Loyalsock Trail, PA: Jan 4-5, 2003

“A big snowstorm hit the area on Friday Jan. 3, leading to much discussion on two topics: road conditions and snowshoes. The park ranger said they were expecting 20 inches. A few guys dropped out, a decision I respect, but most of us (the foolish ones, perhaps) were at the trailhead by 8:45am Saturday.

(Disappointed not to have met baume, and would have enjoyed hiking with Must Hike and RichB again. Next time, guys!)

Before the hike, we staged two vehicles at roughly the 10-mile mark, in case anyone wanted to bail out on Sunday morning.

Stratusloop, Corporal Nasty, Twinkle Toes and I had rented snowshoes from EMS, and were on them for the very first time. Artex and Pennsy had their own snowshoes and had limited experience with them. And jmitch and roach wrapped on the gaiters and trudged through the snow without snowshoes.

On the first climb, right out of the parking lot, we learned that in certain situations, snowshoes can be a significant hindrance. Roach and jmitch reached the top of the hill much more easily than did the rest of us. But after that, I think we all agreed that using the snowshoes was definitely the easier way to move.

One more comment on the snowshoes...we experienced significant buildup of ice on the bottoms of the snowshoes, where the crampon teeth were and anywhere that a loose strap might be hanging down. It seemed related to the creek crossings, of which there were many. As soon as they got wet, they started collecting ice balls. I had an ice ball hanging from one of my straps that was as big as a large grapefruit, and extremely hard, difficult to remove. The result of the ice buildup was that much of the weekend I felt like I was hiking with ankle weights on. Add the weight of the wet boots (2 lbs. each--I weighed them when I got home) plus the snowshoes, plus the ice...all that weight was tolerable on the flats but brutal on the uphills.

Meanwhile, back at the top of the first hill....I told jmitch that at the rate we were going, we were not going to make our intended campsite by dark. He remained optimistic, but by 4:00 it was clear that we were well short of our destination and very tired. We found a pretty spot near a small winding creek, and made camp there.

Tired and cold, I quickly put my tent up and started working on getting a fire going. We had all the "gadgets" but just couldn't get it done, because all the wood was encased in a thick sheath of ice. I think we spent at least an hour on it before we gave up.

At 9pm I climbed into my tent with two nalgene's full of hot water. I took my boots off and my feet, though they were dry, were numb and bluish from about mid-foot forward. Some of my clothes were damp and I regretted that I had brought only one pair of pants. The last thing in the world I wanted to do was to wake up and put those cold clothes back on.

As feared, around 11:00 I needed to pee. I lay there for 45 minutes wishing it would just go away, but finally I decided to handle the situation by [TMI removed by the editor as a courtesy to the reader]. So I was very relieved. ;-)

Sunday morning finally came after a night during which I really did not sleep well, or much, at all. Boots were frozen despite the handwarmers that I had put in them the night before. Got myself dressed, stuffed my sleeping bag and rolled my thermarest, and stumbled out of the tent.

It was a still but cold morning. My hands quickly became painfully numb, such that I could not even feel the buttons on my camera to take pictures. Pennsy loaned me his down mittens which helped a lot, but of course I had to keep taking them off to perform all the morning eating and packing up tasks.

I have tentatively concluded that, while I love winter hiking, I do not enjoy winter camping. But maybe with a few more choice pieces of gear/clothing, and a little more experience, I will overcome that.

Day two, jmitch was the first to leave camp, and a few minutes later roach followed him. I headed out about 10 minutes after jmitch and found him less that 100 yards from camp. He was unable to find the trail. Navigation was difficult all weekend, in certain spots, primarily because before the snowstorm there had obviously been a major ice storm. Tree branches were heavy and hanging low everywhere, blocking the trail (some places impassable) and blocking our view of trail markers.

I should say that the trail was actually VERY well marked, and it was a good thing it was. There was no way to recognize the trail from the ground conditions or (with few exceptions) the vegetation patterns. So all we had to go on were the markers on the trees, many of which were hidden by drooping branches.

