AFT, The After School Special True Story

“I arrived at the parking lot at 1:00 am on friday, and slept at the Malibu Inn. It was snowing, and looked beautiful outside.

Around 7:30, I went searching for the group at the Ranger Station. Prior to this, I'd readied my pack, and put my trekking poles on top of the trunk.

I forgot about the poles, and sped off, losing the poles somewhere on the road.

Pennsy, Sirpete and Rich were in the parking lot near the Ranger station. Greetings were extended, and they were nice enough to help me find my poles.

We hit the trail at about 8:30. The first 5 minutes was a downhill. Pennsy said that our elevations were between 400 ft gain/drop throughout the trip. After an hour, we were still headed downhill, when Rich and Sirpete mentioned that we shouldn't be this far below 2,00 feet, and we hadn't seen any blazes for about a mile. I thought we could hit a side road at the bottom, so we continued, to no avail. We were getting lost, so we decided to backtrack.

When we finally came across blazes agian, we saw the double blaze, and with the snow, could barely discren a trail. We had a good laugh, and continued. The trail was slippery with dead leaves under fresh snow, but it was worth it, for we saw some great views. Pennsy snapped some sweet pics, and we enjoyed a moderate hike for another 8 miles.

It was about 3:00, and we decided that our original goal was too aggressive for the conditions, so we diecided to cut the loop in half. We hiked through about a mile of pine's near the lake, and through a few bogs/marshland. It was really beautiful.

We finally stopped to set up camp by a small creek. It turns out the creek was a natural spring! The site was another Pine Stand, and we began the routine of setting up camp after a long hike.

The conversation was good, RichB has a sweet tent (Nallo2), and was very knowladgeable about everything related to backpacking. Sirpete was just like I thought he'd be from his posts, a regular ole' masked Maruder. Pennsy and I split some Vino, and discussions of Kenndy Assasination Conspiracy Theories, as well as Little Rascal Conspiracy Theories ensued.

I found that all of these guys are true atheletes. Pennsy and Rich used to run, and bike long distances. Rich still does. Sirpete, being married, and I were the exceptions to the rule, lol!

It rained that nigfht and the temps began to rise. We were ready to go in the morning, and looked forward to camping at our original destination to meet MSilver and Simer.

About 1 mile in, I cuaght my boot on a root, and fell (which I'd done about 4 times the day before) This time, my darn knee felt funny and loose. We were about 4 miles from my car, and after the first few miles, I decided to forgo the rest of the hike, and not take a chance with my knee. The guys waited for me, as I hobbled along. The trail was pretty flat at that point, but I knew it was going to get steeper, so I bailed.

Felt bad, because I was having a great time. These guys are ball busters out there, and I felt comfortable with the pace.

Anyway, we departed at the lake, and I went home. I had a dran good time, and would hike with any of these guys any day.

BTW - The night before, we decided to play a joke on TT, hence the WTF on the AFT thread. Our goal, make people laugh, keep em' guessin', and generate about 300 posts. In order for you to believe us at this point, I encoded my initial trip report with a message to all you in TT land. Take the first letter of each sentance, it spells something.

Mooooohahaha, we got you (well some of you)

BTW - The AFT is an awsome trail - nice views, varying terrain, and well marked.”

“Jeez, my spelling is horrendus (that's prolly misspelled too). I'm tired, time for bed, hope you can read it all.

BTW - all of you folks that kinda ripped me, no hard feelings, I knew it would happen, and would have done the same if I was in your shoes.

BTW2 - Pennsy really did pee in the spring. :)”

“i knew you weren't a big butt-lickin dookie eater!”

“SPRING PEE'ER!


ya'll got pretty close to 300 in a big hurry, lmao. very clever indeed. did ya get shot at BB, with your blaze orange bandana?”

“A most glorious pun!”

“Ha Ha Ha!! Good one BB and the rest of ya!!!”

“I liked the other thread better.

lol”

“Yeah, we were just starting to have fun. Now we have to get all cuddly???”

“I was hoping it was a gag. Pretty good one guys.”

“Eyes that now can see!

8O”

“GROUP HUG!!! GROUP HUG!!!”

“I have to give the big Buddha a lot of credit for pulling off that gag cuz he knew he was going to take some heat. I'm just sorry he hurt his knee and had to leave early. I hope it's better soon big guy.

But if BB didn't leave, we would not have been able to pull off the double cross. His plan was for us to not only off on him, but each other as well. After he left, we decided it would be a lot easier on us (and more fun as well) to simply say he never showed. I just hope no one took it too serious as it was done all in fun.

Back to the REAL trip.... I have to confess that I was in front when we missed the turn on the trail. The funny thing is that we were joking and laughing that we were going downhill for so long. I tried to save face by saying the back track uphill climb was a needed "turkey burner." Didn't fly.

