October 21st - 23rd, 2010

Dolly Sods Wilderness Area, WV

Incredibly awesome trip over fall break down to the Monongahela National Forest. We all (Ava M, Caroline D, Lissie A, Francesca F, Johanna S, Dan B, Ben, Luke D, Andy J, Dougal S, and myself) met at the storeroom Friday afternoon, a little later than planned but in time enough, loaded up with the warmest sleeping bags and tents we could find and took off for West Virginia. Pretty much everyone except for Dougal had trouble finding their way south to Thomas, WV, but eventually we all met up in the two street town of Thomas for some drinks and one last real meal before heading into the wilderness. We arrived at the campsite well after the sun had set and hiked in 100 yards maybe to set up camp for the night. After some interesting attempts, we eventually got a fire going and enjoyed the rest of the night before retreating to the tents. Breakfast burritos started off the next day before we broke down camp and started hiking into the area.

The trail weaved through a pretty neat part of the forest before switchbacking and carving down towards Fisher Spring. The trail crossed the spring a few times before splitting off and arriving at the banks of the Red Creek, a much wider, faster moving body of water. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and most everyone dropped their gear and either explored the area or plopped down on a warm rock for a nap. Eventually we decided to set up camp along the river, and make the summit hike with the remaining daylight without all of our gear. After removing footwear and (mostly successfully) crossing the river, we decided to save some time and go straight up the mountain instead of taking the roundabout trails. Within no time we had climbed the entire mountain and had an absolutely incredible view of the whole area. We made it down in no time at all as well, and after a satisfying dinner and s'mores we called it a night. The stars were in full force this night, however our proximity to the river meant that the temperature was about 20 degrees colder than the night before. Cold.

When I mustered the courage to leave my sleeping bag in the morning, I immediately headed for the woods to start on the fire. After some serious deforesting efforts by the mighty females of the group, the fire was well fueled and roaring for everyone to enjoy. Full body convulsions rapidly decreased as a result. The breakfast of champions that morning consisted of plain bagels, marshmallows, chick peas, graham crackers, and iodine water. After some more milling around the warmth of the fire, we packed it all up and began the hike out. As always, the hike out was quicker than the hike in and we were back in Pittsburgh just in time for everyone's real world obligations. Overall a fantastic trip, can't wait to get back out to Dolly Sods again.

-E. Fatsi

October 2nd - 3rd, 2010

Laurel Highlands, PA

We had four backpackers (picture attached) and a great trip hiking on the Laurel Highlands Trail with some nice views over the Yough, both the river and rail bed, especially from our lunch stop. The trail was up and down, moderately steep in some places. Leaves were just turning, adding some color. We stayed in the Ohiopyle shelters overnight and had a nice campfire going on Saturday evening, and found that the water pump did work (with a bit of persistence) despite the reports of other hikers who we passed on their way out. We hiked the same trail out the next day. Weather was beautiful on Saturday with rain overnight and light rain through Sunday. All had a good time and would return!

-B. Towne

September 25th, 2010

Charles F. Lewis Natural Area - Johnstown, PA

On a really nice Saturday, a group of twelve left Pittsburgh for an hour and a half drive out to Johnstown to hike the Rager Mountain Trail. The crew consisted of Mike S, Tanner W, Nate B, Tommy L, Tiffany N, Breelyn K, Pietro S, Marek , Abhinav V, Ayshwarya S, Ali S, and myself. The start of the hike was about a mile up a pretty steep hill, with a couple of "waterfall" views. The stream going along the trail was completely dry however and there were no waterfalls in sight. After the climb, the hike flattened out a bit and had a couple of nice views as the trail crossed over and back a power line clearing. We stopped for lunch on a log about half way on the trail before heading back down the other half of the loop. The hike down was really neat as it hopped over a couple of fern covered boulder fields. We found one more pretty great view, from a nice big rock, of the Conemaugh River before crossing the piddly little stream and reaching our cars. It was a nice and easy hike, feels good to get outside Pittsburgh with a bunch of cool people.

