What Weekends Are Made For...

Hiking of course and maybe a little geocaching!

Fall Run Park 11/20/11

There is a cute little park in Glenshaw, PA called Fall Run Park. We happened upon it because there are a couple geocaches hidden there. It's easy to get to, right off the beaten path. The trail winds about 3/4 deep into the revine. There is a lovely waterfall and several wooden bridges. We only found one of the two geogaches. The one near the falls called "Starwars" is what we were after, but alas it eluded us. Grrrr! Oh well... perhaps we will return another day.

Friday Adventures 09-02-11

It started at Pymatuning State Park.  We dropped a travel bug in honor of our anniversary attached to a giant diamond ring.  We also picked up the geocoin that we earned on the AGT-Crawford County. 

 

Then we motored off to Clarion.  There was some monkey business as you see here.  Keith makes like a monkey and climbs all over the big rocks.  This is my favorite picture… I didn’t mean to step on him.  I just wanted to get a good picture of his efforts.  Too funny!

And he climbed the fire tower.  Now, I climbed the one in Gettysburg and didn’t think anything of it.  I may have been convinced to climb this one had I not fell down the stairs at home bruising my butt and pulling something in my leg.  I was (conveniently) convinced that I could not climb that many steps up and down.  I sent Keith up and kept yelling “Stop! Look out!” (so I could take a picture.)  He was NOT impressed.  He thought he needed to stop and look out because something was wrong.  Tee Hee. 

 

More rock climbing.  Looking for signs of the Seneca Indians that once inhabited these parts. 

 

What an AWESOME view at Seneca Point overlooking the Clarion river. 

 

And of course, a stop at Helen Furnace.  It’s really cool inside and SO BIG!!!

We finished half of the required geocaches on the Allegheny Geo Trail – Clarion.  We’ll have to return another time to finish it and get our prize. 

 

The more I hike the greater appreciation I have for the outdoors. 

Anniversary Week Vacation is a Tradition to Keep

Last year, we took vacation the week of our anniversary to celebrate 10 years.  The weather was superb… so we did it again.  This week the weather, again, is superb!!!!  It’s sunny, warm but not sticky, and just so entirely pleasant.  So we’ve spent the majority of it outside.

We happened upon the Allegheny Geo Trail and decided it would be fun to tackle this week.  Well… at least a portion of it.  Basically, you visit a specific county in PA and pick up a passport booklet.  County by county, you have to find at least 6 specially marked geocaches.  They have a special stamp in them that you use to mark your passport.  Then you take it to the passport headquarters for that county and they will give you a trackable commemorative geocoin.

We started in Venango County.  It was HARD.  The first cache find took hours because we kind of went the hard way.  Ooops!  It didn’t help that we forgot to mark the waypoint for the car and decided to just pick our way through the forest in the supposed right direction.  We were thankful to find another hiker out with his dog who pointed us to the right trail.  We would have eventually found it, but it may have taken a while longer.  All in all though… we got the required 6 and returned for our little prize.  We closed out the day with a quick stop at DAIRYQUEEN!!!  Oh ya!!!

 

Yesterday we hit Crawford County working on the same goal.  We found 5 out of 6 caches.  We would have had all 6, but we failed to read the fine print telling us that we had to find one of them during regular business hours.  UGH!!!  It was beautiful there though.  We loved the sky and the water.

 

The Covered Bridge cache was the first one yesterday.  It was so neat and quaint.  It’s near Seneca Hills Bible Camp.  We saw a chicken way out there in nowhereville… WEIRD!!! 

 

This sunflower field was in a conservation area near Polk, PA.  What a neat town in a really cool valley.  Very nice. 

I couldn’t resist this photo of the awesome sky reflecting off the pond.  So majestic!!!  God sure does know how to put together an awesome site!

 

Here we are… happy hikers! 

