Horse-Shoe Trail Section 1: Washington's Headquarters to Brightside Farmpark

I've decided to celebrate my 65th year by tackling a hiking bucket list item  - an end to end section hike of the Horse-Shoe Trail. And now that it's been said 'out loud', how is that I'm in my 65th year already? I guess time really does fly when you are having fun. 

Since my first hike on this trail in December 2012, I've hiked all of Maps 1 though 4 and a portion of Map 5. Some of the sections on these maps I've hiked multiple times. Now, I will make a specific effort to start at the beginning and continue one section at a time to the end. With Dave's help we'll car hop our way across the state from Valley Forge to Harrisburg.

With the help of the 2023 HST Trail maps, I've divided the trail into 12 sections averaging 12 miles each. I am limited to weekends and will need to work around other weekend commitments. I'd love to finish before Memorial Day. I'll hike in rain and snow. I won't hike in thunder and lightening (not on purpose anyway) and I prefer not to hike in a torrential rain. So we'll see how weather affects our schedule. 

Also, it hasn't snowed more than a dusting in almost 2 years in eastern PA. Now that I've made these plans, I feel a blizzard coming on. No, I won't hike in it but it's a good thing I miss the snow or it would be tougher to laugh at that.  

For today's section we left my car at Brightside Farm Park and took Dave's car to Washington's Headquarters. My watch measured .38 mile from the rest room near the HQ parking lot to the Henry Woolman monument that marks the eastern terminus of the Horse-Shoe Trail. 

It was not possible to get us and the monument
in the same photo.

Dave and I hiked together to the spot where the HST and the Valley Creek Trail meet (about .3 from the beginning of the HST). Dave went off on his own hike out to the Covered Bridge and I continued on to my car. 

Those who follow my hiking trips on Facebook know that I take A LOT of pictures. I can't help it. I'm enamored of Mother Nature's beauty and the many animals and people I see on the trail. For this end to end adventure though I plan to limit my photo taking. At least on these first sections that I've travelled so many times already. Today I challenged myself to find something interesting to photograph at 2 mile intervals only. There were times when I wished I hadn't made that challenge to myself but I did stick with it. 😀

For those in the know of this section, the Tinman is back. On the opposite side of the trail now. It was nice to see an old friend. Tinman was not at a 2 mile interval though so no photo. Despite how much I wanted a selfie. 

This section by trail map definition is 10.4 miles. There is a re-route at about mile 3 and this combined with the distance from our car brought my total mileage today to 11.44. I feel pretty good considering my last long hike was 12 miles on August 12th. Since then our outings have been inconsistent and usually in the 4-6 mile range. So yeah considering all that ... I feel pretty good. My joints and many muscles are tingly but I can walk up and downstairs without two footing it and only wobble the first few steps out of the chair. At my age, the wobble is there more often these days regardless of whether I've been hiking. Today it takes a few more steps than usual. There is no doubt I'll sleep well tonight. 

The hike began a little before 8 am. It was 36 degrees with a bit of a breeze. I wore two layers on my torso with a fleece pullover on top of that. About 7 miles in I wished I had a lighter jacket to change into. I had two layers on my ears to start but was able to remove the headband at about mile 5. I packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich cut into quarters and ate one piece at 2, 4, 6, and 8. I barely drank enough water trying to avoid the need to pee. This section does not have opportunities for that. 

One section down. 11 to go. 

Keep Smiling and Keep Moving -Paula 

P.S for those who wonder what happened to  wanting to do the Brandywine End to End in April, I've abandoned that idea. The need to maintain a certain pace to make the cutoffs is the main reason. While I can keep the pace it leaves little room to enjoy the hike. The secondary reason is the lack of consistency in our outings (mentioned above). I don't think I have enough time to work up to a single 28 mile hike.  

12 Hours; 300+ miles; 2 phantom addresses and 6 tubs of margarine

Did you ever try to see how far it was from your house to somewhere and start to wonder about the other addresses that Google Maps suggests to you? I mean the ones that are the same as your address but in different towns? Well, I have. And one day a few months ago I plotted a looping drive the visited three of them. Then I said, "We should drive this some day" and "Some Day" was yesterday, July 21st. 

The loop, according to Google, would take 7 hours and change. It took us 12 hours because what fun is it to just sit in the car for 7 hours? 

The first stop was in West Chester, PA We left home just before 8 am and headed to the DK Diner in West Chester on our way to visit the first stop. This was our first time at DK and we do recommend it. Good food, reasonable prices. We may have been the only non-regulars in the place but that didn't mean anything to the staff. They were very pleasant and helpful. It is a cash only establishment though so be prepared. http://www.dkdiner.com/ 

Next we were off to the first address on our tour. Unfortunately it did not exist. The road existed but not the address Google claimed was there. Perhaps it exists in an alternate universe a la Platform 9 and 3/4? We decided we would not ram someone's mailbox to find out. It was a mystery left unsolved as we moved on to our next stop. 

The next address on our tour was several hours and many miles away in Hamburg, NJ. Looking at our tour we realized we could angle through Easton PA. Easton is one of the towns in our "Look Up Pennsylvania" book so we decided to take advantage of the opportunity. 

