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3/29/14 Another Cancelled Hike for the Trail Dames? Argh!

Well…this has turned out to be a hiking week BUST!

I had two hikes planned this week for the Maryland Trail Dames, one for Dames looking for a challenge and one for beginning hikers.  Both, yes, both got cancelled due to the weather!

On Wednesday, I had scheduled an 8.5 mile loop hike at Catoctin Mountain Park.  This is a strenuous loop which allows hikers to visit Chimney Rocks, Wolf Rock, Thurmont Vista, Hog Rock, and Cunningham Falls.  It is a beautiful stretch of trail.  On Tuesday, like much of the eastern seaboard, a weather system brought in snow.  It wasn’t very much snow, like 3 inches, but it froze overnight when the temperatures dropped into the teens.  This would make the steep climbs absolutely horrendous for those of us without microspikes.  On Wednesday, winds also became a factor with wind chills dropping to near zero.  So SLASH, SLASH, and it was cancelled.  So disappointing. 😦

But this is what we would have seen if we would have been able to go! 🙂

 

Chimney Rocks

Chimney Rocks

Today, Saturday, I had planned a nice gentle hike for Dames at Worthington Farm (part of the Monocacy Battlefield). When I scheduled the hike I imagined warm spring breezes, sunshine and spring flowers popping up along the trail.  In my head I could see the river flowing in a lazy fashion while birds flitted about singing to each other as they built their nests.  But NO, we have to endure this outlandish rainy weather that has resulted in flood warnings!  Guess hiking next to the river was out of the question. SLASH! Another one bites the dust!

However, let me just give you a little glimpse of what delights awaited us if we could have gone!

View of Baker Valley

View of Baker Valley

 

I am so bummed!  Just itching to get out with the Dames on an adventure!  Our next hike is scheduled for April 12 at Sky Meadows SP in Virginia.

If you are on the trail that day and see a bunch of women having the time of their lives, then stop and say hi! Guaranteed that bunch would be us!! 🙂 🙂 🙂

But you know what would be even better (if you are a woman over 18)?  You could join us!  http://www.meetup.com/Maryland-Trail-Dames/

Hike on!

 

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3/24/14 Ahhh…Spring Break! Taking to the Trail at Gambrill SP

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Okay, seriously, Spring?  It was 18 degrees when I left my house at 7:30 AM!  The saving grace was it was bright, sunny and no wind.  Sidekick Pauli was eager to get outside and stretch her four legs. So after a quick stop at 7-Eleven for a block of cheese we headed for Gambrill SP […]

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AT – VA Rt. 605 to Snickers Gap (Rt. 7) March 8, 2014

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On this gloriously soon to be warm morning, I met up with backpacking buddy and fellow dame, Boomerang to carpool to our meeting spot on Route 7 in Bluemont, Virginia.  We hadn’t seen each other since the fall AT backpack across Maryland, so it was nice to catch up! I was getting some new AT […]

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Breaking out of the February Funk…a work in progress

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Alright.  How many of you are just done with this winter? Yeah. me too!  I write this as yet another impending snowstorm looms… I have started to turn the corner on my winter funk though…thank god!  Last weekend I had an absolutely terrific day hiking on the C&O canal between the Monocacy Aqueduct and Point […]

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Winter Hike to White Rocks and The Perfect Hiking Partner

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Isn’t it funny how we can just pass by amazing things and not give them the respect they deserve because we are in a hurry, or have a different focus, or just don’t see them as wonderful as our ultimate destination? Well, not this time kiddos! Overnight I was overtaken with an urge to hike […]

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Between a Couple and a Few

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Between a couple and a few…could be miles, could be pets, could be just about anything in my life at the moment. Been stuck in the house between a couple and a few days because it has been wicked cold.  Today I could not stand it any longer…cabin fever be gone!  I mentioned to Little […]

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Planning out Loud…Five months to go!

