TR: Five Falls trip report

“We all met up at the trailhead for the Thunder Swamp Trail Friday night around 5:30. Spindle, Backslacker, His Nephew (I suck I can't remember his name Eagle something), Myself & ramblinrev. Spindle, Backslacker and his nephew hiked into camp while I shuttled ramblinrev's car to the north trailhead and then we were off too. We had only about 1.5 miles to the camp for tonight. On our way in we saw a nice toad on the tail so I took his picture. A few minutes later I heard a pretty load groan and looked back to see ramblinrev face down on the trail. He was fine just found one of the many toe grabbers on this trail. That was fall one of what would be many to come.

We arrive at camp to a nice warm environment. Since there is a fire ban in PA till May 25th I'll not mention if we had camp fires on this trip so as not to incriminate anyone. So as we sat around the warm environment talking and enjoying Trailgarita & Scotch, we knew something was missing. Yes, that's right Lost Soul was coming and he brought some cold ones. Now the evening was complete. We got sprinkled on a few times throughout the evening but nothing our umbrellas couldn’t deal with. We all hit the bags by mid-night or so.

Saturday we planned to hike about 12-14 miles to Spruce Run and camp along it. Backslacker had to work Saturday afternoon so he and his nephew hiked back out and took Rambinrev with them as he was not feeling well enough to do the 12-14 miles. So it was the three of us, Spindle, Lost Soul, & me. We were on the trail at 8AM. We were making good time and started wondering what we'd do if we got to camp by noon. We made it up to 402 by 11:30 which was about 10.5 miles. During this part of the trail Spindle found a toe grabber and went down pretty quickly. That was fall number two. We broke for lunch and a siesta around noon since we had plenty of time and only a few miles left to put in today. We were back on trail by 1 Pm and heading to camp maybe 4 miles ahead when Spindle went down again. Fall three. We made camp around 2:20 right at Spruce Run. Pretty early but we put in just about 15 miles so didn't feel too guilty sitting around our warm environment this early. We talked and chatted till about 9 PM it was a great way to relax after a nice hike. The weather was great all day and during the evening it started sprinkling again. It did that most of the evening and throughout the night.

Sunday we woke to a rain free morning. We were not in any rush since we only had 6-7 miles to the trailhead. We had our breakfast and enjoyed the warm environment, then broke camp about 7:50. OK maybe we did get up a little too early. Well the overnight rain made for slippery logs and rocks. It was my turn to fall and I took two. One ripped my pants at my knee and the other resulted in a broken hiking pole. So that was fall number four and five. At this point we thought about tripping Lost Soul since he was the only one left that hadn't taken a spill. This section of the Thunder Swamp trail is where the Swamp name comes from I'm sure. The trail is mostly rock or mud so you really were just hiking from blaze to blaze as no visible trail existed in spots. We came across some other backpackers at the camp spot by Bush Kill River. We chatted for a few and moved on. We made the trailhead by 10:30. We talked about finding a restaurant to have a second breakfast but there isn't much up that way and we got near 80 and headed our separate ways in confusion. I didn't get a chance to say good bye to the others in the confusion so thanks for the hike and great meeting you Spindle. Lost soul it was good to see you again.

So over all the five falls trip was great. I got to meet some more folks from the hiking community and we put in some good miles. The weather was perfect, dry during the days and light rain at night. The trial was pretty flat but had its share of PA rocks. The bugs weren't too bad we had our share of Nats and a few Wood Ticks on our pants but nothing too terrible. We saw a few hunters and my guess is they were none too happy to see us hiking through the woods on opening day of turkey season. I left out the part where we looked right at the double orange blazes and went straight down the road for about 1/2 mile till Spindle said, "anyone seen and orange blazes lately"

[url] http://erickpanger.com/thunderswamp/album/slides/thunderswamp01.html [/url]”

“Nice report and pictures. I wanted to go on this hike, but had too many chemo related side effects over the weekend to be able to do it. Looks like a missed a nice hike.”

“Nice report”

“Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark....lol, ouch.

Fracking rocks and roots. Why haven't the trail crews removed those yet? ;)

Great hike y'all. Go again?

pics: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/563231552ayMNOf”

“Spindlette, nice pictures. Looks like there will be some nice blueberries up there this year based on that picture with the blueberry blossoms.”

“Wish you could have made this one Rich.

Yes. The low bush blueberrys are in full bloom. Looks to be a good year for blueberry pancakes. ;)”

“I wish I could have too, but I was just too beat up to hike with a loaded pack and feel good about it. It was my worst weekend yet with the side effects.”

“Stoopid side effects. >;-<

How much longer with the chemo this round?”

“Side effects are getting pretty bad and I have 7 more weeks of treatment to go yet. I'll be lucky to make it without having to take a break for a week. I can't remember this much bleeding the last time, but then this is a different drug. Bleeding from my mouth, nose, face, ear, lip and airway. Then the there's the rash and blood counts going down. One good thing, once this round is over I'm getting a break to recover.
last edited: 4/28/08 6:58:16 AM”

“Did they change the chemo drug or are you just reacting differently this time?

Let's get this one over and done with, eh?

West Rim over July 4th? :)”

“I'm on Taxol now at the maximum dose, 80mg/m2 and I'm on the 9th week. I didn't have side effects this bad at the lower dose a several weeks ago so it's just that the dose is higher now. I've been on Eribitux for 27 weeks. That drug isn't chemo, but a monoclonal antibody that has it's own miserable side effects. Other drugs I'm on have some side effects too that add to the misery.

I noticed the West Rim trip and I'll try to make it based on what happens by then.”

“Stinks having the cure cause so much illness. :(

Here's hoping it's all cleared up by the WRT. :)”

“I know, but I'm looking at it as part of the healing process. It's only temporary and the time is going by fast.

I'll hope to make the WRT.
last edited: 4/28/08 7:33:41 AM”

“Great pics Spindle and eggs! (very nice frog shot) thanks for a most excellent evening Friday. Spindle fell twice, I don't believe it! So what's the score? 5 falls, 2 hiking poles and 1 tent pole. Seems like the easy peasy Thunder Swamp kicked our @ss! :-) Nice to meet you Eggs, and great to see Spindle, Lost Soul and Rev.
PS. Thanks Spindle for the duct tape repair job, you really are Lady MacGyver. ;-)”

“nice report, nice pics. Looks like a fine weekend.”

“It was. :)

Backslacker, yeah it got me twice. The only thing more slippery than the rocks are the roots. Bastages. :D It was pretty funny.

Lost Soul was the only one to defy gravity and keep his feet. Figures. Bad influence that he is. ;)

Mi ducttape es su ducttape. (Everything I tried typing right here would go right to out of context, so I'll let it go. ;)

Say Hi to EagleBeak.”

“This was my first time out since February and it was long overdue. It was great to see everyone again and I'm sorry RichB couldn't make it. Hope your feeling better soon.
I have another casualty to report, one sole on my gravity defying boots split rendering them kaputt.The good news is it's just in time for REI's 20% off sale. I love the smell of new gear in the morning.”

“Thanks, Lost soul. I hope make a trip when I recover. I'm sure I'll catch up with eveyone at some point.

Sounds like the rocks on the Thunderswamp trail claimed another pair of boots. That trail is rocky in some sections.
last edited: 4/30/08 6:13:23 PM”

“One pair of boots, two demolished poles, one bent pole tip, and several bruises later...

It's a short trail, but mean! ;)”

“Sounds like you hiked the all out, take no prisoners approach.”

“Of course. ;)”

“I would expect no less than that. :)”