With the detour and sluggish going in the snow, we decided to alter the original plan of doing the entire AFT loop. We took the Moss Hanne Trail and camped near the Black Moshannon Lake. We still managed to get in about 15 miles of hiking for the day.

Like BB said, it was a great campsite in the pines. Nice soft bedding and the trees protected us from a howling wind. BB graciously shared a litre of wine with me, and NO, I did not pee in the spring. ;o) However, Pete did ask if I peed on his tent overnight.

Unfortunately, BB hurt his knee Saturday morning and had to leave. Smart move since he seriously injured it not so long ago. Fortunately, the route took us around the lake near the parking lot where BB had his car parked. We bid farewell and continued on. It was a lot of fun while it lasted Buddha. Heal fast!

Rich, Pete, and myself crossed 504 and headed north on the Shingle Mill Trail. What a cool trail! It followed close to the Black Moshannon Creek for 3.5 miles where it terminated at the Northcentral portion of the AFT. I know Rich really enjoyed it because he kept saying that he wanted to come back and fish there.

There was a register there and I left a note for Simer and M_Silver in case they happened upon that way. The original plan was to camp Sat night at Benner's Run. However, it was only noon and Benner's Run was less than a mile away. There was a sign at Benner's Run prohibiting camping so it was a good thing anyway.

We crossed the stream at Benner's Run where the AFT crossed through the property of a hunting cabin. We had a brief chat with a friendly guy who was getting the cabin ready for hunting season. I could not help but notice the case of beer and the man invited us in for a drink. Sadly, we declined and moved on.

The AFT now followed Benner's Run Creek for a few miles. There is definately no shortage of water on this trail! Most of the stream crossing had bridges with almost no rock hopping at all. Good show to the folks who built this trail!

We continued on and camped at Rock Run. It was getting close to dusk, and we knew we would have a short hike on Sunday. It was about a 13 mile day, but we calculated we had only about 4 miles to my truck.

Friday night we were protected from the wind but not nearly as much Sat night. The temp dropped to 10 and the wind blew like the dickens. A brief snow squall blew in right at dinner time which made things interesting. We were all sitting in our tents and leaning out to cook our meals. Fortunately for Rich, he had a vestibule, and while Pete only had a small one, I had nada. Oh, I have one all right, but I decided to leave it home.

By 5:30, we were pretty much tented in for the night. It wasn't the type of night to hang around outside but no one complained. I read for a few hours before falling asleep. I boiled some water and had a nice cozy warm nalgene at my feet. Ahhhhhh...

Sunday morning, we awoke and quickly packed up and left. Dang, it was cold!! Pete and Rich's boots were frozen as well as my other nalgene which I left outside (doh!). I discovered that my teeth are still ok, since I was able to gnaw into a frozen cliff bar. Yeah, it was an Ice Series bar, very fitting.

We hit the trail and enjoyed the remaining 4 mile jaunt through the forest. There was a bit more snow on the ground but it was very pretty.

Even though we altered the original plan of doing the entire AFT, we had a wonderful weekend. BTW, we have a sneaking idea that the AFT is more like 45 miles than the listed 40. However, we still got in about 32 miles. A pretty darn good weekend of hiking and we now have a good excuse to come back again.

I enjoyed being in the company of BB, Rich and Pete again. It was a good fun guys.



Ok...... I lied. Buddha Bear never showed up and he really is a dumb a$$. ;o)”

“borrrring.”

“glad you had fun. sorry you missed sixmile run, that's my favorite. richb, lots of trout in that stream, more so than black moshannon. maybe we can do the western section.”

“lmao violin!!!!!!”

“so where are the damn pics???”

“Would you people PLEASE quit swapping spit?? I'm about to lose my breakfast.

THANK you.”

“Thanks for the REAL trip reports guys. It sounds like a terrific trail and I definitely want to go there.”

“aawww! adorable. now that's more like it.”

“borrring is right. I guess it's easy to see what TT'ers want to read. The joke thread with all the trash get's over 300 posts in no time, and the real trip report practically nada.

I'm dedicating myself to lying and trash talk from now on!

Hold yer shirt on Miss Leafy Potty Mouth! It always takes me a few days to post pics. After I download them, I resize, tweak if needed and save in separate folders. THEN I upload them for viewing. I didn't take that many pics on this trip though.

I'm going to look real close at the group pic before I post it. I don't want to miss Violin again.”

“LOL ok I can wait. But you have till the end of the working day!


"Miss Leafy Potty Mouth"
to bad i already have a trail name LOL”

“This story is too boring......

I like the other version better.”

“What chili said!”

“This kind of reminds me of an episode of "My Three Sons". Ernie thinks he saw a UFO and was going to be interviewed by the evening news about it. The U.S. Military intervened, told him it was a top secret project, and politely asked him not to show the photos of the alleged UFO. So, Ernie still goes on the news, says he doesn't have the photos, and makes up a story about little green men and such.

