Assateague/Chincoteague

Catherine has wanted to see the ponies at Assateague/Chincoteague for some time now, and this weekend the timing was right. We made the 3-hour drive to Chincoteague, and got to enjoy the park with plenty of sunshine and some good warmth for the day.

Assateague has a herd of wild ponies that gets rounded up once a year, with the ponies sold off. We did get to see some, but it was from quite a distance.

We also got to see the lighthouse, and Catherine got to dip her toes into the ocean. 

Our hotel was right on the water, facing north and west. I went out to pick up dinner, and when I came back, this was the view I saw from our balcony. Gorgeous warm light on the bridge connecting us to the mainland. There were several paddle boarders out enjoying what could be the last warm day of the year.

I think Catherine enjoyed checking off this bucket list item. Cheers!

Marc

Boy Scout Camping

Ian and I went camping with his Boy Scout Troop this past weekend - and had gorgeous conditions!

We went to Camp Sinoquipe in southwest Pennsylvania, a Boy Scout reservation where Ian did summer camp last year, and where we've done some winter camping the past couple of years. The last time we were there, we went hiking on the abandoned Pennsylvania turnpike, and thought it would be fun to bike it. The photo below is the view of the second (western-most) tunnel entrance, with the hillside in pretty color.

So that is what we did. We totally lucked out on weather - it warmed into the low 60's during the day, with clear blue skies. It did get pretty chilly as soon as the sun went down, dipping below freezing at night. The photo below is from near the campsite. I saw the neon-yellow leaves and thought I'd snap a photo.

Nothing that a warm/large campfire and a down under quilt for hammock couldn't handle. We also lucked out on the leaf colors, they were at peak...and it was gorgeous. The photo below is from our campsite on the lake at Camp Sinoquipe. The leaves on the south shore were fantastic, and I lucked out with no wind for a reflection.

We biked 8-9 miles out on the abandoned turnpike, which was rough in places (not used for car traffic since the 50's), enjoyed lunch, and then biked back. We had two tunnels to bike through, one is a mile long, the other much less (you can see daylight from the other end). There were loads of people out, plenty of bikers, hikers, a couple of photographers, and even a couple of hunters.

I can't wait for peak color to hit here - hopefully in the next week or so. Catherine has plans to head to the east coast of Maryland - maybe get a peak at the ponies of Chincoteague with pretty fall color.

Cheers,

Marc

We now resume our regular programming...

I got up early on Monday thinking I had to work:  I didn't. Extra day of vacation!

Not to get too nerdy, but I spent a huge chunk of the day working on an equation with multiple references for my homebrew software set up (recipe design with brewed recipe page - like a cookbook). Software sounds cool, it is really just a fancy google sheets - itself a dumbed down version of excel.

So prior to getting ready to read before I go to bed (Radical Uncertainty by Kay and King), I figured I'd snap a quick photo of the kiddos. A couple of quick edits, then throw this in to Blogger with a scheduled release after the Mountain Man day 4 post (itself on a scheduled release).

Enjoy a peek behind the curtains everyone!

Cheers,

Marc

Mountain Man Adventure, Day 4 - the last day

It was a cold night - and we were attacked by a roving band of raccoons. I actually slept through the whole thing, but Jason tells me everyone around us was yelling and banging on pots or whatever to shoo the trash pandas to the next campsite.

The clouds had cleared off at some point in time, and the lake we were camping on (the view below was about 30 feet from our campsite) had a ton of mist floating on it.

The mist burned off as the sun was rising, but there was still some light mist to provide some drama to the photo.

Shortly after I took this, we packed up camp, loaded up Jason's truck, and made the drive home. I think we lucked out - phenomenally - with the two absolute gems of Loyalsock and Rickett's Glen. The weather was just about perfect, the leaves were pretty near peak color, and we got to spend some time in a beautiful place that I never would have attributed to Pennsylvania. Two WELL-kept secrets!

Cheers!