-E. Fatsi

March 6th - 10th, 2010

Great Smoky Mountains, TN

Seven of us went backpacking in the Smokies this break: Ethan Goldblum, Rebecca Macnamee, Florentin Marty, Christoph Walter, Aileen Craig, Andy Jameson, and I. We cut our trip a bit short due to the conditions on the trail and pending rain, but we managed to enjoy 5 days of adventure. Here is our trip report:

Day 1:
We got off to a late start because one of our drivers had overslept a bit, but we finally hit the road around 8:30. The 475 miles to the Tennessee side of the Smokies took us about 8 hours with breaks. We met up once to eat lunch at a Subway, where two elder women commented on Andy's dreads. During the car ride, our car read up on bear safety: how to avoid confrontation with bears, how to store food safely, and how to fight bears with our bare hands against their bear hands.

We arrived at the KOA campground in Newport, Tennessee, around . We set up our tents and went out for dinner, where they brought us a basket of saltine crackers before dinner: the classy version of the bread basket. Ethan and Florentin both attempted the saltine challenge, which attracted odd looks from the locals.

Day 2:
We packed up and ate breakfast bright and early, then drove to the trailhead. We passed a llama that looked at us quizzically and that gave Ethan nightmares for the rest of the trip.

We parked the cars at the Big Creek trailhead on the North Carolina side of the park, and started hiking around 10:30 am. We had a 6 mile hike into the park until Campsite #37, including about 1 mile along the road to the trailhead. The trail was wide and gently uphill, and as we continued toward the campsite we saw more patches of snow along the trail. We stopped for lunch along the stream, and spotted a few deer across the stream and up the trail. We reached 37 at around 2:00 PM. At the campsite, there were a couple of inches of snow on the ground, but we found a clear area to pitch our tents, across the trail from a cooking area with a bear hang.

We shared the campsite with two brothers, a group of four from Florida wearing shorts and t-shirts, and three guys from Minnesota. We only shared our tent site and cooking site with the Minnesota guys, who told us they had not been prepared for the conditions and were getting sick, so they were going to hike back out the next day. They said that the ridge we were planning on hiking to apparently had about 40" of snow on the ground.

We played Catchphrase while making our pasta dinner, and debated what to do if the conditions were bad the next day. We decided that since no storms were forecasted, we would press on and see how far we could get along the trail. When we hung up our food on the provided bear hangs, we realized just how much unnecessary food we had packed: We filled up two whole backpacks and a few extra stuff sacks with food.

Day 3:
After fixing Andy's "bimble-bumble", we hiked up the steep Gunther Fork Trail: this trail gains 2000 feet of elevation in 4.1 miles, and winds along the side of a steep mountain across maybe a dozen stream crossings. Our original plan was to hike to the top of the trail and then go 5 miles along the ridgeline to the Three Corners Shelter.

One of the first stream crossings we reached was impossible to cross by stepping from rock to rock; we had to take our shoes off and wade across the ice cold stream. The other stream crossings were much easier, even though several of us accidentally dipped our feet in the water. As we climbed higher, the snow got deeper and deeper, and eventually we were walking in a trail that was slightly packed down by previous hikers, walking through knee-deep snow. Near the top we could stick about 2/3 of our hiking poles in the snow. Several trees had also fallen over across the trail, and we had to scramble over, under, or around them. The conditions were slow and strenuous, and we reached the ridgeline at 4 PM.

Not wanting to get stuck on the ridge in the dark, we decided to hike to the much closer Laurel Gap shelter rather than Three Corners. The total trip took us almost 7 hours, for about 6.5 miles of hiking. By the end our feet were soaked from the snow, which had softened to a slush from the sun and the above-freezing temperature. We were happy not to have to set up tents, and the shelter allowed us to enjoy a relatively dry area to spread out our gear. We cooked rice and beans for dinner, which was difficult since the stoves kept sinking further into the snow as it melted. We also had to melt snow to get water, because the spring near the shelter was frozen over. We shared the shelter with the two brothers we'd met at Campsite #37. Christoph and Florentin started a fire in the shelter's fireplace, and they propped our boots up by the fire to try and dry them out. Florentin accidentally dried out one of the brothers' boots instead of Ethan's, which were frozen solid by morning.

