We did the Mill Creek Trail at French Creek State Park last weekend. There are 30 miles of trails in the park but only the trail we did was rated difficult. I was interested in seeing how the ratings worked since I had done a trail in NJ that was rated difficult but had no elevation or terrain change. Maybe that one was difficult because it was long? So I wanted to see how a difficult trail in PA would look. This trail is 6 miles long, so that could account for the rating, although I don’t see that length should have anything to do with it since you can always go part of the way and turn back if you feel like it. We actually turned off on an unmarked trail about half way through, which added an extra 1-2 miles. The trail itself was pretty rocky for the most part so you had to watch where you were stepping. There also were some places where the grade was relatively steep – not so steep that you had to use your hands to climb up, but steep enough that I breathing hard on the way up. Then again, I’m out of shape since I haven’t done much this winter. The way I see it, anyone could have done this trail, although they might have wanted to slow down at parts. We ran into a few other people on the trail, all with dogs, and one family with smallish children. I really still couldn’t say how the trail rating system works at this point. I guess it’s relative to the other trails in the area.

I also used this hike as a way of testing out my cold weather layers since I had never hiked in such low temperatures before. I’ve done winter hikes, but always on a warmer day (above 40F). The day we did this hike it was in the 20s. I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough on, but I didn’t want to bring too much either. I ended up wearing midweight socks with liners, midweight long underwear bottoms under regular convertible pants, a silkweight turtleneck underneath a heavyweight long underwear hoodie underneath a midweight fleece vest, glove liners, and a fleece hat. I started out with a midweight fleece jacket too, and had a weatherproof shell and fleece gloves in my pack, but they weren’t needed. I even took off my glove liners and hat occasionally, and I was perfectly warm the whole time, despite being one of those people who are always cold. Nothing I was wearing was bulky either so I was very comfortable.

My dad and I went to the REI garage sale yesterday. It’s a big sale of used and returned items for co-op members. We didn’t make it right when the store opened but apparently there was a huge line and mad rush in as soon as the doors opened. Like Black Friday. I’m sure we missed some really great deals that way but I have no desire to get stampeded for camping stuff. We still managed to get a couple of great deals though. I got the REI Base Camp 4 tent ($300) for $43. The only thing wrong with it is that it’s missing stakes and guylines. Which I can easily buy for under $20. Otherwise though, it was brand new and never used. I set it up yesterday to make sure it was okay and it looked to be in perfect condition. It’s much better quality than my current Coleman tent so I can’t wait to use it.

My dad got a Sierra Designs Moken 4 tent ($500) for $15. There was no reason listed on its tag for being in the sale so we opened it up and found out that someone must have put it away wet because it was a little smelly. That’s easily fixed though, just needs to be aired out. We set it up and found nothing else wrong with it. He also got the footprint for that tent for $1.83. He got another tent, a $205 Armadillo one, for $1.83. The reason that was listed for that tent being in the sale was that it “leaks live a siv”. At less than $2 though, it was hard to turn down so we took it home and set it up and found out that the previous owners must have just set it up wrong because there are actually 3 layers of tent wall. Hard to leak into that. We did see that they had tried to seal the seams over a mesh vestibule area, which makes absolutely no sense since rain would go through the mesh 1 inch away. The tent looked like it had been used many times and I looked up Armadillo tents and saw that they went out of business in 2001, so these people must have just not wanted it any more and returned it after using it for years. REI does have a great return policy. When I bought my hiking boots there I was told that if I went on a couple of hikes with them and they weren’t comfortable or didn’t fit, I could bring them right back. Any other store wouldn’t even think of taking back used boots.

There were a couple of other really good deals, like some Swiss Army knives for a few dollars each, and $80 climbing shoes for $1.83. I wanted to get them so bad but they just fit my feet, which means they’re too big for climbing. It took me a while to accept that and put them back though since it was such a great deal. I might go earlier next year after all.

We did a 9 mile hike in Wharton State Forest today. The original plan was to do Mt. Tammany or Sunfish Pond so I was disappointed when no one wanted to drive that far and it was decided that we’d stay in flat South Jersey. It ended up not being as bad as I thought it would though. It was actually pretty in the pines. We started out at Batsto Village and did a loop up past some of the wilderness campsites. It wasn’t too cold out either, as long as we kept moving. Might be good for a backpacking or kayak/canoe trip later (several little rivers and lakes back there).

As a quick update on the missing luggage, I finally let myself be convinced to buy new clothes that night. After purchasing them, and also new toiletries, I went back to my hotel room only to find my luggage had been delivered while I was shopping. One of the bags was ripped, but they were there.

On to the fun stuff..

