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!