Our journey to Easton took us past the Groundhog Locks in Delaware Canal State Park so we stopped for a walk around. 

Easton was a pleasant surprise. I was expecting the Crayola Factory and a more industrial looking town. Instead we found amazing preserved historical buildings. Only some of which were on our tour. We recommend a walk about in Easton. If you go, we also recommend a stop at Mia & M
addies Bakery. As we walked by we both commented on how good it smelled. A young woman at the door assured us it was as good as it smelled and further informed that they had the best chocolate chip cookies in Easton. How could we not stop in and see for our selves. Of course she was right :) 

After completing our tour of Easton, we moved on to our next address. Turns out Google was yet again mistaken as there was no shared address in Hamburg, NJ. However, there was a common intersection. 

From here it was on to stop #3. This address in Parsippany, NJ does exist. It is a split level home. So Google got three out of four addresses right (one of them being our own.) It was a goofy thing to do and a fun way to spend a day. 

Now, about the margarine. Land O Lakes is one (if not the only) maker of margarine in this area. There are other 'spreads' available but only LOL's qualifies as margarine. Slowly but surely though, stores around us have stopped selling it. Unrelated to this trip, we discovered that a certain store does still sell it but they are not in PA. There are several in NJ though. When we realized we'd be heading near one of the stores on this trip we decided to bring a cooler and stock up. 

We stopped for a meal at a diner near the store and after that and stopping for the shopping, we arrived back home almost exactly 12 hours after we left. 

-Keep Smiling Keep Moving

-Paula 

Keep Smiling, Keep Moving and Make Way for Horses.

When I first planned out my miles for preparing for the Brandywine End to End Hike, I had hoped to get to 10 miles before Memorial Day weekend. Allergies, weather and fatigue caused me to miss a hike or two so I backed off hoping to get to 9 for this weekend. 

Dave and I drove two cars out the French Creek Elementary School this morning. We left the Fit there and then proceeded to Chantilly Lane bus shelter to begin our respective hikes. By way of the Horse Shoe Trail I expected to cover 9.4 miles hiking back to the school. I wanted 9 for today but there was no good spot to leave a car at the 9 mile mark and I did not want to go out and back so 9.4 it is (or was planned). 

Us before heading out on our respective hikes

Shortly after crossing route 100, the trail took a detour. I'm still trying to find out why. A few yards into the detour I had to climb over a very large downed tree. I had to sit on it and swing my legs over to get past it. I could tell the detour likely added some distance to my hike but it took me alongside the lake at Welkinweir Nature Preserve so that was nice. 

Very shortly after this, I heard a branch crack behind me and turned to see what was going on. Coming straight at me were 6 horses. Five of them had riders and the sixth was carrying gear and some agricultural product I could not identify. I believe they came from the very large farm that the trail was passing by at this point. I stepped aside and let them by. I was so surprised and mesmerized by them that I didn't get a photo. 

Not then anyway. Further down the trail, just past the NRT marker on the Horse Shoe Trail the group had stopped. It sounded like they were chatting with someone in the field on the right of the trail. I stopped a few yards back and waited for the back rider to notice me. I didn't want to call out and spook the horses. After about a minute she noticed me and encourage the group to move farther into the field off the trail so I could pass by. This time I took a photo after I passed them.  

I figured that was the last I'd see of them since just beyond was yet another downed tree that I had to climb over. The horses were not going to make that. However, just as I approached the end of my hike, they approached me from behind again. I said "Hello, again. How did you get past that tree?" The woman said they ended up going through the field. I let them pass once more and here is a photo of them heading down Coventryville Road. The school where my car was parked is just to the right and the trail veers back in to the woods a little way down on the left. 

I ended up with 10.2 miles today. My pace was slightly off the cutoff for the End to End Hike but given the downed trees, the detour and the humidity today, I'm ok with that. 

Keep Smiling Keep Moving - Paula 

A New Challenge

It's time to say it out loud. I've set my sights on The Brandywine Trail End to End Hike April 13, 2024. I have a year to get ready. Here is a link to the 2023 event. 28 miles; A mix of road and trail. I'll do my training mostly on the Horse-Shoe Trail because I like the H-ST and because the H-ST is also a mix of road and trail. 

I'll need to keep a pace of 2.6 MPH to meet the checkpoint deadlines of the end to end hike. Today I hiked 8 miles between Brightside Farm Park and Route 113 on the H-ST at a pace of 3 MPH. It's very likely that as the miles get longer the pace will get slower. I've laid out a schedule of sorts that has me increasing 1 mile every three weeks. On each of those weeks, I need to figure out pacing and fueling. 

Although today's hike felt good I still created a plan B as I moved along 😲 . It's the cutoffs that worry me. I don't want to get so competitive with myself that I'm not having fun. So, I'll continue along but if I find that I reach a point where worry about the checkpoint cutoff times starts to consume me, then I'll replace the End to End goal with a 'see how far I can hike on the longest day' in June 2024. A longest day hike can be done at whatever pace I want. 

So there it is. I've said it out loud which adds a feeling of accountability but I'm also giving myself permission to change up the goal as needed. How's THAT for wishy washy. 

Here is a photo from today's hike.