The shelter was the coldest night we spent all trip, since it was open on one side and did not keep the warmth in. In addition, our shoes and socks were all wet. We decided that since our orignial loop included a trail that had not been packed down by previous hikers, we would change our route: we briefly considered hiking up to Campsite #36 near one of the peaks, but since it was a tent site and would be covered in snow, and since that trail had not been packed down either, we decided to hike back the way we came and do all 12.5 miles in one day (past campsite #37, where we had camped the night before). We also seriously talked about going to the beach when we got back.

Day 4:
We hiked back the way we came, taking Gunther Fork Trail back down to Campsite 37, and then back down the trail we had hiked the first day to the car. The sun shone brightly all day, and the temperatures were significantly warmer than the day before. The two brothers in our shelter set out before us, but were also planning to hike back down to their car instead of hiking to 36. We finished breakfast and set out around 9 am; the sun quickly warmed us up and we de-layered soon after. As the day went on, the snow melted, and some of the stream crossings (including the one we had to remove our boots for) were significantly deeper than they had been before. Some parts of the trail looked completely different without the snow and ice. The hike down was pretty exhausting, and we took very few breaks so that we could finish all 12.5 miles before dark. For the first few miles, we conserved water until our first stream crossing, since melting snow over our gas stove took a long time. Florentin fashioned ankle gaiters out of duct tape for Aileen, Ethan, Christoph, Andy, and Rebecca, which helped keep their feet a little drier than the day before; but at the end of the day the water seeped through our boots from the snow and the stream crossings. We reached the car at 4:30 PM, and when we got back to the KOA campground we felt like we were living in luxury: running water, showers, flush toilets... We used the hair driers in the bathroom to dry out our socks, and then bought some firewood to make a camp fire. We cooked pizza for dinner: we put the dough in ziploc bags and let it rise in the warmth under Aileen's jacket, and then cooked it on the stove. We made s'mores over the fire and learned about the "sounds of baleen", while discussing what to do the next day. We were considering driving to the beach either in North Carolina or in Savannah, GA, but every beach was forecasted to rain, so we decided to drive back to Pittsburgh.

Day 5:
We slept very soundly, happy to be warm and relatively dry. Most of us showered in the KOA showers before driving back. We stopped once at a Ruby Tuesday's for lunch, and then my car stopped at Walmart to give Florentin a real American experience. We spent a while listening to a guy in the hunting section go on about different instruments they sell to make goose and turkey calls. We also stopped at a scenic overview of the New River Gorge bridge, the highest single-span vehicular bridge in the United States. We got home around 9, showered, and met up at Florentin's to have dinner and relax.

This concludes our wilderness adventure.

-T. Melman

December 5th, 2009

McConnell's Mill, PA

Seven of us drove to McConnell's Mill, about half an hour outside the city. Fortunately for us, neither car followed the directions I printed, which were completely wrong. When we got to the park, it was snowing lightly; but the dusting made the trail even more beautiful. Despite the chill, the hike was leisurely and we enjoyed the scenery. Along the way we stopped to explore near the river, climb rocks, take pictures, and chuck overripe bananas across the river to watch them explode on the rocks. We saw clumps of deer fur scattered about the trail, and guessed that a hunter had dragged his deer along the trail to the road. We even saw one lone fly, walking around knee-deep in the light dusting of snow. We hiked about 4 miles out and back, crossing over to the other side of the river for part of the way back. When we got back to the parking lot, we broke out a Frisbee and a Nerf ball and played a slightly chaotic multi-person Frisbee/Nerf game of catch. Eventually someone checked their watch and realized we'd been there way past our intended return time, so we made our way back to Pittsburgh. Overall it was a low-key de-stressing trip.

