Shelter & Trail Part of Adventure Camp

As they have done for the past couple of years, the local Whitetail Ski Resort is offering a teenager adventure camp in the summer later this month.  The kids will kayak, fish, hike, and camp...with the hiking part being along the Tuscarora Trail and the camping part being at the Reese Hollow Shelter where I am overseer.

The front of the Whitetail brochure:

My first Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) group work trip was to construct the fire pit at then brand-spanking-new Reese Hollow Shelter in 2013 so I can well imagine the tired kids hanging out at the first at the end of their trip.  This is the welcome sight they will see as they make the last turn off the Tuscarora for the 1 mile downhill to the shelter:

Image credit Gary

Whitetail's web site is here if you want to learn more of the details of this adventure camp.  Please note that I have no financial interest in this activity, though I'm wholeheartedly endorse it.

Spring Work...and Ultrarunning

Image credit Gary of Mister Tristan (the 7 year old human being, not the blog) at the Reese Hollow Shelter spring

Now is the time of year when we Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) overseers have come out of hibernation and start, well, overseeing.  That means trail and shelter projects, so when I said "Spring Work" I was being quite literal.

At "my" shelter, the piped spring dumps its water into the splash pool that sometimes does not hold water.  When I see that has happened, I just toss a shovelful of sand into the pool and it temporarily plugs up the holes through which the water drains out.  That works for a couple months.  But having a reliable splash pool under the pipe is a desirable thing, to serve as a repository for food/beverage items that hikers and users of the shelter may wish to keep cool.

So with the help of Mister Tristan, a couple weeks ago we went up to the shelter to repair/create a better splash pool under the piped spring.  The semi-permanent fix for the splash pool was to install a piece of rubber lining left over from my water garden.  Then we rebuilt the surrounding stepping stones to make the spring look natural again.  

Oh, and the link to Ultrarunning?  The couple of times I've done trails runs here the spring water has been the sweetest and most refreshing on earth.  During or after a run, there's nothing like cold spring water.

NOTE: It should be pointed out that Mister Tristan absolutely did NOT get wet while working on this project (I also have a bridge in NYC I'd like to sell you).

PA Considers Hiking Ban in Hunting Seasons...and Ultrarunning

If you hike or run on State Game Lands in Pennsylvania, this affects you!

The text in blue below comes from an Associated Press article by LYNN OLANOFF, The (Easton) Express-Times.

A rule change is under consideration by the PA Game Commission that would affect hiker use of State Game Lands.  The two items of major concern are:

--Totally banning hiking on State Game Lands during the principal hunting seasons

--Requiring that hikers obtain a permit for State Game Lands hiking during the rest of the year.  Of course, "hiking" would include trail running, so this might affect YOU.

Here is a link to the proposed rule.  You definitely should click over there to actually read the language yourself before reacting.

After the end of the AP article I'll include a copy of my emailed comments back to the PA Game Commission (PGC).  Feel free to borrow or steal any of my words.  You may email comments to the PGC here.

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BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) — Fall foliage season is a popular time for hiking in Pennsylvania.

But fall hiking on state game lands might be prohibited if a new regulation under consideration by the Pennsylvania Game Commission is approved.

The commission is scheduled to consider a new rule Jan. 27 that would forbid hiking and other non-hunting activities on state game lands during fall and spring hunting seasons, which total more than 130 days. Hiking would still be permitted on Sundays, when hunting is disallowed.

The new rule would affect hiking along Blue Mountain in the Lehigh Valley and also nearby popular spots such as Glen Onoko Falls in Jim Thorpe and Top Rock Trail on state game land in Haycock Township, Bucks County, said Mark Zakutansky, Mid-Atlantic policy manager for the Appalachian Mountain Club, based in Bethlehem.

"Fall foliage is such a draw," Zakutansky said. "Hikers have always been respectful in wearing orange and staying on trails — it seems a little knee-jerk."

