A Weekend More Interesting than the Super Bowl

Saturday, 2/2/19

The first day of the great thaw of Pennsylvania. Brian and I awakened early to head to Green Furnace State Park in Rothrock State Forest to embark on a hike along the Standing Stone Trail. The scenic drive consisted of us pointing out the Brush Mountain ridge, the top enveloped in a blanket of fog, the trees laced with a scrim of ice. It was quite beautiful but it led us to wonder what our impending ridge-top hike would entail. We met up with a gentleman named Artem who had the hike all planned out: a seven-mile hike up and along Stone Mountain in order to enjoy the vistas and then a precarious descent down a power-line trail that led to the road where a two-mile walk would lead us back to our vehicles. We began on the ~2 mile Lorence Trail that traversed the base of the mountain. The snow was a good consistency, packing the crevices between the cumbersome stones along the trail. We arrived to the Turkey Trail, a .8 mile switchback that goes straight to the top of Stone Mountain. It was a nice climb; however, we noticed that two sections of the forest that paralleled the trail had large swaths of trees cut down. It had the appearance of a post-avalanche event, the trees all fallen in the same downhill position. They were obviously cut down for some trees were marked. I can't help but wonder what the reason was for all the downed trees. Regardless, onward and upward we went to the top of the mountain. The Standing Stone Trail greeted us at the top, a trail that traverses the entire ridge of the mountain (Stone Mountain is one of the many ridges in the Ridges & Valley region of Pennsylvania). We made a left onto the trail to visit the first vista that overlooked Baree Township's farmlands.

At the vista, we parted ways with Artem and headed in the opposite direction; the idea of walking two miles on the road toward the end was less than ideal, so we decided to head back to the state park via the Standing Stone Trail, which has a terminus in the park (near where we parked!). For those of you who do not know, Standing Stone Trail is an 84-mile long trail with various trail-heads so that you can hike portions of it at your convenience. Brian and I enjoyed walking along the ridge and taking in the views.

Eventually, we headed down the mountain, back to the state park. There were all kinds of animal tracks to follow and identify. It appeared that we were the first to hike the trail since the last snowfall (which was the previous day). We eventually descended on an old logging road that gradually descended down the mountain, forming a perfect loop hike. It was when we got to that portion of the trail that my bum foot began to bother me. Some of you know about my bum foot and I won't do much explaining, but snow encourages my bum foot to move in all the wrong directions which can be quite uncomfortable and painful. Despite the discomfort, though, it was a very wonderful hike and I'm glad that Brian decided to join me. I'll admit, my foot was in agony the rest of the evening. I had to give it a lot of TLC in the evening. A lot of recovery is involved and it's kind of depressing to know that although my body and spirit can keep on going, my foot sometimes can't do it. Hiking in snow isn't easy as it is. I'd say that a hike in the snow is equivalent to a 1.5 mile hike without snow. But with my bum foot, 1 mile of hiking in the snow is equivalent to hiking 2 miles without snow. So, yeah. My foot was a mess, but we had a good time, regardless.

Here is the hike that we did. Exactly 5 miles.

Sunday, 2/3/19

I took it easy in the morning, reading through some books and doing random things around the house. Eventually, I took Silas on a little hike. Snow was in full melt-mode and the snow had the consistency of a slushy. It was National Golden Retriever Day, so of course I had to treat Silas to a few bites of pizza and a romp in the snow up in the game lands. He was a happy boy.

The rest of the day consisted of relaxing and preparing a lot of terrible-for-me food for our viewing of the terribly boring and disappointing Super Bowl. Even the commercials were lame and ominous with all the robot ads. No thanks. We went to bed before the game was even over. One good thing to say is that I finished reading Diane Ackerman's book "The Planets: A Cosmic Pastoral". I've mentioned before that I prefer her essays over her poetry. But there were a few bright things throughout this book, I'll admit:

At night I lie awake

in the ruthless Unspoken,

knowing the planets

come to life, bloom,

and die away...

*

...that molecular epidemic called a rose...

-Diane Ackerman

Monday, 2/4/19

A sunny day has a lot of interesting nuances. The ice alongside the roads are now dirty with traffic-dirt. Driving just a mile, you will pass more than a handful of people stabbing at the ice with their shovels, trying to relieve their sidewalks and driveways. I woke up very unmotivated and feeling pretty awful due to the very unhealthy food I ate the evening previous. When I got home from work, I took advantage of the good weather and hopped on my bike for a ride through town. I rode through scrims of ice, slush, and greasy snow-melt alongside the roads. It was refreshing blasting through the puddles, the cold water soaking my legs and thighs. The sun set was ideal and the ride rejuvenated my body. I felt more lithe and limber afterwards. My mind, detoxed.

I'm very excited, though, that a new book came in the mail.

I'm very excited to thumb through this book and learn more about the geology of the desert and mountains of Utah. I'm expecting the Pennsylvania book from this series, as well. Speaking of books, I recently found homes for many (over 50!) books that I no longer want. They're no longer in piles on my dining room table and are now divvied up in boxes in the trunk of my Subaru, waiting to go to their new homes. I appreciate everyone who was willing to give my books new homes.

Speaking of books, it's time to read and decompress for the rest of the evening. I'm reading too many books at once right now, but oh well. I'm about to start another book of poetry by Diane Ackerman, I'm still reading a book by John McPhee ("In Suspect Terrain"--about the geology between Indiana and New Jersey--motivated by glaciation). I'm also reading some W.S. Merwin poetry. Got to keep things well-rounded, you know? And actually, a fiction bug has been biting at me lately. I'm in the mood for a book of short stories or a novel. I'll figure something out.