Saturday, April 28, 2012
Pinchot Trail March 2012
The Pinchot Trail (PT) is a 23 mile
circuit trail in the Lackawanna State Forest. Andrew and I wanted to make this
our first hike of the year because it offered a little bit of everything. There
were natural swamps, beautiful pine forests, hardwoods, and even a bit of open
prairie. I was able to get off work early on Friday by going in early and
working straight through lunch; the timing for backpacking trail was perfect.
Andrew had everything packed up and was at my office to pick me up by 200. We
made the drive up to the Poconos in only a little over two hours. It was so odd
driving past Jack Frost ski resort in mid march and seeing no snow on the
slopes. The skies were clear and the sun was hot (surprisingly). We made it to
the parking lot and were on the trail by 5. We were excited to see that the
blazes were bright and the trails were well marked. We had been wondering how
well it would be marked because the PT is made up of about 13 smaller trails.
We were happy to see that each trail was well marked which kept us confident we
were on the right trail. The trail was more beautiful than we expected, there
were several sections throughout the first evening of hiking that were wide and
carpeted with pine needles and thick grasses. The entire trail only had an
elevation change of 300 feet so it was easy to really relax mentally since we didn’t
have to psyche ourselves up for any steep climbs. As the sun was setting and we
realized we only had about another 1 or so of daylight, we started looking for
an appropriate campsite. We had gone a little over 3 miles when we decided
against continuing to look for a site and just made one. It was perfect! We had
a nice fire and enjoyed a hot meal over our time tested pocket rocket. For
Christmas was had both invested in some new gear, so we were looking forward to
trying out our new inflating sleeping pads and new sleeping bag. They proved to
be worth what we paid for them because we woke up without stiffness in our
backs and stayed warm throughout the night. When the sun rays woke us up, we
realized it had showered a little during the night and made a point to dry out
our gear before packing it up. Breakfast was longer than usual as we enjoyed
waking up slow in a travel hammock while the rays dried the condensation and
dew. On the trail by 10, we knew we had at least a 10 mile day ahead of us.
Andrew’s knee had been acting up and so was my hip, so we kept our pain at bay
with Advil. We hiked along the rolling hills of the forest and through
beautiful hemlocks and pines. We heard owls several times t/o the day but they
escaped our sight. The second parking lot (you can access the loop via two
lots) was a welcoming site because we had designated this as the lunch
destination. We had done about 8 miles so far. Pepperoni and cheddar cheese on
bagel thins never tasted so well. After our half hour lunch break we kept
moving. Choke creek proved to be a great campsite for the second night. We
cooled off our feet (still surprised to be working up quite a sweat in mid
march) in the water and took our time setting up camp and ended up catching an
afternoon nap on the hammock. We made another fire as the sun was setting and
had some curry rice and black beans. It so surprising how much better food
tastes after an exerting day of hiking. We retired for the evening soon after
dark. We woke up on Sunday not to the sun rays bet to calls of various types of
birds. It was really overcast and even spitting rain a little. We stayed in the
tent until about 830 then cleaned up our gear quickly. As we were stashing our
tent, we finally decided that this would probably be the last trip we took it
on. It had served us well, but with our upcoming 3 week trip out west, an
updated one was in order. We were on the trail and hiking by 9. We had another
10 + mile day ahead of us. Today we passed through more swamps and were
thankful that although the weather was abnormally warm, the bugs were not out
yet. A couple miles in we hit an incredible site to camp when we do the trail
again (we figured we would because it is a great starter trail but still fun
for more experienced backpackers.) We made a mental note to camp there next
time. We hit the 7 mile mark and sat down for those delicious sandwiches again
then made it to our car by 2. It was a perfect starter to a sure to be great
backpacking season.
Assateague Island- March 30,31, and April 1:
We had been planning on returning to Assateague Island on
the border on Maryland and Virginia for about 2 weekends, we were anxious when
the weather finally agreed with our plans. Andrew didn’t get home from work
until around 8 which put us at the ranger station a little before 1 in the
morning. They did not allow hikers to hike after sunset so we would be spending
our night in the van. This idea surprisingly excited us because we had been
wanted to try out our road trip set up. By the time Andrew got home at 830, I
had the seats out and the air mattress blown up (with a cool pump that hooks
into the cigarette lighter) and in place with the blankets and pillows on top
of the mattress. It all fit perfectly! He finished up packing and we had the
packs and the cooler in place for the trip down and back. The drive went
smoothly and we reached the visitor center and the sound of the ocean early
Saturday morning. We enjoyed the sounds and the smells of the night air and
settled in for the night. It was incredibly comfortable and we didn’t expect to
still be sleeping at 930. We decided the set up would be perfect for those
nights spent in the van out west (in just a little over a month!). We changed
in the visitor center and registered in the ranger’s office. There is not fresh
water on this hike, but we had almost 2 gallons between the two of us and a
gallon in the car awaiting our return. For the camp site, we decided on Green
Run which was a good 10 mile hike each way. On our drive to where we were to
park for the start of the hike, we saw 8 horses along the paved roads. They are
beautiful creatures. We were on the beach by 11. It was beautiful weather,
though a little windy. We stayed on the harder sand near the surf and made sure
not to get too close, most of the time. We passed by many people surf fishing
with campfires by their 4 wheel drive pickup trucks. The wind started picking
up and it really started to get cold. The hiking in the sand started to get
harder because the high tide came in and erased the hard sand for us to hike
on. We figured a quick stop for some lunch would do us good. We had some fruit
bars (like Fig Newton’s) and beef jerky.