-T. Melman

November 18th, 2009

Hartwood Acres, PA

Eli Fatsi, Dan Becerra, Florentin Marty, and Mike Jehn participated in
the after-dark 'Run the Lights' event at Hartwood Acres.  The park is
adorned yearly with holiday displays featuring over two million lights
(including some that form multi-colored tunnels over the trail), and
on the opening night visitors are invited to stroll or jog the various
trails, beholding the displays in all their glorious magnificence.  We
attempted to run the entire main loop of trails--totaling
approximately 5 kilometers--but our progress was often slowed or
rendered slightly more challenging by the hundreds of visitors
(obstacles!) moving at a slower pace and/or traveling in both
directions.  Lots of families came out with little kids and strollers,
and the mood was festive.  It was certainly a unique and enjoyable
experience!

-M. Jehn

November 8th, 2009

Slippery Rock Creek Gorge, PA

On an absolutely beautiful Sunday, 11 of us left Pittsburgh for the Slippery Rock Gorge Trail at 11 AM. Luci L, Andrea T, Lane K, Ava M, Hyunjin K, Rose G, Neil A, Billy L, and myself. Despite the fact that it was November, the weather was perfect for being outside. Time was passed while waiting for everyone to arrive at the trailhead by playing with tons of ladybugs which densely filled the area. We all made it though and started hiking at around 1. The trail hugged the river for about a mile and then curved up and down a rather steep hill. We found a pretty nice sized rock on the river to sit on and eat lunch, and the brave ones ventured to cross the river but came back after half way for fear of loosing their feet to hypothermia. The hike back was a little cooler as the sun was lowering, and a highlight was hiking past where we had eaten lunch making us realize how many circles we were going in by accident. Overall, it was a great hike on a perfect day.

-E. Fatsi

September 26th - 27th, 2009

Oil Creek State Park, PA

Early Saturday morning, Rebecca, James, Anne-Sophie, Eileen, Tamar, Ethan, and I met at the storeroom before heading off to backpack on the Gerard Hiking Trail in Oil Creek State Park. It was a two hour drive and when we got there we had our doubts about the location, the name was one thing and the dog training convention was another. Within 5 minutes of hiking though we all realized this place was pretty beautiful. The trail wound along a couple different mountains on a couple of steep slopes, and always through really neat looking woods. Highlights included many views of perpendicular rivers and the infinitely scary Plum Dungeon. The hike to the campsite was estimated to be around 10 miles (the map was not to scale), and the threat of rain was always present (but we had Ponchos!).

We set up camp with the fear of getting soaked before we could get the tents up and a fire going. We strapped some rope to a couple trees and set up a huge lean to with the clubs tarp and soon had Couscous with sausage, followed by s'mores around the campfire. We hung around the campfire for some amusing hours before heading under our structure to play some cards and get a good nights sleep. The rain picked up over the night but most of our stuff kept dry. Oatmeal and pop-tarts for breakfast followed by a break-down of camp and a 9 mile hike out. The rain let up once we left camp and we were back home in no time. Overall a really great trip!

-E. Fatsi

September 13th, 2009

Crooked Creek Lake, PA

We took a day hike trip out to Crooked Creek Lake to hike the Baker Trail. On the trip was myself (Eli), Nik W, Clare M, Rebecca M, Luci L, Ruthie T, Jill, Ethan G, Neil A, Robert H, and Matt G. Although the trip had a shaky start with the one car that had a map getting lost, we set out on the trail only half an hour behind schedule. The sky was blue, the temperature couldn't have been better, and the trail was pretty awesome apart from the section that goes by a sewage spring. Many riddles were told to keep our minds sharp. A three and a half mile hike brought us on top of an open hill where we ate lunch and became acquainted with the area's spider and bee population. The view of the field and the mountains in the distance was the first of the day, but well worth it. After lunch, we traced our steps back to the parking lot and were back in no time. The group then split and a few stayed in the area to swim (for free??) in Crooked Creek Lake. Overall, an awesome way to spend a Sunday, and for many a great first glimpse at what an Explorers Club trip is all about, getting lost and having fun doing it.