I didn't claim that this would have much of a point.”

“Buddha Bear had better get his big ass healed-up.

He's far too young to be BEET-ing hisself up that'away.

All this knee action is gonna ruin his reputation.”

“LOL, have some more jerky, and it will all come into focus.”

“I think Santa has spent some time IN a UFO.”

“Thanks for the official trip report. Msilver did come out to hike with us, but was unable to find us. I told him before we left that I would call his house and leave a message so he would know where we camped. When my phone and Pennsy's had no service that became impossible. He was on the western loop and we were still at the lake Fri night. Too bad BB's knee started acting up because he would have enjoyed our hike up Shingle mill trail. The Eastern loop of the AFT was a nice hike and I definitely want to return to do the western loop. I'd like to go back and fish some creeks there in the mild weather. Pennsy, Sir Pete and BB are fast hikers and you need wings to keep up with them when they really want to pour it on. They were a blast to hike with. Pennsy found some poor soul's food bag on the trail in Benner Run. It was filled with freeze dried meals and sitting right on the side of the trail. We thought we might run into the hiker that dropped it, but since there was snow on the bag it was probably there a few days and the guy probably went home hungry.
Sat. night camp was too windy and cold to sit outside and made for a long night in the tent. That snow squall came at the worst time too, right when everyone was making supper. The wind sounded like a freight train coming down the mountain and pounded our camp the entire night and morning. It was hard to sleep through all the wind noise. We did hear some coyotes on Friday night, but nothing on Sat.”

“So, this means you're not saving some of that whoop-a$$ for me after all BB? Okay, hands up everyone else who was in on it... Some of those posts got pretty nasty, it was hard to tell who was kidding and who wasn't- Me, I was in on it, but BB, when we do get to meet, I'm gonna drink ALL your wine.”

“I almost forgot about the food Rich. 2 expensive dinners and breakfasts. I just hope the guy/gal had a partner with a bit of extra food.

Those coyotes could have been howling right outside our tents Sat night and we would not have heard them the way the wind was blowing.

Sorry we missed you Mr M. You'll have to join us when we go back to do the west loop.”

“Sooooooo you will tell no story before its time.


why do I bother . . .it aint like I have enoough here to do!”

“come on Pennsy, tell them about all the chick stories buddha bear told us about.”

“heh heh.... I wanted to leave something for you to talk about Pete.”

“Awesome joke guys!!! Glad to find out thats all that it was. And hope your knee gets well soos Buddha Bear. I hear wine heals all wounds...er...at least makes 'em feel better.”

“Buddha, you veddy baahd mahn! (*wagging my finger in your face* ...no, not the middle one).

Yeah, I couldn't find you guys on Friday evening (but tremendously enjoyed the nighttime hiking with my best friend Sparky). Apparently we were close though ...in the state park. On Saturday morning, when I didn't see any footprints at the trail crossing near where I was car camped, I figgered youans did a plan B. Enjoyed Saturday hiking again along part of the southwestern section of the trail, and also went to the first vista just south of where Pennsy's truck was parked on route 504. (nice truck Pennsy!)”

“BTW... thanks for the *real* trip report. Looking forward to seeing some pics.”

“nope they never even did the trip

Not even any pics!!!”

“Happy now MLPM? ;o)

Pennsy's AFT Pics

Nothing special but take a gander if you like.”

“Sirpete drinking "spring water" after Pennsy is through with it.



lol! Nice pics pennsy!”

“LMAO!! Why didn't I think of that!

Off the topic for a sec.... did you get your Bat Ray? I got mine today and thinking about trying it out this weekend in the snow.”

“No, how did you have it shipped?”

“Nice shots Pennsy! Thanks. Hmm, no pix of you though.

I like that one of Rich and Pete (#22) where Pete's whole head looks like it's exploding ...cracks me up!”

“The horizontal shot of the view to the south looks very much like the view from the Allegheny Front in WVa. The elevations are higher down there, but the relief looks to be about the same. That long mountain must be the Wills Mountain Anticline, corresponding to North Fork Mountain in WVa.

It's all the same geologically, is what I'm saying.”

“nice pics”

“BB - I never do normal ground shipping. Even if I order something I know I won't use for months, I HAVE to have it right away. I have a 2nd day air phobia I guess.

Now where the heck is Miss Leafy Potty Mouth??? She hollered and hollered for me to post some pics, and when I do, she vanishes. Damn redheads!! ;o)”

“Nice pics Pennsy! Very surreal, almost as if BB were really there ; )

(I still like the first thread better)”

“Pennsy, thanks for posting the pictures and they look great. We need to take some pictures of you next time with your camera. I bet there's a lot of snow on the AFT now.”

“Ok, so i saw your pics!!

what can i say,


there great!!
I love your pics.....


cant wait to play with mine!!!!”

“opps this is maple....”