World's End State Park 11/8/03-11/9/03: Trip Report by must hike, richb, Pennsy, NJpacker, Calmwater3.

"It was a great trip. Scorchy was awesome on her first backpacking trip. We came across a few hunters and heard shots off in the distance a few times. Everyone was displaying orange on their packs. We encountered a group of boy scouts doing the loop in the opposite direction. Bobo, your super secret campsite was great. Everyone else took all the good tent sites so I set up my tent in the other super secret campsite. The weather was clear and crisp both days great for backpacking. A very good trip with some great people. Scorch I’ve met band John before and if he was there I didn’t see him."  ~must hike.     "Thanks all for posting the pictures and they look great with the bright sunshine we had for both days. I enjoyed seeing the souped up photos Tea hijacked from Scorch's Webshots album. We had a superb hike this weekend. I shuttled MSilver from Saturday night's campsite to the World's End Park office so he could dayhike with us on Saturday. By 9 A.M. everyone was ready to start our trek up High Rock Run. The morning temperature was 31 degrees and never reached above the mid thirties all day, but it seemed a little warmer in the sun. We stopped for a few pictures at High Rock vista which should be in Bruce's album when he gets a chance to post them. After shedding a few layers we continued to finish the rest of the 900 foot climb and for the rest of the day the hike was relatively flat except for one 200 foot climb out of Alpine Falls, which is where we stopped for lunch. The group was spread out over a few hundred feet for the most day, but everyone always waited for the others at key turns so nobody got lost. Eventually, we made it to Sones Pond into a little spot of sunshine next to the water that felt like sitting on a beach in Florida compared to how it felt in the shade. We were tempted to camp here, but instead stayed with the gameplan to camp at Bobo's super secret campsite. MSilver departed back to his car and the rest of us moved on to the Loyalsock creek in the next valley. By this time dusk was approaching as we arrived at camp, but there was still enough light to settle in for the night. Iced Tea built the best fire I've seen on a TT hike and maintained it all night to keep the rest of us happy and warm. Thank you, Iced Tea! Bruce and NJpacker kept everyone amused and laughing with funny stories. The temperature was in the 20's by now and reached a low of 18 by daybreak. We were treated to the lunar eclipse which was very cool. We got a late start Sunday morning as everyone was thawing frozen water bottles. Eventually, we got moving by around 10 A.M. and got warmed up by the 500 foot climb up Shanersburg Run. NJpacker lost his headlamp at the bottom near Rt. 154 and planned to get it on the way home. Hopefully, he was able to find it. After that climb the Link Trail was very easy hiking all the way back to the park office to complete our loop of 17 miles total. Someone had spread orange thread along the entire one half of the Link trail from the Loyalsock creek back to the park office for some bizarre reason. It was like spider webs as we got caught in it along the ground. It certainly was fun to hike with you all and a pleasure to meet two new TTer's, Scorchfire and Calmwater. I'm looking forward to the next hike with my TT pals.   I forgot to mention in the trip report about how well Scorchfire did on her first backpacking trip. She didn't freeze at night and on the last leg of the trip a few miles from the park, her shoulders and back were a bit sore. Some suggested that she ditch her pack in the woods and hike back without it and pick it up when driving home. She refused and continued on. Good for you, Scorchfire."  ~richb.     "Nice pics Mister M and Scorchy! Brude Almighty, that cracks me up. LOL! Tea must have a hidden FBI lapel camera cuz he sure wasn't carrying one. Very funny Adventurist! I might agree with ALL your theories, but here's the truth to the "Brude" look. I was just totally appalled and disgusted, virtually to the point of hurling, at the methods Tea used in attempting to score with Scorchy. It was pathetic. Howwww pathetic was it? It was so pathetic that right now Stikmon has a better chance than Tea. It was so pathetic that I have to end this post to compose myself. In fact, I'm feeling a bit farklempt. Talk amongst yourselves....   Ok, I'm calm now. It was another super TT weekend and I was proud to be a part of Scorchy's first backpacking experience. She was awesome and never whined (with the exception of the times Tea attempted to woo her). She had some back and shoulder pains which is natural for a first timer. Besides, this wasn't a piece of cake hike. There were a few buttkicking climbs, plus a fair amount of slipper rocks and mud to deal with. Towards the end of the second day I suggested she drop her pack near a road crossing and we'd pick it up later. NO F****IN WAY she said!! What a trooper! Bobo was missed, and we toasted and roasted him at his secret campsite. I'm glad I was able to find it because we enjoyed a great night there. The Fred Flintstone furniture was awesome, Tea rocked as keeper of the flame, the lunar eclipse was cool, NJpacker was a riot with his stories, RichB amazed us with his homemade sil backpack, and the sambucca went down real smooth. It was cool meeting Calmwater who plays in a band, Gemstone. He gave me a CD and we listened to it on the way home. Good stuff! I enjoyed it. It also helped drown out Tea's "She doesn't love me anymore!" whines and Scorchy's "Shut up you little twerp!" rants. For the record Calmwater, Scorchy and I enjoyed your music. Tea said you suck. I haven't had a chance to get to my pics but I'll try tonight."  ~Pennsy.     "The trip was awesome. The company fantastic. The weekend memorable. And now, reading evryone's perspective, adds to the fun! First.. Scorchie: You're fun to have along. Congrats on your first BP experience. I can tell you had a great time (even though Tea got your jacket wet with all the slobbering and crying). LOL!! Keep up the good work and don't worry, your shoulders will get used to the abuse. Tea: It was nice to meet you. You are quite the boyscout!! BUT 1 pound cans of soup! My god kid, give it up!! Forget about Scorchie and move on with it already. Actually, I totally enjoyed your company. You have a good head on your shoulders and a great outlook on life. I hope we can BP again. Msilver: It was good to hike with you again. Too bad you missed the Saturday night action (ooo..la..la) although it sounds like you had a great night. Richb: It was also nice to hike with you again. I finally got to see and learn firsthand just how learned you are in the mechanical arts field! You should be known as the creator-meister. Thanks for the site for the tent tarp. I will definitely check it out. By the way... your winter project is to make silnylon wings for the way you fly! LOL. Pennsy, Almighty Brude (I mean Bruce), I must have missed that sullen expression. You even smiled and laughed when the temps hit the teens. You were a great ref between Scorchie and Tea. I should have brought you my old referee shirt! As always, I can't wait to see your trip pics. Thanks for a good laugh. Have a nice(warm)trip next week. must hike, must haunt, conk, or whatever your next handle may be...you are the true picture of the real Mountain Man !! With a full beard, you'd be an intimidating teddy bear! LMAO! You're a good time. Thanks. Capn bobo..even though you couldn't make the trip (hope all was well at home), we at least got to meet Papa Bobo in the office parking lot. We all toasted to you for giving up your secret campsite. It was great. Calmwater3: I purposely saved you for last!!! You need to hook up with Tea sometime (you know..some youngins just need a little mentoring) You know what I'm talking about...Right Scorchie !!! CW, we need to hit the DWG sometime. Had a great time. To everyone who has ever hiked with this crew..you missed a great time with all these RENEGADES !! Love ya all. Thanks for the great weekend. Until next time and next laugh.....steppin' out."  ~NJpacker.   Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/99256065VzqwLg  and                    http://community.webshots.com/album/99260089mdSnnC and                    http://community.webshots.com/album/99426770cCShvg

Hawk Mountain Dayhike 11/30/03: Trip Report by me.

"Well I'm changing Calmwater3's name to either SaberLight or Mr Nat'lGeo. It was a lovely day.. not a cloud in the sky. A fun time filled with my favorite hiking (lots of climbing and rock hopping) with one of my favorite hiking buds. From talking about how obssessed I am with Pearl Jam, to his band playing music, there were more amusing times, like when I turned into Samarai Melissa with my sharp sword cutting John's leg off, to him battling me with his Saber Light trekking pole. We got a late start because lil ol me decided to booze it up last night and plan a last minute dayhike in the morning. Met John around 9:30am and drove the rest of the way up to Hawk Mt. It was a very music inspiring journey. I shared with him my outdoors song "In My Tree" and we both agreed that Pearl Jam is the best band ever in the world (I just made that last part up). Got to Hawk Mt. and planned our route... there are a lot of little trails throughout the area that intertwine and they aren't very long in mileage, but they take longer than the average hike due to lots of climbing and rock hopping. All in all, only about a 5 mile hike or so. We set out from the visitor's center and to South Lookout where we saw no hawks. Headed to some of the main lookouts up the trail and originally we were going to trek down the River of Rocks trail to that leads to the river of rocks itself, hike that, then hike up the Golden Eagle trail to the Blue Trail and to North Lookout.. check out that and then head to Sunset Lookout and watch the sun go down.... BUT.... we missed the trailhead for ROR Trail because we were so wrapped up in chatting. SO... we decided to just do a different route. Hiked the mile to North Lookout and chilled there for about 45 minutes or so.. only seeing a few black vultures and one unidentified hawk (only caught it for a split second). Kind of disappointing.... (Hey, John? That vulture's coming right for us!!!!!! Oh crap, yea it is!!) From North Lookout, we climbed down to the Blue Trail that eventually connected us to the Golden Eagle Trail that led us to the ROR Trail. I broke out the pizza when we got to the ROR. Nothing like going out Dego style!! By this time 4 was drawing near.. took our time on this hike and took a ton of pictures (will be on webshots either tonight or tomorrow morn) and we didn't really like the idea too much of heading back up the mountain and climbing with headlamps. Plus we wanted to catch the sunset. Our pace quickened and we trudged along the ROR and then connected back to a different part of the Golden Eagle back to the Blue Trail and up to North Lookout where we captured awesome sunset photos.. we made it just in time. Now for all of you who know Hawk Mt., it closes at dusk and no one's "supposed" to be on the trail at this point. We were the only ones left after a couple left around sunset. We stayed and took some pictures and then headed back to the parking lot... but not after a few Blair Witch Project jokes.. you'll have to wait for the pictures to see that :) All in all, an amazing hike and if I could, I would do it again right now. Thanks for an awesome day, John!! We gotta do that BWP at the AT soon!" ~ScorchFire.   Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/102570327HYPatx

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Blair Witch Project Hike: South Mountain (AT), MD 12/19/03-12/21/03: Trip Report by Treebeard, Dub.

 

 "Friday night: Mapleleaf and Treebeard leave the Island of Staten to meet up with the group in Maryland. Our plan is to get our butts down the Tom Terrific's house, which we did at about 12:30 AM. Had a quick brew and went to sleep so we could get an early start the next morning. We got going about half hour later than intended and wound up meeting the group including Scorchfire, Calmwater3, Dub, Stormbringer and Carl (a potential defector from the other side of the fence).

 

Maple and I joined them and Tom T rounded it out, joining us for a day hike. The group from the night before got hassled for sleeping in the parking lot of the South Mountain Inn, so we figured that this may not be a good place to leave any cars. We decided on a diffent set-in point and set up our shuttle.

 

The terrain and the snow made for what would probably be considered a slow mileage acquisition pace, but the beautiful day and good company made for great atmosphere. The trail, for the most part was pretty good and easy to follow. By the time we headed in to the Pogo campground, about 6 miles in, it was nightfall and getting a bit colder. The sunset and the views from atop the mountain and along the ridges were really pretty. Pictures will follow this trip report.

 

About an hour or so before dark, Tom T figured it would be a good idea to hoof it back out to his car. Maple and I caught up with the rest of the group shortly after they arrived at the Pogo campsight. Had we known that Pennsy, the omnipotent speed demon of the east, was there, we probably would have stuck it out and gone through to the shelter. Unfortunately, his presence was the best kept secret of the Mid-Atlantic. But, I understand that he wanted to surprise us. Really sorry we missed you, man! Was there really blood on the trail? I swear, no through hikers were harmed in the remaking of the dreaded Blair Witch movie. Matter of fact, the only replaying of anything from that silly flick was yelling at the girls for kicking the map into the water and a lot of cursing. Scorchy is giving Maple a run for her money for Ms. Pottymouth 2003. j/k, Miss Scorchy! Truth is, she is a really fine girl and I would hike with her anytime. Same goes for the rest of this group. Got to meet Dub, who I found to be really pleasant to be around. Same goes for Carl, the defector from the other site (he needs a trail name). I also got to meet the artist formerly known as 2scoops (Stormbringer). I am looking forward to joining him on a slice of his AT thru-hike this spring and summer. Calmwater3, as usual, is a great guy and always a hoot to be around. Tom T is a really good hiker and the only regret besides missing Pennsy is the fact that he couldn't join us overnight.

 

So, we set up camp at Pogo and everyone had a little something hot before we tore in our variety of alcoholic beverages for the night. We managed to put together a fire that lasted a while, but lacked the intensity of something that would really toast our cookies. So, we relied on Amaretto, tequila, wine, kamikazes, and lord knows what else. Scorchy tied on a good one.

 

We sat around the fire telling some stories. Dub treated us to a really funny story about one of the more colorful TT trips that he was 'lucky' enough to be part of. A lot of laughs around the fire and a great time for all. Carl was reduced to nothing more than a voice coming through a tent lining, which, for some reason, was funny in itself. We all slept it off and were rather toasty in our bags, despite the 17 degree low for the night.

 

We got up and packed up for the trek out. Still had about 4-5 miles to go, so we hoofed it out and made it to the end at a little after noon. When I got there, my car was missing (sound familiar, Penns?) I had given Stormy the keys and he took Carl to his car. When he came back, I called the Maryland State Police and told them to call off the stolen car report. j/k Storm!!!

 

We all drove to a small town family restaurant, had a wonderful lunch together and said our good byes. A great trip all the way. Lots of fun! Going to download my pics. I will either have them up tonight (if I can stay awake) or first thing in the morning. Thanks for a great trip from a great bunch of TTers (and the dude from the other site :)"  ~Treebeard.

 

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"December 19, 2003

Drove to the Old South Mountain Inn in Boonsboro, MD to meet ScorchFire, Stormbringer and Calmwater3 for a night of car camping.  Stormbringer was the first to arrive at 1pm, the scheduled meeting time was 8pm.  I arrived second at 9pm and after 5 hours of driving for a 2 hour trip, Calmwater3 and ScorchFire arrived at midnight ;-)

Before ScorchFire and Calmwater3 arrived, StormBringer and I ate at a small cafe off of the main street in Boonsboro.  The food was great and cheap.  I'll find the name of the cafe and add it to the trip report.  The server was a young girl accompanied by her boyfriend--both were very interested in us strange out-of-towners and they asked us many questions which we kindly answered.  BTW I recommend the steak sub.

After the group was together we drove to the Burkittsville Cemetery (1am) to take a look at where the Blair Witch was filmed--it wasn't scary.  In fact, the cemetery offered a wonderful view of a clear night sky--way better than what we get in the city.  We were hoping that it would be creepy but it wasn't--those guys in the Blair Witch documentary must have been big pansies. 

After swinging by the cemetery we headed back to the Old South Mountain Inn to camp.  Originally we were going to hike to the AT campground .2 miles away from the Inn and camp there.  After 10 minutes walking up and down the road looking for the trail, we realized that it went right through the parking lot of the Inn.  Then a vote was taken to camp at the campground or just sleep in the cars--sleeping in the cars won. 