 

We ended the day with a DELICIOUS dinner at Rachel’s Roadhouse.  We had a gift card that cut our bill in half! I’m all about a bargain.  Today we think we’ll visit Red Robin… to get my free birthday sandwich.  The offer expires after today.  Mmmm…. chicken sandwich.  YUMMA!!!!

 

Today we are doing other things around home.  The car needs a little repair.  I think it’s not cut out to handle all the back country dirt roads of the north.  Hopefully it’s not an expensive repair.  It did, however, convince me that it would be good to have a AAA membership.  Thankfully, it didn’t leave us stranded.

 

We have plenty more exploring to tackle… we can’t wait!  AND… we are planning to drop a geocaching Travel-Bug on our anniversary, in honor of our anniversary that will be tasked with traveling to all the coolest honeymoon destinations in the world.  How fun!!!

Crouse Run Nature Reserve

Over coffee this morning, Keith says “What’s the plan for today?”  “Well” I reply, “I’d really like to hike, but I realize that you are really beat from working hard this week.”  “Sorry.  I really don’t feel like it today.” he says.  “I understand.  If you don’t want to go, I can go later without you.  No big deal.”  The conversation continues noting that we have a couple of travel bugs we need to move.  Maybe we could find somewhere close by to drop them.  That turned into agreeing to hit this little trail not far from home… The Crouse Run Nature Reserve. 

There were three caches along this trail that we were determined to find.  If we hoofed it a little farther, we could have had four, but we were on a race against the clock because he has to work today.  The photo above is the one called “Wildwood Boardwalk.”  There is a marshy area on the trail where they have basically built a boardwalk so you can continue on.  And then hidden not far off the beaten path was this box of goodies.  We snagged a small container of Playdoh, trading it for one of the travel bugs we needed to move. 

 

 

The trail was really neat.  It followed close to a creek bed.  We crossed the creek at least three times.  I guess that’s why the geocaching site warned to wear boots and prepare to get wet.  I wish we would have had time to play in the creek.  There was so much shale that its probably a fossil-gold-mine if you take the time to search.  As a matter of fact, if we had not had time constraints, we probably would have walked back IN the creek bed instead of on the trail. 

 

There were all kinds of interesting sites along the way.  Aside from water, rocks, trees, and foot bridges, there was an area with a bunch of odd structures around a fire pit.  I’m not sure what happened or happens here, but maybe some kind of Indian re-enactment?   There were a couple tent-like things made out of tree branches and leaves.  It was slightly creepy.  We did not linger long. 

 

So all in all… so much for NOT hiking today.  It was kind of short (hike-wise), but it was still really fun.  I enjoyed spending quality time with my Hubby.  

Weekend Adventures

Here is a photo from the wedding picnic on Saturday.

 

After church Sunday morning, we hooked up with my friend and her daughter and went hiking at North Park.  We found SIX caches in 2.5 hours.  We hiked up big hills and down steep valleys.  We saw a lovely doe in the woods.  We passed over some baby snakes and around creepy spider webs.  There was an observation deck, but there wasn’t much to see because of the overgrowth of vines in the area.  There were bird-boxes and houses galore.  There was a pond, wetlands, prairie, ants, birds, squirrels, and the like.  It was sunny, hot, and humid.  We stopped at a bridge to admire rather large trout and a school of baby bass.  Afterwards, we stopped for ice cream.  (that’s allowed on Sundays)

Overall… it was an AWESOME afternoon of hiking!  I cannot wait to go again!

Recreation Gone Bad

I was so excited this morning to have my Handy Hubby home for the morning hours.  He agreed to hike with me, so I located a couple of geocache coordinates and told him I wanted to go to North Park.  The Red-Dot trail I’ve frequented lately has a cache along it that we have yet to look for.  It’s a multi-cache requiring approximately a 2-mile hike.  That sounded perfect given the fact that he would need to be home by lunchtime to get ready for work.

