.  Larry fell and broke his finger.  This while wearing Yak-Trax, which are supposedly great for this sort of terrain.  I fell countless times.  Mat fell countless times.  And this was Erin's first hike with the group.  Oddly enough she has not been back.  By the time we got back to the car I was dead tired and soaking wet.

The sheer agony of parts of the hike were rewarded with occasional spots where we'd stop and just enjoy the peaceful silence, or to take in some falling snowflakes and catch a breather and a sip of water.  All in all it was a most memorable experience, even if I can't say I'd like to repeat it quite that way.

The highlight of the day was getting home, taking a long hot shower, getting into warm dry clothing and kicking back on the couch with a bowl of hot soup.  A memorable day indeed.




A BALANCING ACT


SILENT BEAUTY


DOWN GOES LARRY


OUT COMES THE SUN


LOOKING DOWN ONTO PALMERTON

The full set of photos for this hike can be found here.

Gentle Outdoorsman Is Back

Hello loyal followers... all three or four of you.  Well it seems the spring and summer got away from me with my new job and I have not really had the time to post anything here.  As we find ourselves entering the fall season, I decided I wanted to try to get this blog going again.  I have a lot of things to post and talk about; now I just need to find a few minutes here and there to update this site.  Anyway, look for some new posts in the coming days and weeks about other hikes I took and some other thoughts.  Cheers...

Púlpito del Diablo

Greetings again - this particular entry is about a hike we did back in November.  I know I'm a few months behind, but I felt it was a worthy hike to write about.  Our destination was Devil's Pulpit, which is found off the Appalachian Trail just south of Lehigh Gap in PA.  I had never been to Devil's Pulpit before and this one did not disappoint.

We started off from the parking lot at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center, which can be gotten to off of Route 873 right on the outskirts of Slatington.  It was a nice clear day and a bit on the cool side, but not too cold.  We got started and made our way through the deciduous forest at the base of the mountain.  A half mile or so up we met up with the George Outerbridge shelter.  A few guys had been camping there overnight and we walked past them, greeting them and their breakfast fire, which smelled pretty good and inviting.  We wound around the trail and met up with the top ridge of the mountain, then began heading up the North trail.  There were a bunch of spots along this trail where beautiful vistas opened up to the valley below, offering a full view of Slatington and Walnutport.  All of these spots also offered perfect photo taking opportunities.  We were able to see all the way to the Pinnacle from where we were.

As the trail wound around and continued north, we passed a few more hikers who appeared to have had quite an interesting night the night before.  They were laying out on the ground, covered with afghans, and there was a boom box and empty beer bottles scattered around.  They had to be cold - it was probably around 30 degrees out when we were hiking if I had to guess.  Once we got past them, we ended up on top of the mountain ridge, looking north to the old zinc plant which was responsible for the stripping of this entire section of mountain.  We were also able to see down into Palmerton from there too.  As we made our way further along, we started the descent.  I did not realize that we were not yet at the pulpit, so I thought we were descending back down the mountain but I soon found out we were actually making the descent to Devil's Pulpit.

The descent itself was fairly steep and wound through pine and other evergreen trees.  After about 15 minutes we were down at the Pulpit itself and the view from there was nothing short of awesome.  A look at a few of the pictures below will give you a good idea of the visuals.  We hung out for about 25 minutes just soaking in the view and then it was time to get going.  Mat and Brian who had been on the hike before let us know that we either went back up the steep hill we descended on, or we could go back down the side of the mountain.  The thought of going back up that steep unstable path was not appealing, so we opted for down the side of the mountain. This would prove to be an interesting adventure, to say the least.

We made our way south a little bit and around a small patch of evergreens, and to the left the ground dropped off quite steeply, probably at least 20-30 feet or more.  We got to the end of the little path we were on, and had to start shimmying our way down the mountain side.  By this time of year we were deep into autumn, so the floor was covered with leaves, and the ground underneath those leaves was pretty loose and crumbly. Shortly into our down-the-mountain journey we had ended up unintentionally splitting into two groups.  Mat and Jen had taken off ahead of the rest of us, a little more sure of their footing, while Mel and I hung back, taking our time going down.  Brian hung back with us too, but I think just to be the one bringing up the back of the group.  Soon enough we were on our butts, sliding down over dirt, leaves, and rocks.  I didn't feel safe enough walking down the mountain with the pitch of the ground, so I decided to stay on my butt the whole time.  It was a bit more challenging than I was thinking it would be, but we made it to the bottom in about half an hour.  My jeans were covered in dirt, but we were at the bottom.  A short stroll south from there along the old railroad track and power lines and we were back at the Nature Center.  Total hike time was about 3 hours. 

If you've never been up there, I highly recommend going.  I probably would not do this one in the winter, but once spring and summer roll around, definitely go check it out.

Happy hiking!




LOOKING SOUTH TO THE PINNACLE


LOOKING DOWN INTO SLATINGTON


UP TOP - LOOKING NORTH TO THE ZINC PLANT

 
VIEW NORTH INTO PALMERTON

 
JEN AND MEL PAUSE BEFORE THE DESCENT TO THE PULPIT


PALMERTON


BRIAN AND MAT AT THE EDGE OF THE PULPIT


LOOKING OFF THE EDGE OF THE PULPIT TO THE LEHIGH RIVER


FROM THE PULPIT ALONG THE RIVER INTO PALMERTON


THE SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN WHERE WE CAME DOWN



Complete photo set online here.

