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Saturday, April 1st
Yikes! Tom Thwaites, author of 50 hikes in Central Pennsylvania, describes this day hike as a "23 kilometer boot-buster" and I agree wholeheartedly! This was definitely the most aggressive hike I've undertaken--Lori could not have made it, and it wiped me out. I took this hike with Pedro (the crazy Mexican . . . he still can't figure out why I call him a Mexican :-) and we started out around 11:00 in the morning. This turned out to be about an hour too late. The first couple of kilometers are a nice, grassy Jeep trail, but after that, it reverts to the same kind of rockiness that I've come to love on Pennsylvania mountain tops. I'm glad I had my anti-impact walking sticks. There's really nothing spectacular about the first 5 kilometers of this ridge, but there are a few views along the way. It's obvious that the Mid State Trail is more heavily traveled and better maintained than some of the other trails around here. Some rocks have been pushed out of the way, and there is a trail register on the ridge top. About 5 kilometers in, we found the Indian Steps. The steps are just what you would think they are . . . stone steps, placed in the mountain-side. This is really cool! There are hundreds of stone steps leading all the way down the ridge, and up the next ridge (Leading Ridge) which make an otherwise steep and arduous climb really boffo. A lot of the steps are missing, but there are certainly enough of them there to make you appreciate the effort to place them there. The origin of the steps is really a mystery, and they have only been documented since 1911, so folks are more or less guessing that they were built by the native Indians. The big mystery is why they built them, when there is a nice gap just 5 kilometers away (now PA Route 26). I'm not going to be picky--I'm just glad they are there! After the steps, which lead to the top of Leading Ridge, the trail turns into junk. I almost felt like blazing my own trail, it was in such bad condition. Starting at the Indian steps, this trail is known as the "Crossover" trail, and it is obvious that it sees little use. After busting through this dilapidated "trail" we finally made our way to an old logging road which wends its way down the hill. Ii would have preferred a more direct route to Stone Valley, but you know that you should never take shortcuts in the woods! We lost a lot of time on top of Leading Ridge, and by the time we got to Stone Valley, I was exhausted and dehydrated. Pedro (the crazy Mexican) was ready to go back, do it again, and meet me for dinner. I could barely stand! We sat down and ate a late lunch; I drank the remainder of my 3 quarts of water and wondered about the blisters that were forming on the balls of my feet. At this point, we were about a mile from the Stone Valley rec facilities, and if we wanted to bail out, this was the place to do it. Since we had 2-3 hours of daylight left, and I caught a second wind, we decided to push on. So far, we were making about 3.5 kilometers per hour, which I was quite happy with. The area around Stone Valley is "touristy" and I really didn't care for it. There were exercise stations and nature fact stops and enough happy camper pabulum to make me want to blaze a new trail or walk along the road. After Stone Valley (which is dry right now . . . the state had PSU drain the lake to rebuild the dam) we found what should have been the best part of the trip. Here, the Iron Stone Loop takes a path along Shaver's Creek, which is very scenic. At some points, the stream cuts through gorges 100 feet high, and it reminded me a lot of the West Rim Trail, but in miniature. I would have enjoyed this leisurely walk through the pines better if I wasn't absolutely fatigued, didn't have to make time and didn't have half-dollar sized blister on my feet. It really was nice, but I didn't get any pictures, since we had to get back to Jo Hays Vista by sundown. Finally, around an hour before sunset, we made our way to PA Route 26, which was the last leg of the trip. After looking the map over, and seeing a power line overhead, I decided that we did not have enough light to make the rest of the hike, since the path continued another 2 kilometers past 26 before heading back up the Ridge. I went to swing my leg over the guide rail of the road when I discovered that my legs were no longer accepting commands from my brain. This prompted me to take the shortcut up the power line. After all, we passed the line on the way in, and there was a Jeep trail leading up Tussey Ridge all the way. This was stupid. After convincing Pedro (the crazy Mexican) to follow me, we hiked up the hill. Actually, Pedro (the crazy Mexican) hiked, and I lumbered--stopping every 50 yards or so to regain some strength. Of course, when I finally got to the top of the ridge, I discovered that this was not the right ridge--it was Leading Ridge, and Tussey Ridge was ahead of us. Now, Pedro (the crazy Mexican) says that he told me so, but I didn't recall hearing him mention this. At this point, we had reached the point of no return, since there was not enough time to climb down and go back up, so we took another Jeep trail which led to 26. The spot on 26 where we wound up was about the worst spot to come out. It was on a blind curve near the bottom of the hill, and the cars were speeding past at about 60 miles an hour. There was no place for a car to pull over, and there was precious little space between the guide rails and the road. We wound up walking outside the guide rails. this was pretty difficult in some places because there was nothing but a 50 foot drop on the other side of the rail! By hanging on the rail with one hand and using careful foot placement, we managed to get to a spot where a car could pick us up. Cell phones are great--time to call Dave Willey. . . . . of course, this happened to be a dead spot for cellular communications--despite the fact that the cell was about a mile away from us on the top of the ridge! We were forced to trod up the hill another half mile or so before I could get a signal. At this point, it was getting dark, but Dave was on his way. Luckily we had a Cyalume® light stick and a flashlight to flag him down. I always knew those light sticks would come in handy! Dave was very surprised to see that he only had to drive us about a half mile or so up the hill, but I don't think he realized the kind of trouble we would have been in if he hadn't come. If we had stayed on the trail, we would have been able to make it all the way, but on account of getting stuck in a bad spot and taking my shortcut, we needed an e-vac. Live and learn . . . Lessons learned:
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