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Back on July 12th, I posted with great enthusiasm about a recent re-hike of the Burroughs Range in the Catskills. This was awesome, but a killer for me. I'm pretty out of shape. Nevertheless, I packed light and planned to make the same 15 mile day-hike I had done years ago, into a two-day hike. I thought it'd be fun to take my time and enjoy it over a couple days at a leisurely pace. However, it was super hot, humid and muggy. I ended up putting in a good 10 miles on the first day because I couldn't decide on a good camping spot, and for a while had to hike until a legal site was available (There's no camping over 3,500'). And I got tired. Really tired. At times I thought someone would probably find my body (my sweaty, out of shape body) collapsed over a rock cairn; two empty Nalgene bottles at my side. Someone would say: "Geez, this guy was in rough shape! ...See if he's got any change in his pockets." Nevertheless, I traversed Wittenberg, Cornell and Slide Mountains and made it out with only the loss of one Teva. I am sure someone scratched their head upon finding only one Teva sandal on the trail. 

In a couple of weeks I'll be backpacking in PA with two of Debbie's brothers.  We'll be hiking parts of the Black Forest Trail in the Tiadaghton State Park.  I'm pretty stoked!  I haven't gone backpacking in over three years.  Wow, I hate to even think about that sad fact... typing it makes me feel even worse.  But that's life; it gets busy.  While, perhaps, I haven't been doing one particular thing that I really enjoy, I sure as hell have been doing others.  But anyway, it's going to be great to be out in the woods again, trekking along, choosing my own adventure via map & compass and wearily falling asleep, in a swaying hammock with a million stars above me.  As pumped as I am to be back out there, I'm equally pumped to be connecting with Debbie's brothers a little more.  This trip is an all-around fantastic idea.

Camping with some of the fellas from work. I took my hammock for a three night stint in the middle of PA. We cooked some amazing meals over the fire place, and on the flat "cooking rocks" in it's perimeter wall. It was epic.

While camping we skewered six chickens with birch limbs. We stuffed a half a stick of butter and a handfull of onion chunks inside each bird and let them cook for a few hours. The onions came out tasting like root beer (from the birch limbs). It was amazing.

Ribs! Yes, we also cooked ribs. We used a screwgun to screw them to the birch limbs, then wrapped them in place with lengths of safetywire. This kept them from spinning off the limbs when we turned them. Man Cooking.

New truck. Yes, I bought a new truck. It's a 2014 Chevy Silverado with a Rocky Ridge package installed. 20" rims, 35" Mickey Thompsons, a 6" ProComp suspension lift kit, custom grill and fender flares. It's got an 8 cylinder 355 horse power engine under the hood and it's a blast to drive. No, I'm not really concerned about my MPG. My work commute is only 7.5 miles.

Debbie and I spent a weekend in Gettysburg at a sweet Bed & Breakfast (The Brafferton Inn) which I highly recommend to anyone looking for a great, historic, place to stay in Gettysburg.  We took a horseback tour of Cemetery Ridge and traversed a few battlefields.  Lots of fun and enlightening. 

I am an Eagle Scout. But, there was a time when I hated being in the Boy Scouts and just wanted out. I had a hard time getting along with some of the kids in the troop that acted insane and didn’t seem to want to learn anything (Not that I behaved like a saint myself, but I sure didn’t act out the way others did). Looking back, I realize that kids are just kids and they act out according to whatever situation they’re going through. Some of the kids in my troop didn’t have the most ideal home life; who knows. At any rate, I wanted to quit many times. This desire to abandon the troop grew stronger and stronger as I went through high school and became more interested in driving and girls than anything else. But, my father made me stick to it, and follow through. I earned my Eagle Scout rank the summer of my seventeenth birthday and have been glad I did ever since. To this day it is listed in the education section of my resume.

As an Eagle Scout, and as someone who enjoys all things “old timey”, I picked up an old Boy Scout Handbook, at a garage sale, several years ago. This Sixth Edition was printed in 1961. One of the things I like about it is the old ads in the back. I’ve scanned a few of the pages and posted them here in all their low-resolution glory for you to see. As usual, click on them to view them full size.

I never “officially announced” my new vehicle that I bought this past fall. Yes, I traded the jeep in towards a more economical vehicle; a 2013 Toyota Tacoma. I drive 110 miles each day, from Westminster to Greenbelt MD where I work, and the jeep just wasn’t the best daily driver for that kind of commute. I’m loving my Tacoma. For what I lost in my 3” lift and 33” tires, I made up for with fuel efficiency, comfort and practicality. The truck bed is so handy for those trips to the Home Depot, the dump and will, hopefully be put to use hauling a big buck home from the Frederick Watershed this coming deer season. I miss driving stick, but an automatic transmission is a blessing in stop & go traffic around the beltway. I haven’t had a chance to get it off-road until this past weekend during a camping trip with my buddy Hoopsie. We met up in Wellsboro, PA and spent the weekend mudding near the campground we stayed at. I was pleased at how the Tacoma did on some super steep climbs and the deep mud. Although I did get bogged down in a large pit that was as deep at my 31” tires. I just put some Definity Dakota M/T’s on, but it was just too soupy for me to get out of. Luckily, I was able to toss a toe-strap to Hoopsie helped pull me out with his JK. 

Another year older; my birthday was a couple of days ago.  I'm now 35.  To celebrate, Debbie and I met a good friend, Hoopsie, at a cabin deep in the woods, just north of Lock Haven, PA.  The weekend was spent relaxing in the woods, watching the wild life, shooting the air rifles and catching up.  The highlight of the trip, was a scrawny black bear that stumbled out of the woods and meandered through the back yard looking for food.  The bear looked to be a little skinny but otherwise healthy.  Quite a thrill to see him at a distance of less than 10 yards.