There were many, many places, both days, where we had to just squeeze through thickets of icy, snow-covered branches. With snowshoes and full packs, that was awkward and fatiguing. We felt like we did as much bushwhacking as hiking.

Many places in the snow we could see the tracks of animals...lots of deer, rabbits, and some other unknown small mammals as well. It was fun being there before the snow was disturbed by anyone else.

All in all, it was a really good learning experience. Learning about cold weather camping, and about snowshoes, and about what expectations are realistic when there is a foot of unpacked snow on the ground.

A beautiful place, a great workout, and super people to share it all with. Thanks all!

(My Pics)”

“Fritz - Great report and pics! looks like you guys had fun. What kind of shoes where you guys using?”

“Great trip report, Fritz. You covered it well. Here's my take:

Corporal Nasty and Twinkle Toes graciously picked me up at my work on Friday and we were off. It was already snowing when we left and we were heading right into the heart of the storm. The snowfall went from bad to worse, making the drive treacherous but with the good Corporal at the wheel we got there safe and sound. The four-hour drive ended up taking nearly eight, and we were happy and relieved to find where Roach and Pennsy Hiker were car camping, and we quickly pitched our tents and went to bed.

The next morning we met up with jmitch, Fritz, and Stratusloop and began our trek along the Loyalsock Trail. Soon after beginning the hike, we encountered a very steep climb, which was quite a challenge in snowshoes. Afterwards, several other obstacles loomed in our path. The entire forest was coated in ice as if a squadron of cropdusters had sprayed the forest with a good coating of liquid nitrogen. The leaves and branches hung over the paths and seemingly shattered as we brushed past. There were also countless blowdowns which helped make the trek laborous, but the beauty of the winter scenery and fresh snowfall all around us more than made up for the extra physical work required.

As is usually the case when hiking with a larger number of people, we had split up into smaller groups based on everyone's paces. Because of the cold, we made sure to wait up for one another every few hours to make sure everyone was okay. The importance of this was underscored in my mind towards the end of that day when we heard a loud cracking sound about a hundred or so feet ahead of the trail. A large, ice-coated branch had broken off a tree and was sent crashing to the ground. It was an awesome sight to watch, but also served as a warning to be careful in such conditions. I believe Fritz said he had acquired a new found appreciation for how Treebait had gotten her name.

At camp that night, a valiant attempt (primarily by Fritz and his powerlungs) was made to start a campfire, but to no avail. All the branches were coated in ice, which made the task pretty much impossible. Twinkle Toes, Corporal Nasty, and Stratusloop had not yet showed up at camp, and based on an earlier conversation we had with them we theorized that they had probably camped somewhere down the trail. However, two hours into the night, Roach spotted a set of headlamps breaking through the darkness and the group had arrived. I was happy that the entire group would be camping together that night, and after they set up their tents we talked, drank Pennsy's Southern Comfort, and enjoyed eachother's company. We were all tired though, and it wasn't too much later that we all went to sleep.

The next morning we broke camp and hit the trail. We continued to fight the blowdowns and iced over brush along the path, and we quickly grew tired. We all decided to take a short cut and head back to the parked cars that were shuttled over the day before. Along the way, Pennsy and I had fun writing messages and pictographs of a sinister nature for those who were hiking behind us. Hee hee!

We all reached the cars safely, and after driving back to where the other vehicles were we bid one another farewell. It was a great time, and I can't thank Jmitch enough for arranging it. It was also great to meet Stratusloop, Twinkle Toes, and Roach.. three terrific people who I'd hike again with anytime. Same deal with others I had aleady met that were on this trip, of course!

Check out some of my pics!”

“Good trip reports. Good, vivid writing, Artex... loved the comment about ice and crop dusting. :-)

Sounds tough. Glad you all made it OK. Can I say one thing? (And you would have to have kept it warm.) GPS. I've read of people dying when they couldn't find the trail out.”