It was a VERY cold night.  The sign in town on the bank said 23F, we were a few hundred feet higher and I estimated that the temperature got down in the teens.  All I had was my 32F North Face Kilo Down Bag and a fleece sleeping bag I used as a liner.  It was a little cold, but I survived.  Despite being in the car I resisted the urge to turn it on and let it idle using the heater to create a hotel-like warm camp...I did cave into this idea in the morning.

December 20, 2003

Around 4am someone pulled into the gravel parking lot and began looking into our vehicles with a flashlight, once he realized people were in the cars he became startled.  He never identified himself, he just said it was private property and drove way.  I think he was a thief looking for cars to break into.

We woke up around 8-8:30 and started getting ready for our hike.  A backpacker from backpacker.com who went by the name of Carl unexpectedly joined us early in the morning.  Mapleleaf, Treebeard, and Tom Terrific were supposed to meet us at 9am but didn't make it until around 10am (no one was ready at 9am anyway). This made Stormbringer the only person to show up on time all weekend!  After a quick introduction and discussion about the 4am visitor we decided to not leave our cars at the Inn.  We also decided to reduce the trip from 16 miles to 10.

After a quick stop in town for some gas and food we made it to the parking lot for the first set of cars (SR77).  We shuttled over to the starting point (Gun Club parking lot) with the help of Tom Terrific who was only dayhiking with us.  Somehow the quick stop in town and shuttling took 2 hours.  Around noon we all had our packs on and were looking for the trail.  After some wandering around we found it and started hiking.

The trail was covered in snow and ice and the temperature outside was around 28 degrees.  Despite ScorchFire's prediction, it began to snow, however, this lasted only for a few minutes.  Not far down the trail was a fire tower with an excellent view of the valley below.  From here the trail went up a steep hill.  StormBringer, Carl, and Tom Terrific zoomed up the trail leaving the rest of us behind.  We eventually caught up to them at the Ensign Phillip Cowall shelter where we all had lunch.

After lunch we all set out at our own slow pace bumping into each other along the way.  This part of the trail was very hilly with many ups and downs.  Eventually we reached a ridge which we skirted four a couple miles--the wind was blowing like crazy on this side of the ridge making everyone cold.  Eventually the trail moved to the other side of the ridge where the wind wasn't so bad, however, the terrain got way worse.  This part of the trail was covered in rocks, many of which were hidden by snow, making it difficult to traverse (also slowing our paces).  Eventually the trail descended slightly and calmly strolled through the woods.  Treebeard, Mapleleaf, and I were the last to reach camp arriving a little after dark. 

Setting up camp in the cold with cold hands proved to be quite difficult--I don't think I've ever had such a long setup time (stupid gloves!).  After setting up camp most people cooked a hot meal in the dark.  I opted to climb into my sleeping bags and warm up.  ScorchFire generously shared some of her hot chocolate with me which warmed me up quite a bit.  I decided the tent was very nice and stayed in it until Calmwater3 had built a fire.  After the fire was started I came out of my shelter and after much beseeching by Ms. Fire, shared the tale of Oskar, uncut.  After hanging out with everyone a little longer I went to bed around 11pm.

Around 10pm two foreign dayhikers we encountered earlier on the trail came walking through camp with their headlamps on.  We offered to share our campfire but they wouldn't even speak to us.  Around midnight I heard some people outside sneaking around.  I yelled at the mischievous hikers wandering quietly with their headlamps on to identify themselves.  Just before I was about to painstakingly leave my sleeping bags and tent the midnight crawlers identified themselves as ScorchFire and Calmwater3.  I could have sworn I heard them go to bed and I never heard them leave camp.  Glad it was them rather some strangers snooping around camp...I don't think pepper spray works when it's that cold.

December 21, 2003

During the night the temperatures got down to about 17F according to Calmwater3's thermometer...enough to let you know you were alive.  I slept peacefully and didn't stir much at all.  I think I woke up three times during the night when I needed to change sleeping positions.  Other than that I stayed really warm.  After this trip I decided that I'm going to buy two things: 1. winter boots 2. 0F Degree Down Sleeping Bag, any recommendations?

In the morning I got up around 9am when everyone else started making noise.  After putting in my warm contacts with some very cold contact solution I decided to eat GORP for breakfast and not cook.  Carl and StormBringer headed out of camp first probably 30 minutes before everyone else.  After packing up camp I hiked with Mapleleaf and Treebeard for several miles--they are great people and I would hike with them again any day. 

The trip out went much faster than the trip in.  We left camp around 10am and arrived at the cars around 12:30pm.  The day before we started at noon and arrived at camp around 5:30-6pm.  The mileage for the first day was about 6 miles, but it was over rough terrain with several ascents.  Today's hike was relatively flat over well-maintained trails covering about 5 miles.  It also warmed up to about the freezing point so today felt much warmer than yesterday. 

After picking up all the cars we headed east on I-70 a little ways and stopped in a small no-name town and ate at a small no-name diner.  Carl decided to go home but he did promise to come to the dark side and talk to us some.  After a very big lunch we all said our good byes and took off in separate directions.

I couldn't have asked for a better trip.  Everyone and I mean everyone was awesome.  The weather was a little challenging but the company and the scenery made up for it.  Hopefully we'll all get together again on another hike, a much warmer hike when the warm sleeping bags aren't calling our names.  I'm saying we should all go to the Sods in May!  What do you say guys?"  ~Dub.

Pictures: http://jeremy.qn.net/backpacking/trips/blairwitch.htm and

                   http://community.webshots.com/user/williethepimp

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Ghostbustin' in New England! 12/25/03-12/27/03: Trip Report by me, Mapleleaf, Gemini.

"We survived! Glad to be alive (2500 miles later..) Trip report done by Scorch, Maple, and Gemini on the way home. Sorry, it's a bit of a lengthy trip report, but well worth reading! Pictures to follow. The Ride Up: 12/25/03 Gemini left her house 10am Thursday to arrive at ScorchFire's house at 7:30pm. Left Scorchy's house at 8pm to drive up to the Tree House. Arrived at the Tree House at 10pm. A bottle and a half of wine later, Maple passes out and Gemini and Scorch take sleep in the haunted basement,.. this is where it all began. First Day in Rhode Island - Friday The next morning, completely packed into Gemini's small Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder, we were on our way to Arcadia Management Area in Rhode Island. Obviously there was a decision made to stop at the EMS in Fairfield, CT to purchase some "needed" gear. Cool, I got new boots! Upon entering RI, we stopped at Scorchy's old college (URI) where she became very nostalgic (sniff, sniff). This is when the TTers decided to start sightseeing and hike the next day. After driving around all of Rhode Island and seeing rock formation walls EVERYWHERE including in the middle of the woods (made by what someone told us Native Americans for no other reason than to scare the piss out of us), we bagged a night at the Holiday Inn Campsite (Site 111). On the "special attractions" pamphlet at the hotel, the Royal Native American Burial Ground sparked our interest and thus our quest began. After re-fueling the car for the 100th time, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed to the liquor store where we bought our "Nerve Nectar" consisting of: Kaluha, wine, and blueberry beer. Note: Do not drink this beer unless you want to taste blueberries for the next 3 days. We then cruised with the convertible's top off in 30 degree weather searching for 5 1/2 hours with no such luck in finding the burial ground, but scared the #&%!$ out of each other and had a blast with the laughing. The sky was clear, but brave-soul Scorchy decided it was best to stay inside her hood so the ghosts wouldn't see her. We didn't see any ghosts this night, but we did find a plastic deer which scared the sh-t out of Gemini, LOL. hehe 2nd Day in RI - Saturday After checking out of our campsite (Holiday Inn), we searched for trail maps, only to learn that the g-ddamn state park was f--king closed. "What zee f--k eez dis sheet?!" exclaimed Gemini, who now completes the Pottymouth Trio. We travelled to Bumf--k Egypt to the local hick town outfitter who basically laughed us out of the store. We planned on going back later that night to zap them with Gemini's stun gun. Random thought: So glad we had better things to do than rot in jail. We then went to URE outfitter where we bought a $10 trail map of Arcadia Mangement Area. We drove back to the woods and stopped dead in our tracks to take a picture of the "Bates School House Road" sign (insert scarey music here) which we would later learn was an extremely frightening place for Maple to pee. A small graveyard was located on this road which consisted of children ages infants to early twenties dated in the early 1800's. Maple got out of the car to explore as Gemini and Scorch (still in her hood) decided it was best to guard the car. Maple quickly scurried back to the car nearly in tears because of the bad feelings she had about this graveyard (big baby, LOL, just teasing). At approximately 1pm (yea I know, late start) we arrived at the trail head and unloaded our full packs to decide that it was best to just dayhike today and backpack the rest of the weekend. By the time daypacks were loaded and put on and orange tape (the hunter's warning not to shoot us) was fashionably tied around our bodies (see pics), it was 2pm. Our dayhike began. After meeting Shannon (SciencePup) who was Geocashing - or something like it - we continued our dayhike. We never saw so many bumpanites in our entire life!!! (insert personal joke here). Later on, during the "treacherous" (ha-ha) hike, we came along some very old camping site (see pics). After Scorchy flipped one of the cabins over (go go gadget muscles!) it started to get dark out. The trail blazes SUCKED and it took 2.5 hours of night-hiking and navigating Blair Witch looking sticks and Sasquatch-looking trees to get out. Random thought: Maple ran like a bat out of hell to get away from the "Bigfoot" looking tree stump. The last half hour of the night-hike back to the car we sung "On Top of Old Smokey" with our own made up words to pass the time. After scaring the sh-t out of oursevles and craving meatballs and pina coladas, we got in the car and left the trailhead to get some food. Being delirious did NOT help in the restaurant and so the laughing attacks began. After purposely licking cherries and giving ourselves brain freezes... Maple and Scorch look at each other while bent over their pina coladas and simultaneously shout, "BRAIN FREEZE!" and start chugging the frozen drink. ...we came to the conclusion that ScorchFire has an oral fixation (see pics). We talked to one of the locals who worked at the restaurant (mad props to Erin who helped us out) who informed us that there was an extremely well-known haunted place right around the corner. We decided to explore - how could we resist??? Legend: Twin sisters who were well-known to be witches lived in a huge mansion and across the street from their home were woods where they built a pentagon-like structure with cement poles. Inside the pentagon was an altar where they sacrificed (animals? humans?) and to the right of this pentagon/altar was the gravestones of the 2 sisters. There was also a stone throne next to the gravestones (see pics for the full effect). After seeing all of this and creeping ourselves out even MORE plus Gemini not feeling very well, we decided to check into the Village Inn Campsite (site 222, WTF?!). This "campsite" overlooked the beautiful beach/ocean. After drugging Gemini, we ended the long, haunted day with some sleep. Sunday: The REAL Adventure Beings Backpacking was an option but was completely shot down when Scorch mentioned Salem, MA, which was about 2.5 hours North of where we were in RI. The journey then began to Salem where we met up with Scorchy's friend Travis. Random thought: A special thanks to Treebeard for attempting to locate the MA TTers, which unfortunately never came through. PS- Pennsy, while at the altar, we put a spell on you. "For a witchin' good time, call Bruce at..." Travis was very patient with the touristy TTers and gave us a tour around the town where we saw a decapitated bird lying next to one of the witch's graves. WTF?! We then walked down a really spooky street where there was a burnt down house. Scorch pointed out, "Eww, that's creepy," where upon 9 million pigeons decided to fly out of the dilapitated building and headdive us. Maple nearly peed herself laughing!!! This town SUCKS. So commercialized - we will never go back there again. We violated some statues (see pics) and left that dumb town. We also got some funny pictures of signs along our journey in MA, and also in RI for that matter. The only good attraction in Salem was the abandoned prison where some of the witches were held. This is the jail that Scorch and Maple decided to break into after dark. This never did happen. Due to lack of winter camping sites, we had to bail MA and head back to RI. When back on I-95, we decided to stay at the trailhead shelter at Arcadia Management Area. While still driving through MA, we passed a sign for a state park and decided to check it out and stealth camp if need be. To make a long story short, we wound up in Lynn, MA - AKA: The Ghetto - searching for a state park that did not freaking exist! We did find a really creepy graveyard that we were going to camp out in until we saw a black cat cross our path while driving through the cemetary. Screw that. We freaked, got lost some more, and wound up back on I-95 heading to the shelter in Arcadia Mgmt. Area. Boredom struck and Gemini and Maple decided that we should make crank phone calls. After finally reaching someone who was awake, Scorch played it cool and then started laughing in the lady's ear when she heard the snort of Maple's laughing and quickly hung up. I guess ya had to be there. When finally arriving back at Arcadia, we decided to once again explore the little Bates Schoolhouse Road graveyard before setting up camp. Big mistake. We stopped, freaked out again, took some pics, and floored the car to get the hell outta there. After we left, the crescent moon turned blood red and then completely disappeared out of sight - I KID YOU NOT. Note: There wasn't a single cloud in the sky We then decided to stop being big babies and go back and check it out some more and take more pictures (with Scorch STILL in her hood). For some reason this graveyard really interested us... maybe because it was all children and seemed so sad. We took some more pictures and after review of the pics, while still parked in front of the graveyard, Scorch screamed "GET THE F--K OUTTA HERE." With that being said, Gemini FLOORED the car and we flew outta there faster than a jack rabbit! After we all reviewed these pictures, WE NOW BELIEVE. Clear pictures were taken and then one by one orbs started to appear in the pictures taken after. We ruled out EVERY possible explanation for the unidentified objects in the photos and even took some away from the graves to compare (insert Twilight Zone music here). This is the road where Maple decided to take her pee break. What a weirdo. We thought it was in our best interest to not camp in these haunted woods, but instead to gulp down the wine and set up camp at the campsite ironically called Super Motel 8 (thank God our room was not 333 - don't think we coulda handled that). Upon checking in, we got "directions" to Casey's Bar & Grille. We drove the entire length of RI only to find out tht we were going the wrong way. F--k it. We were soooo delirious by this time from spending so many hours in the car that we went back to the hotel and feased on microwaved hot dogs. YUM! The Final Day: Monday Woke up, lounged around, and wrote this trip report while heading back to the Bates Schoolhouse Road graveyard to snap some daylight pictures to see if we were insane. Still got the creeped out feeling when we got there, but the pics showed no sign of "afterlife." Looking back at this adventure, one statement from each TTer sums it up: Gemini: "Totally not what I expected but I would do it again in a heartbeat." Mapleleaf: "I didn't get to zap anyone with Gemini's stun gun but I had an absolute blast!" ScorchFire: "The whole weekend gave me the creeps but I couldn't have asked for better company to experience it with - can't wait to ghostbust with yous again!" The ride home was a little depressing, but filled with fun TT gossip : ) Yes, we probably talked about YOU. When we entered NYC, Scorch decided she wanted to go see Ground Zero. Gemini can really hack the NYC drivers. You go, girl! Very depressing sight. Enough said. Dropped of Maple and had something quick to eat. Scorch and Gemini then left the Tree House and headed for NJ near the DE Water Gap to a supposed "Ghost Town" named Walpack. Got there 2.5 hours later and asked the creepy locals for directions. Some bald dude with no teeth gave us directions and then proceeded to follow us and tailgate us until we pulled over to let him pass us. We didn't realize it was the same guy until he stopped with us on the side of the road. "Get the f--k outta here!!" He came over to the car and we got the stun gun ready. Told us we were going the wrong way, gave us new directions and we floored it saying "Thanks!" We were pretty scared he'd follow us. There is NO life in this area and a very small town. Found out that the town is not abandoned any longer. Snapped some pics in the woods just to see what we'd find. A few freaking orbs were there and we creeped out and got outta that town. We had no clue where we were going, so we pulled off to the side of the road to do a map check. A really cute cop pulled up next to us and helped us out with directions and we arrived at Scorch's house 2.5 hours later. Home sweet home. So here I am typing up this long @$$ trip report for you people to read while poor Gemini is driving back to SC with 10 hours to go. Hopefully you got through it all and came out with a big laugh because we had an absolute blast and really became close to one another (NO, not THAT way, you pigs). So,..... who wants to go with us on OUR next trip?? (insert spooky music here)." ~ScorchFire, Mapleleaf, Gemini.   Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/107658893WLepIF and                    http://community.webshots.com/album/107741114NjmiUq and                    http://community.webshots.com/album/107756396OSzscV and                    http://community.webshots.com/album/107763767lCipYx                        Pine Barrens, NJ Dayhike 1/3/04: Trip Report by me. "Didn't miss too much. I didn't really feel well all morning and figured once I started hiking I'd be okay. Well that didn't happen. Got worse as the day went on,.. just felt really nautious for some reason. Only did a 4 mile loop on the Batsto Trail. Then went muddin :) No real trip report, nothing too exciting to tell. Lots of pine trees and white sand, gorgeous really. A few pictures. My digital camera broke, so not many, but Calmwater is gonna send me his digital pics and I'll put them on my webshots album." ~ScorchFire. Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/112149889nIFHAZ   Ghostbustin' in NY and NJ! 1/16/04-1/17/04: Trip Report by me.   "I'll do this damn trip report, even if it IS cutting into my Eagles time! Friday night: arrived at the Tree house around 9:30ish or so. Chip was already there, very nice guy, he smokes my brand of cigarettes.... uh, I mean, I quit. Waited around for Calmwater who finally arrived there at 11pm or so. Myself, Treebeard, Mapleleaf, Chip, Calmwater, and Twignut headed over to the Monastery on Staten Island to scope things out. Took a bunch of flashlights since it was completely dark out. No trespassing signs made it even more fun since we had to sneak around. Monastery was cool, although it would have been more fun if we could have gotten inside. It was all boarded up and the openings that were on ground level were cemented up. Booooo! :( You can read more about the Monastery here: http://www.midnightsociety.com/web/Abandoned/SImon/SImon.html Saturday: woke up around 8am to the smell of pancakes, sausage and eggs! Maple is such a mom. After a hearty meal and waking up the hungover bums (calmwater and chip), we headed out around 9:30 am or so to NJ. Shennell (sp?), Twignut's friend also joined us in place of Treebeard who stayed home and worked on the house (AKA spackled lots of holes up on the wall!!) We took the Tree car and Calmwater's car (which I had to drive cause he was still DRUNK!). Headed down to Jersey. First stop was the Jackson house in Jackson, NJ. Wasn't very scarey in the night and probably wouldn't have been in the dark either because it was in a pretty populated neighborhood. The only cool thing there was the self-playing piano (see pics). You can read more about the Jackson house here: http://www.midnightsociety.com/web/Abandoned/Jax/jax.html   Next stop was the Slaughter House which you can read more about here: http://www.midnightsociety.com/web/Abandoned/Slaughter/slaughter.html Now THIS place was SCAREY! We had to park cars across the street and down the road because the gate to the farm was closed and there was no where to park on the road. After a short hike to the farmland, we found the first abandoned house (see pics where calmwater knocks on the door, LOL). Took some pictures there... not very scarey. Continued down the path to the pig barn where they housed the pigs... found a huge haypile with a weird shaped wood cross... next to the cross was a dead fox (see pics). The strange thing was, the fox had been obviously dead for a few days and was already decomposing... but there was no signs of any animals feasting on it. Sacrifices? Who knows. Didn't look as if anyone had been on these grounds in a few days since the snow from earlier in this week was undisturbed besides a ton of deer tracks. Continued down the path of the farmland to finally find the slaughter house... THIS is where it got scarey. Lots of sticker bushes to go around to the openings (see pics). A ton of graffitti inside the house. Some read that we would die tonight, others read "i see you" with bloody handprints (spray paint). It was kinda funny. We walked into what seemed to be a freezer where the meat was hung after the pigs were slaughtered. When opening the freezer (now keep in mind, there's NO electricity in this place and the freezer hasn't been turned on in years), there was a really cold gust of wind.. the temperature seemed to drop noticeably... (insert twilight music here). After spending a lot of time at this place, we were starving. Headed to TGIFridays where one of the Lollipop kids from The Wizard of Oz served us as the waitor ("We represent the Lollipop kids, the Lollipop kids, the Lollipop kids. We represent the Lollipop kids!!! We wish to welcome you to Munchkind land!"). He later on called us annoying since we wanted to pay separately. Bastard! We acted like fools and colored the placemats. After TGIF's, we headed to Kinnelon, NJ to the Kinnelon Castle House, which you can read more about here: http://www.midnightsociety.com/web/Abandoned/CastleHouse/castlehouse.html (there are some good daylight pictures on that web page). It was dark out by this time and it took us a while to find the actual castle, which was buried in the woods. Finally, maple pulled over and asked a FedEx driver to help us find it (go maple!). FedEx man led us to the street it was on and left us to explore. Whatta cool dude. Still couldn't find it once we were on the road, so some teens at deli shop told us exactly where to go. We would have never found it if the locals didn't help us out. When finally there, the view was awesome. The pictures can't describe how big and old it actually was. There was quite a few fireplaces in the structure, but it was all roofless from aging. It was apparent where the kitchen was because it had tiled slate floor (or what looked like slate). The weird thing was, there was 2 nooses hanging from different spots on the structure (see pics). The one noose (after examining the pictures later on) has a pretty big orb (ghost?) next to it. Kinda creepy. Later after examining the rest of the pics, we blew up the one with calmwater, me, and chip in it and there seems to be a good amount of small orbs all around chip.... hehe, you're next, big guy! After leaving the castle, we went back to the car where Twignut and her friend was waiting for us (big babies!) and headed home. Got home around 10pm or so and ate some dinner and then the drinking began once again (except of course me because I planned on leaving late in the night around 3am to avoid Sun morn traffic). Calmwater and I watched the weather and realized that snow was on it's way, so we wanted to get home before it started to land/freeze. We left around 1:30am. He went his way, I went mine and we kept checking in on each other since the roads were real bad. Plus I was getting bored and felt like talking to someone so I didn't fall asleep. On my way home, the roads were okay in the beginning, although the salt on the wet road made for real bad visibility out the windshield. It got increasingly worse on the way home and pretty soon the white snow covered the entire highway and couldn't see which lane was which. It didn't help that there weren't very many people on the highway to make tire paths. Got home around 3am and zonked out til about 11am. Then went back to bed around 1-3. Now the Eagles are on and if you'll excuse me, I'm missing the game. Thanks to Chip for the lovely trip report... oh wait ;P Just teasing. Sorry it wasn't the best, but I'm in a rush to watch the game!" ~ScorchFire.   Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/111982428cUAiGe

