Sunday, July 21, 2013

Pine Creek Gorge - Day THREE

Soon after breakfast, we were on the road.  On rt 44 near Cherry Springs is a scenic view of the Kettle Creek Vally.  The morning fog hadn't lifted, so yet another view was spoiled.


I don't remember West Branch road, or at least I don't remember it being paved.  I'd been to Cherry Springs a few times already on motorcycle camps with Mark and I can't imagine he wouldn't have put us on this road - other times we'd taken 44 to 144 to get to Galeton.
In any case, it's a straight shot... a 5 mile mountain road that brings you from the top of Cherry Springs down to the west branch of the Pine Creek thru woods which make me marvel at how much land is still "wild" in one of the original 13 colonies.  We enjoyed the little clouds lower than the mountaintops.

In Galeton we picked up rt 6 and in no time we were in Wellsboro.  We stopped at McD's for coffee and wifi and plotted a course for the last draw on the itinerary:  the casino at Tioga Downs.


We took 287 NE out of Wellsboro thru pretty country paralleling the scenic railroad.  At Tioga Lake, we both enjoyed - far too much - the random site of a full, yellow, perfect banana laying in the middle of the deserted road.  We brainstormed several scenarios which could explain the unlikely LOCATION of the banana, but none could simultaneously account for its pristine CONDITION.
Banana hypotheses consumed a few miles, and soon we were on 328 to Elmira and 17 to the casino.

The exit brought us to the parking lot of Jim's RV, where we'd nearly bought a truck camper.  I pulled in to get a pick of us hauling the camper we bought in Greencastle next to the camper Jim wouldn't move a few hundred dollars on.  I don't know, but I don't think that pic happened.  In a few minutes, we were at the Downs.


We played.  I lost, as usual.  She won enough to ease the pain.

Eventually we were back on 17 thru Binghmaton, then 81 S towards Scranton.  A massive rainstorm kicked up and several times traffic slowed to a crawl, many people pulling over to the side, not being able to see for the downpour.  Thru this scene emerged a pack of squids on sportbikes.  I wound up behind them, and put my four-ways on to block.  We followed them for 15 or 20 miles, slowing when they slowed, keeping our distance, and not passing.  When they finally peeled off, the lead rider gave me a wave - I think he actually realized I was actively trying to help them.

Some more highway slogging brought us home to a happy dog greeting.  A good trip, no camper, truck, or bike problems, no injuries... except for the snake Melissa ran over... looking forward to more.

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Pine Creek Gorge - Day TWO

The day starts with a lucky double-yolk egg.  We forgot butter for toast, but avoided roughing it when our van-camper neighbor offered us his since they were headed home to North Carolina.  He explained that their plan was to go to Maine, but this was as far as they made it - they'd stopped to smell too many roses and ran out of time.


We broke camp and headed for the Darling Run access point near rt 6 by around 8:30AM.  The cloud cover and early start mitigated the heat.  There were a LOT of people at Darling Run, but once on the trail, the traffic really spread out - most of the time, other people couldn't be seen either in front or behind us.  We took a break about 8 miles in at the Tiadaghton camping area.  No potable water - a recurring feature of the PA outdoors.  


A few miles on we approached a guy very interested in something to the side of the trail, which turned out to be:  rattlesnakes.  We stopped and took pics, thinking it cool to see some wildlife.

Then continued on for a few miles before stopping at a bench for lunch with swarms of gnats.




The next few miles of trail was solid rattlesnakes.  Melissa stopped to take a picture of one, and while slowly approaching it from 20' away, was startled to find one crawling up beside her only a few feet away.  The path was strewn with small twigs and branches which made scanning for snakes more stressful.  Melissa claims she ran over the tail of a baby and it attacked her bike tire.

We passed thru Blackwell, pressing on to Rattlesnake Rock where we stopped after about 18 miles of pedaling to find a phone to call for a shuttle.  None found, we backtracked to Blackwell.  Ice cream from Miller's store made everything a little better.  The Miller's directed us to the free land line phone at the parking lot, from which we called Pine Creek Outfitters to learn that the "every 3 hours shuttle" has to be scheduled in advance.  The next shuttle was already full and still hours out.