“Fine reports and fine pics. Thanks so much for sending them around while TT was down... it took the edge off my TT DTs.”

“Damn! Damn! Damn! I wanted to go to this one! However, watching my Bucks win the National Championship................priceless. Glad y'all had fun!”

“I like the Corporal's shots. hehehee

Say, Corp. Nasty sure reminds me of some Snackboy stuff from TT's early days.

CAN IT BE??!?”

“Nice reports guys....here's another.

Friday I arrive at the campsite having used 4 wheel drive for much of the way. The previous ice storm topped off by the present snowstorm had many trees down accross the roadway and drooping far enough to scrape the top of my truck. I set up, took some photos and a book but no one had showed by 8 o'clock. Thinking everyone was going to wait 'till morning because of the weather I headed into the tent for a good nights rest. Sure enough, 10 minutes after the sleeping bag was nice and warm, feet toasty, and drifting off I hear, "Roach, you in there?". It was Pennsy Hiker. I knew that getting in my sleeping bag would bring someone.

We set up his tent and I quickly learned that Pennsy is the "gear slut". The back of his truck looks like a roaming REI store.

We found out that Artex, Corporal Nasty and Twinkle Toes were on their way but would be very late. Needless to say we waited up, atleast until my Southern Comfort ran out then went to bed. We also had a good time trying to get a fire going but I'll leave out the details! They did show up at what I believe was 2 am. All I heard was a car spinning and spinning and spinning! I yelled out to Pennsy but he said there was no need to get up since it was under control.

We all made it to the trailhead in the morning and met up with jmitch, Fritz, and Stratusloop. Jmitch and I hit the trail first and carefully made it up the first steep rock hill. It was an intesting climb with the snow cover, not really knowing where your next step would take you. We waited at the first lookout for the others, snapped a few pictures and were on our way. The snow was beautiful and for the first 3 or so miles we traded off the lead, passing one another while we took breaks. I wanted to stop for more pictures but my feet had gotten wet and stopping only made them get cold.

The trees were hung down in many places over the trail which made it difficult to get around, I would guess even more so for those in snowshoes. You could hear and sometimes see the tree tops breaking off and falling due to the adding weight of snow and ice. At one point, with jmitch in the lead and I about 15 minutes back, I came across a 6 inch thick tree top that looked as if he had walked right through it. When I caught up to him at the waterfall, he said it fell right after he went through, what luck! From that point on I didn't know whether to watch where I was stepping or look up at the tree tops.

After the falls the snow seemed to get deeper and the lack of snowshoes was taking its toll. I was moving slower but kept on in the tracks of jmitch, Artex, Fritz and Penssy.

A while later when the group decided to cut short the days goal and set up camp I had no objections. The show of the night was everyone cheering for Fritz to get the fire started. It was a noble effort but just wasn't meant to be.

We all thought that Stratusloop, Twinkle Toes and Corporal Nasty had stopped for the night behind us when I noticed some lights in the trees. They had made it! Everyone was in camp and the peasants rejoiced.

After dinner and helping Pennsy with his southern comfort we turned in early, wore out from the day. Thanks to some dry socks from jmitch, I had a nice and toasty good nights sleep.

The next morning we hit the trail at about 10 and out past Sones Pond. It was another beautiful day. The general consensus was to make it to the cars we had shuttled and call it a day, foregoing the entire loop, there just wasn't the time. The snow had slowed us down and taken its toll.

On the way down Artex and Pennsy had some fun writing in the snow for us to read and I got to know Statusloop, Corporal Nasty and Twinkle toes a bit more since we really didn't hike together the first day. Also on the way down, Corporal Nasty took a header trying to run in his snowshoes, it was a pretty good laugh.

The scenery was well worth the trip. Hiking old railroad grades, the waterfall, and just the general surroundings.

As for the group, jmitch, Pennsy, Artex, Fritz, Stratusloop, Twinkle Toes, and Corporpal Nasty, I enjoyed meeting each one of you and had a great time, I would hike with you all anytime.”

