It Was a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

It's been crazy for a while.  I'm not referring to the world, although that's a valid statement for that.  But here at the Caer.  Frantic final preparations for the Whetsell-Felton Reunion (our 94th), arrival of company, travel over to Preston County, WV, for aforementioned reunion, then on to Michigan for the week after.  Then reverse direction back to the Caer, put company on train back to NC, and me with a two-page "to do" list for the following week.  Some of which is stalled because stupid, cheaply made replacement parts.  Razzafratz. 

We did Summer for a little bit in August.  The type of Summer where the humidity goes up a wee bit.  Up enough that I kept the house closed up for at least 3 days straight.   Usually, I open up at night because I hate sleeping with the windows closed, but it was like a steam bath and I could tell there wasn't going to be much in the way of sleeping if I didn't use the AC.  Yeah, I know I grew up without AC.  I grew up without a pillow-top mattress, too, but I've grown real fond of mine.  Sue me.

Friday a week before company arrived was spent in yard work.  That Saturday dawned as something like The Perfect Summer Day.  Mid-80s and dry.  And I hadn't been hiking for a couple weeks.  Because heat stroke.  So I ran out the door and headed for the Michaux State Forest area of Pennsylvania to do the Sunset Rocks - Tom's Run loop.  Not real long - 5 miles.  But I wanted to mess around Camp Michaux, too, which added a bit.

And yes, yes it was a lovely day for a hike.  First discovery - the AT has been re-routed since the map I was using was made.  Which brought me out maybe a half mile up from the Camp Michaux site. 

Camp Michaux was originally a Civilian Conservation Corps camp, then an interrogation camp for POWs during WWII, then a church camp.  I passed through there while hiking about 30 years ago when it had only been abandoned about a decade.  At that time, it was rather eerie - building pads, open streets under which you could hear water running through the camp drainage system.  It has grown up considerably since, but a numbered self-tour is available.

Having walked down the road to the site, of course I had to hike back up to the AT. But at least that part of the loop is flat and pretty and just rolls along through the woods.

And along the way you get to a sign that marks the mid-point of the Appalachian Trail.  With a mailbox containing a trail log book.  A bit of a surprise out in the middle of nowhere.

Shortly after the Tom's Run shelter area the turn to head up to Sunset Rocks appears. And at some point I began to realize that I should have put that last climb at the front of the hike.   Because STEEP!  Note the blazes on the trees, which gives a bit of an idea of the slope.

 And it is a rock scramble across the ridge, which, having realized that a) I was on the trail alone and b) my knees were not completely reliable by that time, I took very slowly.  Particularly slowly at one spot where I had to contemplate the options for a couple minutes before I figured out how to get down.  Fortunately the rocks are a very course sandstone and provided a good gripping surface.

And there's pretty on top.

Then a very steep drop back down to the parking area and a great deal of relief in getting the hiking boots off.

I came back with a souvenir, picked up off the AT, which follows an old wagon road and passes Pine Grove Furnace State Park, the site of a historic industrial area built in the 1760s.  By the time I got off the trail it was too late to take it to the office, but it goes back with me in October when the local artifact historian can take a look at it during Fall Furnace Fest.

And I had a chuckle on the way home.  Heading south through MD I passed a 160 acre solar farm.  160 acres cleared of vegetation to create a non-permeable surface in a state that until recently was mocked for its "rain tax" that imposed a fee on impermeable surfaces.   Maybe if they put in enough of those the runoff will bring the rivers back up so I can get some more kayaking in before the season is over.

Older

But not necessarily wiser.

Since The Day was looking greyish and just too depressingly Fallish, I took today off instead to celebrate the passing of mumblemumblemumble years.  And because I'm too dumb to rest on my laurels and just relax I headed out to Michaux State Forest up the road in Pennsylvania to do the Chimney Rocks loop hike.

I hate Fall.  It gets cold and I have to close up the house, which makes me feel like I'm suffocating.  And it invariably leads to Winter.  Which I hate even more.  I'm a creature of Spring and Summer.  But.  Days like today make it OK for a while.

I had the trail to myself, and that's OK - it was clear and crisp and windy and there was just the quiet of the woods and the sound of my boots on the rocky trail.

Note to whoever made and posted this sign, however:

No, no, the trail does not just cross the road and continue up the hill as the sign indicates.  You have to walk down the road, cross the bridge over Tumbling Run, and THEN get back on the trail.  Just sayin'.

The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club maintains shelters and cabins along the Appalachian Trail in the mid-Atlantic.  I've spent many a happy day at various of their cabins.  This loop takes you past both a shelter area and a cabin.  Early on you pass Tumbling Run Shelter:

 Note that the shelter builders were very considerate and built two shelters separated by a sheltered eating area.

 

Yeah, I've had to share sleeping space with THOSE people.  Wait.  What?  All that noise was coming from ME?

You know how it is when you are in a strange place - you worry that you'll miss a turn.  But I didn't.

So lunch was up on Chimney Rocks.

Not a bad view.  Not bad at all.  But brisk.  So lunch was briskly done and finished, too.  I have to say, although I'm fine with hiking, biking, etc., alone, there is one thing I do miss.  Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away there was a group of us at work who hiked together regularly.  Lunches were extended functions, often including the fanciest things we could think of that we could pack up a mountain, and always involved a lot of wine.  The group has scattered to the winds, retired, moved, gone, and I do miss sushi and pinot noir on the mountain tops.  And ice cream and cake - it required dry ice but we got it there.

But after Chimney Rocks it's pretty much a breeze.  The book I had with me said I was to turn at the gas line clearing to catch the return trail.

 

But I knew from reading online that I could go on up a ways to extend the hike by a mile or so and since I had plenty of time I chose that option. Once I picked up the old forest road it was pretty clear sailing back down.

 

Eventually you start paralleling the aptly named Tumbling Run.  Someone had posted to be careful with the crossing, it could be difficult.  Well, um, it didn't look so bad to me.

And you don't cross the stream unless you are going to Hermitage Cabin, anyway.

So back to the parking lot at Camp Penn in good time, just a little stiff in the knees due to a rock-snagged toe followed by a rediscovery of gravity that left me with a boo boo.  I think I did the 7.4 mile version, but I have to put the trail pieces together to see.

And in reality, the hike I really, really want to do again is Old Rag Mountain.

Maybe by next year if I remember that life is more than working on the house and really work on conditioning.