Work has been extremely hectic this week. So much so, that I haven’t had a moment to process the photos I took this past weekend while I was camping. Last Friday, my friend Keith and I met at Mauch Chunk Lake Park right outside of Jim Thorpe, PA and spent the weekend at the campground. We ventured in to town a bit on Saturday morning but otherwise spent a lot of time reminiscing and catching up on things. Saturday afternoon a major storm rolled through and it rained on and off for the rest of the day and night. However, we didn’t retire to the tent immediately. Instead, we spent a lot of time outside in the drizzle, wearing rain coats taking mini hikes around the lake and trying to keep the fire going. Keith was wearing a yellow rain suit which gave off a great glow by the light of his head lamp. I shot a few different scenes with him as the subject. This one in particular I like quite a bit. His headlamp really lights up the inside of the cooler and is hidden enough that it looks as if the cooler may be the light source itself.

I also shot a few sunrise photos on both mornings. I had my camera mounted on the tripod on the shore of the lake by 6:45 both mornings. Saturday morning was overcast but Sunday morning was glorious.

I spent Friday through Sunday morning backpacking in Harriman State Park in New Jersey. Friday night I took a 6:00 bus from downtown, across the Hudson River and into NJ where I met my friend Jay who drove us to Harriman. Our hike in to the Dutch Doctor Shelter was dark and the cool air was really comfortable for hiking. We hiked 2.5 miles by the light of our head lamps over gentle grades of boulder strewn trails. We arrived at Dutch Doctor Shelter around 9:00 where we met up with Mike, who would join us for the weekend. I made a lazy dinner of pepper jack cheese and pepperoni and we all sat around talking and listening to Thievery Corporation. The temperature was down around the mid 50's and made for extremely comfortable sleeping.

Saturday morning I woke up around 7:00, well rested, and brewed a cup of joe. I sipped my coffee while sitting on the edge of the shelter watching the sun rise slowly above the horizon. Rays of sunlight warmed my legs and pelted the eastern sides of trees in the woods before me. It was a beautiful morning. We packed up and set off west along the Tuxedo Mountain Ivy Trail to Claudius Smith Den. This trail took us over Tuxedo Mountain (1040') to the den which is actually a pretty large cave. I crawled up and through the cave stopping inside to enjoy the cool darkness and sound echoing around inside. I down-climbed a simple route on the the backside of the cave and was pretty stoked about the whole thing. I think caves are really neat.

Pushing on past Claudius Smith Den, we turned south down the Blue Disk Trail. This trail was pretty awesome as well because it splits and gives you two options: the "elbow brusher" or the "easy route". We all took the elbow brusher and enjoyed squeezing through narrow crevices and along harry ledges. This trail was mostly down hill. At one point we stopped for a break and I noticed a big hornets nest hanging high in the branches above. It was the size of a basketball. Sitting on some rocks we all snacked, drank water and talked about the beautiful weather and excellent trail conditions. We all enjoyed the sight of a giant tree growing from a ledge on the side of an equally large boulder.

A mile or so later we were hiking along the Kakiat Trail which routed us across Spring Brook. Hurricane Irene had caused so much flooding that the bridge across Spring Brook was destroyed. Remnants of the bridge were interesting... concrete pillars with re-bar and broken strands of cable sprouting up out of them. Across the brook, a log the size of a telephone pole held anchored to the pillar. The other end of the log was swept downstream by the current. We followed the brook until we found a spot to rock hop across about a quarter mile downstream.

After another mile and a half or so, we came across Stony Brook which is a boulder strewn river with several small waterfalls (10') and deep refreshing pools. We all filtered water from this brook and I climbed around taking pictures. The roar of the water filled the air and a canopy of very tall trees let light filter down through gaps in the leave cover high above. It was beautiful.

We hiked a couple more miles to the top of Diamond Mountain where we set up camp. The tents went up quickly and we all went about collecting firewood for the evening. It was about 4:00 at this time and cloud cover had me wondering if it was going to rain or not. The weather forecast had called for good weather but I had a feeling I was going to get wet. As luck would have it, the clouds blew by and the stars came out. Dinner was a freeze dried meal of spaghetti (Again, I have to say Mountain House meals are great). We all made meals around the fire and talked while Bob Dylan played from an iPhone. The three of us shared food and stories and kept the fire blazing for a few hours before calling it a day.

Sunday morning I woke up around 6:45. The sun was just creeping over the rocks in front of my tent highlighting the green moss on the ground just outside of my tent. I stared through the screen at my boots and water bottle I left outside overnight. Moments later I was outside stretching, rubbing my eyes and picking up sticks for the fire. The coals from last night's fire were still hot and the fire came back to life with a few hand fulls of kindling. I wasn't too hungry but I ate a breakfast bar with my coffee and then cooked up some bacon for the three of us. We broke camp by 9:00 and hiked the last 4 miles out to the cars. Great trip!

I was finally able to get this footage together and uploaded to Vimeo. Below is a video from last weekend's hike at Hunter Mountain in the Catskills. I chose not to add a sound track to this and instead let it serve as a virtual hike right here on the interweb. This footage was taken with my Canon S90 and edited with Windows Live Movie Maker.

I typically don't post gear reviews on this blog. Gear reviews are something I always think about doing but usually don't because I feel it crosses that thin line between Interesting Bit o' Information and Nerd-dom. But, since I tend to live right on the border of these two great nations; why not?

If I could suggest one improvement to EMS for the 2012 version of the Thunderhead rain jacket it would be: Add at least one chest zipper pocket. This jacket only has two traditionally placed zipper pockets at the bottom in front. When you're hiking with a pack, the hip-belt falls right over these pockets, making it a pain in the butt to retrieve items from them; like a camera for example.