“Great trip reports. You guys covered just about everything, except for the 2 times we saw large tree portions crashing to the ground. That was awesome.

It was a real fun weekend and thanks to jmitch for organizing the trip.

Here's my pics if anybody's interested.”

“Nice Pics everyone! Pennsy, did you bring Big Bertha for those pics? They turned out sweet!”

“Great trip reports and glad everything worked out well. The conditions looked pretty rough with the trees hanging and trail markers covered, but beautiful scenery. It's really the same here. The trees are still bent over and there's a tough snowpack about knee deep in the mountains. It would be tough hiking without snowshoes in the mountains and I give the guys that went without credit for doing it since it had to be rough. One way to prevent ice build up is to spray your snowshoes with silicone spray before you go out. Car wax will even work. I use Maxiglide Xcountry ski glider which is formulated to prevent snow and ice buildup on skis. Tuck or tie the straps in or around your gaiters if you can. Fritz, don't give up on the winter camping. With the right clothes and enough of them anyone can stay warm. The downfall is a bigger and heavier pack, but that's the price you pay for cold weather fun.
What's up with the other Link Trail trip for the following weekend Jmitch? Is it still on? Is anyone here going? Is it possible to cover the distance with the snowpack? I hope we don't get another snowstorm for traveling because I'd like to go if it's still on.”

“sounds like a great trip...hang in there, Fritz! The first one is always a learning experience.

Winter camping is not for everyone...heck, if not for my gear sled and all the extra goodies I could bring because of it, I probably would decide that the costs outweight the benefits.

The campfire at night is a key to my happiness in Winter, which is why I always haul it in on my sled. Second key to happiness is hot chocolate with kahluaaaaahhhh before bed.

Someone here recommended "Maxiglide" for snowshoes to prevent icy build up. Well, despite my fears of asking for said-named product and having the gear store dude laugh his a$$ off at me, I found some. Though I haven't field tested it yet, I believe it will do the job. The store dude also confirmed what the TTer said: that it will keep the ice off, without reapplying, even after a creek crossing. sweeeet
I hope he's right.

I'm gonna go check out the pics!!!
>:D”

“Great trip reports guys, thanks!

Sounds like it was an awesome trip!”

“Maxiglide works and ice, snow build up on waxless skis is a much bigger problem than snowshoes. Imagine skiing 10 miles out from your car and having your skis get ice and snow build up and having no more glide on 2 feet of snow, then having to get back. It can turn into a nightmare.”

“I am loving the pics!!

Roach...isn't it always that way? Just when you though it was safe to get into yer bag for the night.”

“AmyG, I told Pennsy that I knew as soon as I got in bed that someone would come, guess I should have just done that earlier!

More pics to come after my neanderthal film developing is finished.”

“When Buddur and I were waiting for the Adventurists to show up on the FYAO I hike in the Catskills, the same thing happened!

We had stayed up as long as possible, doing a shake-yer-booty campfire dance to stay warm. We finally decided to "bag it" and had no sooner retired, than they showed up...around 1 AM, I believe. I had to crawl out of my nice warm bag...in single digit temps, no less, to do a meet-and-greet.
brrrrr

Thanks for the tip, Rich! See, ya learn something new everyday on this crazy site.
:o)”

“Great pictures and reports! Lucky you all got some snow...I knew I shoulda gone to Pennsylvania over Xmas break. My snowshoes are still in their wrapper.”

“Crazy site, but nice.”

“Great trip reports and really cool pics.....It looks like everyone covered just about everything.....

On a personal note...it was my first time hiking with snowshoes and the first time that I really gave my left foot a workout since I tore it up several months ago. I had no idea what my pace would be so I just took my time....after that initial treacherous climb and an hour or so later I found myself in a zone whereby I was hiking by myself....not wanting to kill myself, I slowed down and eventually tagged along with Corp Nasty & Twinkle Toes.....Thanks guys for letting me be the 3rd Wheel.....sorta felt awkward at times but....Oh Well...I had fun never-the-less....and BTW...a Big Thanks to Twinkle for giving me a set of hand warmers....they came in handy while sleeping...I have to admit...I didn't think we'd ever catch up to the group and was prepared to camp without them but i'm glad we kept persistent...it was really cool hiking in the dark with the headlamps...anyway enough babbling....