The beach was marked by kilometers and our campsite (km 29) was a very
welcomed site. We followed the pine tree lined path back to our campsite and
were surprised to see that we would actually have the luxury of a clean
portable toilet and picnic tables. This site was on the bay side (last time we
came here, we had stayed at a beach side site).
There were also condemned buildings along the bay, making an eerie back
drop to our site as the night settled in. We made camp and crawled right into
our sleeping bags. Luckily, we both have good bags an soon we could feel our
hands and feet again. It was only 630 but the day’s windiness and unlevel
terrain hiking had taken its toll on us. We finished off the Fig Newton’s and
were soon both sound asleep. We awoke earlier and were on the beach to hike the
10 miles back to our car. The wind was at our back and the sun was in our face
(which was evident in our sunburns later) which made for easy hiking. The tide
was low on top of it all and to us it felt as good as pavement. We only had to
make one stop on our way back and were at the car by 3. Since we really had not
eaten the night before, our first order of duty (after changing back into warm
clean clothes where we had spent the night two days earlier) was finding a
local pizza place and polishing off the better part of a large cheese pizza and
a dozen wings. The beach is always a great hike and a great mind and soul bath
as you hike to the sound of the waves crashing beside you and the sight of
nothing but ocean to one side and a wall of sand dunes and distant pines on the
other. It will probably be an annual hike for us!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Historic Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown
Andrew and I have already been married 3 great years so we decided to celebrate our anniversary (a little early) over thanksgiving in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. We found a great deal called the Christmas Bounce Pass which included admission to the nearby Busch Gardens. It cost only 50 dollars (parking included) a person and allowed admission to both places f
or 3 full days. Incredible deal! So we had a wonderful celebration of Thanksgiving with Andrew’s family and then made the late night drive down to our Hampton Inn in Newport News. We arrived very sleepy eyed at 3 am. We were asleep in no time at all. The next morning we were up early and enjoyed the complimentary breakfast. We were on our way to Williamsburg by 1030. The line was surprisingly short when registering for our tickets. We made our way over the bridge and “back into the 18th century”. We made our first stop at a functioning plantation with beautiful vegetable gardens. The site of Williamsburg is set up like a huge town would have been 300 years ago. People were dressed up in colonial clothing walking the streets along with oxen and horse drawn carriages. The entrance to the site is the Governor’s palace (we would tour that tomorrow) and it was decorated for the holidays. We made our way down the cobble stone streets and looked for the flag in front of each little town house, which indicates that it’s open to the public. We stopped at the shoe maker first. The man was making shoes for the others workers within Williamsburg. He tanned the leather in water with bark and acorns and would let it dry for two years. Then the measurements were taken (boots were m
ost difficult for the foot to maneuver into it) and the leather would be stretched over the wooden blocks. Then the thicker sole of leather would be hammered to the bottom. It was quite a process. We then made our way down to the printing press room. The man was really into politics and reviewed where our country was at (politically) in the early to mid 1700s. The letter would be formed by a special metal and put into wooden frames which were then rubbed with ink. The piece of paper was pressed onto the inked letters with a huge handled machine. The man made a point that the newspapers were only made per subscription because it was too costly to make copies that hoped to be sold at a news stand. Across from the printing press there was a book binding reenactment. Books were printed and then the paper was folded and holes were punched about every inch and a half down the edges. A piece of thread was then pulled through the holes to officially bind it. The cover then was bound to the pages. Books today sometimes mimic the past with the four to five ridges on the binding. At this point we were both working up quite an appetite. Luckily, there were plenty of taverns in the area. We selected one with the shortest wait and were escorted to the second floor by the colonial hostess. We drank beer and wine from the area and had delicious dishes. I had an oyster sandwich dish and Andrew had a delicious burger. The rest of the afternoon we spent at the magazine, where hundreds of rifle, muskets, swords, and pistols were stored. Many of them were held by the soldiers fighting the revolutionary war. Incredible! We learned the difference between a musket and a rifle. A rifle shot one shot every minute that was very accurat