The Appalachian Trail and other long-distance trails that go through state game lands would be exempt, but Zakutansky said hiking advocates worry access paths to those trails through state game lands would be restricted.

"That's a concern that people will be limited in their access to the Appalachian Trail because a lot of the access trails will be off-limits," he said.

Bethlehem resident Marty Desilets likes to hike — but even more so, he likes to take photographs.

"There's definitely a huge interest in Glen Onoko, as well as a lot of area up by Ricketts Glen that would be effectively shut down by this," Desilets said. "It seems a little heavy handed to me that they would go to the length that they're going."

The Pennsylvania Game Commission has previously proposed other restrictions on hikers, such as requiring a permit, which also is again up for consideration Jan. 27, Zakutansky said. But the total ban during the spring and fall hunting seasons is a new idea that was only made public Jan. 12, he said.

"What is being proposed is dramatically different than what has been proposed in the past," he said.

The spring hunting season goes from the second Saturday in April through Memorial Day, while the fall season goes from the last Saturday in September until the third Saturday in January.

Biking, horseback riding and snowmobiling is already prohibited on state game land during those two seasons, and hiking also is considered a secondary use on the property, said Travis Lau, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Much of the land was purchased through hunting permit sales and taxes on hunting equipment especially for hunting, Lau said.

"You're not talking about tracts of land purchased with public money," he said.

Lau said he's inquired if Glen Onoko Falls would be covered by the proposed restriction but hasn't heard back. He said he believes access trails through state game land to the Appalachian Trail would be restricted.

The permit rule also being considered Jan. 27 would require hikers to get a free permit from Harrisburg or a regional game commission office to hike on state game land at any time. A permit issued in 2015 would be good through 2018, Lau said.

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My comments to the Game Commission (email link here):

I’m a long-time hiker, and volunteer trail maintainer with the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC).   I am the overseer of the Reese Hollow Shelter and Trail—open to the hiking public--which are part of PATC’s  Little Cove Cabin tract west of Mercersburg, PA.

I’m really concerned about this proposal for permits being required, because at Little Cove, the PATC property is literally surrounded by State Games Lands # 124.  We maintain multiple trails cross our property, and by agreement with PGC even maintain an adjacent Hunter Access Trail totally on State Game Lands.  But half a mile in any direction will take you from PATC property to SGL property.  This would be a major issue for our cabin users, who go there to hike and to experience Penn’s Woods.  

I focus on this property because it’s where I volunteer, but my concerns are valid throughout the entire state.  Here are my principal concerns:

1.  What exactly is the problem that PGC is trying to solve?  In other words, what specifically is wrong with the status quo that necessitates PGC considering this action?  I don’t see that articulated in the PGC proposal.  If, for example, PGC perceives a safety concern with non-hunters being in the woods during hunting season without wearing orange blazing, that solution would seem to be a totally different issue than requiring permits.

2.  The Tuscarora Trail should be added to the list of major through hiking trails.

3.  If this permitting comes to pass, how will the target population of non-hunters become aware of these rules?  There is no mention of penalties if a hiker fails to have the proper permit.  What about enforcement—does PGC have a handle on how much workload this might add to its conservation officers?  For example, I recently called the PGC about a dead hawk I found in a cardboard box beside the road.  It took a week for an officer to even make telephone contact with me.  I think they already have plenty of duties.

4.  And here’s another possible unintended consequence: it seems that PGC would have to invest a ton of money in signage and boundary notifications to ensure that people would know that they are entering State Game Lands where hiking permits are required.  Also the costs of the permitting process itself would seem to be non-trivial.

Sincerely,

Gary ______

Now That Must Have Been Some Hike!

Over the course of my Ultrarunning career I have worn out a bunch of running shoes.  But in each and every case, the wear-out was uniform and gradual: the sole would begin to show substantial wear, the uppers would get thin along the flex points where the forefoot bends when you push off with your toes, the inside would begin to get threadbare.

