PA Trip Soon?

“Rev & the early bunch - I'm wondering what to carry for shelter. It is predicted to be a little damp now early in the weekend then below freezing on Sat night - my bag's OK for above freezing in an HH, but do I try to bring a little fleecy thing to supplement it or just switch to a tent to pitch on wet ground? Hmm...”

“I will be swaying in the breeze no matter what. My hammock would be very upset if I left it home. So I have no idea. I am throwing in a fleece blanket of two for extra insulation since HOI says they are needed. Plus I have a reflective rescue blanket. Hoping I won't be cold. But the wet ground won't be too much of a factor for me. I might freeze my butt. Never slept in the air before so I have no clue.”

“Rev, it's warmer on the ground, provided you have a pad. Think of the 'Bridge Freezes Before Road Surface' signs that you see. Same principle. I rarely use a hammock in the winter and I'm down in VA.

Let me know how it goes.

'fool”

“Good sense has never been one of my strong points. hehehehe. We'll see how it goes. Worst comes to worst, I grab my car keys and trek back to my car. Won't be that far away if I understand correctly. If I am unprepared, then I bail and give the family the car back for the weekend. Not that big a problem. My daughter is slightly annoyed the taxi service will be closed over the weekend anyway. :?)”

“Did you post the GPS coordinates. I'll have mine with me”

“PAH was supposed to e-mail them to me then me e-mail out. He better do that soon if that cycle's gonna happen...”

“email me your cell number please and I'll send mine

epanger at comcast dot net”

“sent”

“Sounds like one of our participants is bailing on the camping Friday night in the rain part of the deal - as we might be literally bailing out our campsite.

Do we want to go ahead on the MST, or maybe switch back to the A.T. 225 to 443?

If we switch 3 of the 4 of us would be on the trail sooner than otherwise, and there would be shelters new and old so our sweet personalities won't melt away while setting up camp.”

“The rain wouldn't really bother me too much but the concept of bailing the campsite is not something that excites me. What specifically are we talking about then? The AT from Rt 225 - Rt 443? Where is that in general location? What does that do to my plans of in and out round about? Would that still be a viable option?”

“You could meet us at 225 - just drive down 147 and you have two chances to pick up 225. South of Halifax drive up the mountain and turn left just after an overpass on top labeled "Appalachian Trail." In/out roundabout would still be viable. I can bring an extra map to show you on Fri, a flat and non-flat way in for Sat and you can keep that map with you as you do that. And we will let you hang your hammock in the rain if you want.
last edited: 3/13/08 12:15:09 PM”

“ummm.... The hammock in the rain is not a essential component. Rt 225 is closer to me than the MST as well. But I don't get to see my son on Sunday. Oh well.

Looks like I could hike in the three miles to the Peter's Mt Shelter, out and then three miles in from Rt 433 to the Rausch Gap shelter. Sounds like a plan. I think I could handle that.

Up to you folks I guess. I'm game one way or the other.

I have the Section 7/8 map. Has the Rausch Gap trail been relocated yet? Tell me it was done thirty years ago... go ahead.
last edited: 3/13/08 12:45:02 PM”

“Would it be safe to plan to follow the old stage road snowmobile trail from the Gold Mine Road or would that be ice packed and not very pleasant? Looks like a "flat" access route.”

“So I'm confused. Are we meeting Friday night still?

When we say bail the camp site out. Is it a low spot that collects water?”

“Yeah we can meet Friday night since at least 3 of us want to - I'll be back on tonight.”

“Now I'm confused... where are we meeting?
and who are we meeting?
And do I bring my water wings or not?”

“I guess I'm the one that was looking to bail on Friday night. Weather forecast is showing rain, heavy at times, Friday night, starting around 4:00PM and going until midnight. I really wasn't looking forward to heading out into the woods and spending the night in the rain in a tent. Not even sure I could get the Tiki torches lit. I hiked a section of the trail yesterday and came up with 4 possible campsites. The one would not work as it is in a low lying area and would most definitely be wet. The first, only 0.82 mies in looked nice, but that would leave a little over 13 miles to hike the next day. The fourth looked nice as well, and it was 2.25 miles in. That would let an 11 mile hike on Saturday. I am willing to meet up with you guys on Saturday morning, somewhere along the trail, and do the the hike on Saturday and Sunday. Just don't want to start the weekend off wet and cold.

If you decide on the AT, I think I'll pass on that one. If you stick with the MST, let me know and I'll hike the rest of the weekend with you. I'll even meet up with Rev Friday night at Jo Hays, hike in with him to the campsite, and have a beer with him if you do decide to stick with the MST.”

“Sounds like it is Ki0eh's call since his name is on the trip page.”

“Yeah, we'll let him make the call on the trip.”

“By the way Rev, is your hammock a Hennessey?”

“yeppers.... The safari model. It has only been out of the bag in the basement for a practice rigging. We don't have any trees in the yard and I don't really trust the porch supports of the house. hehehe. Should be interesting.”

“Do you have the Snake Skins to go with it?”

“no.... those were not part of the package. Not complaining mind you, but I haven't ordered them either.”