Officially planning for a backpack in May!  As I sort through my books…and I got a new one (insert happy squeaky voice)…I am sort of talking through the backpack.  The dogs are giving me the “oh god, again?” look and the cats are quite distracted as they have found the corner of my books are quite fun to rip apart.  Oh well, shoo cats, I have work to do. 🙂

So I think I will try to do 70 miles in 6 days…hahahahahaaaa….chortle, guffaw and all that nonsense. What am I thinking?  I prefer 8 mile days…But I am sticking to this plan for the moment.  I mean I have 5 whole months to prepare…

The elevation profiles are from my new book (yes, squeaky happy voice again 🙂  )  The ALDHA AT Thru-Hiker’s Companion.  Still love AWOL’s book, but the elevation profiles are a bit more detailed in the ALDHA book. Either book is a super resource to have when planning.   I take the official AT maps on the backpack.

Anyway, here’s the plan:

During the Trail Dame Camp Out: Section between PA94 Mt. Holly Springs and Pine Grove Furnace SP ~10.5 miles

Section A

The following week I will return to the area to backpack ~70 mile section.

Day 1: PA94 Mt Holly Springs, PA (1104.3) to Backpackers campsite (1112.5) 8.2 miles

Section 1

Day 2: Backpackers campsite to Darlington Shelter (1127.2)  14.7 miles No camping allowed in between!!

Section 2

Day 3: Darlington Shelter to Duncannon, PA.  (1138.5)  11.3 miles Stay in hotel.   Resupply as needed.

Section 3

Day 4: Duncannon, PA to Peters Mountain Shelter (1149.8) 11.3 miles

Section 4

Day 5: Peters Mountain Shelter to Yellow Springs Trail (Clearing with trail register, camping) (1163.3) 13.5 miles

Section 5

Day 6: Yellow Springs campsite to Swatara Gap, PA 72 Lickdale, PA (1174)  10.7 miles

Section 6So here’s to planning on a frigid winter day! Now I am going to sit back, have another cup of Peppermint tea and figure out how I am going to day hike all of Shenandoah National Park during 2014! Hike on! 😀

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The Cure for Winter Doldrums

Cold is everywhere.  It was 1 degree Fahrenheit in Dallas, Texas today!  Overnight and into tomorrow, here on the eastern seaboard, we are under a wind chill warning…negative 15 degrees…ugh.  This is the time of year when it is easy for me to become a total slug.  I fall into the lull of winter.  I don’t want to work; I don’t want to hike.  Heck, I am in some kind of winter funk!

So today I made a conscious decision to do something that would energize me.  Little Caesar and I looked at our schedule a few days ago and decided that between the spring and summer semesters there were a few days in which I could go backpacking!!!  This is an unexpected and absolutely phenomenal turn of events!  I was pretty sure with everything we have going on right now that leaving Little Caesar with the dogs and cats in order to escape to the woods for a couple of days was out of the question.  Well, okay now, … I immediately pulled out my AT maps and books.  Where to hike? Where to hike…hmmm?  Pennsylvania! Yes, that would be good…close to home and yet I can get new AT miles.  🙂 🙂

Trail Planning!

Trail Planning!

In May I am spending a weekend with Trail Dames of Maryland.  We rented a PATC cabin in Pennsylvania and plan to stay two nights and hike our butts off! I will get a few new AT miles in just by being there.  But the following week, I plan on backpacking a little further north to Swatara Gap.  I contacted Google, the woman I hiked with in Georgia and Maryland, and she is game! Yes!

My winter doldrums are being held at bay for a while!  Planning for a spring backpack gives me a goal to work towards. It gives me a reason to get out and walk in town or on a trail regardless of the weather!  Although tomorrow when the wind chill is NEGATIVE 15 I will be inside planning! 😉

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Knobstone Trail Oxley Memorial to Leota Trail Head

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Headed out this holiday season to visit family in my home state of Indiana.  While there I was hoping to get down and hike a bit of the Knobstone Trail.  I have heard this trail is used to train for the AT and as an AT section hiker I wanted to check it out to […]

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AT – VA Blackburn AT Center to Snickers Gap

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What a delightful day with the Maryland Trail Dames!  This day was December 21, the winter solstice, and it was WARM!  Yes, a balmy 65 degrees! We met at the lot on Rt. 7 in Snickers Gap, then Dirigo shuttled us back to the Blackburn AT Center to begin our hike.  The first uphill from […]