The scenery was well worth the trip.

As for the group, roach, Artex, Fritz, Pennsy, Twinkle Toes, and Corporpal Nasty, I really enjoyed meeting each one of you and had a great time, I would hike with you guys anytime.”

“Great pictures, everyone. Sounds like quite an adventure. It certainly looked cold in the pictures. What was the temps, does anyone know or did I miss it in the reports? Where were the waterfalls, a ways off the trail, were they near Sones Pond?”

“Lyndy, the NWS temps for some towns within an hour of Loyalsock said it got down to 22 on Saturday night. I'd say it was colder than that where we were though, and would roughly guess it got down to about 15. I have to remember to get a small Hg thermometer to attach to my backpack zipper to keep track of these things! The waterfalls were all pretty much just right off the trial. Don't recall any in the immediate vicinity of Sones Pond though.”

“Yay! - the site is back up! will give my 2 cents on the trip a bit later today....

Glad to hear everyone is home safe and sound..”

“Great trip reports, thanks for sharing.

Note to Fritz, the key to cold is fuel. Gotta keep the furnace stoked, in real cold weather disgusting stuff with lots of fat and salt like spam and pepperoni, just fat like CHOCOLATE (yeahh), and lots of fluid. I always carry boullion cubes (800mg Na) to make soup.

Of course I have a cholesterol problem but I stay warm.

Manuka”

“I was so impressed by all the reports....it sounded so wonderful.

Twinkle Toes..I'm impressed you went again after the frozen toes incident. What a trooper. I may have thrown in the towel.”

“wow, TT is back.

it was a great trip with great winter scenery, but tough conditions with heavy snow. great group of people to hike with.

i also nearly died on this trail, i was hiking ahead of everyone when i heard a large tree beginning to crack from the heavy ice, i rushed down the trail under some hemlocks and watched the tree collapse over the trail where i was. it was pretty cool.

i saw wild turkeys, bobcat tracks and scat, and plenty of deer tracks.

thanks to everyone for coming along, i hope you all had a good time.”

“Lyndy, the waterfall is at Alpine falls. I don't know if you remember, but we stopped for lunch a little beyond there last winter when we hiked the trail. We took a few pictures at the top.”

“you folks is crazy! i headed up to visit with family and friends after i backed out on friday. the drive up was good until i got around new milferd. i was going to hike in and camp at my old friends place but the trees were losing too many branches for my liking. i ended up snow shoeing on borrowed snow shoes saturday. it was gorgeous. sorry i missed meeting everyone. i will make it up there to hike with you folks sometime in the future. nice pics!”

“really cool.”

“Fritz, did you use the disposable handwarmer things by Heatmax?

I've heard others recommend putting chemical heaters in your boots at night, but never tried it myself. In order for the heater to stay "going" there needs to be oxygen circulating around it, which wouldn't happen if it was just lying in the bottom of your boot.

Did you use them other than in your boots at night? If not try it, they work great!

You can buy handwarmers and footwarmers. Handwarmers get hotter, stay hot longer and are meant to be put in your mittens.

Footwarmers are supposed to be warn between your sock and boot, not directly against your skin. I think it'd be easy to get burned if you did, with a boot being such an enclosed space. I've used the hand warmers a lot, but the foot warmers only a few times and they are hot!

I've wondered if throwing one in the bottom of a sleeping bag would help with warmth, but the package warns against using them while sleeping.”

“my sleeping bag has a pocket in the bottom for them.”

“Have you tried it - does it add warmth, baume?

I've got some small fleece-like bags that nips came in that would keep the heater from direct contact with skin. I'm sure that'd work ok.”