“I say lets get wet or at least test our gear to see how it works. I'd like to stick to the original plan.

Ki0eh let us know”

“Well, if you guys decide on the MST I'll bring a pair along and you can try them out.”

“MST it is! I'd prefer that for scenic reasons. E-mail to follow once I get caught up...”

“pahikes... seems to me we are close enuf to the trail head that if the rain gets too horrible we could bail back to cars and get dry. Or you guys could just decide to plug on through to the end on Saturday and get to the cars a night early. We are only showing a 60% chance of rain for Friday night. I don't know about the rest of the state.


I'd be happy to try the snake skins. I don't a set marketed for the safari is the only thing.
last edited: 3/13/08 3:53:08 PM”

“OK, I'll still have the beer ready for Friday night. I'll bring my gear as well. Who knows, we could get to having so much fun that I forget about being wet and cold. Give me an idea on arrival times. Ki0eh, could you copy all on your email so I can get in touch with Rev to set up a time to meet him. He may be driving right past my house on the way to Jo Hays, and we could just head up at that time. That way I won't have to sit on top of the mountain twiddling my thumbs.”

“I lied..... It's looking 80% for Friday night and up to 1/4 inch....

But still and all...”

“Rev, your Survior, is it Woodland or Digital Camo? As for the Snake Skins, they are brown and I think would work fine with the Woodland camo.”

“The model is Safari Deluxe and it is just plain color, no camo. It was a "feed the gimp" transaction so I get what I got and I am delighted by it. Matter of fact a lot of what I am bringing was acquired through "feed the gimp."

Fashion plate I am not. Ask anyone who knows me. hehehe
last edited: 3/13/08 4:06:55 PM”

“Hey guys, I just sent out an e-mail using the trip "email attendees" function with my current understanding of the itinerary.

Now I need to get packed, will check the computer again shortly...”

“Three minutes later and still no email....I'll keep you posted. :)”

“MST it is see you at the hardee's at 5

Rain rain go away come back another day :)”

“Hmmm....15 minute later and still no email. Usually emails don't take quite this long to arrive. Perhaps a problem with the "email attendees" feature?”

“I got nothing also”

“I got nothing from TT.”

“he sent me an email saying MST it is.”

“OK, I sent out another e-mail just now using the regular e-mail. Guess that TT email attendees function is truly LNT... the message must be totally gone.”

“Enjoy your trip. My group will be leaving Jo Hays and walking down to the area of the first site around midnight on the 28th. I could go further to the site near 2.25 miles but would cut it short based on the size. We'll have about 12 people and I still need to "encourage" tent partners. I'd appreciate any comments on the campsites in that stretch. When I was in the area last I skipped the low MST section and stayed on the Jackson Trail to get back to the car quicker. Now I am paying the karmic price for skipping a section of the trail while planning this trip.”

“Pat, are you on WhiteBlaze.net? Some fellow is looking for info on planning a thru-hike from Springer in GA to the north end of Allegheny Trail. To relate it to this thread, won't his butt be in PA when signing the register, or something??”

“I'm not on whiteblaze. I've been having enough trouble keeping up with the two boards and the neoh site. I thought I saw someone post on the NEOH site about hiking north from Springer on the AT only (in June). I call the Allegheny Trail the ALT to separate it from THE AT. If I can navigate there I can check it out. Coming up from the south on the ALT I would suggest that folks end their trip in Thomas, WV or at least by the Canyone Rim trailhead off of Route 219 west of Thomas. North of there the trail is all road up to the PA border.”

“Pat, here's the specific link: http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=34397”

“I'm on it”

“I did not end up staying out on the Jo Hay early guys trips. And as usual it is probably a good thing. Once I got to the trail I was experiencing some difficulty with my footing and balance. As I thought about trying untested equipment in less than Ideal weather I began to have second thoughts. Never having set up the hammock in the woods before, let alone slept in it in cold weather I decided to have a beer or two, han out with the guys and head back home when Pahiker took off to go back Friday night.

Today I messed around with the hammock hung between my back porch support posts. It took me a few tries to get the hang of setting it up and fitting the sleeping bag and stuff in it. Whne I finally got something that seemed to be workable, I realized it was a few teps from what I went prepared with. No I know a little more and will be able to mess around a little more with it.

I had a good time in the woods again. I can now add Pahikes to my people I have met list. Along with eggs. It was a good night Friday. I enjoyed it.
last edited: 3/16/08 6:16:55 PM”

“duplicate, grrr.....
last edited: 3/16/08 6:17:13 PM”

“Seems every time I set up the hammock it takes me longer to do it. :) At least after an hour plus I finally had a good setup Sat nite.”

“At least after an hour plus I finally had a good setup Sat nite.”
ki0eh
8:04:52 AM
3/17/08

an hour and how many beers?”

“Rev don't believe a word they tell you about the idiot that drove his land rover into the same mud that some other guy got stuck in.

I really did it to make the other guy feel better about himself. That's my story and I'm stickin to it.”

“aw man.... I miss all the fun.”