kris blogs

I stayed at Ricketts Glen State Park this past weekend. I had said I’d drive, so of course it snowed again. I love snowy rush hours on Friday nights when driving far. Most of the ride was okay, although I did about half the speed limit after Hickory Run again, especially after leaving the turnpike. The last 5 miles were the worst though. My car couldn’t make it up the steep hill. The two people with me had to get out and push, I was pretty much not getting any traction with tires spinning constantly as I fish tailed across the road. A couple of pickup trucks blew by but otherwise the road was empty. Finally a plow came and cleared a path that I was able to roll into backwards and try to make it up the hill some more. There was still an icy coat on the road so I didn’t make much more progress than I had been without the plow. It came by again going down the hill and dropped salt this time. The driver told us to give it a few minutes for the salt to start working and then try again. This time I was able to get some traction, although I still managed to lose it every ten feet or so. We did make it to the park entrance and although the park roads were covered in snow and hadn’t been plowed, my car was able to get through the powdery, non-icy stuff there to the one cabin where we were meeting people. It was late but we were only the second car there so we still had to wait for everyone else to arrive before turning in. The original plan was to split between cabins and tents but it was so late that no one felt like driving over to the tent sites to see how they looked since they’d probably not be in good shape any way. There was room in the cabins due to people backing out last minute though so all the tent campers just stayed there. Ricketts Glen has modern cabins and they were very nice inside – two bedrooms, living room, bathroom with shower, full kitchen (including microwave), and, most importantly, heat.

Saturday we did about a 4.5 mile hike through most of the Falls Trail. It was gorgeous, although I’d like to see what the trail actually looks like some time when it’s not covered by a foot of snow. We were guided by Quest, who also provided crampons and ice axes in case we would need them. We actually didn’t need the crampons for most of the trail, although the axes came in handy on the really steep parts where we either had to climb up or basically do a controlled slide down. The only part we did need the crampons for was at the last waterfall we saw, where there was a spiral staircase built into the rock, but without any support on the outside edge and with a straight drop down from there. The guides managed to chop away some of the ice before we climbed up but some people had trouble with crampons coming off halfway there. It was a great hike though, lots of fun to get through the tough parts. I realized I should invest in some waterproof pants, or at least gaiters, if I’m going to plan on doing any more really snowy winter hikes.

Sunday we did another hike to see the falls we had missed the previous day, this time with snowshoes. I’ve heard that some people don’t like snowshoes but I thought they were a blast. Maybe they were a little tricky going over difficult / narrow spots, but they made walking over the rest of the snow so much easier that it was worth it. We did a shorter hike this day, probably a little less than 4 miles, but we still had to drive home so I’m glad we finished early.

The whole weekend was a great time. Quest seems like a great program. They offer outdoor courses and trips, specific outings for groups, and also provide outdoor leadership training through Bloomsburg University. I would have loved to do a program like that in school.

I went up to the Poconos last weekend for a “ski” trip. I don’t ski though so I spent it tubing and hiking and managed to persuade a few other non-skiers to join me. We were right near Tobyhanna State Park so decided to check out the trails there. There were about 6-8 inches of snow on the ground and it was absolutely beautiful. We saw a few other people in the park – cross country skiing and snowshoeing – but for the most part were alone. We did part of the Lakeside Trail in order to get to the Yellow Trail, although we didn’t make it to the end of the Yellow Trail. The snow slowed us down so much and we hadn’t started until a little while after lunch so we decided to turn back rather than risk getting caught still on the trail at dark. I would say we did about 5 miles total, which isn’t bad I guess. I just hate turning back before the end of a trail. It’s definitely a great spot though and worth checking out again. It’s not too far, probably only 2 hours when the roads are clear, which they definitely weren’t Friday night, at least not once we got closer. As soon as we passed Hickory Run, it was a like a line was drawn between just wet road and snow-covered road. Granted my car’s not the best for getting around in bad weather but it usually makes it through just fine. My normally black car looked completely gray though by the time I got home again. I had to take it to a car wash right away to get rid of all the snow crud and salt.

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.