The Never-Making-it-to-Hawk-Mountain Trip 3/12/04-3/13/04: Trip Report by me. 

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Japan Trip. Yokosuka Naval Base 5/28/04-6/6/04: Trip Report by me.

 

      "Here's a rundown of the things that me and Luke (batman luke) did while over in Japan (OH! And I got a diamond promise ring!)

Saturday, May 29, 2004: Luke picked me up from Narita airport and we went back to Yokosuka Navy Base and checked into the Navy Lodge hotel. I was real tired from jetlag, so he just took me on a quick base tour, we got my guest pass, and I met one of his good friends Dave. Later that night had a nice romantic time at the hotel ; ) and Luke gave me a diamond promise ring. It's absolutely gorgeous (see pics).

Sunday, May 30, 2004: A more extensive base tour, saw the movie Troy on base for 2 bucks, and had a USS Cowpens ship tour (his ship). Still jetlagged so didn't do much.

Monday, May 31, 2004: Ate Tempura food (my favorite type of food now!) with Luke and his friend Jared where I learned how to use chopsticks the right way! I  also met his friends Eric and Brad back at the hotel for some beers. Got another ship tour. Went shopping at the base stores.

Tuesday, June 1, 2004: Shopping spree at NEX (Navy Exchange)! Went to Oppoma, Japan and rock climbed. Afterwards we went out and ate Tempura again (I kept wanting to go back for more).

Wednesday, June 2, 2004: Climbed Mt. Fuji (the people there were sooooo nice there... it was as if they'd never seen Americans before). I'm assuming the trails just opened for the seasons because there were NO OTHER HIKERS the entire time we were there. Plus all of the trails were closed except the red trail (Subashiri Trail) so we had to take that trail up and the back down again. IT WAS REALLY HOT too so we got burnt because there aren't a lot of trees around since it's mostly gravel and volcanic ash.... which, by the way, is NOT fun to hike in. Coming down you practically sink into the gravel, which equals tons of little sharp rocks in the boots (didn't think to bring my gaitors).
Had my first trip to Lawson’s afterwards where we got Tempura.... fast food style : )
Also drove in Japan that day (in the parking lot... but I still drove).

Thursday, June 3, 2004: Went to Kamakura, Japan to see the huge and ancient statue of Buddah and different temples/shrines (bought souvenirs and chopsticks). We ate at little Tempura restaurant. I got to experience the Japan train systems in order to get to Kamakura... that was interesting. Later that night for dinner, me, Luke, and Dave went to Yakiniku where you cook your own meat at the table.. kinda like the movie "Lost in Translation." It was so cool. Oh, I also had my first crepe in Kamakura. YUMMY!

Friday, June 4, 2004: Ate Tempura (yea, yea,... again) and afterwards went to the mall for another crepe. Also stopped by the mall pet stores where a beagle puppy peed all over the front of Luke's shirt (HAHAHAHA). I made bird friends. I also saw the slot game Pachinko being played in the mall. Real LOUD.  Took a ton of video on base (Also filmed rock climbing and Mt Fuji).

Saturday, June 5, 2004: We went to see Shrek 2 at the base movie theater with Dave and then Dave came back to the hotel room with us and we ordered pizza. Luke's truck died this day and we had to wait for Jared to come pick up Dave so he could give the truck a jump.  Later that night, Luke dressed in his whites and I dressed up in my new black dress that he bought me and we had a nice dinner in Oppoma (see pics).

Sunday, June 6, 2004: Drove around base and did some last minute shopping at the base store. Around 3pm, we left to take me back to the airport in Narita to go home :'(  I definitely didn't want to leave and the second he was out of my sight, I missed my baby.

During my layover in Chicago, I got delayed 5 hours for some stupid plane maintainence, blah. I was so bored and just wanted to get the hell home. Total travel time from Japan back to my house was 21 hours.

Finally got home around 1:30am." ~ScorchFire.

 

Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/150265281JKCTgz and

                   http://community.webshots.com/album/150266561WkuhCw and

                   http://community.webshots.com/album/150267634YjpomW and

                   http://community.webshots.com/album/150268655GtRYyS and

                   http://community.webshots.com/album/150270063GDwXfj and

                   http://community.webshots.com/album/157543697dBcSzI and

                   http://community.webshots.com/album/157547897RDkTKe

 

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Ithaca is Gorges! Ithaca, NY 7/16/04 - 7/18/04: Trip Report by Treebeard and me.

 

"Waterfalls, Gorges and Spirits!

Keeping this brief will be difficult, but let me start by saying that this was one of the most fun times I have ever had on a camping trip, period! All the elements of a great time were there. I estimated a head count of about 41 people total.

Day 1

NJPacker, who could be one of the nicest guys you would ever want to meet, came all the way to Staten Island to pick up Stormbringer from the Treehouse, as we were packed in too tight to fit the extra passenger. We had son, Landstalker and his yet unnamed friend, Jesse with us. We set out about 10 AM and had a really nice ride up into Western New York State. Monitoring the rain and seeing that only some minor squalls were come upon, we were confident that we may get away without the torrential downpours of the past week. The only mishap was a flying life preserver that escaped from the hatch in Maple’s kayak. It literally went under NJ’s truck and got wedged under the car of some guy traveling behind him. I was perplexed when this other guy pulled off and pulled it out from under his car. We arrived at about 3 PM that afternoon. Geobeet was there with son, Paul, wife Elise and children Zac, Jake and Allison accompanying them. Pennsy was off hiking with Tango at Enfield Glen in the park we were staying in. Phantom Soul and Wounded Knee also arrived amidst this time period, as did Kelly (a relative of Winter Solstice’s ) and her children,. WS arrived later with her twins. Much of the rest of the afternoon was spent setting up. We wanted to swim, but the thunderboomer from earlier in the day axed that idea, as the lifeguards were pulled form duty. Later on, Lyndy S arrived with 4 children. By the time we got set up and Pennsy and Tango came back, we all got acquainted and dinnertime set upon us. Most of us ate, although I suspect that a few drank their dinner. It was dark out and of course the order of the evening was to enjoy each other’s company around a campfire. So, being that Snafu had not shown yet with his Home Depot size trailerload of forestry, Pennsy and I decided to make an ice and beer run to Wegman’s in Ithaca. We stopped for a quick view of Buttermilk Falls, and that was just a quick, pull-off-the-road teaser for what the weekend was to bring. We got back and made a fire and before you knew it, along came Snafu, loaded to the gills with a truck full of wood. The rest of a beautiful evening was some great conversation around the fire and a lot of laughs. Roam arrived under th cover of darkness, slithering into camp like a snake after its prey! :)

Day 2

We all woke up fairly early, as we were anxious to get the show on the road and see what this wonderful region has to offer. So, much to do and down to too few days to do it all in, already. Penns and Tango had already done the 4 mile loop within the park, so they opted to go off and explore some of the other falls and gorges (see their reports and pics). PS, Roam, Snafu and NJPacker went along with them. Geobeet went with his grandson and family to some other attractions nearby, including the falls at Taughannock. Maple, myself, Landstalker and Jesse rounded up Wounded Knee, Stormbringer and Lyndy and crew and decided to do the loop at Treman park. We started by walking past the swimming area, which was open today and decided that, when we get back, we must do this. We went up along the gorge trail and expected to do the rim trail coming back. Let me tell you, one thing about this area is that the walks are anything but boring. There is something interesting around almost every bend. Whether it be a gorge, waterfall, a natural ampitheater or something simple like a bed of tiger lilies nestled in the green near the stratified rocks, there is always something pretty to look at. We made a stop along the way, where Stormbringer stripped down to his all-too-revealing undies and swam amidst the slippery rocks by a small waterfall in the gorge. Near the end of the first two miles was the piece de resistence. Lucifer Falls – 115 feet of magnificence that you get to walk along and go up the stone steps. The pictures will hopefully tell the story. At this point we got caught in a torrential downpour, but it added a spectacular element to this wonderful place! When we got to the end of the end of the first two miles, Landstalker was a bit worn from some of the climbing and Maple’s knee was starting to give out, so we walked back the gorge trail while the others took the rim trail. Both were two miles, but we weren’t sure of the elevation on the rim trail, so we went back the way we came, knowing that it was mostly downhill.