-E. Fatsi

September 5th - 6th, 2009

Raccoon Creek State Park, PA

So with the large group of 14, consisting of myself (Eli Fatsi), Francesca Fenzi, Kyle Shatzer, Glenn Willen, Rebecca Lambert, Mike Sibley, Jennifer Williams, Caroline Roper, Tamar Melman, Andrea Tan, Nate Paffet-Lugassy, Nicolle Nacey, Natalie French, and Marcia Solorzano, we took an awesome trip out to Raccoon Creek State Park.

The drive out went by extremely quick and we stopped at a road side farm stand and got a super good deal on 2 dozen ears of corn (8 dollars!) from a pissed off employee who just wanted some beer. We then avoided some legal issues as the park ranger only counted our group as 13 people for our reservation of 12, he said he guessed one more wouldn’t be too bad. We then hiked a mile east to a beach filled with Labor Day vacation families and a semi clean swimmable lake. We ate our lunches and observed a Yinzer vs. Japan volleyball game, winner unknown. We then hiked back to the cars and geared up to set out on the eastern loop.

We took a small detour at the start to see the “waterfall”. It was the coolest and most monstrous waterfall any of us had ever seen. We popped back on the Heritage trail for a good couple miles while we all got to know each other on a pretty cool looking trail. We made it to the campsite after about three hours and some creative trail decisions and met a couple different groups on the way. The fire was set up and amazingly dinner was completely and successfully made due to some awesome teamwork. Pasta with sauce, beans, corn and more corn, followed by smores and bone-chilling ghost stories. The huge tarp was then laid out and slept on, and breakfast consisted of gourmet pop-tarts propped on a stick over the fire. The hike back to the car was over before we knew it and we were back in Pittsburgh before 10:30. Overall an incredible and comfortable trip.

-E. Fatsi

January 3rd, 2009

Lake Wilhelm, PA

Josh Caputo and I spent the afternoon at Lake Wilhelm, not far from Sandy Lake in Mercer County. The day was cold but nearly windless with beautiful skies, extraordinarily peaceful and silent. We didn't see much wildlife, other than several dozen small fish flopping wildly and swimming sideways in manic circles where a small culvert flowed into the nearly freezing lake water. We hiked eight or nine miles total on a bike path that runs along the lake shore.

-M. Jehn

September 26th - 28th, 2008

Dolly Sods Wilderness Area, WV

[Trip report is from the Swiss fellow on the trip. Thus he refers to us as Americans :)]

This three day backpacking trip to West Virginia was organized by the CMU Explorers Club's president, who had backpacked in Dolly Sods before. Highly motivated the six of us packed our gear and ourselves into a small Mazda. Four guys on the back seat was a tight fit, but it worked. We used Google Maps to direct us to the right spot. A couple of hours into the drive we were a) getting hungry and b) unsure if we missed a turnoff, so we were glad to see a Burger King next to a huge Wal Mart (it was huge in my eyes, according to the Americans it was actually pretty small ^^). After dinner and asking for directions at the Burger King we headed back, because we indeed had missed the turnoff. Unfortunately, the directions we printed out were not that clear and when the road we were on led into the woods and turned into a gravel road, we were pretty sure that this wasn't the road we wanted. So we went back and took the other possibility, which indeed led to a bigger road. Great was our dismay, when we saw the Wal Mart approaching in front of us… So we headed back once more and took another road, but this one turned also into a gravel road in the deep woods with huge puddles of water. Checking our maps, we saw that the road we originally traveled on would also lead to US50, so we headed back to Wal Mart, drove past it and took the next crossing to US50. From there on the trip was pretty straightforward. Until we reached the National Park, that is. There the fog was so thick that we couldn't see the campsite. Well, I was sure I saw the sign on the road, but the others were sure it had to be further down the road. Once we were about to leave the National Park, we finally realized our mistake and turned back. After all the trip took us 6 instead of 4.5 hours...