A young guy was loading riders and bikes into a van marked "Stony Fork Creek Campground."  He was headed back to camp to drop off his shuttlees and pick up more, thence to take the fresh riders to Darling Run.  We offered him $20 for a ride back, but he could only take one of us and no bikes.  With little thought (and the near disaster of forgetting the truck keys in the bike pannier), a few minutes later I was in a van headed to Darling Run.  Melissa would stay with the bikes in Blackwell - I'd get the truck and come back to pick up her and our gear.

A few miles into my van ride, it occurred to me that I'd just abandoned my wife hundreds of miles from home with no money, wallet, keys, ID, or phone.  Only then I started doing the math: we were 25 miles from the truck, and SFCG kid had stops to make.  Best case scenario was a 50 mile drive on twisty country lanes with an overloaded truck - not much less than 2 hours.  It was getting late in the afternoon and the sky was getting dark - a thunderstorm was coming.  "Husband of the year" award looking less and less likely.

At SFCG, the fresh riders were dawdling, and the driver needed to hook up a trailer to carry some recumbent contraption.  More time lost.  The thunderstorm passed south of us, in the direction of Blackwell.  I pictured Melissa cold, drenched, exhausted, and freezing.

Finally at Darling Run, I set up to re-trace the last hours' driving.  I drove at my limit and a few times tested the brakes to the point of smelling them burn.  After an eternity, I pulled into the Blackwell access to find Melissa half-asleep at a picnic table, completely un-phased by the whole experience.  The storm had missed her, she took a little nap.  We loaded up and were off.

The plan was to get shuttled back to the truck at Darling Run, from which a straight shot on rt 6 would bring us to Galeton, then Cherry Springs.  With the truck now 25 miles south of rt 6, driving the gorge south seemed reasonable - there would probably be a road to take us across to rt. 44.  On the one such rode, a sign warned us of a bridge out ahead - local traffic only.  Committed and with no other options, we headed south all the way to 44, then back north to Cherry Springs - a huge detour.

We stopped at the Kountry Kitchen close to the park, then found a spot and I started leveling.  A ranger showed up and we paid for the site.  It was cloudy but the weather was supposed to clear.  It was only a few days from a new moon, and moonrise was after midnight.  I was hopeful.


At least the clouds made for a nice sunset. 

Sunset in the truck door.

I fell asleep in the chair outside waiting for stars that would never come.  Melissa woke me up after dark to 100% cloud cover.  We called it and went to bed.  At some point during the night, it started to rain.  The sound of rain on the roof from the inside of a dry RV is a wonderful thing - almost payment for the sky we were cheated.




Friday, July 19, 2013

Pine Creek Gorge Day ONE - 6/21/13

We took off on a 3-day weekend to Pine Creek Gorge one day after wife returned from 3 weeks in MN.  Truckzilla handled very well; driving is no longer a white-knuckle experience.  I rigged the bike rack on the front.   We lost a bike rack strap on the PA turnpike, so I pulled off to re-rig it, getting buzzed by semis going 85mph a few feet away from me.

Somewhere on Rt 15 north of rt 80

GPS took us on dirt roads, a little freaky with so much weight and the first time off-pavement with the rig.


Leonard Harrison State Park. 


We walked down to view the gorge.  Pictures just don't capture it.  We met an older couple there that was staying in Wellsboro.

We scoped the campgrounds (meh), ate salad from jars in the camper, and waited out a thunderstorm.  With no electric campsites available, the DNCR lady referred us to a campground close by.


Which we hit.  The office people were initially unfriendly, but they had a lab named Misty.  It was a pretty nice place.  There were 2 other (older) truck campers there.  I filled the tanks and we dropped anchor.


A path leads out of the campsite thru the woods back to Leonard Harrison. It was longer than we expected, and arriving at the rear of the campground at LH, we just took a little breather and headed back for camp.  On the way back, Missy ran thru the woods for reasons unclear.

I think we watched one of the WWII movies - I don't remember.  




Monday, July 1, 2013

Hammock Virgin

I love the idea of hammock camping, but camping hammocks aren't cheap.  There's no way of knowing if you'll be able to sleep in one, either.
Enter the $25 Walmart cheapy hammock.

My first hang at Rt 309 on the Appalachian trail:


The view up:

Obviously it's too short, but it's certainly do-able.