e and the musket was able to perform 4 shots a minute with no accuracy at all. It was cool to learn the difference in the two different guns. We then made our way to the gunsmith and saw the different tools and weapons crafted specifically for the revolutionary war. It was incredible of the tradesman really twisting the metal used to make the guns with nothing more than heat. We then saw a carpenter who made gorgeous artistically crafted pieces and then stopped by a barrel making display. It was incredible how tight the individual pieces fit together to make it water tight. From there we realized that the one thing we wanted to see before we retired to dinner and our hotel room was the first psychiatric hospital of this new world. It was moving to see how the mentally ill were treated before modern medicine. We saw the cells that the clients were kept in, the bloodletting medicinal tools, and all the restraints that would keep the patient still and from hurting themselves. The museum gallery ended with a sad letter addressed from a patient to her sister saying how she had wished to be visited more often because of how lonely it was there. The day at Williamsburg had come to an end and we had become tired from our late night and early morning. We decided to have dinner at a Thai restaurant right behind our hotel. Our meal was incredible and we had a great evening relaxing and hanging out in our hotel. The next morning we were able to enjoy the great breakf
ast served from the hotel restaurant and then made our way back to Williamsburg to finish up the sights. We saw the blacksmith and the wagon wheel carpenter. The tradesman described how the process incorporated the iron actually shrinking around the wooden pegs to make a tight fit. After exploring Williamsburg, we decided to check out nearby Jamestown and Yorktown. We made our way over to Jamestown and were awed to see where this great country began (this was the first permanent settlement in the new world). John Smith’s statue stood high as did a monument to Pocahontas (who did not marry or have a relationship with John Smith, they might not have even met). To see the actual foundations of the wells and church and homes inside the fort was just amazing. There was so much history and the scenes we were seeing really made it come alive. We had lunch at a little café near the Jamestown River and enjoyed some sandwiches. We then continued down the trail and came to the museum where artifacts of the original settlers were collected. There was silverware, pottery, inscriptions on slate stones, and weapons. We spent about 2 hours there just in awe over all of them. The tour ended for Jamestown and as we made our way back to the hotel we noticed a little shop set up that displayed glass blowing demonstrations. It was amazing to see the process of taking the mixture of liquid ash and forming it into beautifully crafted glassware. From Jamestown we had dinner at a sushi restaurant near hotel once again and it was delicious! We retired for the evening to our hotel. The next morning we awoke and checked out of our hotel by about 930. We made our way to Yorktown there the last battle was fought on Amer
ican soil before our country was declared independent from England. It was a beautiful day and the battlefield was set up with a road tour that you could take (about 1 ½ hour drive) with the museum at the beginning of it all. We spent time appreciating the artifacts and among them was an area that allowed you to actually stand under the tent that George Washington lived in. We then started out drive around the battle fields are saw all the different vantage point of the war. From historic Yorktown, we made our way to the town center of Yorktown where we enjoyed a mile walk and a lunch by the York River. It was beautiful! From York Town we had one more stop to make before our start home. It had become dark by this time and it was time to make our way to Busch Gardens for the finale of the trip. The lights were brilliant and the culture inviting. We enjoyed the 7 different countries and the traditions they practiced during Christmas time. We even got a chance to ride on a few rides! We had a great time and knew we had to get on the road since we had a 5 hour drive ahead of us. We stopped for pizza on the way home and were at our front door by midnight. We put this trip at the top of the vacations we have done so far. We love the vacations where you can enjoy and learn some history at the same time!