Pack Rat

So I was going through my hiking gear in preparation for a post I wanted to do about my basic gear I've been taking along on my hikes lately and I got to thinking about how a lot of the stuff I use is stored in containers and such that I have saved. I tend to be a bit of a pack rat - if anything looks like it might be useful at a later date, I don't throw it out. This of course drives my wife nuts, but I've acquired a good closet shelf or two full of old jars, bottles, tins, etc. I've used a bunch of these types of things as part of my outdoor gear. Some examples are:

• Altoids tin - probably my most re-used item.  I've used these for survival kits, holding boxes of matches, a small portable alcohol stove, repair kits, etc.
• Glass pill / vitamin jars - makes a good way of transporting fuel for the alcohol stove mentioned above.  Also good waterproof containers for matches or other things you don't want to get wet.
• 35mm Film Containers - you don't see these quite as often as you used to with the whole push to digital photography, but I've used these for years to store miscellaneous odds and ends.  I have a few with matches, cotton balls and wax paper for fire starting, another one that holds basic survival stuff in it, and I have at least three of them in my fishing vest for sinkers, swivels and other assorted nonsense.
• Plastic Grocery Bags - kind of self-explanatory but I never leave on a hike or outdoor excursion without 3 or 4 of these.  I guarantee you will find a use for them, even if it's just picking up trash you find along the trail (Leave no Trace and all, you know...)
• Metal Coffee Cans - also can be crafted into stoves, or for carrying smaller cookware type items inside.
• Tin Cans - don't use the ones with the plastic lining (like you get diced tomatoes in) because of the BPA leaching, but standard tin cans make great cookware for nothing.  Cut a coat hanger to make a handle for the top of them.  If you have one of them there fancy can openers that removes the lids at the canning seam, you can also save the top as a lid to your pot.
• Hard Lexan Cutlery - those hard plastic spoons you get at picnics and such - next time you see one, grab it and throw it in your pack.  Almost indestructible (unless of course you sit on it), they will last a long time and are good for lunch on the trail or mixing cocoa or coffee.  Don't waste your money on fancy trail cutlery sets.
• Old shoelaces - if you have the thicker braided laces like you get with boots, chances are at least part of it is still in good shape.  These can be useful as emergency cordage - for fastening things to your pack or basic repair type stuff.

There are probably dozens more I am not thinking of at the moment.  The point is - give some thought to what you throw out.  Whenever I see something ready to go into the recycling can, I think to myself "what could I use this for outdoors...?"

Happy hiking!

Winter's Majesty

I know it's been too long since I've posted. More than two months as a matter of fact. Well now it's 2011 and one of my resolutions is to keep this blog a little more current. I've gotten a few requests for updates which is awesome, so I will do my best not to let you down.

Our usual monthly group got out on the AT again last weekend - this time we did a point-to-point hike from Fox Gap (north of Bangor) to Delaware Water Gap. We had done this one back in December as well, but it was just cold and miserable then. Still a great hike, just cold and damp. This time, we were treated to a fairly fresh covering of snow along the entire section of the trail. Last month we started at DWG and hiked south to Fox Gap, missing part of the AT along the way because we mistakenly went straight when we should have veered left, and ended up along an access road up to the top of the mountain. The trail is not blazed very well along the bottom at DWG, so if you hike this, be sure to check your blazes and if you have any question, stop and backtrack till you find one.





The Difference A Month Makes

Anyway, we hiked north to south last time, missing that whole section like I said. This time we decided to start at Fox Gap and hike north. I enjoyed this direction more for some reason. The weather was beautiful - cold but not too cold, and fairly sunny. We started around 9:45 AM. We very quickly came to the Kirkridge shelter, about a mile in. It's a standard AT shelter - although strangely enough the trail log was still missing (it was missing last month when we hiked there too). A quick stop-off at the privy for the girls, and we were back on our way.

About another 25 minutes and we hit Nelson Overlook - one of several great vistas along this section. The view of the land below blanketed in snow was unreal. We stopped here for a bit to take pictures and drink in the view, then continued on.



Nelson Overlook

Around noon, we hit Totts Gap, which I believe is almost at the halfway point. I dropped back to attend to nature's calling and when I got back with the group Brian told me the ladies wanted some coffee. We had been wanting to try out the cookware and stoves we'd acquired so this was the perfect opportunity. Brian broke out his propane/butane canister stove and I got out my Esbit stove. Of course I forgot to pack my Hexamine fuel tablets (they were at home in my other pack) so I borrowed a few of Brian's. We got the stoves fired up and within about 10 minutes we had coffee. Not the best coffee in the world but certainly some of the best made. There's nothing like a hot beverage on a freezing cold day out in the woods. It also gave me a chance to try the stove out and make a few mental notes of things I need to bring along next time. I'm going to cover these stoves in a followup post.



Not Starbucks

About another 45 minutes in we hit another great overlook - check out the great view of the Delaware river below. There were a few hikers here when we arrived - it turns out we actually ran into quite a few people later on but this was the first signs of civilization we saw the whole way so far.



Looking Into NJ

We then hit the final vista of the trail before descending into Delaware Water Gap. A great view of the mountain across the river in New Jersey accompanied another brief rest, and then we started our descent, this time along the correct portion of the AT that we skipped the month before.



Final Vista

It turns out the section we skipped was beautiful. I was a bit concerned about how tricky it would be with all the snow, since it was not as direct a route as the access road. It was a bit tricky in spots but nothing too bad. And there were some really great views along the way. Make sure you check out the complete photo set below and look towards the end of the set for photos of this section. We came to a small creek - Eureka Creek - too before the end which we had to cross, although it wasn't much of a challenge with large rocks serving as a makeshift bridge.

We finished up about 2:30 - almost 5 hours after we started. Considering the entire trail had a coating of snow and in spots it was as much as 6-8" deep, that's not too bad at all. It was a great cardio workout and an absolutely wonderful day to be out in the woods with great friends.

Till next time...

Complete photo set online here.