But never, never, has one of my running shoes had an epic, catastrophic fail like my Columbia hiking boots did a few weeks ago:

 (image credit Gary)

After Thanksgiving I convinced or coerced my adult son and a buddy to accompany me on a short hike up to Reese Hollow, on the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club's Little Cove Cabin tract (I’m the overseer for the Reese Hollow Shelter and Trail, which feeds the Tuscarora Trail just west of Mercersburg, PA). We planned to do an easy 2 mile loop, nothing heroic, just to show off the trails and shelter that I have grown to love. 

We parked the truck above the cabin and hiked up to the shelter, where we appreciated the fruits of PATC’s labor.  After exploring around the shelter awhile--and of course enjoying cold dippers full of the sweet spring water--we then headed up Reese Hollow Trail along the gentle grade from the shelter up to the “saddle."  Here the trail levels for a moment before 1) either making a steep climb up to the ridge top and the Tuscarora Trail, or 2) intersecting with the Hunter Access Trail heading back downhill to the right.  That trail ultimately ends at PA Rt 456, but along the way it junctions with a jeep road--flat and direct—whereby one can return to the cabin.  

That was our intended loop—just a pleasant, easy walk in the woods.  But a flat tire interfered: I began noticing as we headed up towards the saddle that my left foot felt cold and wet.  And that I could feel the sole of my boot flopping a bit.  So I sat down to examine my boots, and when I lifted up that foot, the sole of the boot just fell clean off.  It literally bounced.  “Hmm,” I thought, “You don’t see that every day.  I guess that explains the wet foot.”  I called the boys over and displayed my mangled boot; amidst much laughing and teasing, I did a temporary repair with parachute cord to hold the severed sole back onto the bottom of the boot.  I managed to limp back the half mile to the truck.  

Upon return home, I examined the dead boot more closely.  It simply seemed to have dry rotted around its perimeter, and the flexing of my foot just broke the sole off (I should note that the other boot is absolutely fine).  Of course Columbia only has a 1-year limited warranty on their footwear, so these 15-year old boots were long since my problem.  

Later, my son and I were talking  about the day and he said with perfect seriousness, “Dad, that was some hike!  I had no idea that trail was gonna be so tough that it’d shred a boot right off your foot.  I really admire all the trail work you do up there, as bad as it is.”

You know, that WAS some hike.

Picking Up Turtles...and Ultrarunning

I recently posted about the musical Turtles, here, and thought I'd better recognize the real thing:

Eastern Box Turtle along the Reese Hollow Trail

Image credit Gary

Since the first time I ever encountered a turtle along the trail, decades ago, I've picked it up.  That's just what you do.

But on this day back in August, I decided that I would not.  I imagine that getting picked up might be a tad stressful for a wild animal.  So I simply got down to turtle level and just scoped out the critter from several feet away without actually touching it.  Took a couple photos of this artfully constructed and adapted critter, then backed off and watched it slowly relax, stretch out its legs, and speed off (well, it actually ambled or moseyed, but you get the idea).

Now I'm not a strident animal-rights activist (although maybe I should be?), and in the future, say, if I am hiking a trail with Mister Tristan (the 6-year old human being, not the blog), and if we encounter a turtle, chances are I will pick it up to show Mister Tristan the bottom shell and the legs.  You know, a teachable moment.

The link to Ultrarunning, of course is this: we spend more backcountry time, thus we see many more critters than do most of our more sedentary contemporaries  But the default approach for me now is, don't touch.  Kinda like a gesture of respect, live and let live.

Reese Hollow Trail and Shelter ATTABOY!...and Ultrarunning

From Facebook, comments from a northbound hiker on the Tuscarora Trail:

After passing the Hell’s Hill Trail the trail got a lot better. We were following the ridgeline and the rocks became a lot easier to cross. There were fewer boulder fields and the trail seemed to be in a lot better shape. By 3:30 we reached the long trail down to Reese Hollow Shelter and began our descent.