Our first day of serious backpacking started at 7.30am, unfortunately the weather hadn't cleared over night and it was still foggy and wet. Nobody was really willing to start a stove in this weather and so we skipped breakfast and started hiking right away. The trail took us into the woods and across rivers before leading us to alpine tundra and through a mountain bike race. The ever-changing landscape was the highlight of the day, which could not be dampened by the miserable weather conditions (it was raining on and off throughout the day). Not only the landscape was very versatile, so was the track we walked on: Wooden planks, earth, rocks, grass, sand and water were all part of the track in one part or another. After covering 11 miles, we called it a day and looked for a good campsite near a river; fortunately we found one pretty quickly. Since the weather was dry for a change we quickly set up our tents and then started gathering some firewood, hoping to make a campfire later. We even built a stone oven which would allow us to dry some wood and cook a couple of things. However, the weather spirits were not on our side, and rain picked up again, featuring a harder downpour than we had all day. So we quickly packed out our stoves, prepared and ate our dinner near the stream and then fled into our tents at 7.20pm, hoping to keep warm in the sleeping bags.

Sometime during the night the rain stopped and so we could prepare breakfast and break camp without getting any wetter. Looking up we even saw small patches of blue sky, however, they were not meant to last and a couple of minutes after we started, the rain picked up again. All we had in mind was a fast and easy hike back to the car, but the trail had a couple of surprises in stock for us. The first was when we arrived at a river where the stepping stones to cross were completely submerged. After debating for a couple of minutes we took of our shoes and waded through the river. Next we learnt the hard way why the area was called Dolly Sods. The trail lead directly through the swamp and it took a lot of navigating to find dry places to step on and sooner or later everyone had a misstep and thus got to know the swamp a little bit better ^^. The Beaver Dam Trail then took us upwards towards the road and the end of our adventure, however, I saw neither beaver nor dam on the way ;). The last stretch took us two miles along the road back to the car, where we finally could put on some dry clothes (or at least, those of us who had some dry clothes left).
On our way out of the Park, we made a quick stop at Bear Rocks, which offered a nice view into the valley, but didn't feature any bears.
On the way back we managed not to get lost and so we were back in Pittsburgh at 5pm, where the weather was perfect.

-D. Eggerschwiler

September 7th, 2008

Raccoon Creek State Park, PA

Orr Rozov, Gwendolyn Barr, Joanna Bresee, Charlie, Alan Gerber, Tamar Melman, Dan Becerra, Ethan Goldblum, and David Stone all went hiking at Raccoon Creek State Park on Sunday, September 7, 2008. Initially four of the hikers intended to do a 20 mile hike and the rest a 10 mi hike- the trail in the park is set up like a figure 8 so that each loop of the 8 is approximately 10 miles, with a car parked at the middle point. However, time and homework worries (thanks CMU!) led the entire group to only complete a 11 mile hike through beautiful and often changing scenery. Lunch was had on a dam at the end of Raccoon Lake. Overall a delightful excursion to GET OUT OF THE CITY.

-D. Stone

August 31st, 2008

McConnell's Mills State Park, PA

Mathew Mooty, Ameya Kanitkar, Tamar Melman, Brendan Ryan, and I departed for hiking at McConnells Mill State Park at noon on Sunday. Amy and Lux also set off for the park to do some climbing. After the hour drive, we began the hike at the mill under a sunny blue sky with a temperature in the low 80s. After hiking along the Gorge Trail for a few hours, we stopped for lunch on a large rock next to Slippery Rock Creek. Before heading back, we took advantage of a nice section of the creek to skip some rocks and discuss the merits of rock skipping as a competitive sport. At the end of the hike we ran into Lux and Amy, back from climbing. Back at the mill we watched some kayakers fool around above the waterfall before returning to Pittsburgh.

