Loyalsock Trail July 4th 3day thruhike

“Awwww come on, Jeff. Join us for the whole thing. I won't let anyone burn you. I promise. But yes, Haystacks probably Friday night and Ketchum Sat night. Sunday, once we get off the road and into TSF, we'll start looking for campsites. Hopefully, we'll get as far as Snake or Painter Run.

Thanks for the heads up on the nettle. I hate wearing gaitors in the summer, but I also hate having my legs itch all day.”

“Russ still feels really bad about that.”

“I'm getting new gators just for this trip, they should arrive here tomorrow! Woohoo!”

“I thought your existing gaitors were pretty new. What did ya do, burn them? ;o)”

“friggin busted them on PA Rocks!!! Ugg , EMS sent them off to get repaired. The buckle busted. I ordered a pair of low gaitors though from EMS. They are revamping their line of gaitors for next season right now and didn't have any left. They had to get some in from Baltimore.”

“Ahhhhh, I see. Low gaitors are great in the summer, but you still might get stung by the nettle. I'll wear my high gaitors, but shove them low until I see a nettle section and then pull them back up.”

“dangit! you are the gear master. lol My new gaitors just arrived. Not sure what to make of them. They have EMS in big yellow letters.”

“just tip toe through the nettle.

Hey, in real time, not ENS time, what time do you think you'll get to the trailhead Friday?”

“nettles? so I need my high gators. whahhhh...thought i could save some weight.
lots of nettles?

long pants should be fine too though...
i may go to the gear store tomorrow.

almost screwed up and got a dentist appointment on friday, than I remembered.... puhhh....”

“I am planning to leave work by 3, no later than 330 and meet Gemini at 4 in Harrisburg. I should be there by six.”

“there aren't lots of nettles, they're bad in one spot- ketchum run to high knob road.”

“yeah, I remember them being bad there too.”

“Fri
Jul 1 Scattered Strong Storms
78°/59° 40%
78 °F

Sat
Jul 2 Mostly Sunny
73°/51° 10%
73 °F

Sun
Jul 3 Sunny
78°/54° 20%
78 °F

Mon
Jul 4 Sunny
83°/59° 20%
83 °F


the weather is still looking to be decent for this hike. Tomorrow night could be interesting, but once beyond that, it should be good hiking weather.”

“the national weather service is calling for a 30% chance of showers Friday night (for LaPorte). It didn't say anything about strong storms and if it does rain, it will be less than 1/10 of an inch. The main thing is that the humidity should be low this weekend.

Hmmm, if the nettle is bad in only section, I may leave the gaiters behind and be careful in that area. Or.... if it looks unavoidable, toss on the rain pants for a short bit.”

“I'm definitely going hammock for this trip. Man, I am really looking forward to this hike. I think we're going to have a lot of fun.

So I am bring the stove (jetboil + canister)
Pennsy, you are bringing waterfilter and first aid kit.
Gemini is bringing her sense of humour.”

“she's gonna need it.
but yep, you got it right. I have a partial canister that I'll bring, just in case.

don't bet the farm on this, but there's a chance we'll have a little cold beer with dinner tomorrow night.”

“cold beer? how? lol”

“tis a 'speriment. We'll either have cold beer or they'll be a buncha drunk squirrels and other forest critters.”

“I'm glad you didn't put together an elevation profile for this trip lol. It would probably scare the crap out of us.”

“I'm not going to be able to make it out to the Loyalsock this weekend. I went for short hike Wednesday to test out my hip and it felt pretty good yesterday morning and I was even tempted with the idea of doing the whole trail. Well, last night and this morning it's sore again so I don't think I'll be able to hike far enough to make it worth the drive out there. Hope you all have a great weekend and I'll be looking forward to reading the trip report. Hopefully, I'll be healed up enough for the next trip.”

“fyi- the area is expecting very strong t-storms in the afternoon.

the haystacks are awesome, great place to camp. bring shorts to swim.”

“you coming Jeff? No whitegas.”

“my parents are coming up from FL, so i can't make the hike. if my schedule works out, i'll try to hike in ketchum run saturday night.”

“cool.”