Initially the descent was relatively steep, but after a few hundred feet the grade lessened and the yellow-blazed trail made its descent into the shelter. We crossed two side trails before dropping down into a heavily wooded glade where we found the shelter. Johnny B and I both remarked that this was the furthest that we had ever hiked off the main trail to get into a shelter for the night.

However, the long descent was worth it! Reese Hollow Shelter is a wonderful site. It is a large, single decked shelter with a large overhanging porch covering a picnic table. Although we generally aren’t into campfires there is a really nice enclosed fire pit at the shelter. The shelter maintainers have done a wonderful job with this site! The piped spring is about 150’ from the shelter. The privy is above the shelter and it is a nice one…and the maintainer even provides toilet paper! This is a Hilton among shelters!

We settled in for the night. It cooled off nicely and because of the shelter’s easterly location in a deep hollow it got dark early. By 6:30 we were already using our headlamps. It was an early night – we were exhausted. I tried to stay awake, laying on my sleeping bag and listening to the sounds of the evening. 

Comments like this make trail and shelter overseers like me glow with pride.  I am proud of my work at Reese Hollow for the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) and am happy to be able to enhance the outdoor experiences of other hikers.

And I must put in a plug for volunteerism: these trails do not maintain themselves!  Whenever you go for a trail run, there's a whole organization--largely invisible--that supports trail construction and maintenance.  An organization comprised of individuals like you and me, who enjoy having trails and want to give back by working on said trails.

So...if you are an Ultrarunner, you should also be a trail maintainer.

Trail Work and Decompression

[image credit Gary]

Last week the blog was largely dark because I took some time off to decompress from the death of my father-in-law, with whom I was very close.

I spend a lot of time doing volunteer maintenance for the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, and I just figured it was the right time to go to "my" shelter and trail and just chill. Typically when I go there I am wielding a weedwhacker, loppers, and/or a mattock.  The work is long and sometime intense.  This time I only did some minimal maintenance activities and spent most of the days in reflection.

I took plenty of reading material, some adult beverages, my camp stove, and trusty old battered coffee pot.  I spent 3 days and 2 nights at the Reese Hollow Shelter and did not see another soul...which was as I wanted it.

This image is of the trail signpost adjacent to the Reese Hollow Shelter, at the origin of the Reese Hollow Trail**.  I made the two lowermost signs.  The ferns in the background are characteristic of the entire area--a veritable sea of ferns--as far as the eye can see.


**southern PA, Franklin County, just west of Mercersburg

Trail Maintenance...and Ultrarunning

This week I have some signage to install in the vicinity of "my" overseer site: the Reese Hollow Trail and Shelter.  This is a feeder trail to the Tuscarora Trail just east of Mercersburg in southern PA.

The Tuscarora is a dry, ridge top trail so the Reese Hollow Trail brings backpackers down about a mile off the ridge to a shelter and spring.

image credit Gary

I did these signs with my Dremel Tool and with practice, I think I've gotten fairly proficient.

The link to Ultrarunning?  I've beaten this drum before, but trails do not magically appear and stay maintained all by themselves, just for our running pleasure.  There's a LOT of sweat involved, so I'd encourage you to take the plunge and volunteer with your local trail organization.

The Dipper at Reese Hollow

Since the first day I set eyes on the spring at the Reese Hollow Shelter, after volunteering to be the overseer of the shelter and Reese Hollow Trail back in Dec 2012, I've been smitten with it (Reese Hollow is a newer shelter west of Mercersburg, PA, and supports the Tuscarora Trail).

I mean, there's just something arresting and compelling about a source of pure, natural water, coming to the surface and being "tamed" via a pipe for human use.  Maybe it's a species memory of the vital requirement for water from humankind's earliest beginnings, maybe it's my geekiness and interest in hydrology and geology and physics and tools....