“A bit belated but here's my trip report...

At 6pm on Friday, Corporal Nasty, Artex and I headed out in "gay blue" into the Nor'easter for a weekend of BP'ing with the TT gang. It was one hell of a drive up - the normal three-hour drive turned out to take eight hours! I had never been in a car during a blizzard so the new experiences of slipping and sliding, skidding off the highway and into a snow bank (yes, it really happened!), and digging "gay blue" out of many a snowdrift were pretty exciting...if not terrifying at moments. Good thing Artex was better at getting out of snow than his namesake was at getting out of mud! However, the good Corp' got us all safe and sound to the campsite at 2am...with a little help from Krispy Kreme and the ninja-ass-kicking pirates. Aaaaarrrrrrr-rated!

Any attempts at trying to get into camp without waking Pennsy and Rob (TT name?) were soon lost since “gay blue” decided to get stuck, not once but twice, right in front of the site! The sounds of the whirling wheels, revving engine, and hysterical laughter would have been enough to wake the dead! Pennsy, not a zombie, soon emerged from his tent with a flask of whiskey and a shovel to rescue our sorry, floundering selves from the grip of winter. Within half-an-hour, we were all snug in bed. I am very happy to say that the –20 degree beast of a sleeping bag from Athena was well worth the struggles and curses it took to get it into my dang BP. I was a snug as a bug in a rug! Plus, Pennsy graciously passed on his North Face Roadrunner tent to me – even put it up that night – and it’s simply the most beautiful tent I’ve ever had (okay, so its also the first “real” BP’ing tent I’ve had J). Thank you!!

At 6:30am the next morning my eyes popped open and that was the start of my day. It sounded like a gang of crazy loggers was in camp due to the rambunctious snoring of the fella’s! By 8am we were all packed up and headed over to the trailhead. There we meet up with Fritz (with the “girlie” BP – we have the same one), Jmitch (Mr. Fancy Pants author - J), and Stratusloop (the hero with snowshoes). Did I remember everyone?

Much snowshoe play and general silliness ensued before the back-up cars were situated and the gang of intrepid TT’ers headed out into the winter wonderland…

This trip was definitely a trip of “firsts” for me. The snowshoes had one heck of a learning curve – took some figuring out and many face-first falls into the snow before I got the hang of snow shoeing up steep hills….and even then the occasional branch would send me flying onto my face on level ground! Sheesh…real graceful, huh?

It was magical being out in the middle of the woods with snow as far as the eyes could see, every branch and leaf encased in a layer of tinkling ice, half-frozen streams and waterfalls, a world in cold black and white.

The snowshoe kicked my butt. I learned that the biggest thrill of BP’ing in winter is the sheer physical challenge of it. So little time allowed for letting the mind wander…every time I zoned out I was soon brought back to reality with a misstep of the snowshoes and yet another face full of snow.

And for the ladies reading this…this was also my first time on the trail having to deal with the particulars of….well, you know. Its not so bad….don’t cancel trips because of it….just be patient and well prepared!! Thanks to Mapleleaf for the advice!

Anyway, back to the trip…..
Around 3:30pm I was exhausted. Thought that there was no way possible to catch up with the rest of the group (Stratusloop, Corp’ and I were the official Slack-Packers and had fallen about an hour and half behind the others with our many picture and breather breaks). Yet somehow, still don’t know how it happened, after half an hour of sheer torture (felt like throwing up and then passing out right on the trail), I got one hell of a second wind and was bound and determined not to set up camp while separated from the rest of the group. Two particularly nasty stumbles and a break later, we heard voices and saw headlamps off in the distance – thank goodness – it was the happiest moment when we three realized that the group was just ahead of us! Hiyoo!!!….or is that 4:00?

At 6:30pm we wandered into the streamside campsite to the vociferous greetings of the “uber-hikers”! New tent up…no problems! However, the cooking took some patience! Frozen hands and shivering, and genius here brought a can of stew without a can opener (duh!!), made the preparation of hot food and drink a bit of a pain in the arse! But, I am proud to say that genius also got her stove going on the first try! Yippee!