or 3 full days. Incredible deal! So we had a wonderful celebration of Thanksgiving with Andrew’s family and then made the late night drive down to our Hampton Inn in Newport News. We arrived very sleepy eyed at 3 am. We were asleep in no time at all. The next morning we were up early and enjoyed the complimentary breakfast. We were on our way to Williamsburg by 1030. The line was surprisingly short when registering for our tickets. We made our way over the bridge and “back into the 18th century”. We made our first stop at a functioning plantation with beautiful vegetable gardens. The site of Williamsburg is set up like a huge town would have been 300 years ago. People were dressed up in colonial clothing walking the streets along with oxen and horse drawn carriages. The entrance to the site is the Governor’s palace (we would tour that tomorrow) and it was decorated for the holidays. We made our way down the cobble stone streets and looked for the flag in front of each little town house, which indicates that it’s open to the public. We stopped at the shoe maker first. The man was making shoes for the others workers within Williamsburg. He tanned the leather in water with bark and acorns and would let it dry for two years. Then the measurements were taken (boots were m
ost difficult for the foot to maneuver into it) and the leather would be stretched over the wooden blocks. Then the thicker sole of leather would be hammered to the bottom. It was quite a process. We then made our way down to the printing press room. The man was really into politics and reviewed where our country was at (politically) in the early to mid 1700s. The letter would be formed by a special metal and put into wooden frames which were then rubbed with ink. The piece of paper was pressed onto the inked letters with a huge handled machine. The man made a point that the newspapers were only made per subscription because it was too costly to make copies that hoped to be sold at a news stand. Across from the printing press there was a book binding reenactment. Books were printed and then the paper was folded and holes were punched about every inch and a half down the edges. A piece of thread was then pulled through the holes to officially bind it. The cover then was bound to the pages. Books today sometimes mimic the past with the four to five ridges on the binding. At this point we were both working up quite an appetite. Luckily, there were plenty of taverns in the area. We selected one with the shortest wait and were escorted to the second floor by the colonial hostess. We drank beer and wine from the area and had delicious dishes. I had an oyster sandwich dish and Andrew had a delicious burger. The rest of the afternoon we spent at the magazine, where hundreds of rifle, muskets, swords, and pistols were stored. Many of them were held by the soldiers fighting the revolutionary war. Incredible! We learned the difference between a musket and a rifle. A rifle shot one shot every minute that was very accurat
e and the musket was able to perform 4 shots a minute with no accuracy at all. It was cool to learn the difference in the two different guns. We then made our way to the gunsmith and saw the different tools and weapons crafted specifically for the revolutionary war. It was incredible of the tradesman really twisting the metal used to make the guns with nothing more than heat. We then saw a carpenter who made gorgeous artistically crafted pieces and then stopped by a barrel making display. It was incredible how tight the individual pieces fit together to make it water tight. From there we realized that the one thing we wanted to see before we retired to dinner and our hotel room was the first psychiatric hospital of this new world. It was moving to see how the mentally ill were treated before modern medicine. We saw the cells that the clients were kept in, the bloodletting medicinal tools, and all the restraints that would keep the patient still and from hurting themselves. The museum gallery ended with a sad letter addressed from a patient to her sister saying how she had wished to be visited more often because of how lonely it was there. The day at Williamsburg had come to an end and we had become tired from our late night and early morning. We decided to have dinner at a Thai restaurant right behind our hotel. Our meal was incredible and we had a great evening relaxing and hanging out in our hotel. The next morning we were able to enjoy the great breakf
ast served from the hotel restaurant and then made our way back to Williamsburg to finish up the sights. We saw the blacksmith and the wagon wheel carpenter. The tradesman described how the process incorporated the iron actually shrinking around the wooden pegs to make a tight fit. After exploring Williamsburg, we decided to check out nearby Jamestown and Yorktown. We made our way over to Jamestown and were awed to see where this great country began (this was the first permanent settlement in the new world). John Smith’s statue stood high as did a monument to Pocahontas (who did not marry or have a relationship with John Smith, they might not have even met). To see the actual foundations of the wells and church and homes inside the fort was just amazing. There was so much history and the scenes we were seeing really made it come alive. We had lunch at a little café near the Jamestown River and enjoyed some sandwiches. We then continued down the trail and came to the museum where artifacts of the original settlers were collected. There was silverware, pottery, inscriptions on slate stones, and weapons. We spent about 2 hours there just in awe over all of them. The tour ended for Jamestown and as we made our way back to the hotel we noticed a little shop set up that displayed glass blowing demonstrations. It was amazing to see the process of taking the mixture of liquid ash and forming it into beautifully crafted glassware. From Jamestown we had dinner at a sushi restaurant near hotel once again and it was delicious! We retired for the evening to our hotel. The next morning we awoke and checked out of our hotel by about 930. We made our way to Yorktown there the last battle was fought on Amer
ican soil before our country was declared independent from England. It was a beautiful day and the battlefield was set up with a road tour that you could take (about 1 ½ hour drive) with the museum at the beginning of it all. We spent time appreciating the artifacts and among them was an area that allowed you to actually stand under the tent that George Washington lived in. We then started out drive around the battle fields are saw all the different vantage point of the war. From historic Yorktown, we made our way to the town center of Yorktown where we enjoyed a mile walk and a lunch by the York River. It was beautiful! From York Town we had one more stop to make before our start home. It had become dark by this time and it was time to make our way to Busch Gardens for the finale of the trip. The lights were brilliant and the culture inviting. We enjoyed the 7 different countries and the traditions they practiced during Christmas time. We even got a chance to ride on a few rides! We had a great time and knew we had to get on the road since we had a 5 hour drive ahead of us. We stopped for pizza on the way home and were at our front door by midnight. We put this trip at the top of the vacations we have done so far. We love the vacations where you can enjoy and learn some history at the same time!
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