 

My walking sticks were worth their weight in gold today!  I slipped on the first hill. I almost landed on my butt; however, I caught myself with my walking stick.  Whew!  We opted to hike UP the hill on the Red-dot, as I usually do.  Well… I twisted my ankle about half way up the hill.  It was bad enough that the next few steps were extremely ouchy, and I needed to stop and regain my composure.  Keith was so concerned and supportive.  I love that about him.  I decided to walk it out, so up the hill we went. 

 

So we find the approximate spot where the first leg of the multi-cache is supposed to be.  We found a clue attached to a tree reading “You are close.  Keep looking.”  That was cute.  We didn’t find the actual cache with the coordinates though.  We gave up after scouring the area and finding nothing but a zip tie on a tree with nothing attached to it.  So much for our geocaching idea. 

 

We decided to go back down the trail towards where we parked, in search of another cache in that general direction about 3/4 of a mile.  Part way down we switched trails to the one that passes by the stone ruins I may have mentioned in another post. 

Of course Keith insisted on checking it out.  There is even a picnic table down there.  It’s at the bottom of a muddy hill, which I refused to tackle today because my ankle was still a little bit tender.  The problem was his getting back up the hill.  He had NO traction.  I watched him almost make it up, but then slide back down as if he was skiing backwards, probably THREE times!  I was laughing, but he didn’t think it was funny, especially when he wacked his ankle on a tree branch.  OUCH!  So he finally climbed up out of the pit, but at that point he was in pain.  So much for finding the other cache. 

 

We walked a little more slowly back to the car, dumbfounded about how this recreational opportunity panned out.  So we stopped at the grocery and got some good fresh fruit and vegetables and then headed for home.  We both ate lunch with our ankles elevated and iced.  How romantic…. NOT!!!

 

I want to be out and about tomorrow too.  I’m trying to think of something to enjoy in the outdoors after church.  I’m thinking hiking (if our ankles are up to it) or fishing or something like that.  I’ve been considering the possibility of canoeing again; however, I have not yet fully convinced myself of that.  It’s just a notion.  Although that would probably rest the ankles, right?  Hmmmm…

Weekends Are Made for Hiking

I went for a short hike this morning at North Park.  The humidity is at 90%.  I parked on top of the hill on the Ridge Road, but as it goes, there was a pretty big hill about half way.  It dropped about 200 feet elevation in about a quarter mile.  Coming back up was HARD!!!

I saw a very pretty deer.  It was a young buck.  Then there were baby turkeys that I kicked up.  They scared the bejeebers out of me!  Perhaps I should have brought my Bear-Bell?  There was a snake, but it was dead.  It still startled me though.  There were bikers, hikers, chipmunks, squirrels, bunnies, and bugs… beautiful dragon flies and even a butterfly or two.  It’s interesting how much you will see when you are out there without making a lot of noise. 

 

Given the heat and humidity, I chose to keep it short today… only 80 minutes and 2.6 miles.  Better than nothing, but not long enough to be caught out in the hottest part of the day. 

Solo Hike Today

Keith doesn’t like me to go out hiking alone.  On days like today the urge was just too much… I HAD to do it!  On the rare occasion when I do set out alone, I try to stay on trails that I’m sure are fairly well traveled. 

 

North Park was bustling with people today, mostly in the picnic areas.  I started out on the red-dot trail UPHILL.  I spooked Jake-the-Snake as I crossed the creek.  YIKES!  He was brown with darker brown markings on his back and about 2 feet long.  This is when I decided that it would be a good idea to wear my bear-bell when I hike.  Unfortunately, it’s clipped onto my saddle and an hour away.   So I clipped my keys on my hip so they’d jingle just loud enough to disturb the wildlife that may be lurking in my path.

 

After passing the point where we turned around last week, I hoofed it a good long ways past the spot.  I hit the red/green dot on the way uphill.  Note to self:  red/green dot uphill is a killer.  A pep-talk may be in order before doing it again. 

