Forbidden Drive

Today, 4 of us and Freya walked along Forbidden Drive and the Wissahickon Creek. The sunshine was a welcome reprieve from the rain and gloom that fell yesterday.

Today's walk/hike was about time. The plan was 1.5 hours out and back for a total of 3. I over estimated our willingness to get started right away so my alarm had us turning around after 1 hour and 35 minutes. Our total time on our feet ended up being 3 hours and 20 minutes. Do the math and you see that it took us 10 minutes longer in the return distance. Considering the natural tendency to slow down as the miles grow, and a much needed restroom break at Valley Green on the way back, we did well.

Our pace on the hills of the Horse-Shoe Trail will be slower and we will tire faster as a result. We were also bolstered by the I think we are on a good path to do well and have fun on our June 23rd adventure. 

On today's hike, I learned more about Sara's summer time trip to Alaska; that Martiza's daughter works for NASA (how cool is that!); how Martiza and her husband met (if you know her, ask her sometime it's a cute story) and that Freya has two speeds (Giddyup and saunter and not much in between).

Keep smiling and keep moving.
-Paula

Misery and Joy in the SNOW .....

The snow in this photo is newly fallen.
on the 4th day of SPRING!!!  

..... on March 25th!! With 4 Nor'easters in Pennsylvania - all in the month of March - snow was to be expected on the trail today. What was not expected was hiking in a steady more than a flurry of snowfall. I felt stuck in a roller coaster of emotions from "Wow! This is so pretty.? to "Um, this is nuts. It's SPRING. Enough already." I would have been caught in more of the former if it hadn't been for the wind in places.

This was hike #2 in preparation of our long hike on June 23rd. Our hike lasted just under 2 hours and covered approximately 4.5 miles. We started going up and over Mount Joy from the Knox HQ Parking lot. Then crossed over route 252 to return via Mount Misery. The story of Mount Misery and Mount Joy names is allegedly (emphasis on allegedly)

"William Penn went with some associates to negotiate with the Indians near the Susquehanna. Returning they took a short cut, got lost, and had to spend a miserable night lost on a mountain. The next morning they went off the mountain and up another mountain where they recognized where they were. The first mountain was thereby named Mount Misery and the second one Mount Joy." For the source of this quote and some history of Valley Forge Mountain, click here. 

Today's group included Sara, Mike and his dog Freya, Julius, Kathy, and Maritza. Kathy and Maritza.

Next week we will go out and back on Forbidden Drive for a total of 3 hours. 

Keep smiling and keep moving
-Paula

 

Long Hike Training Week 1

My friends and I have set our sights on a (roughly) 18 mile hike for June 23rd. Ok, I set our sights on it and they are just crazy  fun loving enough to go along with the idea.

June 23rd is the longest weekend day of the year. So, I suggested we celebrate with an all day hike on a portion of the Horse-Shoe Trail that has been designated a National Recreation Trail (NRT). It's a section I've hiked before (parts of it more than once) It's beautiful. It's also hilly and rocky. The Appalachian Trail thru hikers don't refer to PA as Rocksylvania for nothing.

I've determined we should prepare for a 12 hour day on our feet. I go back and forth on this quite a bit. We could plow through much faster than that. But that's kinda the point, I don't want to plow through. I want to explore and enjoy the beauty of the trail; take photos; stop for an extended refueling break about halfway and through it all not feel like we have to race the sun to finish, The rocks, the hills and the tendency for June to throw us a heat wave all support the 12 hour guesstimate. Better to be prepared for longer and go shorter than the other way around, right? And if nothing else, we will have fun getting back in moving and smiling shape.