Marc

Mountain Man Adventure, Day 3

It rained at some point in time in the early morning hours, but it was light and it stopped a bit before breakfast. We decided to go find a diner for breakfast, which gave us a nice warm, dry place to eat and no dishes to clean up afterwards...win!

Along the way to the diner, we crossed the lower trail that leads up to the final 4 falls in Rickett's Glen, all below Water's Meet. The first photo is Abram's Falls, and is just off the road. It has 3 distinct falls, the one pictured is the middle falls. This one was a bit sketchy - with the rain and leaves, the rocks were slippery in places.

We then hiked about a mile or so up the river to see the final 3 falls. We kept kidding (just like the day before) that the next waterfall was just that, another waterfall in the 25+ we'd seen in the past 2-3 days, but they always seemed to amaze us.

After the hike, we went back to camp, and started a fire which we nursed for the rest of the day. Cheers,

Marc

Mountain Man Adventure, Day 2

The next day we made our way to Rickett's Glen State Park. It has 22 named waterfalls, and a whole host of smaller, unnamed waterfalls. We took the long (scenic) route to get there, and got a later start to the hike, but ended up hiking the main circuit (down Genoga Glen and then up Glen Leigh).

The place was pretty busy, with loads of folks on the trails and clustered at the larger waterfalls. 

We didn't let that stop us, we just enjoyed the sites and moved on to the less popular falls and really enjoyed those.

The leaves were really just starting to turn at Rickett's Glen, compared to just short of full throttle at Loyalsock. 

Eventually, the two streams merge into Water's Meet (photo above) which does not count as a named waterfall. There were leaves swirling in the pool, so I thought I'd try to capture the motion with a longer exposure. I kinda like how this turned out.

We both joked with each waterfall that we'd seen them all, but the next waterfall was always just perfect, which slowed us down. Just what the doctor ordered!

Cheers,

Marc

Mountain Man Adventure, Day 1, Part 2

From Miner's Run, we drove about a 1/4 to 1/2 mile up the road to the next trailhead - for Middle Falls on Rocky Run. I knew from my planning that it was going to be a pretty special place, but we were totally unprepared for just how amazing this place was. 

The waterfall itself is fairly small, definitely less than a 10 foot drop, but it drops into a small cut and then empties into a large pool. The photo above shows the first pool, which then drops into a much larger pool. Both are large and deep enough to swim in, with the lower pool hitting at least 15 feet, probably 20 feet of depth. This place has to be a great place in the summer to come cool off!

Once we'd had our fill of Middle Falls, we drove on up the road to get to the Upper Falls trailhead. This is another place that had a deep pool that would make for a fantastic swimming hole. The tree on the right third has a rope swing - so people definitely come here to make some fun memories.

I did a little hiking upstream to cross to the other side, and found that the river had carved a pretty path through the rock.

And finally, from downstream of the Upper Falls.

All in all, Jason and I both thought the two falls were crazy awesome - we cannot believe that the locals have managed to keep this such a well-kept secret!

Cheers,

Marc

Mountain Man Adventure, Day 1, Part 1

Every year for the past 5 or so years, I have met up with an old friend from high school, and we go hiking and camping. We've hiked at Dolly Sods in WV, the Escarpment Trail in NY, Red River Gorge in KY, and the Great Smoky Mountains in NC. This year we headed north into Pennsylvania. I had heard of Rickett's Glen State Park from a guy at church, and with a short leash this year (thank you very much COVID), that is where we headed.

Because all campsites were booked for the whole time I had available, I looked nearby for other places to day hike and stumbled across Loyalsock State Forest.

We made our way to Miner's Run, a small river (creek is a better descriptor) just a couple of miles in from the entrance. We parked next to this bridge, and then started following the river upstream. There are supposed to be seven waterfalls, none named, on this short stretch of river.

The first one is just under the bridge, and then again about 100 feet upstream. The leaves were not quite in full swing for the autumn color change, but we were within a week of peak color.

We continued to hike upstream until the last large waterfall, which required some decent bouldering to get around (not in the pictures here).

We both agreed that this little state park is an unsung gem - but we didn't know how much better it would be!

Cheers,

Marc