We got back and decided to go swimming. The area was open and the sun was fighting to come back out. The water temp was 63 degrees and I was ready! I made the first plunge. There is a diving board near the small falls and it is at least 12 feet deep there. The swan dive took me a bit deep and the water was mighty cold as I went deeper. Boy, did that wake my body up! As I got to the surface, I was feeling the refreshing delight of the cool water. I tried to swim into the falls, but the current was pushing me back and I was going nowhere. I got out and the lifeguard told me that the rain had added some pressure behind the current. Maple went in and I took a few pics of her. She went along the side and rocked climbed horizontally to get under the waterfall. I followed suit and we both spent some time sitting on a rock with the water cascading down on us. A little bit of heaven here on earth, folks!
When we went back to camp, we saw many of the days’ arrivals gathering in camp and it ecame obvious that this group was growing by leaps and bounds. JackCanine and his wife, Nancy were there. Sir Pete and his wife also. Lumberzac, Capn Bobo and Gremlin were also there. Calwater3 and Wendy, his girlfriend showed up, as well as Mark-O with Janet and son, Linus to round things out. Jeez, did I forget anyone? We decided to have pizzas so Geo and I went out and ordered six pies for those that wanted it and took a walk through the Commons of downtown Ithaca. A band was playing and the place was really cool. We went back to camp, ate and got into the “spirit” of things. The campfire was great that night and, with the group pretty much in force, we really partied hearty that night!

 

Day 2 addendum! How could I leave Scorch and Shep out? Easy, when you have scrambled eggs for brains and all those people to remember! They arrived on Friday night too. Now, I believe that rounds it out! Dang, now I have to apologize to Helinka too. She came all the way from Canadanada, and I forgot her too! Well, that what happens when you rush! She was awesome to meet and hope whe joins us on some future trips. Thanks for coming all the way down, H!

 

Aside from the people I left out in the first part (Scorchy, Shep and Helinka), I also forgot to mention the fire incident. Thursday night, I couldn’t help but notice that while cooking dinner, about a 10 by 4 foot area of the turf suddenly burst into flames on the site next to me. Being a New Yorker, I immediately went back to cooking and paid it no mind. j/k. Seriously, I looked up to see Winter Solstice’s son trying to stamp this out and I wasn’t quite sure if he himself was on fire or not. I ran over as did Maple and tried to put it out with what we had. Apparently, a trail of flame backdrafted up the stream of fluid and ignited causing the can to be dropped into the fire. We didn’t have much to put it out with at the time except the ice and water in the cooler, but Geo came along and put it out with an extinguisher. Ok, a little dinnertime excitement!

Also, I did not mention the visits by the authorities. Thursday night was the first. A representative from the park came up as he had passed by slowly before. I saw him getting out of his truck and went to greet him. He told me that he suspected that we were a large group and that were using a site to get together on. I confirmed that. After going over a few ground rules with him, he conceded that our plan to contain noise and localize our presence was a good one. He also warned us of the park rangers too. After Snafu arrived, I helped him put up his tent in the dark in an area that was recessed away from the main part of the site. Then, two park police came up and told us that he was off the site and out of bounds. They weren’t really nasty, but authoritative. They said he could stay here, but that there were further powers that be that may ask him to move it. They then apparently made a noise complaint visit to the campfire area, which I missed.

Day 3

The party the night before was cooking! It was a late one and it got ugly! Seriously, the next morning may not have been as “bright and early” as some of us may have anticipated. Pennsy’s gang set out for some other adventures. I rounded up my bunch, and took along, Lumberzac, Stormbringer, Scorchy, Shep, Capn Bobo, Marko, Janet, Linus, JackCanine, and Nancy and we decided to see the large one. The granddaddy. El macho grande. The big Kahuna. The 215 foot TAUGHANNOCK FALLS! The others had done this one on Friday and said the trail was rather easy. Maple’s knee was about shot and Scorchy's leg was pretty swollen. Most of us wanted to see this one, work up a little sweat and then go swimming back at Treman. So, we walked along the beautiful gorge. Then we turned the final corner. There it was in all it’s glory. With ampitheather type rock formation surrounding it, and with a height over two hundred feet tall (33 feet larger than Niagra’s) was the Falls at Taughannock. So, after a few photo ops, we went back to our cars and met back at camp and some of us went swimming. Well, before you knew it, we had to get prepared for the yearly cook-off, a serious taste tempting event! I went back to Wegman’s with Landstalker and got his Japanese veggies that was cooked. Then, we only had 45 minutes to get the judges at least a portion to taste. Let me tell you, I ate very well that night. Some of the highlights:

Bobo’s taking of the crown from me with his salmon (awesome recipe)
My own chicken marsala
Landstalker’s Japanese veggies
Jack Canine’s pulled pork
Mark-o’s gumbo
Geo’s mandarin orange dish
Wounded Knee’s steak recipe
Tango’s spicy chicken and pasta (which was gone before I could taste it!)
Gremlin’s caribou (which I could swear was still alive) j/k Grem!
and
Lyndy’s fruits and veggies

The food was so good. I think we REALLY impressed our judges, who were from a nearby site and knew none of us. They were very into doing it, I must admit. Well, we ate and ate and ate. After the night before the party was a little more low-key, but still in all, a wonderful time. No visits from the police this time.

Day 4

Well, it came too soon for all of us, I believe! The idea of breaking this trip up and packing those cars was just not what I wanted, that’s for sure. The weather had not brought us any days of constant torrential downpour. And for that, I was very thankful. This day was to be different. If we had had one of these type days in the three days preceeding it, we may have gotten washed away into a different loop. Yes, folks! Amazing as it is, I got all that crap into the car! We packed up and then met up with NJPacker, Stormbringer, Phantom Soul, Lumberzac and Capn Bobo, who had done the park trail and saw Lucifer Falls before leaving. I am glad they did that as it was too spectacular to pass up. We met up at Buttermilk Falls where my bunch had stopped for a nice swim in the rain. We then went to Wendy’s for a bite to eat and went our separate ways. NJPacker was good enough to bring SB back to NYC for us and followed us through some harrowing weather and what turned out to be a loooonng ride! Thanks to all participants for making this one of the most memorable vacations of my life! You people rock!" ~Treebeard.

 

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"Well I've decided to finally post a trip report. I admit, I was a little lazy. My report shouldn't be too long since I wasn't around too much for Thursday and Sunday.

 

Friday I worked until about 4:30PM. Shep rolled over to mi casa around 5-ish or so and we got directions and I quickly scarfed some food down my throat and we left. Took us about 4 hours to get to the Treman Campground, which, by the way, was really nice... I especially enjoyed the "NO WADING" sign as we drove over a small overflowing bridge. By this time poor Shep was exhausted from his ride from GA to NY and we both just wanted to get there, set up camp and relax.

 

We were greeted by a bunch of drunken hugs and handshakes and it was off to a great start! I decided to have a couple drinks before setting up camp and that's just what I did. The night was full of laughter and fun stories. After killing a bottle of Aftershock, me, Mapleleaf, PhantomSoul, and lumberzac decided it was well overdue for a skinny dip. We started walking away from camp to the water and before we were even halfway there, 2 huge flashlights were shone into our eyes telling us to go back to our tents. Granted it was 2:30AM, but we "were just taking a walk!" Whatta bunch of pansy party poopers.

 

Went to bed approximately 3:30AM.

 

Woke up around 7AM to Pennsy's loud mouth ; ) Got a late start to do the Taughannock Falls hike, but since it was only 3/4 of a mile long, it didn't really matter. Mapleleaf's knee was acting up, as well as my leg, so I decided that would be the only hiking I'd do that weekend. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking (as you can tell from the pictures). Very, very dramatic imagery and well worth suffering the leg pain! I definitely would love to come back to this area and hike more trails.

 

After a long night of partying the night before, I decided to skip out on swimming since I was still quite hungover and my leg was acting up from the walk. The rest of the crew went swimming and me and Shep hung back to catch some zzz's for the night of partying ahead of us.

 

That night was a blast.... the cookoff was excellent and it was really fun watching everyone prepare. I've never been fed so well while camping!!! Although everyone's dish was absolutely amazing, I was very partial to Tango's spicey pasta recipe... which by the way, I still need directions to make! Congrats to Mr. Bobo who won with his yummy salmon dish. He later celebrated by falling backwards out of his chair.

 

Saturday night was also filled with fun times and great stories around the fire.

 

This was by far the largest camping trip I've ever been on, and even though I'm partial to small groups, this was an absolute blast. I met so many awesome people that I would love to go backpacking with and hope to soon. The Canadian cracks me up; Gremlin, I'd love to go backpacking with you sometime!

 

Unfortunately, Shep and I had to leave Sunday morning at 7am due to him having work Monday morning and having a 16 hour drive ahead of him. I didn't want to wake anyone up before leaving, so I said my goodbyes to the TTers that were awake and quietly crept out of camp and back home.

 

Great weekend, lots of memories. Everyone's pictures are amazing and thanks for a wonderful time." ~ScorchFire.

 

Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/164720712hYiYch and

                    http://community.webshots.com/album/164932056ccujGW and

                    http://community.webshots.com/album/165133849Cqpphg and

                    http://community.webshots.com/album/165145429zgtzJJ and

                    http://community.webshots.com/album/165664732agnCNJ

 

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Curse of the  NJ Devil (that ass!): Pine Barrens Trip Report. Wharton State Forest, NJ 7/30/04 - 8/1/04: Trip Report by me.

 

"Trip from Hell!

 

Sorry, this was a private backpacking trip, but we figured since it still involved backpacking, we'd still post a trip report.

 

Attendees: ScorchFire, Katiebear, Mapleleaf, Twignut, Gemini

 

WHAT A TRIP! Everything that could have possible... we should have cancelled when Gemini got her speeding ticket on the drive up from SC! It was a damn omen that we ignored. Katiebear is now an official TTer! Hopefully we didn't scare her off and she'll start to post on TT. She's from the "other side."

 

Friday night:

 

Katie picked me up around 8:30pm Friday night. We were to meet Maple, Gem, and Twig at the Pine Barrens visitor's center. A 1.5 hour drive took us almost 3 hours in finding the Batona Campsite due to it not being labelled and shitty directions from the ranger. We got there around 11:00PM-ish and set up camp. It's really a nice campsite, far back in the woods. Real nice to sleep on the sand. We went to bed around midnight only to be woken up by the frenzy of Maple, Gem, and Twignut arriving at 2am. I didn't get out of my tent to greet them. Instead me and Katie cracked up at them trying to set up camp from inside our tents.

 

Saturday:

 

I was the first to wake up at 6AM. Went to scope out the rest of the campsites and found  out that the water pump was broken... an omen already. By 6:30AM, I was bored and hungry and couldn't get my stove out of Katie's car because she had the keys in her tent. I decided to chuck a pine cone at Maple's tent to wake her and everyone else up. We had to drive all the way back to the visitor's center (which was really far) and then all the way back to where we were to start the Batona Trail and we wanted to get an early start anyway.

 

By the time we got to the visitor's center, it was about 8:30AM and they didn't open until 9.  We met up with a couple who were doing some car camping and getting permits at the visitor's center. Since the center didn't open until 9, the couple took us on an excursion through the historic village within walking distance. I videotaped, Maple and Gem took pictures. We ran into a black snake and the guy picked him up and let us take all sorts of pictures.

 

Afterwards, we got our permits for Lower Forge campsite and head back to the trailhead.... this was after the couple told us all sorts of ghost sightings... enough so we'd be scared camping alone that night! 

 

We got on the trail around 10AM. The heat was unbearable. 10 minutes into the hike and we were all drenched with sweat. The temp was 95 and with the horrible humidity, it felt like 110. The mosquitos and ticks were out FULL FORCE and I must have picked a total of 20 ticks off me over the entire weekend. If any of you are familiar with the Barrens, it's extremely flat with no views, so it was a pretty boring hike... but with Maple's knee and my leg acting up lately, we decided if we wanted to backpack, we needed something that wasn't strenuous. We saw a ton of treefrogs and toads (see pics).

 

Maple and Twig stayed behind most of the time due to Twignut not having backpacked in a really long time and not used to a full pack on her back (she had borrowed my external and wasn't used to wearing a different pack I guess). Me, Gem, and Katie chugged on when Maple and Twig stayed behind to eat lunch. By lunchtime, we just wanted to get the hell to camp. It was only about 7 miles to get to camp so we figured we couldn't be too far and we'd be there in no time since it was so flat. Well the heat made it feel like it was 20 miles long to all of us... man, that much sweating takes a lot out of you. On top of this, we all ran out of water and there were no water sources until we got to camp.

 

Me, Gem, and Katie stopped for lunch right before the turnoff to get to camp in order to let Maple and Twig catch up to us. When they got there, they sat down for a quick break and then we quickly resumed our trek.

The fun begins....

 

We soon found the turnoff that led to the campsite and we knew that the campsite would be on our left side. Well all we had to do was follow the blazes but for some reason (even when I said that I didn't see any more blazes) we kept going straight. For about a mile or so. We thought we were so close to camp that we drank the rest of our water and basically had none left... not a good thing in this kind of heat/humidity.

 

We were off track for a good hour or so with no water and no idea what the hell we did wrong. Finally we back tracked and found where we missed our second turnoff that led to camp. We hopped back onto the trail and followed the blazes.... and kept following.... and kept following. The map was horrible. It said about a quarter mile in the campsite would be, but it was more like a mile! The whole time we were looking for the "river" with no luck. We were dying of thirst and by this point, the boots that I had poorly chosen to wear were blistering both of my feet... I could barely walk at this point.

 

We finally made it to camp and set up. We then found the "Red Sea" (the river was blood-red due to the cedar), filtered our water and took a "swim" in our sports bras and shorts... until Twignut pointed out a stalking eel. That ended our swim.

 

By this point I was limping on both legs due to blisters. I'm talking about monster blisters that enveloped my entire bottom front pad of my foot, in between toes, on my heel, etc. I think my old boots are just about retired. Too bad the other boots I own (Asolos) give me blisters too. I just cannot find a decent pair of boots. Poor Twignut was also hurting real bad.

 

We cooked, told stories, talked about other trips, videotaped, took pictures, etc. until nightfall when the spirits were broken out and the scaring began. All the pictures at night that were taken of me contained a stupid bright light behind me... it was really freaky. Then, what sounded like a howling noise came from behind Maple.. it wasn't far off either, so that scared us. To make a long story short, the night was filled with everyone scaring everyone about ghosts, scarey movies, Blackbeard the pirate who had his treasure buried in the Barrens, and the NJ Devil. We were petrified by the time we went to bed around midnight.

 

Around 4am, I woke up because I thought I heard some movement outside of my tent, but was a little nervous to go check it out. Later on I found out Gemini heard it too. It sounded like someone scratched at my tent, the end where my head was and started making weird sounds.. it sounded like a woman's voice, and then quickly vanished. I found out it wasn't anyone at our camp. Me and Gem have no clue what it could have been.

 

Sunday:

 

Woke up around 7AM and everyone cooked breakfast and then started packing up. Oh yea, and the sandy water clogged up Gemini and Katie's water filters.. the only 2 who brought them.... so we didn't even have enough water to last us the rest of the day. Me, Gem, and Katie were all packed up waiting for Twig and Maple to break down their camp and pack up when the heavens opened and the torrential downpours began. This was definitely no ordinary rain... it was painful. Poor Maple and Twig were absolutely soaked with no pack covers trying to pack up.