Who knows?  But I am irresistibly drawn to springs, and adopting the spring at the Reese Hollow Shelter is a dream come true.  I've only been associated with this spring for less than two years, and have not seen how it performs during a serious, prolonged drought, but I kinda think it's reliable and permanent, even in extreme dry conditions.  The water is cold, sweet, and refreshing.  And somehow, well, comforting is the word that comes to mind.

Soon after I fell in love with the spring, I knew that it needed a dipper.  Not only to obviate the need to bend way down to drink from the pipe, but just because a spring just needs a dipper.  And not just any dipper; it had to be vintage and used and even a little banged up from its former life, ready to assume thirst-quenching duties for hikers at Reese Hollow Shelter and Trail.

I perused local flea markets and antique shops, but I wound up buying the dipper on eBay.  It wasn't expensive--only $12--but when I saw the photo online, I just knew it was the right dipper for Reese Hollow:

You really must come up to Reese Hollow and take a drink.  And use the dipper, of course.  It's waiting, hanging on a small post beside the spring.

Snake Gourds...and Ultrarunning

Last summer we planted a package of Snake Gourds, and grew the vining plants up on a trellis.

We harvested 4 or 5 gourds, and let them dry over the winter in the attic, where they were protected from wet weather but were subject to temperature extremes.  The gourds all dried and you could hear the seeds inside when you shook  them; the outsides dried and got a mottled,  almost moldy appearance.

Following advice on the Internet, I scrubbed the gourds in the shower using a stainless steel Brillo-Pad-like product, let them dry, then applied paint.  Results:

[image credit Gary]

This guy is about 30" long.  For the paint, first I spray painted it black color.  Then I slipped a nylon mesh bag over the gourd and spray painted it with a tan or clay colored paint, which left the appearance of scales where the underlying black paint was not covered.  Next I sprayed a darker brown through a diamond-shaped stencil to create the diamond shaped splotches.  Finally, with a brush, I painted the face and rattles.

It is not artistic and almost looks a tad cartoonish, but our guests on the patio certainly do a double-take when they see it.

I'm thinking of leaving one on the picnic table of the Reese Hollow Shelter (where I am the overseer), but the bride think that'd be cruel.  However, I think it'd be obvious that it's NOT alive and would engender the "Oh, how cute!" reaction.

Besides, to get to "my" shelter any hiker or Ultrarunner has to pass through prime Timber Rattlesnake territory, so they oughta be prepared, right?

Destroying Ferns Just Seems Wrong

I was up at Reese Hollow Trail and Shelter, where I am the volunteer overseer for the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, to do some routine maintenance today.  It was not supper hot--about 80F--but the humidity was killer.  Within  half an hour I was as soaked from sweat as if I had jumped into a swimming pool.  See, I have to wear long pants, long sleeves, and gloves, which kinda runs counter to the whole coolness thing.

The shelter was fine, no issues there, so I turned my attention to weedwhacking the mile-long Reese Hollow Trail.  It connects the ridge-top Tuscarora Trail with the shelter down off the ridge where hikers can camp overnight and have good water access.

Here's a shot I took:

[image credit Gary]

Imagine waist-high ferns...indeed, the entire area is a veritable sea of ferns...and the trail running smack dab through the middle.  To keep the trail open I must destroy a ton of ferns.  Sure, there are many tons of ferns there, but somehow it just doesn't feel right to wipe out even a single fern.

Another one of life's trade-offs, I guess.

Trail Maintenance...and Ultrarunning

Was up on Monday to "my" Reese Hollow Shelter and Trail where I am the volunteer overseer for the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC).  There were several inches of snow on the ground, which made for slow going, but all in all it was a fun trip.

It was part winter hike and part work trip.  The primary purpose was to install some trail marker signs and to clear a couple blowdown trees that I had noted on my last trip a few weeks back.

For those of you anal about signs, here's the progression of work:

Info carved with Dremel tool into pressure-treated decking board

 

Next, painted Rustoleum brown

 

Letters painted white

 

 

Installed on sign post

 

 



 

Note that I don't have a router but the Dremel tool makes a pretty decent substitute...with a bit of practice.