-E. Goldblum

June 21st, 2008

Rachel Carson Trail Challenge, PA

Ryan Miller and I hiked the Rachel Carson Trail Challenge together on June 21, 2008. This is a 34-mile annual hike to be completed between sunrise and sunset on the Saturday nearest the summer solstice. There are four well-stocked, cheerfully staffed checkpoints that each hiker must pass through along the way, and a fantastic barbecue at the end (which, this year, featured actors dressed in pioneer-style period costume and a talented young bagpipe player). This event would not be possible without the dedication of its dozens of volunteers--and it would not be as enjoyable either without the scores of spectators who show up along the way to cheer us on and offer refreshments to the hikers.

The trail itself is extremely varied. Aside from covering several miles of conventional woodland hiking stretches, the trail occasionally follows paved roads, gravel drives, ATV paths, and clear-cuts swathed through woods for high-tension power lines and gas pipelines. Parts of the trail require intense, fairly brutal ascents and descents, while others offer relaxing gentle-terrain strolls through woods, meadows, horse pastures, and even backyards. The trail stretches from Harrison Hills County Park (near Natrona Heights) to North Park, just south of Wexford. Each year, the direction of the challenge is reversed.

It was my third year doing the challenge and Ryan's first. We began at the official start, right around 5:20am, with several hundred other hikers. The purpose of this event is not to race, exactly, but Ryan and I (and many other hikers) set out to achieve the best time possible. As the day went on, the crowd of hikers spread out more and more. We tried not to spend more than five or six minutes at each checkpoint. Thankfully, the weather was perfect: neither too hot nor too humid, with just enough of a breeze throughout the day to offer sweet relief at just the right moments.

One could feel the excitement growing as the trail neared North Park. We both finished in about 9 hours and 8 minutes, putting us in the top 12% for finishing times among the 457 who finished before sunset. If I'm around Pittsburgh in June of 2009, I can't wait to do it again!

I encourage anyone who loves hiking to try the Rachel Carson Trail Challenge, or even the 18-mile Homestead Challenge. Read more about it
here:

http://www.rachelcarsontrails.org/rct

-M. Jehn

June 8th, 2008

Raccoon Creek State Park, PA

Ryan Miller, Glenn Willen, and I set out for Raccoon Creek State Park on Sunday to hike the beautiful loop trail that runs a perimeter around the main part of the park. The trail pinches together at the midpoint, near the visitors' center and park office, like a giant figure eight. This is quite convenient because it allows hikers to hike either section of the loop or the whole trail. The day was brutally hot and humid but thankfully breezy. Ryan and I hiked the whole trail mainly to train for the upcoming 34-mile Rachel Carson Trail Challenge, and Glenn was along for the first half for what turned out to be a vigorous hiking experience. (Glenn was very generous by allowing Ryan and I to continue, meeting up with him at the parking lot after the second half of the total loop.) Ryan and I stopped for a rest next to the lake and watched several dogs (as well as their masters!) play in the water. In that heat, not getting to jump in was truly torture, but some of the dogs shared the cool refreshment by shaking off right next to us. One of the dogs' owners offered us both a cold soft drink to keep us refreshed. It turned out that he's a skydiver who jumps at a dropzone that I and a few of my friends have been intending to check out for quite some time--so I'll probably run into him again sometime in the future! Throughout the day, discussions about Santa Claus, zombie movies, music, pest control, the oil crisis, and roommate experiences (both good and bad) kept us entertained. In terms of wildlife, we saw at least three toads along the trail, several very impressive ant mounds (as well as an "ant interstate" that followed the trail for a few hundred yards), and some birds. We heard more chipmunks than we saw.