 

By this time I couldn't even walk with my boots on, so my feet were duct taped up, with socks and sandals. Now, my feet were soaked.

 

We walked about a half of a mile before I had to stop and try and put my boots on due to the sand started to get wet and kick up. Because of the rain, my socks were soaked and the duct tape was coming off. It was still downpouring. Switched to boots and kept walking (limping). It was real bad.

 

We realized we weren't going the right way on the trail and just as that happened, a truck rode by on the sand road and Mapleleaf flagged him down and asked if we could get a ride. I wasn't going to protest because I could barely walk... literally. We all gladly accepted. It was still torrential downpouring and we didn't have rain gear with us. Thanks to the Ed Norton look alike, his 2 adorable children, and Cocoa the brown lab who gave us a lift in the back of their pickup.

 

We made it back to the cars, sopping wet, packed up the cars and headed to the nearest diner to pig out. Another downfall.... none of us brought enough food to last us the weekend. WTF. We all figured since it was going to be such an "easy" hike that we left so much stuff home that we rarely used on a hike and of course that was the hike we needed all the stuff we didn't bring the most.

 

Went to the diner, everyone changed and got cleaned up in the restrooms, and pigged out like we never ate before.

 

Afterwards, Gemini headed on her long 10 hour drive home and Katie and I were dropping off Maple and Twignut at the Trenton Train Station where they'd meet up with Treebeard who was coming from Capn bobo's house to head back to Staten Island. Well of course, having the luck we'd been having, ran into road block after road block due to Puerto Rican Festival. Just what we needed. We were stinky, dirty, wet, and just wanted to get home by this point. It took us about an hour to navigate through the back roads to finally find the street that the station was on... and then that street was blocked so we had to let them out on the corner where they'd have to walk the rest of the way. Made it home about an hour ago.

 

Random Thought: New Jersey people are the rudest people on Earth!

 

That is all." ~ScorchFire.

 

Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/170469882kkEBqE and

                    http://community.webshots.com/album/171079920XCmIkU

 

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Tyler Arboretum Dayhike 8/14/04: Trip Report by me.

 

"Decided to do a last minute dayhike at Tyler Arboretum today with my friend Valerie, who has been dubbed "WebWalker" due to her courageous efforts to walk right into hundreds of spider webs while hiking.

 

Left my house around 8am and arrived at the visitor's center around 9. Paid the $5 fee and got our maps. We took the white trail due to it being the only long trail for a dayhike at 10.5 miles. Weather wasn't bad... the clouds only spit on us briefly the last mile or so.

Stopped and took some goofy pictures and ate lunch around 11:30.

Ran out of water the last mile or so, but it wasn't too bad because it was cool out.. although the humidity killed us. Ended around 2:45pm and decided to head to McDonald's on the way home to put the finishing touches on a nice hike." ~ScorchFire.

 

Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/175041600qRWIMr

 

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Old Loggers Path, World's End State Park, PA 8/27/04 - 8/29/04: Trip Report by me, M Silver, richb, Phantomsoul.

 

"Friday:

 

Was met by PhantomSoul (PS) around 8pm and left my house around 8:30pm. Decided not to take my small car and took PS's instead. Picked up EarthNSky (ENS) in Reading and got to World's End State Park around... shit, I can't remember. Maybe 11:30-ish? They set up camp in this TINY area that wasn't rocks and I slept in the car. We got to bed around 3am or so. Lots of good conversation.

 

Saturday:

 

I woke up in the OH-SO-COMFORTABLE Jetta (just kidding, PS did warn me about the uncomfortableness of his small car) around 6am and waited patiently for the 2 bums to wake up and pack up so we could be at the trailhead at the desired time of 8am. That didn't happen. By the time ENS packed up, we head out on our way to the trailhead, got lost several times, we got there around 10am or so. It's all good! Snapped a few group shots and head up the trail. Filtered some water our first mile when my leg began to give out (I have recently started to have some problems with my leg that was broken when I was hit by a car when I was 14). I didn't say anything thinking I'd be able to hike it off. About a mile and a half in to the hike, I could barely walk. I yelled up to PS and ENS that I was gonna have to bail. I insisted that they go on and I'd camp out at the trailhead for the night. PS gave me his car keys in case I needed them and I head back off. Passed by a campsite earlier in the hike that I had forgotten about, so I set up camp there (it's about a mile or so in from the trailhead). About 20 minutes later, ENS comes walking back down and says he didn't feel comfortable leaving me by myself, so he told PS to keep hiking and he'd camp the night here with me. I felt bad that he wouldn't complete the hike, but we did a few miles of dayhiking once my Percocet set in and I couldn't feel my leg pain anymore!

 

Had an awesome day on Saturday.... a little hiking overall (glad I got the day hike in, I felt like a disappointment to myself), but some awesome conversation with ENS throughout the day and night. Got to know him real good and had a blast.

 

Saturday night ENS and I discovered that there seemed to be unnatural mounds of dirt piles around our tents that looked like graves (see pics). We freaked ourselves out there and the rest of the night turned into a freaking-ourselves-out fest. A few orb pictures, a few weird sounds.... Went to bed around midnight when it started to rain.

 

Sunday:

 

In the middle of the night, I woke up to hearing some kind of animal tearing up the grounds somewhere in our camp. It didn't sound too friendly so I wasn't about to get outta my tent. Eventually, I fell back to sleep. ENS and I woke up around 9:30am - we figured since the others (PS, M Silver, and richb) had probably met up at their designated campsite and still had to do another 10 mile hike, we'd be able to kill some time since we were only a mile or so from the car. So we slept in. When we started collecting firewood to build a fire, we noticed that the dirt around the campsite was all torn up, like some kind of animal (we assumed a racoon) was digging for something. Hmmm...

 

Around 11:00am or so we broke down camp, packed up and started heading back to the car. Just as we got on the trail, a couple of dayhikers hiking towards us asked, "Are you Melissa and Rob?"  We said yes and they proceeded to let us know that there were some impatient hikers waiting for us back at the car. We quickly finished the mile out hike to the car and there was everyone: PS, M Silver, richb, and M Silver's friend Tim. We figured they'd be hiking 10 miles out and wouldn't get there til about 2pm or so. Apparently, they cut the trip short (PS will explain in his trip report.. this is getting long enough as it is). We stayed and talked for a little bit, took some photos, and richb was on his way home. The rest of us went to Forksville Inn and had some grub. Then it was back to Reading to drop off ENS and then home.

 

Overall, an awesome trip. I am really glad that ENS joined me at camp... shared some awesome stories, really fun laughs, and a lot of bonding. I'm pretty sure I made a  really good friend. Thanks for dancing around the fire and doing the "tent pole" dance. You're a really entertaining guy!" ~ScorchFire.

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 "*scratch scratch scratch* ... I must have a kilobyte o' skeeter bites!

The trail was in excellent condition, despite all the precipitation we've had here in PA this summer. Lots of mosquitos! Campsite at mile 3.67 was nice. As we were hanging our food bags over the trail that evening, a slew of Mennonites passed through heading down toward Yellow Dog Run - stopped and chatted briefly - never saw women backpackers wearing long skirts before. Nice folks. We met them again next morning at Yellow Dog Run. Later, sitting around our campfire, the babbling brook lulled us into an altered state while an owl serenaded a bit. A rising near-full moon shone its light through the forest as swarms of blood-sucking flying insects lurked just beyond the smoke of the fire. This was the one and only of four backpacking trips for me this summer with no rain. But man! was it ever humid! Tons of mosquitos!

Saturday morning we waited until around 10:30 for Soul, eNs and Scorch to show up, but decided to proceed to Yellow Dog Run and continue the wait for 'em there ...according to the plan. We ate lunch and hung out a while until PhantomSoul showed up. His report fills in the rest of the happenings. (Good job Soul! ...Thanks).

Scorch and eNs: Sorry youans didn’t make it very far, but it was nonetheless a pleasure to enjoy your company at the Loyalsock Inn for lunch on Sunday.

Oh, did I mention the mosquitos?

Scorch: That ghost pic is convincing. But are you sure you wasn't smokin' a cigar at the time? Hmmm... a ghost town nearby, grave-type mounds at your campsite, near full moon, whisps of spirit-plasma floating around.....

Nice to meet eNs.

It was Tim's first *real* backpacking trip.

Great trip folks! Thanks for being there." ~ M Silver.

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 "Msilver parked his car at the bottom of the Long Run trail so we could get back a bit earlier on Sunday. It was a good move and we were glad to get back to the trailhead at Masten by noon. I'm still scratching from mosquito bites from the hike and they were much worse than I expected. Next time, I'll be more prepared to deal with them. I think the high humidity really brought them out and this hike was one of the more humid hikes I've experienced. Luckily, it wasn't really hot, just very soupy and worse of all it spoiled the views on Sullivan Mountain. When we got to the top we were in a cloud with mist floating by. On the bright side it didn't rain like we thought it might. I didn't have any new homemade gear to try out on this hike, but MSilver did. He had a really cool single wall tent he designed that looked just great.

Hope your leg gets better Scorchfire and it was great seeing you and all my TT pals again." ~richb.

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"Old Friends on the Old Loggers Path

 

I got home from work on Friday, threw some gear together and set out around 7:30. I was over the river, through the woods and over at ScorchFire's house by 8:15, and soon we were off to Reading to pick up EarthNSky. We got to Reading around 9:30, picked up EarthNSky and were now off to Worlds End State Park to camp for Friday night.

We got to Worlds End State Park just a bit after midnight after taking some of EarthNSky's famous "shortcuts" (but hey, he didn't get us lost). Actually, it was kinda cool because his route took us through Centralia, one of PA's premier ghost towns, evacuated about 35 years ago due to an uncontrollable underground coal mine fire. But I digress; after pitching camp at Worlds End we hung out talking about this, that and everything in between until about 2:30 AM.

I was up at 7 AM the next morning and struck camp in hopes to be outta there and off to the Masten trail head for the Loggers Path by 7:30 to arrive by 8, but in reality, nothing ever goes as planned. We finally left Worlds End a little after 8, and after getting lost twice trying to find the Masten trailhead (the dirt roads kinda confused me; we don't have many of them in NJ), we set off on the Old Loggers Path a few minutes after 9.

The sun was shining; it was hot, humid and sticky. The air would just hang off of you like ornaments on an overdecorated christmas tree, but we set off anyway. Right from the get-go, the trail presented us with a good 1000-ft climb over the first 2 miles. I set myself an aggressive pace to see how quickly I could get up the climb, and EarthNSky kept up right behind. Scorch wasn't too far back, but at some point on that climb, she started to fall back, and eventually decided that she would not be able to complete the hike because her leg hurt and was pretty swollen from a past injury. What to do?

After a bit of deliberation and much insisting from Scorch, she decided to turn back and figure out someplace to camp nearby, while EarthNSky and I would continue on to catch up to M_Silver and RichB, who had a head start on us from the afternon before. I gave her my car keys in case she needed to seek medical help for her leg, as the swelling did not look good at all. A bit further up the trail, we stopped to discuss the plan of leaving Scorch by herself, and both of us agreed that was not a good idea. So after a bit more deliberation, we decided that EarthNSky would go back with Scorchie, and I would go on ahead to let M_Silver and RichB know the change of plans.

And so the fellowship had been broken, and just like that I had been reduced to solo.

A few hundred yards up the trail, I came across a register which I stopped to sign. Upon doing so, I noticed that M_Silver and RichB had signed in the day before, so they were indeed there and ahead of me. They also had a third person with them who singed himself as TimmyBoy. After signing the register, I decided to high-tail it down the trail pretty much as fast as I could without actually breaking into a trot, since the trail was pretty level from that point, as it mainly followed old road grades.

The next few miles were pretty much uneventful and unscenic as I pretty much just ripped through the long green tunnel that was the trail. I finally caught up to M_Silver, RichB and TimmyBoy at the base of the Yellow Run climb just as they were finishing up their lunch break. So we sort of extended that break a bit so I could eat lunch and a rest up a bit before we began the long, but not steep (remember, the trail is mostly on old logging road grades) climb up the Yellow Run ravine. However, that climb really managed to tire me out, as I had been booking it down the trail before that for several miles. When we got to the top, I was relieved to find out that the remainder of the hike to camp was all flat road grade. I was also presented with a bailout option to go back to Masten trailhead and check on ENS and Scorchie, but they had my car keys if they needed anything and me not really wanting to do a 5-mile roadwalk, I decided that I would camp with M_Silver et al that night. The plan was now to end the hike with them at the next road crossing where M_Silver had spotted his car, and then catch a ride with them back to the Masten trailhead and catch up with ENS and Scorchie.

So we set off, and soon came across an awesome lookout over the Rock Run valley, and hung out there for a bit while we just rested and took pictures. After that we set off and soon came across Doe Run, and then Buck Run. We had a little trouble finding a campsite at Buck Run, so we decided to wait at the woods road junction there for M_Silver to catch up and help us out. Turn out he found us the amazing campsite just off the trail in the woods that must not have been used yet this season. It had a fire ring, but was filled with dry leaves dating back to at least last fall. There was also no beaten path to the campsite, as we had to kinda bushwhack through the woods to get to it, but a nice campsite nonetheless.

I set my tent up under a little ash tree that made an excellent canopy over my tent, and soon the mosquitoes had caught up with us. So I decided to build a fire in hopes that its smoke would chase them away. TimmyBoy had already began to gather and break up wood. I got the fire going soon enough without even needing to blow at it; of course, M_Silver's firestarter helped out a lot. And yes, the smoke did run the mosquitoes out of town, but only if you sat immediately around the campfire. We made dinner, cleaned up, and sat around the campfire pretty late into the night as an almost-full moon rose up through the trees of the surrounding forest (the full moon is actually tonight) before retiring for the night. I was exhausted after hiking 12 miles on relatively flat terrain, but at a very aggressive pace.

We woke up early the next morning to a hazy fog, and it seemed like it was even more humid than the day before. As usual, I was the last one awake, but not the last one packed up and ready to go. Though, We did quickly strike camp, eat breakfast, pack up, and set off. The trail presented us with a nice little lungbuster to the top of Sullivan Mtn, which opened up to lovely view of the cloud that was surrounding us. It seems that I've developed a knack for finding views of clouds.

Oh well, C'est la Vie. We moved on and soon began the decent into the Pleasant Run Valley where the hike would end. We got to that trail head around 11 AM, much earlier than M_Silver had expected. We packed all our stuff into his car, got in, and headed up to the Masten trailhead about 4 miles up the road, where RichB had also left his car. When we got to Masten trailhead, there was no sign of Scorchie or ENS. What to do?

I walked around the area for a bit to see if I could find them hanging out somewhere nearby, but all my calls were left with no answer. Finally, with the help of a message sent via some day-hikers we ran into who were heading up the mountain, ENS and Scorchie came down off the mountain and our little party was reunited. After chaning into some cleaner clothes, before we all went our separate ways, we decided to celebrate with lunch at the Forksville Inn, which is rapidly becoming a local favorite of that area.

Afterwards, we said our goodbyes, and Scorch, ENS, and I were headed back downstate, where I would drop ENS off at his dad's store near Reading, and Scorch of at home near Philadelphia before finally crossing the river back home myself.

