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Monday, December 22, 2014

501 to Swatara Gap AT, hike and hang.

This is a trip I took last March 2013, with a friend from Hammockforums.net. I didn't get a whole bunch of video on this trip, this was the first time I did a video trip report with another hiker so it took sometime to get used to. It was a very nice trip with good views and good company!


Sunday, December 14, 2014

Pinchot Trail

This was a birthday solo hike I took October 2013. In my opinion the Pinchot trail is not a very difficult trail, it has minimal elevation gain. With that said it is a very pleasant stroll through some wet lands and wooded areas. This is a very enjoyable hike for anyone, you can find some great campsites along the way and water is plentiful. Enjoy the video trip report!


Wednesday, December 10, 2014

AT Lehigh Gap to Eckville

This is a recent trip I took Just a couple of weeks ago, November 2014. My friend Jacob and I planned a trip on the AT here in PA. We did a 25 mile section, between Lehigh Gap to Eckville. We had great weather with lows in the 30s and highs in the 60s, with a good rain storm the second and final night.


We climbed up from Lehigh gap, going south. Towards the top we decided to take the North Scenic trail that ends up meeting back up with the AT in 2.2 miles. On the North Trail we were able to get spectacular views of the other side of the gap and I also took a detour down to the Devils Pulpit. The whole North Trail was beautiful with views in every direction.







 We eventually met back with the AT and enjoyed a pleasant walk through the wood with faint views off the ridge. We hiked for a few more miles and ended up making our dinner trail side, and at this time light was fading fast. We probably walked for another 45 minutes in the dark when we found a perfect campsite just off trail. We setup our shelters and collected fire wood and enjoyed the evening gear talking and what was in store for the next day.



We woke the next morning, made breakfast and coffee and tried out my tree table from 2QZQ. We got our stuff around and hit the trail. With out getting in to to much detail through the day, we walked to Bakeoven Knob shelter and found a dry spring. We then continued over a rocky climb with some good boulder scrambling to the top of Bakeoven Knob. We took in the Views and continued on our way, we made it to Bear Rocks and climbed to the top for a good snack. Pushed on we went over the Knifes edge and onward to 309. We ended up getting to the Blue Mountain Summit restaurant right around dark. We had our dinner at the restaurant, and prepared for another night hike. It was a 4 mile walk to the Allentown Hiking Club shelter.





When getting to the shelter Jacob decided to sleep in the shelter and I began to set up my hammock. We enjoyed another fire, had some cocoa, snacks and I enjoyed a little night cap, We hung our food and at about this time it began raining and didn't let up till early morning.

The next morning we enjoyed breakfast again but this time in the comforts of the shelter. The rain has stopped and we began our hike to Jacob's car, not before some more boulder scrambling and another great view at Dan's Pulpit. We eventually made it back to the car.

If you made it this far through my trip report make sure to check out my video trip report, and let me know what you think!

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Up coming thru-hiker.

Check out Nate's blog and see how he is preparing himself for a thru hike and counting down the days.

hikeofalifetime.blogspot.com

DIY top quilt

I have been trying to get into DIY gear making for awhile now. I have made some easier projects like stuff sacks and pillows. I will try to post in the future more of my projects and maybe some tutorials.

 This is the machine I have been doing my projects with, it's an Old Singer Style-omatic 328k. It works well and I found it at a garage sale for next to nothing.

Singer Style-omatic 328k
As far as my top quilt goes it's more of a show and tell not a tutorial. I made my quilt from Argon 67 fabric for the inner and outer shell. The insulation I used was Climashield Apex 2.5 oz.

You can get Argon fabric from dutchwaregear.com.
Purchase the insulation from thru-hiker.com.

I loosely followed the plans from diygearsupply.com. I made my foot box different than they suggest, I wanted a sewn style foot box. I made mine a squared bottom, the same way you would make a square bottom stuff sack. The finished quilt weighs 10.5 oz in stuff sack and I brought it comfortably to the low 40s F.

Top quilt plans from diygearsupply.com

Here is a link showing how to make a square bottom stuff sack. It's how I basically made the footbox, and I followed the same plans to make the stuff sack for the quilt. Stuff sack plans from thru-hiker.com.

Foot Box
Quilt in stuff sack

Mocanaqua Loop trail

The Mocanaqua Loop trail is a place I visit often for day hikes. It's close to home and has much to explore, whether it be one of the 4 loop hikes ranging 2 miles up to 8 miles. There is also some good look out points that are off trail, they happen to be some of my favorite views. Make sure to explore this area and find new and different things.

The whole area is an old mining area and there is plenty of evidence of this. The trails bring you by multiple old foundations and some more intact buildings.


If you know where to look you will find a place very popular to rock climbers, they call it the library.

The Library
 
One of the old buildings you can find on the blue trail.

This one of the off trail views, happens to be my favorite place to explore.

Here is a video trip report I did September 2013. In the video I stick to the trails and show off some of the on trail views. I also discuss some hammock gear I happened to bring along to setup for a lunch break.



Monday, December 8, 2014

The Old Loggers Path

The Old Loggers Path is one of my favorite weekend hikes, also my most viewed trip report on youtube. I have hiked this trail several times before, on this particular trip I seen several rattle snakes. Enjoy the views and beautiful Rock Run, I highly recommend this hike. This Trip is from August 2013.

The following map is from midatlantichikes.com. Make sure to check out there excellent trail description on the OLP, and many other hikes!




Loyalsock Link loop

My second video trip report was of the Loyalsock Link loop May 2013. This whole area is an excellent area for backpacking and day hikes. The Link Loop is a 17 mile loop or if you do the connector trail starting at Meads Road it makes it a 25 mile hike. I decided to start at the iron bridge off of Rock Run Road and hike the loop clockwise for a quick overnighter.

Loyalsock Link loop public use map.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Black Forest Trail to the West Rim Trail PA

This the first video trip report I did, I made this May 2013. It was a great hike, the connector trail that leaves the BFT is a great hike along a nice creek with a few cascades and waterfalls.  Here is a link for the public use map for the Long Branch Trail that connects the BFT to the WRT. Long Branch Trail map
                             
                              Part 1:

                           
                              Part 2: