ice skating

The date is February 14. A local band of fools and a dog decided it would be a good idea to go hiking in the newly thawed Rothrock State Forest of central Pennsylvania. Our initial scouting reports were positive. Local mountain bikers reported that all trails and roads were free and clear of ice...

We arrived at the forestry lot and began the immediate and grueling climb up spruce gap trail where we soon encountered ice, although intermittently mind you. Many falls and slides were had and some sections were hiked off trail but eventually the entire group and Toby (the dog) emerged atop Little Flat mountain at the fire tower. It was agreed it would be both stupid and suicidal to descend the route we came up so the group decided to scout out an alternate trail along Little Flat road. Conditions were similar and the idea of descending the mountain by trail certainly appeared to no longer be an option. The only option at that point was a 3 mile descent by fire road. Intermittent ice on the fire road soon became solid snow covered sheets that required walking on the shoulder. Soon the shoulder disappeared and the entire road became a solid sheet of ice across the entire bench. Some of us decided to slide on our feet, knees, face, except for the dog who benefited from a natural version of 4-wheel drive. It wasn't really our decision. The ones that decided not to slide perished.

Eventually the ice relinquished its lack of grip and we were once again experiencing the joys of bipedalism along Laural Run Road. At that point we were joined by a Penn State professor who was apparently laughing so hard at us falling all over the road that he too fell and slid, despite his Yaktrax. In the distance a car was approaching.

It was a black SUV with a man and a woman. A romantic winter rendezvous? Perhaps. Although we couldn't let that happen. We stood in the road and stopped the approaching car and explained to the driver and his girlfriend that his chances of making it up and over the mountain via Laurel Run Road were ZERO. We suggested a good turnaround point and asked the couple if they had cell phones and continued on our way. They did not pass us again on the way down and we assumed they parked at our recommended turn around point and began a hike towards Shingletown Gap.

The rest of this story can be viewed here.

wissahickon

went to wissahickon a few weeks ago and brought my gps with me to log the tracks. i'm still a little rusty with arcmap and importing the tracks. i did a quick and dirty eyeball of where the track belongs and i mostly got it right. i'll be staying near wissahickon next week for a conference so you better believe the karate monkey is coming along.

From The Diem has been Carped

Trailwork 03/22/09

Tussey ridge extension of the extension of the extension, gas cut to Treaster Kettle Road.

Things were a bit rocky.