It's been a long and interesting trip, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Thanks to everyone for coming out, and even though we ended up splitting up, we came back around full circle and reunited in the end. Rock on, dudes!

PS I didn't take many pictures on this trip, but I will post the few that I have later tonight. Stay tuned!" ~PhantomSoul

 

Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/181291394mLXAfY

 

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Labor Day Party / Windsor Furnace Shelter / Hawk Mt. Dayhike 9/4/04 - 9/6/04: Trip Report by me.

 

"Saturday Morning

 

Deathmarch99 arrives at my house at 7AM from Indiana. Also calls me every 2 hours from 10pm Fri. night until his arrival Sat morning. Needless to say, we were both exhausted and went to bed when he got here until about noon when I woke up and let him continue to sleep.

 

Saturday Afternoon

 

People begin to arrive for the Labor Day Party. Drinking begins for me, Deathmarch, and a couple of my friends around 2:30pm.

 

Saturday Evening

 

Phantomsoul and EarthNsky arrive almost simultaneously around 6pm. Other friends have also arrived and the party has really begun. Drinking games are played. The "I have never..." game was played. What secrets were shared during this game will NEVER be posted on TT, haha.

 

The party was fun... lots of laughs. Phantomsoul left around 11pm to go to another party in NY that he was already 2 hours late for, while the rest of us decided to go to a club/bar and continue partying. 4 of us (me, EarthNsky, Deathmarch, and my friend Valerie) went to a nearby club and were basically the only ones on the dance floor the entire night. ENS bust out his "unique" (to say the least) dance moves and cracked us up the entire night.

 

Arrived back at my house around 2am and talked til about 3 or 4 am and then crashed.

 

Sunday Morning

 

Woke up around noon (we're all bums) and ate donuts and aspirin for breakfast. ENS, DM, and myself decided to set up a 10 person tent outback and see how nasty it was (I had left it in the attic after a rainstorm). It actually was fine... so DM and I planned on camping on the AT this night using the "Tent Mahal" and then dayhike Hawk Mt. Monday.

 

Sunday afternoon

Begin the car ride to Windsor Furnace Shelter.

Sunday evening

Still in the car looking for Windsor Furnace Shelter

Sunday night

Finally find Windsor Furnace Shelter thanks to Deathmarch's friend JohnBoy who posted a thread on TT for us. Also, special thanks to Fritz, Nigal, and ENS.

After forever searching for this damn shelter, we finally hiked in with this HUUUUUGE 10-person tent ("Tent Mahal") and lots of other car-camping gear. It was only about 0.7 miles in to the shelter, so it wasn't too bad, but carrying all this extra SH-T made it pretty annoying. Passing hikers the next morning must have thought we were nuts.

Set up tent, gasped in awe at size, ate, started a fire (or at least tried to - there was no wood to be found! I think Fritz used it up last time we camped here LOL).

Freaked ourselves out a little when orbs and weird sounds started appearing... especially the sound of metal clinking together at approximately midnight.

Roped a bear bag, went to bed in Tent Mahal around 2am.

Monday morning

Hike all this crap back out to my car only to find a freaking parking ticket! As if our luck hadn't been enough on the way here. Pretty much every car in the lot had a ticket on their window.

Finally got to Hawk Mountain around 11:30am (just a LITTLE later than we planned!). Started out at South Lookout, hiked the mile trail to North Lookout and took the Blue Trail down to the second junction of Golden Eagle Trail. Took Golden Eagle Trail down to the River of Rocks (ROR) Trail, and hiked the ROR Trail back up to South Lookout and back to the car.

An awesome dayhike. My leg completely gave out on me the last mile or so. By the end of the hike, I had to keep stopping every 20 feet or so. BLAH! Going to the dr's this Wednesday,.. hopefully nothing serious.

Saturday (early) evening

On the way home from Hawk Mt., we sat in traffic for 5 miles... 5 miles took us ONE HOUR to get through due to traffic on 78E.

Back at home and showered now and full of Papa John's (mmmm, carbs!)." ~ScorchFire.

Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/184548858xjKgVQ and

                   http://community.webshots.com/album/184551973HYDKMg

 

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Trip of the 3 Pine Barrenesses: Pine Barrens Trip Report. Wharton State Forest, NJ 10/2/04 - 10/3/04: Trip Report by me.

 

"I took my 2 friends backpacking for their first time,................. and it was fun!!!   Saturday Adrianna (newly dubbed "Tingles") and Jenn (newly dubbed "Smores") met at my house at 9:30am Saturday morning (a half hour late, mind you) and the fun began. The gals brought all of their stuff into my house and by the time I finished helping them pack their backpacks, it was approximately 10:30am,.. a lot later than we wanted to leave. After a slight "detour" on the NJ Turnpike, we arrived at the visitor's center of the Pine Barrens at 1:30pm to get our permits for the Lower Forge campsite on the Batona Trail. There was some freaky guy staring at us in the visitor's center and we thought he may try to kill us on the trail. Thank God he didn't follow ; ) We started hiking the Batona Trail (pretty pink blazes) by the Carranza Memorial and hiked the 7 miles to the Lower Forge Campsite. We only stopped for a quick snack break,.. we weren't too hungry because we had stuffed ourselves full of chocolate glazed donuts on the ride to the trail. Mmm,... Adrianna got her trail name of "Tingles" because we frequently had to take 1 minute breaks because her foot kept tingling and going numb from a previous injury. We got to camp around 5pm to find boyscouts had already taken over. We set up camp a little down the trail and cooked dinner (first time I ever had an Enertia meal.... it won't be the last! Damn better than that freeze dried crap). We attempted to start a fire, but all the wood was soaked due to an early morning rainfall and continued dampness/small showers throughout the day. Tingles grazed the woods with a little fertilizer (her first time pooping in the woods!) and a little later, the downpour began. We all squished into the "Tent Mahal" that Tingles and Smores lugged with them and played cards and drank some spirits. We shared some secrets and a lot of laughs until the rain stopped about an hour and a half later. The nerve nectar kicked in and we went to say hello to our friendly boyscout neighbors, who told us we were keeping them awake with our laughter (TOO BAD!). By this time it was about 9:30pm. All but 2 scouts and 2 troop leaders were asleep (they stated there were 8 of them all together and they had canoed in). This is the part where Jenn got her name. We roasted smores with the boyscouts and leaders and then all of a sudden Jenn got a huge whiff of smoke in her face and looked at Tingles and me and stated that she really wanted to go back to camp cause she suddenly got real tired. All of a sudden Jenn started smiling, her eyes rolled in the back of her head, and she passed out!!! Tingles and I grabbed her and helped her fall to the ground slowly as she passed out. Once Jenn fell to the ground, she looked at us and said, "I'm fine, guys," as if she had no idea why we were helping her to the ground. She didn't realize she passed out. We think the NJ Devil possessed her because she was smiling the whole time she was passing out. Weird stuff. After heading back to our camp after making sure "Smores" was okay, we decided her passing out must have been a combination of exhaustion, drinking, and the smoke from the fire that kept blowing in her face. We went to bed around 10:30pm and slept in until 9:30am.  Smores kept Tingles awake all night with her constant snoring (haha), while Tingles thought I was a raccoon in our camp because in the middle of the night I was making a lot of noise while searching for some Benadryl to make me tired because I couldn't sleep. We got on the trail around 11am and finshed the 7.5 mile hike (a little 1/2 mile detour when we weren't paying attention to the blazes) back to the car in about 3 hours or so. Towards the middle part of the hike, Tingles and Smores decided to throw in the towel and start b-tching about all their aches and pains and how tired they were, although they actually did an awesome job for their first trip and both said they can't wait to do it again. Oh,.. and besides the fact that Jenn decided to lay her pack on a huge fire anthole during a break. After we got back to the car, we took some pics and headed to the diner to gorge ourselves with pancakes, bacon, scrapple, and omlettes. All in all a great hike! They both decided they may opt to hook up on the "Goodbye Mr. and Mrs. Adventurist Trip" to Tom Jones Mt. in a couple weeks. WOOHOO!"  ~ScorchFire.   Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/195556303qBDXEM

 

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"Smashing Pumpkins on Tom Jones" Trip Report. Harriman State Park, NY 10/15/04 - 10/17/04: Trip Report by me, AmyG, Capn bobo, Treebeard.

 

 

"Trip Attendees: ScorchFire, Capn bobo, Mapleleaf, Treebeard, MarkO, Crash Bang, Adventurist, Mrs. Adventurist, AmyG and Asher doggie too!

Special Guest: Srul (newly dubbed "Soul Man" because no one could pronounce his name right and his name sounded like the word soul).

 

Friday night:

 

Capn bobo picked me up at my house around 7:30pm and we headed up to Harriman. MarkO was driving the Trees and Crash Bang (CB) from NYC to Harriman. The Capn and Scorch were hungry, so once we entered NY, we stopped at the Rhodes Bar (?) and had some eats and some drinks (and was yelled at for smoking in the bar... OOPS! Forgot NY's law).  We then met up with the Trees, MarkO, and CB at the trailhead to head up to Tom Jones Shelter for the night. By this time it was about 10:30pm or so. The rain started coming down real hard. It was impossible to see the trail. It was a pretty steep 400 foot climb to the top and then a little ways to the shelter. We pretty much tailgated for an hour hoping that the rain would let up. When it didn't and we couldn't find the shelter thanks to Bobo taking a quick peek up on the ridge, we opted for a hotel. Because all the hotels were booked up for some silly conference, we decided to head back to the trailhead and find the shelter. It's now midnight and the rain had finally let up.

 

We climbed up to the ridge (what a slippery mofo of a climb with all those darn wet boulders!) and after searching for a while, we found the shelter. I set up camp next to Tom Jones Shelter (I don't like sleeping in shelters) and everyone else set up in the shelter, too lazy to set up  : P  We had some drinks, some laughs, and then went to bed finally around 3:30am.

 

Saturday:

 

I woke up around 9am and since everyone was sleeping, I took the opportunity to just sit back and relax with my Luna bar, my smokes, my journal, and my comfy little campchair. I sat on the edge of the ridge that dropped down below and dangled my feet and just relaxed in the morning sun and wrote in my journal. Bobo was the next to wake, followed by Mapleleaf yelling at Bobo for laughing too hard, then the rest of the gang.... well, except CB who decided to be antisocial and park his tent a mile away and not hang out with us the previous night or Saturday night : P

 

Around 10:30am, Maple received a call from Adventurist saying that Twinks bailed (shocker) and that him, the Mrs., and AmyG would be to the shelter by 11am. They arrived pretty much on time and we sat around and talked for a while and decided what route we'd take for a dayhike.

 

Around 1pm, we all packed up and started hiking. Since Mapleleaf and I are on the injurred list, we decided it'd be best for us to do a short couple miles and pump everyone's water while the rest of the gang did their own thing. We split up and Maple and I went our own way.

 

Maple and I were the first back to the shelter since we didn't wander too far. Brrr, was it cold. We bundled up and sat talking in the shelter for a while until a visitor stumbled upon us! The one and only Srul (pronounced Srul) arrived. He is from Israel and staying with his sister in NYC for a while. Very interesting person. The guy had been on the trail for a week and we were the first people he ran into, so he was quite talkative. The most impressive thing was that he was mountain biking Harriman! No clue how he was managing that as the terrain is pretty rugged and steep in a lot of spots. He hung out with us the rest of the trip. He saw a bear on Bear Mountain while in Harriman and showed us photos. Very cool.

 

Around 5pm or so, the gang got back to camp minus Treebeard. A while passed by... where the hell was Stu??? He wasn't that far back from the gang who was gathering wood on the way back to camp. Adventurist went to look for him. By this time, the cold and pouring rain started up again. Adventurist returned... still no Treebeard. Adventurist and Mapleleaf headed back out to look for him again, followed by myself, AmyG, and Srul. Eventually Treebeard was located and we all headed back to the shelter to thaw him out by the fire. Apparently he had missed the turnoff to the shelter and kept walking on the trail. Then when he realized he had passed it, it was raining so hard he couldn't find the shelter and stayed put knowing that he'd be rescued by his fellow TTers! Way to go,Tree,.. now go back and collect your pile of wood ; )

 

 We started cooking dinner after Tree returned. After dinner, the real fun began! Me and Bobo packed in 3 small pumpkins that we surprised everyone with. When done eating, we carved them and made Jack-O-Lanterns! (see pics). They were most impressive. The drinking also began... another classic TT moment with stories and laughter. We'll leave it at that ; ) Some awesome photos were taken though, that's for sure.

 

Sunday:

 

Woke up at the ass crack of dawn and laid in my tent for a while trying to fall back to sleep while everyone decided it would be fun to watch the sunrise and chit chat right next to Scorchy's tent : P (bastards!).

 

Don't know what time it was when I finally got the nerve to crawl out of my warm bag into the freezing cold, but I immediately packed up and got ready to head out.

 

Everyone ate breakfast and took their time packing up since we were only going back down the mountain where we came in (about a 20 minute hike or so).

 

We hiked back to the cars and went to Orange Top Inn diner and ate a hearty breakfast.

 

We parted ways and wished the Adventurists good luck with their move to CO! It was great meeting you guys and hope to come out there to visit the Rockies one of these days and hike with you there. Also great to meet AmyG and Asher dog. You're a lot of fun, girl.

 

Bobo and I said goodbye and quickly departed. We were on a mission. The Eagles were on.

 

Awesome trip!" ~ScorchFire.

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 “Nice report & pics, Scorchie! It was great to get out and play this weekend - what a fun bunch! Always nice to see old TT friends and make some new ones.

This trip, though short, had it all... rain, shine, fall colors, falling TTers, missing TTers, TTers who wouldn't get lost... never a dull moment. Hmmm... should we even dare to mention the BP-Rag group? Skeeeery! =:0

I want to thank everyone for putting up with my hyena dog. This was his first trip, so, like Bobo, he is still learning group etiquette. He also really likes to snuggle... sorry for you shelter dwellers who got pounced. LOL

The pumpkins were great! Bobo does it again with his little surprises... he's the bestest (also thanks to Scorch for the pumpkin assist). I can't wait to see how the other pics turned out." ~AmyG.

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“Heh-roe! Hey Ho!

Let me first say...

E A G L E S !!!!!!!!

Secondly...

My Brain Hurtsssss

Great Trip! Good to see everyone, it was a blast!!! I'll try to get pics posted by tonight, it's gonna be a long Monday...

Great to be able to See Mr. and Mrs. Adventurist one more time before they head Westward-Ho! Above all, I will miss all the great times that Danielle and I have shared over the years... grade school, the Soph Hop, our first *kiss* and those countless trips into the mountains and endless talks around the fire. Jon? Yeah, I'll miss him too, I guess...

Looks like I lost my filter, I think it might have slipped behind/under the shelter. Oh well, with Trail Magic sometimes you find something and sometimes you give something away!

CONGRATULATIONS to our newest TT friend, ASHER the Wilderness Rescue Doggie! St. Bernard he's not (I'm concerned AmyG is not feeding him enuf), but I was working with him all weekend, he's got potential and the girls sure think he's cute!" ~Capn bobo.

