Bruised & Battered but unbeaten Loyalsoc k Trail TR

“Whay is it about you and your suicide bids on July 4th ENS?”

“ENS - "Oh it's a national holiday, time for a ball-breaker!"”

“Yall are machines!”

“we just hiked long days. We didn't really go fast. Kept a good steady pace. Yesterday, we hiked pretty slow.”

“Ruby talking about wearing Gemini out... makes me feel all tingly.”

“Great trip report! Those are some mighty long days!”

“i'm proud of you guys! awesome report and pics, the LT is such a great trail.”

“thanks Jeff, your book was a great help!”

“Great report and nice pictures.”

“All I can say is WOW! You all impressed the hell out of me.”

“where is pennsy?”

“At work?”

“what? still? workaholic or what?”

“he's probably climbing Mount Tammany right now. lol

he's always off of work by 3 everyday.
last edited: 7/05/05 5:17:17 PM”

“Wow, that's a great trip report, ENS. I don't have to say a thing, but I reckon I'll add a comment or 2. Gem and ENS, your pics are really good, so I won't have to add any of mine, but I reckon I'll add one or two. :o) Not tonight though.

Except for that dang road walk, the Loyalsock has to be one of the best trails in Pa, right up there with the Black Forest Trail. The BFT is regarded as one of the toughest trails in Pa, but the LT is certainly no slouch with all the ups and downs. I'd really like to know what the total elevation gain is. (Hey ENS, let's do it again next week and I'll being my GPS heh heh)

We got "somewhat" cheated because the water levels were so low. Haystacks is supposed to have class 4 rapids but it was a very mild stream, and many waterfalls were dry or close to dry. Nevertheless, the trail was extrememly scenic, and the low water levels did make stream crossings a piece of cake. Another thing I liked about the Loyalsock is that while there were many hills to climb, there were also many long flat stretches that gives the hiker the opportunity to recover.

It was a long, hard, tiring weekend but I had a blast. The company was awesome, as Gem and ENS are very very good people to hike and hang with. Gem is one of the toughest hikers I've been around, and I've been around some pretty tough hikers. Her knee started hurting around mile 20 and bothered her the remaining 40 miles. There were several opportunities to hitch a ride, and even a few points where we could have cut off a few miles, but she gutted it out to the finish. What a trooper! By the way, HOW is the knee, Gem? (and... can you feel your balls?) ;o)

Speaking of balls (balls of my feet... what ARE you thinking?), I got a nasty hotspot and part blister on my right foot that nagged me for half the weekend, but thankfully, it is much better tonight.

Final notes:
When ENS asks you to pick up a garter snake, take a close look at the snake before doing so. ;o)
If sharing a bear bag with ENS, don't let him hang it. If ENS is hanging his own bear bag, sit back and enjoy the entertainment. Mmmmmm... M&M powder.
just kidding of course. I'm looking forward to the next adventure with you and Gem.

Woops, I forgot to add that my "hammock students" did great. After one lesson, they both set up their hammocks the 2 & 3rd nights without incident. Gem gets an "A" and ENS a "B."
last edited: 7/05/05 5:38:32 PM”

“hahaha! I just saw the posts before my little report. No No No to Tammany today or any other day this week. "I'm too pooped to poop!"
Besides, I had to do some shopping to get ready for my NH vacation that starts Friday. Dang, I got a lot to do!”

“there u are!!!

hey...guess what I bought??
vanilla ice cream (buy the slow cured one...best low fat ice cream i ever had)

i bought cool whip
i bought whip cream
I had coffee

not sure if I'll make it a healthy cup or a unhealthy one.

coffee is brewing as I type. yumm

knee: no change. i'll go to the doc tomorrow. legs look like sumo wrestler legs right now.

I got an "A". I got an "A"!!! Neener Neener,neena!!
BTW: I am glad I tried out my hammock. I will def. use it more often.
last edited: 7/05/05 5:42:21 PM”

“I'm going to the beach tomorrow and then to the Dacks on Thursday. I got a lot of shist to do today too. Ugg. I feel so lazy.”

“hey Gem - I beat you to it. I was thinking of your recipe all the way home last night, and stopped for the ingredients.

I bought some non-fat vanilla ice cream, cool whip, and I had starbucks beans at home. I dumped all my gear on the floor, grinded some beans, brewed and iced the coffee. I used 3 scoops of ice cream and a bunch of cool whip. It was yummy!! Of course, all the caffeine got me wired and kept me awake too late. Woops.

ENS - the beach?? You gonna peak bag a buncha sand dunes or something?”

“awwww... i still have to wait until the coffee is cold. it's good thou isn't it? not that milky sissy stuff you get at starbucks.”

“nah, I'm too sore to bag sand dunes right now...”

“you all are machines all right. Wow, impressive stuff. chalk up another one. where to next? the inca trail?

bad knee...sorry to hear that. continued stress on the knee will only weaken the prospects of it getting better. hope ya heal soon...them butt kickers are tough, but your tougher.”