-M. Jehn

March 29th - 30th, 2008

Hickory Creek, Allegheny National Forest, PA

Mike Jehn, Kevin Qi, Josephine Palencia, Mahin Mahmoodi, Ivan Jager, Glen Williams, and I ended up going to the Hickory Creek wilderness in Northern Pennsylvania in the Allegheny National Forest. The weather was a bit chillier than back in Pittsburgh, with the temperature getting into the low 20s over the night we stayed there. In some places that were well shaded, there was still almost 2 feet of snow! The snow made hiking a bit difficult, but the scenery was absolutely gorgeous because of it.

We also found the trail difficult to hike because often there was not a trail to follow. The park organization has been allowing the trail blazes there to fade, so we invented a game (out of necessity) to find the next blaze to continue the trail. Fun!

We had a nifty campground next to a small river and kept a blazing fire up all night to keep warm and play with while "BSing" for hours.

Some of us returned home earlier the next day while a small group of 3 went to the Kinzua Bridge in the Allegheny National forest which had been literally knocked down over an enormous valley by a past tornado. A previous group from the Explorers club had actually been to this bridge as well.

-D. Stone

November 30th - December 2nd, 2007

Dolly Sods Wilderness Area, WV

After leaving Friday night at about 7 pm, Mike Schantz, Tamar Melman, Erica Spiritos, Nate, and I ended up taking an (unintentional) detour along the wrong interstate for half and hour, but ended up getting to the Dolly Sods wilderness area around 12:30- 1 am. We arrived to an utterly alien area: Dolly Sods, already known for its tundra/alpine like landscape because of the plateau it is on, was pitch black with sustained winds of up to about 30-50 mph or so. Without the thermometer our car told us it was around 20 F, so it was probably around zero with the wind. We set up tents in absolutely freezing weather but had a fantastic view of the stars. We had a cold first night.

It was still around 20-25 F when we woke up and ate some quick and delicious hot oatmeal, but it warmed up to above freezing probably around noon or so. We had a gorgeous hike and were well prepared with our use of layers and constant activity to keep us warm. We sort of got a little lost on the trail but at no harm, as we already knew where the loop would take us back to anyway (it turns out we were just going the wrong direction). The trail often followed a tiny stream bed so we were often hiking on ice- kind of neat! We ended up, by pure coincidence, running into a group of 4 from the University of Maryland and ended up making camp with them on Saturday at a gorgeous stream junction. It was much warmer on Saturday night (probably a low a little bit below freezing) and we were much more comfortable- especially with a well-made campfire, hot chocolate, and a couple packs of Ramon and (not-so-delicious) mac and cheese. We ended up going to bed around 7:30 pm after hiking 8-9 miles or so.

We woke up a little bit before 7 am to try and avoid a potential snow fall. Fortunately, the change in warmer weather meant we were not snowed in that day, and did not even get the freezing rain we expected as well until around 10:30 or so, at which point we were eating lunch at an overlook a bit from the "parking lot" on the forest road we had parked on. We ended up heading home in cold rainy weather around 11 and got back to Pittsburgh around 3:15 pm.

-D. Stone

October 15th, 2007

Tracy Ridge, Allegheny National Forest, PA

6 campers set out around 5pm Friday from the gear room heading north to the forest. Leisurely dinner en route. The magical cabin lights mesmerized the drivers, causing detours involving Buffalo, cops and getting to camp way too late. Cold wet night turned into a fire-warmed and oatmeal filled morning. Around noon, delved into crisp hardwood forests with the sounds of gunfire at our back and stylish orange bandannas on our heads. Ran into a hidden hunter. Found a forgotten sleeping back running up a tree. Fossil follies down by the reservoir. Spirits were high getting to the campground, only to have them dashed by a swarm of crazy canoeists. Found our own shelter at the top of the hill. Built a mega fire accompanied by vinified spaghetti and sm'ores. Warmer night and late morning makes all us campers feel nice and rested. Brisk pace back to the cars. 3 campers jet straight back to Pitt, other 3 took a detour to the twisted meyham of Kinzu Bridge. Total distance: 13 miles. Congrats to all the first time backpackers!Thanks all for a great trip! Trip Quote: "We're amazing!"

-M. Desnoyer