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“Scorchy gave a pretty comprehensive TR, so I will just try and fill in some blanks. Before seeing her and Bobo on Friday night, the rain and timing of our departure threw us into an inordinately unusual traffic nightmare getting out of New York. We wound up being a few hours later than planned. So, the rain decided to get heavy around the time of our arrival at the trailhead, hence the little "tailgate party" prior to hiking up. Those rocks were really slippery, so going up was a cautious endeavor, to say the least. But, we made it.

Saturday's hike was a really fun outting. It was good to see the Adventurists and Amy G (Asher Dog, too) as it had been quite a while since seeing them. The route had its share of climbs and descents. Harriman has a fair amount of very picturesque overlooks, too, as evidenced by a few of Amy's pics. The weather held out, for the most part, until my adventure around the conclusion of the hike, that is. On the last climb up to the top where the shelter is, I got separated from Mark-O and Amy G and wound up off the trail momentarily. I realized it almost immediately and remedied it by going back to the last blaze. But, at that point, I found that I lost those two. The rain was starting to become a downpour at this time and visibility was diminishing and it was approaching nightfall, to boot. A little weary at this time, I guess I wandered too far as I couldn't find the landmark that would tell me I had hiked far enough and I should simply look to the right and spot the shelter. Instead, I trod on and started to descend from the top. Knowing this was definitely incorrect, I turned back a little. Almost slipping on one of those large, wet rocks, I decided to drop the wood as conditions were getting a little worriesome. I called out for someone to hear, but to no avail. This kept up for what I estimate at about 20-30 minutes. I was resigned to staying put on the trail, figuring that would be my best chance of being spotted. Sure enough, Adventurist came through and found me shortly there after. Thank you, man! You were a welcome sight! Maple was with him and they led me back to the shelter where we started up a blazing fire. Felt good as I was pretty wet at that time.

Some awesome chili to follow along with some of Bobo's hot TNT. That really hit the spot, Capn! Lots of laughs and good times to follow that night.

We slept in the shelter again that night as the rain got into the tents a bit. At one point, I got up to purge the old bladder and when I came back, Asher dog had decided to inhabit my sleeping bag. I tried to him him the quiet heave-ho, but he wasn't having any of that. Matter of fact, he growled and then tried to nip at me. So, I tried it again. He did it again! The third time, I think he got the message and he moved, reluctantly. Good dog!!

It was a great trip. Jon and Danielle, we will miss having you guys in the area here. But, I know that you will be happy where you are going and I wish you two the best. You are wonderful folks. Best of luck to you.

As for the rest of you eightballs, it was a pleasure and I am sure our paths will cross again soon enough! Great trip, guys. I loved it...” ~Treebeard.

 

Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/201807591iIghJr and

                      http://community.webshots.com/album/201921206VKHmkC and

                      http://community.webshots.com/album/202368045WhYRaD

 

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Savannah, GA 11/6/04 - 11/7/04: Trip Report by me.

 

“Arrived at Gina's house at 5:30am  on Saturday to head to the Philadelphia airport. Caught flight to Savannah, GA at 7:45am and landed approximately 10am.

Went to Carly's Diner to get some breakfast. Had my first bowl of real grits! Decided it was best to avoid all diets the rest of the weekend.

After breakfast, went to visit the downtown squares of Savannah, where I took lots of pictures of historical houses. We also took a tour of the Mercer House - built by General Mercer in the 1800s (great-grandfather of Johnny Mercer, the songwriter) and eventually owned by James Williams.

If anyone's seen the movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," then they'll understand the pictures. The movie, in a nutshell, is about James Williams, an extremely wealthy antique dealer who owned and restored many of Savannah's main estates. He lived in the Mercer House and had a young lover named Danny Hansford (I accidentally deleted the picture of his grave!) They get in an argument one night and Jim shoots Danny dead... in self defense (?). The movie is about the trial and life of James Williams.

Well, this trip became focussed on the movie after the tour of the Mercer House, which by the way is still "as is" since the 1800s when it was built and still furnished "as is" when James lived there.

We pretty much took pictures and viewed all the historical figures that were involved in the true story/movie on both Saturday and Sunday. The historical estates in this town are absolutely amazing. We also took pictures of one of the most haunted estates in the country - the Hampton Lillibridge House (see pics). It's been focused on in many ghost documentaries on TV. James Williams also owned this house and actually had it exercised. No one is allowed to tour the house, unfortunately.

We stayed in Gina's friends' guesthouse. Their house was an absolute mansion. Gorgeous. I've never stayed in something so "money." I was afraid to touch anything LOL.

Something to note: Savannah's crime scenes are nothing out of ordinary life! On the way to the airport on Sunday, we were looking for a gas station to fill up the rental car. We pulled up to pump number 3 at a gas station on Waters Road and I get out of the car to go inside to pay. I walk up to the door and see 3 cops standing there with a detective dusting for fingerprints on the glass door! Apparently, I had unknowingly walked into a crime scene... no police tape anywhere, no signs saying "closed," or anything. The female cop politely told me that they were closed for "another few minutes." I practically ran back to the car. Very different than they would have done things up here. Just an observation.

The people down there were very friendly and I'd definitely go back again... this time longer than 36 hours. All the driving around and flights did a number on me. I was exhausted by time I got home. All in all, a very informative trip!” ~ScorchFire.

 

Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/214226436Dxxnrf and

                      http://community.webshots.com/album/214228765pDdPNk

 

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"An Angel Saved Our Lives" Trip Report. Harriman State Park, NY 11/13/04 - 11/14/04: Trip Report by me, Mapleleaf.  

 

"We didn't go to Tom Jones Mt.... I forget the name of the shelter we stayed at.... Mapleleaf has all the info.

We only wanted to do a quick overnighter with no other people because it was Bailey's (my dog) first backpacking trip and I wasn't sure how'd she react with a group.

Our near death experience after the hike:

 

There was about 3 inches of snow on the ground at Harriman this weekend when we were hiking. On the way driving out of Harriman State Park, we came 3 feet of sliding backwards off a cliff (ridge). It was the scariest moment of my life. I lost control of the steering wheel and we were sliding backwards and sideways and the wheels were spinning.  I quick turned off the car, yanked up the emergency break and told Nora to get herself and the dog outta the f'ing car. The car was still sliding a foot or so even while it was turned off. I was afraid to get outta the car for fear my car would roll off the ridge. We called 911 and about 20 minutes later a ranger came and even HE could barely get to us with his truck; he was sliding everywhere and got stuck in a ditch. Along came this guy out of NO where before the ranger came  (no gear, no water, no nothing) who had been hiking who helped us push the car straight instead of being on an angle and backed the car down the hill (about a mile or so). It took almost a half hour. 

This was one of the scariest things I'd ever been through. It doesn't sound like much in words, but coming close to sliding off a HUGE cliff (with NO guardrails) and there being nothing u can do, it was the closest thing I came to having a near death experience.” ~ScorchFire.

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 “In the darkness an angel will come forth.

That's all I can think of about what happened.

Like Scorch said, it is different when it is put into words.

We had just left the Silver Mine parking area, having just hiked up to Stockbridge Mt. via the Minomine Trail (yellow blazes) and the Long Path (green blazes). (I do not have any maps with me and trying to do this by memory).

Scorch was trying to get me to the train station at Tuxedo Park to catch the 12:00pm train home. We made a wrong turn at the circle by Fingerboard Mt. We ended up on Ardenville Rd., that we found out is not maintained by the park. We were doing fine til we hit black ice and then thats when God put us to the test.

 

We were crawling up the hill and then started to slip and slide. Then Scorch's car started going backwards and then starting sliding towards the cliff backwards.  She tried to steer out of it but was unable to do it because of the ice.
She pulled the emergency brake and it still did not stop. She manage to get control of the car and made it stop but everytime she took her foot off of the brake it would slide more.

 

Then the car stopped. Within seconds, Scorch yelled for the doggie and me to get out of the car and call 911 (she thought about this before I even had a chance to think about it).

Me and doggie were out in a flash.

 

Then out of nowhere, this guy was walking, no water, no nothing. Joe stayed with us the entire time. This man has earned himself a seat next to God! Once the park ranger (yes, 911 sent a park ranger and not the emergency unit) came they managed to get the right side of the car lined up straight with the road. Oh and the ranger did this by just pushing the car's rearend. Thats how icy it was.

 

Side note: I told 911 that we were on Seven Lakes Drive, but our trail angel Joe told us we were not. If he had not been there, I am afriad to think what would have happened to us and how long we would have to stay they.
We were cold and tired, but we are still here!

I am so tired because of no sleep last night. this is something I will not forget for a long time. Too close to death for me.” ~Mapleleaf.

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“You forgot to add in the fun details of our trip...  so i'll just add them and call it a trip report:

We got up to Stockbridge Mt. and planned on camping out at the cave (there are several caves near the shelter that u can camp in), but some jerks heard us talking about camping in the cave and quickly jumped in front of us to get there first while we were still resting at the shelter. So we decided to just stay at the shelter and do a quick hike over to the caves later on to check them out.

We cooked, let the doggie eat, met some other dayhikers who shared their yummy peanut butter crackers with us and then took some pictures of the sunset. Right before it got completely dark, we hiked over to the caves, and said hello to our neighbors who jumped at the chance to get the cave even when we said we were camping there (but I'm not bitter or anything). They had packed in 2 cases of beer, a bottle of vodka, a bottle of jack d., and a bottle of coke. They were hiking in sneakers and jeans and their packs weighed I think he said 50-60 lbs each!

We hiked back and just pretty much chilled out all night and had some spirits. I developed a headache that turned into a migraine by 8pm so I went to bed pretty early. Around the same time my migraine developed, we had a drunken visit by 2 of our cave neighbors. That just topped off my headache. They were so loud, drunk, and obnoxious, that a half hour later (8:30pm) I was in my tent with the dog trying to go to sleep. Mapleleaf was short to follow.

Sunday morning we woke up around 9 and took our time packing up. We were back on trail about 10:15pm. We only had about 2 miles to the car or so.

That's where Nora's above trip report comes into play.

We got Joe's address after he helped us out. I'll be sending him some flowers or chocolate or something in the mail to say thank you sometime this week.

Had a great trip with a scarey ending that I hope I  never have to go through again. Just glad that everyone is safe.” ~ScorchFire.

 

Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/216913953iabDht and

                      http://community.webshots.com/album/218025429CgoGvD

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"Batman luke's first Trip Report!" Pine Barrens in Wharton State Forest, NJ 11/29/04 - 11/30/04: Trip Report by me & Batman Luke.

“Scorch and I woke up about 7:30am on Monday morning and ate a quick breakfast of cereal and grits with a quick fix of pumpkin pie ; )

Got on the road about 8:15am to head up to the Pine Barrens. Found out that the PA Turnpike workers were on strike and were charging a flat rate of $2 no matter which ramp you got on (whatta jip in our case).

After a gruesome 1.5 hour drive, we arrived at the Batsto Visitor's Center at the Pine Barrens in NJ. We signed up for a night of car camping at the Batona Campsite, bought some firewood, since it's now legal to have a fire at this campsite, and trucked another half hour over to the site. (We opted for car camping since Scorch cannot hike on her knee for ~2 months or so).

We set up "Tent Mahal" (Scorch's ROOOOOOOMY 10 person mansion of a tent) and brought along the Hennessey Hammock for comfort and our new 2 person Mountain Hard Wear Light Wedge tent. It was the first time we've been camping together (awww) so we wanted to set up our first tent to test it out. After we set up camp, we gathered some firewood, got a fire started, and ate some Enertia meals. After deciding that we didn't need to eat backpacking meals while car camping, we made a looooong trip to the closest deli and got some hoagies (nasty ones at that).

We hung around camp, kept the fire going, talked, ate dinner, (no drinking!), yadda yadda yadda, went to bed.

Around 1am, just as we were drifting to sleep, Scorch heard a truck that sounded like it was stuck in the sand and closeby. We then heard voices that were arguing (males). Scorch got scared (DID NOT!) and after about 10 minutes the truck must have gotten freed of the sand and sped off with yelling voices trailing.

Woke up around 9am or so.... ate, started a fire, made another food run since we were planning on staying another night, and chilled out. Scorch made a phone call to see what the weather would be like for the night and when we found out it was supposed to rain, we opted to head out instead of staying.

Packed up and headed out around 3pm or so.” ~Batman luke & ScorchFire.

 

Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/225320185fxpFJj

 

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"Scorchy Went Texan!" Mineola, TX 12/2/04 - 12/5/04: Trip Report by me& Batman Luke.

 

“Got back today from a 4 day trip to see Batman luke's parent's in Mineola, TX.

It was a lot of fun.

Quick trip report (although no hiking involved, there was still quite a bit of outdoor activities :) )

Thursday: Arrived in Mineola around 7pm, ate dinner, met up with the family, took a walk around the lake that's connected with their property.

Friday: Batman luke took me on a tour of the town, met his sister for lunch at a Mexican restaurant (first time I ate Mexican food... yuck!) Also went on a boat ride on Lake Holbrook with his parents and brother. Saw 2 Bald Eagles during the ride. Apparently, there's a nest of them somewhere near the lake. Also, this was the first day I ever shot a gun! We were shooting at targets down by the lake and then fed the cows. Guess I'm a real hillbilly now : )
For dinner the whole family and us went out to yet another Mexican restaurant (YUCK!!!).
After dinner, we went back to the house and down by the lake we had a bonfire and lots of firecrackers (I was not amused, those things scare the crap outta me).

Saturday: Went fishing at the pond on their property. YOURS TRULY caught the biggest fish. Went mudding (see pics). Went paintballing. I am now the owner of a paintball gun. WOOHOO! Watch out on backpacking trips, it is pretty lightweight. And, damn, do those things hurt. Afterwards, spent an hour and a half washing the truck, then went back home and had a huge dinner followed by game night and beer drinking.

Sunday: Ate donuts for breakfast and headed to the airport for a flight back to Philly. Home boring home.

PS - "Y'all" is my new favorite word." ~ScorchFire & Batman luke.

Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/227860114rebHcK

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Hawk Mountain: A quick dayhike. Kempton, PA 12/12/04: Trip report by me.

“Me and batman luke went up to Hawk Mountain to do a very short dayhike (only 2 miles due to my knee problems). We hiked from the visitor's center to South Lookout then to North Lookout and down to the Blue Trail. We ate lunch off the Blue Trail and then headed back. Stopped by Cabella's on the way back to browse. Boy, was it crowded with Christmas shoppers. Luke had his first funnel cake here.... at an outfitter store, wtf?" ~ScorchFire.

Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/231205679ozlaBM

 

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 "The Savage and The Drunk" Trip Report. Wharton State Forest (Pine Barrens), NJ 12/30/04 - 12/31/04: Trip Report by me.

 

"Thursday, December 30, 2004

I left work around 2:30pm and went home to gather all my stuff and leave to meet Mapleleaf at the Batona Campsite in the Pine Barrens (Wharton State Forest). Left my house around 4pm and got there around 6pm. Mapleleaf still hadn't even gotten home from work to pack and leave yet, so I was up for a few hours by myself. It was pitch dark by the time I got there so I set up camp with my headlights from my car. Took my time since I knew I'd be bored for a little while. After setting up, I ate some dinner, and then started a fire, which was roaring after about 10 minutes. Pretty good wood. I basically just sat around and enjoyed nature while waiting for her to show up.

Mapleleaf finally arrived at 9:15pm and joined the party. From being alone for so long, I joked with her that I became a savage and that she better watch her back. When she pulled up, I was sitting practically in the fire carving a stick to roast my weiner on (the hot dog kind). She said I looked scarey.