Oh, the connection to Ultrarunning is obvious: trail construction and ongoing maintenance don't just happen.  I obliviously ran for many years on trails all over the country without thinking too hard about their origins and ongoing existence.  But over time awareness dawned and I began to think about how I could give back once I had more time.  With retirement, I had no more excuses so I signed up with PATC and truly enjoy the volunteer work.

Cold Day for Trail Work

On Sunday I was up at Reese Hollow shelter and trail, and up the ridge to the Tuscarora Trail, for a bit of trail work.  The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) property adjoins some Pennsylvania State Game Lands, which are open to public hunting.  So I wanted to work on a Sunday to avoid the current rifle season for black bear, and for antlered deer (which will start on 2 Dec).

First a shot of the thermometer at the shelter:

 

 

 

And the mandatory shot of the spring at the shelter, with the vintage dipper hung on a post.  I bought the dipper to leave there, 'cause EVERY spring needs a dipper, right?  I trust that it will not walk off.

 

 

 

 

 

I helped install a new trail junction sign and added a couple signs at the shelter pointing to the spring and the privy.  Then I trudged up the Reese Hollow Trail to the Tuscarora Trail on the ridgetop, where the temp was probably 15 F with a stiff breeze.  I did some weeedwhacking using the PATC trimmer with a brush cutting head attached.  Surprisingly, the cold was not a factor; I was well bundled up and was generating a lot of heat via my activity.

 

Thus another proof of my theory that there is no such thing as bad weather--there is only weather for which you are unprepared.

 

This was my first experience with a brush cutter and it did a great job on the notorious briars that infest the ridgetop there.  Still have about 1.5 miles to do, but that'll have to wait until say Christmas when the hunters are out of the woods.

 

 

Tuscarora Trail Maintenance

I was over at the Tuscarora Trail on Thurs this week doing some weedwhacking of the rampant briars and weeds along the ridgetop trail.  Due to disease and insects, many of the trees along the crest have died (gypsy moth, oak leaf roller), letting more sunshine reach the ground, resulting in a veritable explosion of weedy understory growth.

The trail is barely passable in certain parts between PA 16 south to PA 456--long pants and long sleeves are a necessity or you'd be cut to ribbons by the briars.

So, although my official overseer duties are limited to the Reese Hollow Shelter and the Reese Hollow Trail, there's not much point in having "my" trail (which links the valley access point with the ridgetop Tuscarora Trail) be all spiffied up with nowhere to go after you reach the top.  So I pitched in.

Let me tell you, this type of weedwhacking is pretty arduous.  My objective was to cover the 3 miles between Hell's Hill Trail and Reese Hollow Trail, heading south to north.  However, due to me going off trail on my way up the poorly marked Hell's Hill Trail and veering south somewhat, I reached the Tuscarora perhaps a mile south of the Hell's Hill junction (towards the Yellow Trail).

Thinking the day would go faster, I just began my weedwhacking there.  Turns out in actual experience, my pace was about 1/2 mile per hour, so in 5 hours of work I was able to cover perhaps 2.5 miles...at best.  By the end of the time I was pretty much shaken to pieces from the incessant vibration. 

Left undone is approximately 2 miles of trail directly south of the Reese Hollow Trail junction heading towards the junction with Hell's Hill Trail.  So another trip is required, but this time hopefully the overseer for this section will be back from a trip and we'll be able to team up.

Reese Hollow Flowers...and Ultrarunning

Over at "my" trail and shelter (I am the volunteer overseer of the Reese Hollow Shelter and the Reese Hollow Trail off the Tuscarora Trail near Mercersburg, PA) there are a number of wildflowers.

