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.

Great Reads

Ok, I know I'm behind on this. I will have another update shortly on a hike I did with my dad and family up at Standing Stone in Pike County, but right now I wanted to quickly talk about three of my favorite books. All three of these books deal with the outdoors although in different ways. Maybe you've read one or more of these and maybe you'll be inspired to go check them out. Or if you're nice enough maybe I'll even let you borrow one of them!

First up is a great look at the Applachian Trail from a guy who actually tried to thru-hike the entire trail. Bill Bryson's "A Walk In The Woods" is easily one of the funniest non-fiction books I've ever read. A hilarious yet sobering tale of one man's quest to tackle the AT from Georgia to Maine with his overweight and out-of-shape friend. Tons of funny stories and anecdotes throughout and a lot of really good and interesting information about the towns, state parks, and other bits of Americana along the trail. Bonus points for the Danielsville shout-out.





Next up is Colin Fletcher's "The Complete Walker". I have volume 3, though I think he's up to volume 4 already. This is a backpacker's ultimate guide to gear, sprinkled with Fletcher's dry British wit and wisdom. He has a very funny and sarcastic writing style. As good as the gear reviews and suggestions are, I absolutely love the opening chapter about why he has the burning need to walk and to get away from all the modern day distractions. A great read if you're wondering what to take along on a hiking / backpacking / camping trip.





Finally, we come to a great little guide for the PA section of the Appalachain Trail. It's actually one of a series of books on the Appalachian Trail - not the official AT books sold by the AMC, but rather a smaller very affordable set. The series is called "Exploring the Applachian Trail: Hikes in the...". This one is "Hikes in the Mid-Atlantic States". It covers the entire section of the AT in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. There are four other books in the series: Northern New England, Southern New England, The Virginias, and Southern Appalachians. This guide is small, fits into your backpack, and divides the section of the trail covered into a series of day hikes. It gives complete descriptions of everything you will see along the way, small topo maps (at 1:100000 scale) with the trail and landmarks clearly marked, cool little sidebars about interesting things in the area, and a great guide to hiking and backpacking the trail. I use this as my de-facto guide to the AT. Pick up a copy and pack it along - you should be able to get used copies for under $12.

Clothing Makes The Man

Well in this case, socks do. I had been reading about the "proper" footwear for hiking for years but only recently have I decided to try it out. I'm talking about two pair of socks - a pair of polypropylene or silk liners followed by an outer sock of wool, acrylic, etc. I picked up two pair of poly liners for $6, and had already purchased a pair of good mid-weight wool hiking socks at the Scout shop. The Pinnacle hike I recently blogged about was the first time I wore this combination and voila - no blisters!

However the true beauty of this setup really made itself known on my trip this past weekend to Hickory Run. I decided, foolishly I might add, to not bring my waterproof hiking boots along on the trip, since the trails we were planning on doing were not real strenuous. I forgot to take into account the fact that it had just rained two days before, and quite heavy too. Every trail we attempted had some sort of water to cross. I had not one but BOTH of my feet submerged - on two separate trails too - up to the ankle. Foot immediately got cold and wet but within probably 5 minutes, my foot was dry. The bottom of my jeans were still wet three hours later, but the socks were nice and dry. Three cheers for moisture wicking! I did notice the socks were just the slightest bit damp when I took them off in the tent later that night, but nothing like the way cotton socks get wet and then proceed to transfer that misery to your feet for pretty much the rest of the day.

I will never... repeat - NEVER... wear cotton socks in the outdoors again. NEVER AGAIN!

Standing On Top Of The World

Ok, maybe not the top of the world. But about as close as you can get in a 50 mile radius. Two weekends ago I went with a bunch of my good hiking friends from the Cub Scout pack up to the Pinnacle on the Appalachian Trail. It was my first time up there. I think the rest of the group were also hiking it the first time. We decided to walk up from the Hawk Mountain side of the trail - it was approximately 5.5 miles in - rather than hit the side trail which was shorter but much steeper. We took 895 out to 443 then swung up Hawk Mountain road - turn left onto Pine Swamp road and the game lands parking lot is up about a mile and a half on the left. There was a bit of confusion because there are several parking lots and we weren't sure which one was the correct one. We finally settled on the one with all the signs. We got out and waited for the rest of our party to arrive. It was a beautiful morning - not as cold as I thought it might be but just right for a long hike. Looking at the signs it wasn't immediately obvious that we were at the AT - usually there are wooden AT signs but none here. I later found out that it was a side trail and the AT north section splits off about a mile up.

We got going on the side trail and hooked up with the AT a little further up - it meets up on the right. The trail was a pretty good climb for about half of it, turning east and then southeast, and then levelling off for a bit. It did not get real rocky, as I've come to expect with the PA sections of the AT, until it levelled off up top. By the time we were within a half mile of the outlook, it was very rocky and typical of the sections around the Lehigh Valley. There were a bunch of side trails meeting up with the main trail along the way - perhaps one day I'll get around to trying some of those out.

It took us about two hours to get up to the outlook - right before you get to the rock ledges there is a huge cairn - the custom is you have to put a rock on the pile. We opted to do that as we were leaving. We got to the edge of the southern most part and our jaws dropped. The view was simply amazing. It was a nice clear day and we were quickly able to identify route 78 going over South mountain, the PP&L building in downtown Allentown, the Martin Tower in Bethlehem, Wind Gap, Delaware Water Gap, Little Gap, Lehigh Gap, and Bake Oven Knob. The pictures below give you a little taste of it, but it really must be experienced from up top. There were a lot of buzzards and a hawk or two also circling around pretty frequently. As we were sitting up there I turned to my right and saw about 15 of them just floating around on the updrafts. I quickly changed lenses and tried to get a better shot of the birds.

We sat around for a bit enjoying the view, taking photos, and grabbing a quick bit of lunch. A few of us also decided to check out the cave underneath a few of the larger and flatter rocks. I had read that the cave is home to more than a few copperheads but luckily on that day we saw nothing reptilian - just a bunch of beer cans and other assorted trash. The cave was pretty cool - it went back about 100 feet then turned to a left and right passage at the end. To the right was a very low ceiling and would have required crawling, but the left passage was somewhat walkable for a few feet - I opted not to go back in any further but did look back with my flashlight and saw the ceiling also start to get lower, and then a pretty deep dropoff into blackness. Might be worth exploring a little more at some point.

We spent about an hour up top total - honestly I could have spent the entire day but it was another two hours back down and about an hour's ride home. I figured the rest of the family would be getting antsy so we decided to head back down. The walk down started to wear on my feet and by the time we were about a mile away from the trailhead my feet were good and sore. We got to the trailhead about 5 hours exactly from when we started. A very long hike - for those of us not in tip-top hiking shape anyway - but a very worthwhile one. If you have a half a day or so available, by all means, give this one a try. You won't be disappointed.

And yes, I slept like a baby that night.



FLATTER AND LESS ROCKY THAN YOU'D EXPECT


THE CAIRN


AMAZING VIEW


"WISH YOU WERE HERE"


ON THE LEDGE HEADING INTO THE CAVE


FLYING HIGH AGAIN

Full set of photos here: Pinnacle_20101003.

Technical Difficulties

You know, working in the technology industry, I just sort of expect things to work. And when they don't work I expect to be able to sit down and fix them fairly quickly. Not this time - I've been having issues uploading so that's why the missing photo on the last post. I'm in the midst of doing several virus scans in an attempt to rid my laptop of its electronic West Nile Virus. As soon as I have this fixed I'll get some photos up here to go along with my rambling.