We ate some hot dogs, talked a bunch and she got drunk.... hence the title of the trip report. I didn't enjoy the spirits... law of the South Beach Diet. No alcohol for 2 weeks. I'm sure I'll survive. I had a blast either way.

Friday, December 31, 2004

Slept in and finally got out of our tents around 10am or so. Cooked some eggs with mushrooms, sausage, and canadian bacon and enjoyed breakfast.

When Mapleleaf decided to turn her car on she realized her battery was dead... DOH! She apparently had left the dome light on all night without realizing it. She flagged down a truck that happened to be riding by the dirt road that was nearby to help her jump the car. Larry and Pop were their names... from Alabama and proud of it! When Maple showed them her digital camera, Larry says to Pop, "Oh, hey, Pop, it's one of them digitals." I guess ya had to be there.

Anyway, to make a long story short, they jumped her car, packed up, burnt our trash, and rode home our separate ways.

Awesome night for my last bag night of the year! Here's to more in 2005.” ~ScorchFire.

 

Pictures:  Coming soon!

 

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 "The Return of the Blair Witch" Trip Report. Appalachian Trail, MD 1/14/05 - 1/16/05: Trip Report by Stratusloop, techntrek, Squilax.

"A rare occassion.....

 

Most of my trip reports are generally of an extensive nature and usually archived for personal safekeeping. It’s quite peculiar how over the years my trip reports evolved from a simple account of factual events. In fact, my very first trip report amounted to a half a page of scribbled lines mainly consisting of usual facts like the date, place, mileage and weather conditions. I’ve learned to cultivate a more sophisticated report. It's become an integrated process where I now weave into my writing inner thoughts and attempt to draw out a deeper significance. That being said, I wanted to share an excerpt:

It was inevitable; the night would finally come face to face with a cold fact: all the alcohol had been consumed. Most of the time, it’s an obvious signal to bail to the confines of the warm cocoon awaiting entry that we call a sleeping bag. But since this was no ordinary adventure, where we were embedded deep into the wilderness, we had the unusual circumstance of having access to a car within reasonable hiking distance. Not recalling how the idea came to fruition, Luke and Mark decided on a midnight run. Apparently, there was a stash of firewater left behind. Ah, the party isn’t quite over, there’s still some drinking to be done! This “run” required hiking off South Mountain, down an unmarked trail, which passes thru a streambed that cuts thru a steep hollow. This had to be completed with only the aid of a headlamp and more importantly, negotiating the wicked buzz caused by whatever poison had been ingested. The roundtrip hike was estimated to be a couple of miles. The noble men grabbed their headlamps, a pair of hiking poles and disappeared into the darkness. We said “see ya in few”.

The camp fire began to wane, along with the much needed radiating heat. After an undetermined amount of time, Mark suddenly materialized from the dark forest. However, he was unaccompanied by his cohort; Luke. Halfway down the mountainside, Mark decided to turn back. Fatigued from the trek back to camp and in an exhausted voice, he explained his rationale; he feared that he had not the ability to make the roundtrip in his current state of mind. I began to wonder if the value of whatever firewater Luke could salvage was worth the trouble. Saying to myself, I sure hope his efforts yield a respectable treasure, not for me but for everyone else’s sake. However, I do recall saying I’d have some later.

Several minutes meandered by noticeably. The night was nearing its apex. The desires to retire to dreamland were demanding. However, these thoughts would have to be suppressed; Luke hadn’t returned from his journey into the dark woods. After all the Blair Witch was within a stones throw from our location. But seriously, deep inside, I began to wonder if he was OK and I could sense Melissa was hiding her true feeling of the same nature. And so, the fire dwindled to a point that it needed to be fed or left alone to burn out. With a few hardy strokes of the saw, a couple of logs were consumed by the smoldering embers. Sitting across from the fire, I sensed the anxiety Melissa was hiding. I moved from my position around the fire to stand alongside her, besides the wind shifted, altering the smoke’s course towards me and my eyes could no longer cope with the burning sensation. In retrospect, unseen at the time, I believe this was a signal sent from a holy being. Some how I was hoping I could ease her mind but what could be said; nothing. I stood silently understanding her concerns. I had dreaded visions of a midnight rescue expedition under profound duress. She became antsy and commented she was about to venture out into the unknown depths of darkness.

And so my personal story comes to its pinnacle. I closed my eyes and said a prayer asking the Lord to return Luke safe and sound, so that we could continue this peaceful gathering among friends of the wilderness.

Several moments passed, five minutes at most and faintly I began to see a flickering light emanating between the dark silhouettes cast by the trees lurking within the gloomy forest. The light became more prevalent with each passing second. The concern I bestowed began to fade and finally a body emerged from the shadowy brush. Unbeknownst to anyone, I had produced a tear, and once again, I experience another spiritual awakening in the wilderness. My faith in the Lord overcame me with a feeling indescribable. So much so, I half fell from the rock I was standing on. I gave Mark an excuse that I lost my balance and blamed it on my unstable booties.

Anyhow, Luke returned fatigued from his arduous trek with the much anticipated treasure in hand; a half filled small nalgene of firewater. I felt obligated to take a swig or two; again after all I did say I’d have some later. Well this was later and I drank several mouthfuls. And it was excellent! Luke, you’re a good man and your heart and soul are blessed. I hope Melissa realizes these traits. And if nobody else told you, thank you for carrying all that firewood up to the campsite. I certainly appreciated your effort. And on a much lighter note; thanks for my first and only experience with flaming farts!

Anyhow…this will be where I end my store; again an excerpt from my trip report. The residual, which is rather lengthy, will have to remain archived unless I get a special request. I have no interest in boring the masses.” ~Stratusloop.

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"a.k.a. Farts really do light – but wear clothing

 

I was nominated to write the trip report, so here it is, for your reading pleasure.

After much finagling, bartering, and sacrifices to various Pagan gods, the day of the trip was at hand. The goal: hitch a ride with Squilax and MarkO to the woods near Boonsboro, MD in hopes of seeing the Blair Witch, and most certainly to freeze our collective tits off. At least we hoped for some cold weather - it was 70 just the day before (Thursday)! The plan was for Squilax to show up at my office at 2, with MarkO in tow.

But the Blair Witch had other plans. An overturned vehicle on 83 north of the MD line left Squilax in limbo for several hours. And me sitting at my computer at work in my fresh trail clothes, getting strange looks from all the non-hiking coworkers around me. (You’re going out in cold to do *what*? And there are others that will be out in the cold with you? You better believe it.) Finally after a 4-hour delay, I got the call that made me smile. They had arrived.

A short hour drive west on 70 left us in the Parking lot of the Old South Mountain Inn, a historical structure built in 1732 and passed through many owners over the years (including the Dahlgren family). We knew others were already waiting so we loaded up and headed down the short access road to Dahlgren Backpacker’s Campsite. No hot showers or toilets for us since the bathhouse is closed over the winter - but none of us came for the wusy creature comforts anyway. Spam was already in attendance and had a nice fire going. After a little get-to-know-ya chat the rest of us set up camp and met back at the fire to warm our hands. We knew dinner would need to be found soon since it was now past 8. We considered the Inn, but it was priced for larger wallets than ours so we headed out to Boonsboro for the next best thing: Subway!

Back at the ranch, now with stomachs full, we all enjoyed the company and some booze. But not all the booze. Oh no, the best was yet to come, tomorrow. Others arrived including PhantomSoul, Batman Luke, ScorchFire, and StratusLoop. The group was almost complete. It was finally lights-out for the latest night owls at around 1:30 am. And it definitely wasn’t warm anymore - it went down to 23 as we slept.

Spam was up early, and I joined him by 8. After several calls to wake up the masses we pretty much gave up, figuring that one of us would meet the rest of the masses when they arrived at 9 in the parking lot. But, soon after some heads appeared and stoves started firing up for some hot drinks and food. Or at least PhantomSoul tried - it took a crowd of 4 to work out the bugs in his new stove but eventually it fired up. The last few people showed up (Stephen, now montecristo, Bison, and Embear) so we were ready to go.

On the trail by 9:30? I don’t think so. After getting a round of coffee, finding the endpoint (I-70 & 40) to drop some cars, and loading up at the start point (near Cowall shelter) it was closer to 12:15! But, with only 4 1/2 miles planned for the day there wasn’t any rush. We had one big uphill for the first half mile and then an easy, level 4 miles to Pogo Campsite. Oh yeah, there was that stretch of ”effen rocks”, as Squilax put it. Just a taste of the PA rocks farther north. Probably put there by the Witch just to piss us off. Squilax, montecristo and I hung back to have lunch while watching PhantomSoul mount a rock scramble TWICE. He got back to the trail just in time to realize his gloves were sitting at the top, so back up he went as we dug into our bagels and peanut butter (or at least that’s what I had). Montecristo and I took off down the trail to find and make camp. At about the time we wondered where the camp was, out of the corner of our eye MarkO’s construction-orange tee-pee beckoned from the left. We were at camp! Squilax and PhantomSoul stumbled in soon after, with the same observation. MarkO’s shelter was hard to miss. Finding a flat spot at the camp wasn’t easy, but not too hard either.

Pretty soon the group was gathered at the lower fire ring as I lit the fire that would eventually keep us - and another group - warm for the night. Gotta love a good fire! Spam whipped up some trail magic for the group by making spam-and-egg burittos for everyone that wanted one. A great appetizer to start off the evening meal, thanks Spam.

We all settled in around the campfire. The Witch dished out some more cold from her left tit so we stuck our feet in the fire and grabbed our bottles and bladders of spirits to ward it all off. ScorchFire announced she would “rather eat sh*t” than drink Rumple Minz. Batman Luke proved that farts really do light. And then the other group appeared. Turns out that a high school group, with the help of two Navy-trained gents, had spent the last 3 hours trying to get their camp fire lit and were there to see if they could warm their 23-degree hands by our fire. Of course we were glad to help, so we all stepped back to let them in to the ring for a while. As we all held our breath, hoping the alcoholic cloud emanating from the group didn’t poison the young ‘uns. MarkO came to the rescue and by breathing on their wood and lighting a fart managed to get their fire going in 10 minutes, so back up to their own fire they went. Soon the booze ran out and Batman Luke and MarkO decided (in their drunken state) that a run back to Scorch’s car at 9 o’clock at night, in the cold, and dark, and while drunk, would be good. Hey, sounded fine to us. Off they went, and about the time they were expected back MarkO appeared. No Batman Luke. MarkO let reason take over and decided it was time to turn back, but Batman Luke continued in the quest for more Fire Water. Just as we started to worry, he appeared back in camp. Unfortunately the party was already winding down, but the additional booze was put to use before the group made its way into their bags in ones and twos.

Sunday morning, 23 degrees again. Bring on the cold, baby! Due to the prior evening’s events, no one was up before 9 and even some weren’t up closer to 11. Breakfasts were made, camp was struck in spots, and plans were made to get people back home. Initially the idea was to hit a diner somewhere, but since everyone was headed off in 3 different directions, that didn’t happen. Maybe next year. And maybe next year we’ll see how cold the other (right) tit leaves us. Maybe we’ll get some snow? It did snow all over the area Sunday night, and wind chills dropped into the negatives, so we just missed it. Next year.

It was wonderful finally meeting some of the people I have ta --------------------

 

BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

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And that's where technology royally FUCKED me in the ass...

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I apparently lost my trip reports from January 2005 to August 2007 when I was trying to edit this page. I've been on a tremendous amount of trips since then but have no trip reports to show for them since they were lost. I do, however, have some picture links still saved, so here you go:

 

Blair Witch Hike for the last trip report above:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/252467601RpkGgL

 

Rickett's Glen State Park Dayhike with Luke: February 12, 2005:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/272551227CCrDNc

 

Backpacking Harriman State Park, NY with Jeff: October 14 - 15, 2006:
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/ScorchFire7/HarrimanOctober14to15th2006/

 

Backpacking Harriman State Park, NY with Bailey dog: May 26, 2007:
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/ScorchFire7/HarrimanWithBaileyMay26th2007/

 

Aruba (family trip & best friend Jeanine & brother's girlfriend Gretchen): October 2007:
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/ScorchFire7/ArubaOct2007/

 

Clearwater Beach, FL with Valerie: November 29 - December 2, 2007:

http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/ScorchFire7/ClearwaterBeachNov2007/

 

Poconos Trip (rented a cabin with a bunch of friends): June 2007:
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/ScorchFire7/PoconosJune2007/

"The Irate Pirates of the DE River!" Kayaking weekend trip: June 2007:
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/ScorchFire7/KayakingTripJune2007/

 

Kayaking Lake Galena with Valerie: June 16, 2007:
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/ScorchFire7/KayakingLakeGalenaJune16th2007/

 

River Country Kayaking on the DE: July 7, 2007:
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/ScorchFire7/RiverCountryKayakingJuly7th2007/

 

Kayaking Lake Galena with Michele: August 11, 2007:
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/ScorchFire7/KayakingLakeGalenaAug11th2007/

Kayaking the NE DE River with Kaiti & Zac: August 2007 (weekender):
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/ScorchFire7/KayakingTripAugust2007/

 

Kayaking the NE DE River with Zac and Adam: September 2007 (weekender):
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/ScorchFire7/KayakingTripSept2007/

 

Hawk Mountain Dayhike with Valerie: Janury 12, 2008:
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/ScorchFire7/HawkMountainJan12th2008/

 

EMS Snowboarding Demo at Bear Creek: January 25, 2008:
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/ScorchFire7/SnowboardingBearCreekJan25th2008/

 

EMS Snowboarding Demo at Bear Creek with Zac, February 8, 2008:

http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/ScorchFire7/SnowboardingBearCreekFeb8th2008/

 

Taking 2 Snowboarding Virgins Snowboarding (& having 1 crack their ankle)! Bear Creek: February 16, 2008:
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/ScorchFire7/SnowboardingBearCreekFeb16th2008/

Snowshoeing with Leanne at Kemper Park: February 22, 2008:
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/ScorchFire7/SnowshoeingFeb22nd2008/

 

EMS Campout at High Rocks State Park, PA: April 11 - 12, 2008:
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/ScorchFire7/HighRocksEMSApril11th2008/

 

Backpacking Harriman State Park, NY with Zac and meeting up with Nora: May 17, 2008:
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/ScorchFire7/BackpackingHarrimanMay17th2008/

 

 

There's so many more links from so many trips between 1/05 and 2007 but I just don't remember where I saved them to on Webshots or Photobucket and I wish I still had them, but unfortunately they're lost somewhere on Cyberspace   It literally made me fucking SICK  when the page deleted in front of my eyes. Thankfully my friend Zac helped me recover some of the page, otherwise we'd be looking at an ENTIRE empty page instead of saving some of it (he saved from 2003 to 1/05 - thanks again, Z).

 

 

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Clearwater Beach, Florida: May 29, 2008 to June 2, 2008

 

"Sorry, no trip report; too long to type! We had an absolute blast. Met up with a ton of different people including a bunch of guys from Louisiana. Our motto after the trip became "Brotherly love meets Southern Comfort." Ahh, what a blast!"

 

Pictures: http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/ScorchFire7/ClearwaterBeachMay29thToJun2nd2008/

 

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Backpackers never die, they just trade in their boots.