Right now there's a particularly perplexing yellow flower that when keyed out seems either to be Rattlesnake Weed (Hieracium venosum) or Two-Flowered Cynthia (Krigia biflora):

[image credit Gary, sorry it's a bit fuzzy]

 

 

The flower is a better fit with being Rattlesnake Weed, but the leaves don't quite synch up; the leaves match up better with Two-Flowered Cynthia but the flowers are off.

 

Both plants are likely to inhabit Reese Hollow.  So, I must be content with just admiring the beauty of these flowers; after all, as one of my Bio profs once said, in a remark that obviously stuck, "The name is the least important piece of information about a plant."

 

Oh, and the link to Ultrarunning is that spotting flowers is one of my favorite incidental activities while running.  I often stop dead in my tracks to admire some posie that happens to be within eyeshot of the trail.  And while I may wonder about its name, I (usually) don't get obsessed about it and instead just enjoy the sight.

 

 

Trail Work: Reese Hollow Trail

Couple days ago I did some recurring trail maintenance work on "my" trail.  The Reese Hollow Trail is a side trail in southern PA that links the dry, ridgetop Tuscarora Trail with a shelter and spring.

The weeds are bad this year and I used my gas weed whacker to keep the trail open and the weeds to a manageable height.


I use the term "weeds" rather loosely, becasue I never would have imagined that I would have to weed whack ferns. Turns out that ferns are ubiquitous in this area and in places would totally encroach and cover the trail.

[image credits Gary]

I used up 3 tanks of gas, and was about shaken to pieces from the chronic vibration.  Note to self: next time don't leave the goggles and hearing proection in the garage.  I also cleared 2 minor blowdowns.

I also mounted a couple of signs I made.  I don't have a router so I used a Dremel tool to cut the letters. Mine is the lower yellow sign to provide spring and distance info.

 

 

Hikers should note that Tuscarora Trail is again VERY overgrown this summer with briars (actually I think they are wild raspberries). There are some quite negative comments in the trail register on the TT near top of Reese Hollow Trail.

This ridgetop is pretty clear (many trees gone, perhaps due to gypsy moths) so that a ton of sunlight reaches the forest floor, promoting a lush growth of understory...including the briars.

Frankly, I cannot recommend hiking the southern PA section of the Tuscarora Trail (south of PA RT 16) right now unless you wear jeans and long sleeves; you will get badly scratched up.

I tried an experiment last month on a 200-yard stretch of the Tuscarora Trail just north of its junction with my Reese Hollow Trail.  Rather than clip or cut the briars since they are very shallow-rooted, I simply pulled the briars out by their roots using thick leather gloves.

That 200 yard stretch of trail remains clear enough to hike easily: grassy but the briars are still at bay off to the sides of the trail.  However, it'd take a big crew of people to cover a dozen miles using this technique.

Firepit at Reese Hollow Shelter...and Ultrarunning

 

 

 

[image credit Gary]

We'll be heading up there to the shelter in a couple days for some fun and some minor work, but it'll be nothing like the effort that went into the firepit at the shelter, shown above.  The sun and shade makes for a poor photo, but you kinda get the idea.  These were some BIG rocks, about the limit of manageability in a wheelbarrow (provided we could lift it into the wheelbarrow).

The firepit really doesn't figure into Ultrarunning, but the shelter and its spring do.  It's about a mile downhill from the dry Tuscarora Trail to reach the water source...then the trudge back up to the ridge top.

But the water is mighty sweet and pure....

 

Volunteer Trail Work: Reese Hollow Shelter

[Reese Hollow Shelter; photo by Gary]

On Friday, Mister Tristan (the 5-year-old human being, not the blog) and I (Gary) met a couple other volunteers for some work over at the Reese Hollow Shelter.

This shelter serves the Tuscarora Trail in south-central PA via a 1-mile yellow-blazed trail that comes down from the Tuscarora Trail up on the ridgetop, to the shelter and spring.  This is just west of Mercersburg, PA.