“thanks for the great posts, stikmon. I guess you've never heard of the phrase "hike your own hike."”

“whatever stik. You can float on your rivers and count your double bag nights and smoke your oak leaves all you want. I don't give a shiit. I'll hike any damn way I please, thank you very much. :)
last edited: 7/05/05 9:39:04 PM”

“So Gem, how was your special latte? I'm tempted to make another one but I'd like to sleep sometime tonight.”

“LOL, it was delicious. I am going on 40 hours and no sleep thou [well besides the 30 minutes in the rest area].

that ice cream is awesome edy's slow cured vanilla. no sugar in my coffee thou. I used cool whip. I think real whip cream is better.

still...yummy...now what u have to do next is...add this:
”

“Sounds like you guys had a great time. Great pics and TR as usuall ENS. I WILL catch one of these cool hikes and soon.”

“Hey Jack! Thanks. How was camping last week? Yeah, we have to hook for a hike sometime soon.”

“Great Pictures and TR. Wish I could've been hiking with yas, but instead I just sat around drinking beer and eating cake... (woe is me)

:)”

“Cool Whip, yikes!!

Check the ingredients, I think it contains hydrogenated vegetable oil!!

Trans-fat, not good.”

“What is it about you and your suicide bids on July 4th ENS?

ENS - "Oh it's a national holiday, time for a ball-breaker!"”
Y2

lol Y2 - yeah, the 4th is the perfect weekend for a buttkicker. This one was a tad beyond buttkicker, but still very fun. I am still pooped almost 2 days later.”

“Did you see a lot of other hikers? About 15 years ago, I hiked the trail between World's End and Angel Falls on a 4th of July weekend and ran into over a dozen other backpacking groups.”

“"This one was a tad beyond buttkicker..."

Your idea of a "tad" is beyond that of most normal people, mister.”

“does someone know the total elevation loss/gain for this trip? I really would be interested in knowing.”

“Didjya get some sleep, Gem?”

“LOL I fell asleep on the couch. my yahoo chat woke me up this morning.

I found this site:
http://home.earthlink.net/~ammisov/loyals.htm
now who has the energy to add the elevation gain up? I don't. LOL
last edited: 7/06/05 9:18:09 AM”

“I'll see if I can trace the route on my Topo program tonight and get a close estimate. For now, let's say it's approximately "A LOT."

Rich - we didn't see as many hikers as I expected, for a holiday weekend. There were 2 other groups camping near Haystacks Fri night. We saw a handfull of backpackers on Sat, including 2 thru hikers. There were 2 people camping Sat night at Rodes Falls, probably the best campsite I've ever seen. Bummer we didn't get to score that site, but we made due. Sun, we saw a few backpackers and Mon we saw just a scant few dayhikers.”

“Did ya see a guy named Haystacks Calhoun?”

“That's not too many for what is usually the biggest weekend of the summer. There used to be a layout of the entire trail in the World's End State park Office with the elevation profile. I'm not sure if it's still there. I caught a nice wild brook trout many years ago fishing at Rodes Falls.”

“I expected to see a lot more hikers, especially with the excellent weather. I was hoping we'd see you on the trail again, Rich. Hopefully, next time.

Gem - since you asked... approximately 11,500 feet of elevation gain, and 12,500 elevation loss. We started at 1700' and ended at 700' so that makes sense. I'd say this is accurate plus or minus 500 feet. For comparison, that's about what the Black Forest Trail is, but the BFT is about 15 miles shorter.

Haystacks Calhoun?? LOL! Wasn't he a pro wrestler from way way way back?

by the way... I've got poison ivy (or oak) all over my hands and some on my arms. Anyone else dealing with this?
last edited: 7/06/05 5:36:37 PM”

“Nice job guys and gal. I'm not going to have to drag EarthNsky over the Great Range this weekend am I?”

“No you'll be to busy draggin' me! ;-)”

“Probably not. I think he's at the beach warming up with some dune bagging. He'll be fine. Just don't let him hang your bear bag, and keep him away from ledges. ;o)”

“Are you saying I should put him on a leash when were on top of places like Gothics and Saddleback Pennsy?”

“The slacker nailed it! LOL!”

“I'll be back out there soon. I just had to use my best judgement and not go on this trip for fear of making my hip worse, even though I wanted to go really bad. I made the right move because this week it's feeling better than last week and getting stronger each day.”

“Gettin' ready for the new addition there?”

“Thanks Pennsy for the elevation figures. :)

Told you I saw poison ivy...I have nothing thou, thank god.

Have a rash on my feet, not sure from what. the giant ants??

oh...went to the doc. only have over done it. He gave me some diclofenac and told me to take it easy, no hiking, no gym for a couple weeks.”

“hey pennsy...don't forget about my package!! LMAO!!! hahahahahahaaaa!!!”