I spent 3 nights in New Orleans so you can bet we went around the corner to Bourbon Street every night. There was a fun little blues club not too far up where we got to see some good music. The one night this guy named Rooster played there. He walked around the place with his wireless mic and guitar singing to all the women present. I bought his CD because of one song he wrote called The Mirror – “I wish you was a mirror baby, I’d like to see myself inside of you” was the first verse, and they just kept getting better from there. The next night a band who I think was called The Soul played, with a guest singer named Eunice. They were really good as well:

A friend met me in New Orleans and we drove down to Lafayette to stay at the Blue Moon Guesthouse, which was fantastic. It was my first time staying at a hostel and I was surprised by how nice it was. We met some fun people to hang out with there, although there was this one crazy older woman who would walk around talking to herself and anyone in the vicinity, regardless of whether or not they were busy or already in a conversation. I would definitely stay there again though. They turned the back porch into a bar, the Blue Moon Saloon, a few years ago and now have live music and dancing most nights. So we got 2 nights of music there before moving on to the festival.

I’d been looking forward to the Blackpot Festival for months and months so I was way excited for it to finally be happening. It was held at Acadian Village, which was very nice but much smaller than I was expecting. Someone later told me that the festival was actually 3 or 4 times as big as last year (the 1st one). I can’t imagine them still being able to hold it at the same place if it gets any bigger though. This festival was great because it was set up by some of the musicians there, and they just camped right along with everyone else, and partied with everyone else too. But the best part by far was the dancing. No one does Cajun dancing where I live. I already knew the basic steps for most of it from one other festival and an Allons Danser concert I went to once. I finally got to actually do a lot of it here though, which made me extremely happy. Someone even told me I dance like a Cajun, which since he was Cajun was a great compliment. I loved every single band there and had the most amazing time. I am definitely going back. Some videos I took:

Last weekend was my second time at the festival down in Woodstown and it was even more fun than last year. We had some great camping neighbors who we jammed with. I actually bought a mandolin and the one woman who lives near me is going to help me learn to play it.

The one band on the main stage who made an impression on me was Cherryholmes. They’re a family who went to a bluegrass festival around 7 years ago and decided to form a family band afterwards. And then they did it. I tried to tell my family we were going to form a family band after last year’s festival but they didn’t go for it. We could have been famous already! Cherryholmes was fun because they also break up their music with Irish dancing.

I was at Grey Fox last month and it’s definitely something I’m going to be going to every year. They had a dance pavilion for one thing which was so much fun, especially since the Red Stick Ramblers played on it every night. Also lessons during the day. Corey Ledet and the Wilders were on that stage too. Some interesting acts on the main stage – Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, Sam Bush, among others. Marty Stuart lives next to Johnny Cash’s property. The house was bought by one of the Bee Gees before it burned down. Now the guy’s rebuilding and is going to have a big party once it’s done. Marty Stuart’s been practicing doing a bluegrass version of Stayin’ Alive for it – it sounded great, very funny. Sam Bush is an excellent mandolinist and he did some fun covers too – Led Zeppelin and Bob Marley, not stuff you’d normally hear at a bluegrass festival.

Another cool band who was there, although not booked to be there, was the Powder Kegs. They just played at various places around the campground, they always got a big gathering around the portopots.

One of the best things about these festivals is all the jamming going on in the campgrounds. This particular festival lets people camp out in line up to a month before it starts so there are line parties as well. Example:

This festival was on someone’s farm on a mountain so they used the 45 degree angle of the hill to their advantage – amphitheater seating for the main stage. Walking up and down and across the hill was hell on my ankles for the first day or so though until my joints got used to it. It was like getting sea legs, except slanted legs. All the campers and vehicles had to be chocked up or dug in on one side so they wouldn’t go rolling down the hill into other people’s campsites. When I got there the night before it had been raining so they weren’t even letting people up the hill since they kept sliding back down. I had to wait a while and then they started letting people up one at a time as long as they promised not to stop or slow down at all on the way. The view from on top of this mountain was incredible too since it was next to the Catskills. Any way, lots of fun.

Camping this weekend was lot of fun. It stopped raining there Saturday after lunch and I stayed until Monday so we had a good bit of sun. Laura got a fiddle while we were there. It was a great deal for $100 including the case. She used to play violin in school before they cut the strings program so she’s really excited to start playing again. I’m going to learn to play the mandolin. We have a round-back one that was my great-grandmother’s. The only thing is my mom told my grandmother she could get it refinished like she wants to so I have to bring it up when I visit this month and I’ll get it back probably at Thanksgiving. So I can’t really play until then. I got a couple of books for it so I suppose I could start now but I only have a week and a half.