The main task this day was to relocate the fire pit, which was a tad too close to the shelter and not big enough, say, for a group of scouts to gather comfortably around.  We scraped away the leaf litter and soil in a 10' radius, then dug down another foot or so to bare mineral soil in a 3' circle for the pit itself.  Then we lined the pit with large (say 100 lb) rocks and extended the rock apron another couple feet wider.  Last step was to create sitting benches of downed locust logs from up the slope a bit.

This was my first organized work trip since assuming overseer duties for the shelter and trail in Dec 2012, and I learned a lot.  I expect to be spending many happy, pleasantly tiring hours doing this volunteer work.  I can truthfully say that this day was one of the best of my life.

I was hoping to post a photo of the firepit--which is the best firepit I have ever encountered along any trail, seriously--but all my shots of the firepit included recognizable facials of Mister Tristan himself.  So I'll take some other photos next trip.

 

The Shadow of Turkey Vultures

[all photos by Gary]

On Tue day I took went to inspect "my" Reese Hollow shelter and trail to make sure their were no maintenance issues as spring gets fired up here in the mid-Atlantic.

I found the shelter fine and only one 8" blowdown tree along the trail that I will have to deal with next trip.  The spring at the shelter was running strong:

 

 

Then I took a run up the Reese Hollow Trail to the main Tuscarora Trail at the ridge top and turned south.  By this time it was noonish and warm, about 80F, and as I ran I was soon startled by a shadow suddenly darkening me and my path. 

 

It was the shadow of a turkey vulture hovering very close by overhead, virtually motionless in the wind.  The bird seemed unconcerned about me, but I was ecstatic over the nearby encounter.  It was so close--less than 50 feet--that I could have counted individual wing feathers.  After a few seconds of hovering, it broke off its equilibrium with the wind, turned up a wing and rode the air current down the slope of the ridge. 

 

By this time I had pulled out my camera and tried a shot.  The vulture is pretty much invisible here (the TINY speck to the left of the snag) but the opposite ridge to the east shows up well, all the way down to the southern end (right of the snag) where it drops off for the Potomac River water gap.

 

 

 

Enlarging the image above yields this parting shot of my friend, the vulture:

 

 

 

 

 

The Major Run That Wasn't

[image credit Gary]

Did you ever have a major run that wasn’t?  When you were all primed, prepped, and ready to go, and circumstances or fate conspired against you?

That was my yesterday.  I had planned a longish 20+ miler, using “my” trail and shelter (Reese Hollow) as a base of operations, and to be run largely on the Tuscarora Trail.

But first I had to do wound care of a family member (I volunteered so obviate the need for a home health care nurse to come in daily).  Next Mister Tristan (the 5-year-old human being, not the blog)  asked if I’d sit and snuggle him awhile. Then on the way to the trail, approaching from a different direction, I ran afoul of poor road signage (really, getting off course wasn’t my fault!) followed by a major road detour around a closed bridge that added 15 minutes to the trip.

The nail in the coffin was when I got to the trail and found the cable gate impassable.  It’s a long uphill (a mile) to where I was going to park and start my run.  As an overseer I have a key to the cable gate but so do renters who can use the Little Cove Cabin…and they locked the cable up wrong so that I could not open the gate.  Per attached image, the padlock on the right should have been through the hole on the opposite end of the short flat bar from the left padlock, not through the hole at the very end of the cable (this is actually a pretty ingenious arrangement for a gate that two separate entities access).

So I wound up spending an hour making multiple phone calls to report the situation and attempting to remedy it.

Bottom line?  I had a time window in which I needed to fit my run, and when the day unfolded as it did, the window had closed and I could not make Plan A happen.  Sure, I could have done a modified shorter run but when the planned one blew up, I was mentally done.  I threw in the towel and opted not to run at all.  Plan B was not an option--a modified run just no longer felt right, like a premonition that if I went ahead there would be some other obstacle or issue that I’d encounter, and if it occurred way up in the backcountry I could be seriously screwed.