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GaliWalker 
Group: Members
Posts: 583
Joined: Feb. 2010
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Posted on: Feb. 26 2013, 10:08 am |
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It's beginning to look like we may finally be escaping winter's doldrums. Every morning I get serenaded by birdsong. Snow showers have given way to freezing rain and ice-glazed roads. Baseball's spring training season is underway. And finally – a sure sign that things are looking up – ultra-marathoners (not me) are plying their trade on the Laurel Highlands trail.
The southern end of the Laurel Highlands trail is my 'whip-myself-into-hiking-shape' location. It's relatively close to home – only a 1.5hr drive time – and provides mileage and elevation gain. By now I know every inch of trail, in all conditions, which makes it nice as well as not so nice: the flatter miles go by faster, since I may be thinking ahead to the next challenge, but all the views are old-hat now.
7:00am on a cool Saturday, I took off from the trailhead on yet another Laurel Highlands Trail training hike. The weather was dull and lifeless, with a heavy cloud cover, but I felt pretty light and frisky on fresh legs. I zoned out for the first mile and a half, which was mostly flat, and dreamt of upcoming adventures in the summer months. I held on to these thoughts as motivation for the tedium of the first real climb of the day. This took me past the first, and best, vista of the hike – a beautiful view of the meandering Youghiogheny River – but the look I gave it was mostly force of habit. If I'd brought my camera, I'd probably have stopped, but sans camera I just continued climbing past the rocky perch.
The trail flattened for a half mile, before dropping down steeply to cross a stream. From painful experience, I knew that this section can sometimes be pretty icy when temperatures hover around freezing. This turned out to be the case for me, so I exercised caution but did not need to put on my micro-spikes. I was glad to be done with the downhill and resumed upward progress on the snowy but non-icy trail. The excitement over, I zoned out once again for the next mile or so.
At the 5mi mark, the trail dipped again. About a half mile further, still descending, I was passed by the first trail runner. Another three would pass me before I reached the 6mi mark and the base of the most sustained climb of the hike - 1200ft of elevation gain, over 1.5mi. Miles 7 to 9 were on increasingly deeper snow (6-12in by the end), with the last mile on virgin snow. I really enjoyed this last mile and the pristine snow. There are some huge house-sized boulders here, hiding lots of little passages, and are pretty cool to explore. This day, these were glazed with a thin coating of snow and ice and looked really beautiful. I really missed not having my camera here.
I turned around at the 9mi mark and maintained my steady 2.5mph pace for the return. Around 3.5mi from the trailhead I ran into some of the trail runners one more time. Not satisfied with one 16mi run, they were off for a second 16mi lap...made me feel old and slow.
Stats: 18mi, ~4500ft gain, 7.25hr
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'Gali'Walker => 'Mountain-pass' walker
Photos: http://galiwalker.zenfolio.com
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| Post Number: 2
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MRHyker
Group: Members
Posts: 3546
Joined: Dec. 2005
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Posted on: Feb. 26 2013, 11:18 am |
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No fair "training" w/o your camera gear. It's an integral part of what you do.
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"Red is the color of the sun with my eyes closed." - Dave Matthews
Midatlantichikes.com
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| Post Number: 3
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GaliWalker
Group: Members
Posts: 583
Joined: Feb. 2010
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Posted on: Feb. 26 2013, 1:38 pm |
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It's a fair point though, since the camera gear weighs quite a bit. My progress really slows down when I have it with me, so I try and avoid bringing it if I want to shorten my time away from the house.
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'Gali'Walker => 'Mountain-pass' walker
Photos: http://galiwalker.zenfolio.com
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JOHN/OHIO
Group: Members
Posts: 1900
Joined: Sep. 2002
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Posted on: Mar. 06 2013, 10:24 am |
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Nice TR on Southern End of the LHHT.
... Giving serious thought to spending a few days on the middle section the first few days of April.... the section crossing the Pa Turnpike
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"Fresh mud on the bottom of your boots is tranquility to the soul and a few steps closer to heaven".
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| Post Number: 5
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MRHyker
Group: Members
Posts: 3546
Joined: Dec. 2005
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Posted on: Mar. 07 2013, 9:28 am |
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We'll be in that neck of the woods for fall colors in October.
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"Red is the color of the sun with my eyes closed." - Dave Matthews
Midatlantichikes.com
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| Post Number: 6
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JOHN/OHIO
Group: Members
Posts: 1900
Joined: Sep. 2002
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Posted on: Mar. 12 2013, 8:44 am |
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Yep. I'm going. It's been a handful of years since I was on the LHHT., plus, I'm totally out of shape.
Looking forward to hitting it. I'll be at the Rt 31 parking lot and heading northward for a few days., Starting April 1st to April 4th. It'll be low mileage days for me. Hope the weather is decent.
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"Fresh mud on the bottom of your boots is tranquility to the soul and a few steps closer to heaven".
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