Soon after, everyone headed off once again to bed. Fleece, down booties, and hand warmers – you are my savior! The chainsaw action of the snoring was occasionally interrupted with the sounds of trees crashing down from the weight of snow and ice. Gotta tell ya – when you are out in the woods doing your business – the sound of a nearby tree crashing is rather unsettling – thoughts of bare-bummed pictures taken by your fellow BP’ers is enough to get ya hoppin’ right outta there! Hahahaha!!!!

Got a later start on Sunday due to everyone’s need for extra sleep and the slow-moving breakdown of camp (it’s a challenge to move fast when you’re partially numb!). Spent another half-day bulling our way through the clutches of iced branches and deep snow before finally making it the back-up cars. This “Sheila” even got the chance to break trail for a good length of time. Eat yer hearts out fella’s! Hehehaha….

This was an amazing adventure! I am so happy to have gone on this trip – the guys were all wonderful to BP with and I would go back on the trail with any of them in a heartbeat. Winter BP’ing kicks butt! And it’s even better when you’ve figured out how to not have your toes freeze! Can’t wait for the next trip! Thanks guys – this will definitely be one trip I remember with warm thoughts as an old lady sitting in my rocker!”

“Great trip report Twinkles! :-)”

“Great report Twinkles, sounds like a great time!
...um, but a little TMI there.
(and btw, cancel a trip because of that? no freakin' way...)”

“funnnnnnnnnny.......im still alive and well despite your hatred.................................friend stealer....and liar to the 3rd deg”

“hahaha

twigs...i know it was TMI - but the idea was to inspire other ladies in the same situation - 'cause its hard to talk about these things when it comes to BP'ing!

sorry if it was too much for some of ya with weak stomachs....i will refrain from further mentions of the touchy subject :)”

“Great trip reports, I wish I could have made it. You can always count on Pennsy to bring something to take the edge off.”

“Goretexx, I thought you were gone 4ever? Please live up to your end of the bargain. Buh-bye.”

“FYI, goretex,
you should inform your mother that you are no longer in the New York area. oh by the way tell her I said Hi again.
Plus you might want to tell EMS that they should forward your check to your moms.

opps I forgot your in Washington.....
If your going to leave then just do it!”

“It has nothing to do with weak stomach Twinks.”

“I'm not sure if I understand what exactly TMI is, but I will say that Twinkles is one heckuvan awesome backpacker that has an unbreakable will and spirit. She rules, and is an absolute pleasure to go backpacking with!”

“OK so what kind of drugs or how much did she pay you to say that ah???



j/k
you got to love the girl!!!
:)”

“Hey fellow slack-packer Twinkle Toes....nice trip report....

and goretexx...I haven't got a clue who you are but get lost pal...or...i'll sick Artex on you...he told me he could whoop your arse with his left hand tied behind his back....now...take the advise and make like a tree and leave....”

“Now Artex, if you were female, this is where all the guys would jump in lusting for a cat fight. Got that blonde wig ready, or did CMB eat all teh hair off it, lol?

TMI is "too much information"

I'm sure she's all that and much more Artex, I wasn't trying to dimish her in any way.”

“Phew, thanks for the clarification. I was trying to figure out how she got from the Loyalsock Trail to Three Mile Island on snowshoes.”

“Nice report Twinkle Toes, it was an awesome trip.

What's up with this goretex person? Sounds like someone needs a milk break and a nap.”

“LOL @ roach! And a good shrink.”

“Oh, I know you better than that, twigeater! I just thought I'd throw out the compliment about her.

BTW, I just read that about me and the wig on the saga thread, I was dying of laughter! Toooo funny!

Oh yeah, twigeater, I'm about to drop you an email about something.. keep a lookout for it.”

“FYI, (or does this go into TMI?)
for gotetex.

Im PMS"ING

thats all thats all that needs to be said!”