HST Section 7 Rt 10 to Rt 625

 

I was so looking forward to today's hike and it did not disappoint. Truth be told, few of them do. All week the weather called for bright sunshine with temps in the low 40s to start and low 50s by the end. And that is exactly what we got. 

We left Dave's car at Brecknock Police Station where an Eagle Scout project resulted in an access trail to the HST. We then drove together to drop my car at Plow Farms and began hiking west together. The trail starts on a downhill here and then climbs and climbs. Just when you think you are at the top the trail rounds a bend and there is more UP. It was a good workout. 

At the five mile mark, Dave headed off on the blue trail toward his car.
He told me later that he ended up wandering off the access trail
and probably put in another half mile trying to get back to his car. 

I continued on to the end at Rt 625. The blazes in this section were faded and there were these weird jumping bugs that wanted to land on my face so I had to put my sunglasses on even though I was in shade. This made the blazes appear even more faded. It was slow going up the hill and trying not to go off trail. 

This was our last section that includes trail we've covered before. Next time we go out we will have about 3 more miles of 'old' trail and then it's all new stuff. Well except for the 11 mile section that we missed several times back in March and decided to move on. We will go back to that later to make the end to end official. 

Also, after this trip we will likley start doing 2 sections back to back with an overnight stay in between. The trail sections are more than an hour away now. It's a very long day getting there, hiking and then returning home. So to test myself, tomorrow I am heading to RCSP to put in another 8 mile hike to make sure my body can do back to back days. 

I'm pretty sure I can but I will likely sleep very soundly tomorrow night! 

EDIT the next day - I succeeded in back to back hikes. My brain was not entirely with the program when I started out but after a few minutes of stern talking to, it was fine. And I feel pretty good. 

Keep Smiling and Keep Moving

-Paula 

HST Section 6 Geigertown Road to Rt 10

This sectio begins in a gravel parking area off Geigertown Road near the Birdsboro Gun Club. A recent re-route of the trail here take one off hte gun club property but you can still hear it. I find it weird but not scary. Of course that may be becaause I know where the sound is coming from. 

Dave and I hiked together to the spot where the access trail from the Birdsboro Picnic Park joins the trail. Dave returned to his car and I continued on to mine which we had previously left at the old Plowville Farms on Rt 10. 

I enjoyed this most of the section a lot. Spring is springing so the woods are full of new life. The elevation change provides a good work out but with enough breaks to not feel overwhelming. 

I was dreading the last two and a half miles. I had done this once before and it stuck withe me. The last stretch is all on Buck Hollow Road to Rt 10. It is a windy road with no shoulder to speak of and it's mostly uphill. I almost did somehting I've never done on a hike. I almost turned on a podcast on my phone to distract me. Almost.

Instead I tried to find things to look at (while dodging trucks) and that worked. Sometimes I have to work hard to invoke Keep Smiling Keep Moving. 

-Paula 

HST: Filling The Gap

Well sort of ...

The plan for today was to finish the piece between the downed tree and Warwick County Park. Hiking is like life. Things don't always work out as planned. 

The plan was this: 

Step 1) Park a car at Warwick County Park. DONE. 

Step 2) Drive to French Creek Elementary School to leave the second car. DONE. 

Step 3) Hike East to the downed tree or 2 miles whichever came first. Downed tree is not a thing on the official trail maps so I had to guestimate where it likely was based on our mileage back in Febraury. I guessed it was about 2 miles. At 2 miles we were steps from the right spot. I have to admit I was impressed with myself. LOL. Also, we discovered that a re-route around the downed tree had been created since we were last there. DONE.

Step 4) Turn around and head back to the elementary school. DONE. 

Step 5) Hike West to Warwick County Park. Here is where things went off the rails. Getting to the park required a crossing of French Creek. We hiked the half mile from the school to the Creek and this is what we saw: 

I was going to have to jump in a few places and 
likely was not going to make it. 
Even Dave, who is taller, was going to have trouble. 

I knew there was chance that crossing the creek was not going to be possible but I had to try. I have crossed this spot on French Creek before, but today was not a good day for that. Had the creek not been rushing so high and fast we might have tried it knowing that our feet would get wet. But not being able to seeing clearly what we'd be stepping into it just wasn't safe. No one was going to die if we tried but other injuries were not out of the question. 

So we turned back toward the School. 

Once back to Conventryville Road I could have turned left and followed the road detour to Mt Pleasant round and back to the trail. My heart wasn't into a road section. So I had Dave drive me to the Mt. Pleasant trailhead and I hiked to the car from there. 

I'm counting the whole section done because I have hiked the road section at least three different times and crossed the creek a few as well. 

Keep Smiling and Keep Moving

-Paula