 

 

After finding my way much further on the red dot, I eventually turned around and tried the red/yellow dot, which is where I happened upon this cute little bridge.  The sun was hot but most of the trail in under the cover of the trees, so it wasn’t too bad.  I eventually ended up back on the red dot trail headed back towards home-base.

 

 

On the way back I picked up the red/black dot trail along the upper ridge.  I found some sort of stone structure up there.  Another note to self:  Must go back with Keith and check that out.  Great spot to hide a cache if there isn’t one already. 

 

Eventually I found myself on the Rachel Carson Trail and actually ended the hike near this sign which is just about where I crossed back over the creek… no snake this time.   All in all, it was about 4.5 miles, maybe slightly longer.  YAY!!!

Short Hike but Very Enjoyable

Keith, Jill, Joelle and I hit Hartwood Acres this morning.  We let Joelle use our GPS to do some geocaching.  She caught on pretty quickly.  Then we followed the red and white dot trail for a while, followed by the #1 and #2 trails before finishing out the hike.  I’m so blessed to have people around me who want to hike alongside of me.  Yay!  I so enjoyed it!

I’ve concluded that I need to shop for some much more attractive hiking gear.  Hmmmm…

NCT–Revisited

Had an AWESOME hike last night with Tammi.  The North Country Trail should know us well by now; although, we rarely hit the same portion more than once.  I love this trail.  It’s very well kept and fairly easy to travel. 

We hoofed it for a flat 2 hours and covered a good 4.62 miles as per the GPS.  This was an evening hike, so it was a race against the clock.  Of course we always dilly-dally on the way.  We gawk at things in the woods and water.  There was a blue heron hunting his dinner.  I wonder if he caught anything.  We admired the dam and spillway and took note of fishermen along the way. 

The turn-around point at about 7:30PM was under the 422 Bridge, where the trail actually travels UNDER it.  That’s neat!  We saw some bats flitting around down there.  It’s always an adventure.  I cannot wait to go again!!!  Hiking makes me feel SO GOOD!  I cannot wait for vacation to start so I can hike some more. 

Another Couple of Miles

Tammi and I hit the North Country Trail again this morning.  We went 1.8 miles out and then back-tracked.  We are up to 23.6 miles of our 200 mile challenge.  No worries… when the fall arrives, we will likely pound out much longer hikes.  The weather was superb.  It was sunny; but we were mostly under the cover of trees.   The first and last portion was well maintained, recently trimmed.  In between the grass was high, but we didn’t have any trouble following the blue-dots.  Some of the terrain was muddy.  Overall, it felt like a very easy hike today.  I’m already itching to get back out for another adventure. 

Next year I’m going to track my total miles for all hikes…

Harrison Hills Park

This park is located in Freeport.  Oh wow… a treasure that took entirely too long for us to find!  I can’t wait to go back!

There is a 5-mile trail that loops around the perimeter of the park.  There are voluminous trails that wind through and intertwine with one another all over the park.  The Boy Scouts have done a fantastic job with trail signs and marking. 

The park is also rich with geocaches.  We found 5 or 6 of the traditional ones.  We didn’t even have time to tackle the multi-caches.  One of them was not far off the Rachel Carson Trail, past a really cool waterfall, and in a small cave-like area. 

 

We walked the creek-bed down down down the hill until we found the tiny cave.  The picture above is Keith jumping from one side to the other across the creek.  Notice the ammo box… that’s the cache!  He’s going to put it back where we found it. 

A little ways further we happened upon the “look-out” area.  We spotted a couple of osprey hunting.  The coolest part was that we were looking down on them.  The river is WAY down there! 

We hiked for 4 1/2 hours up and down hills, over creeks, through the woods, all over the place.  It was grand!  What an awesome day of hiking! 

We started hiking about a year ago.  I’m so glad that it’s something we both enjoy and have stuck with.  It really is good for the mind, body, and soul.