It has been a long time since I have hiked or cycled the Stony Valley Rail Trail. My friend, Laura, was the one who first showed me this trail and we explored various sections – especially the abandoned town of Rausch Gap. The Appalachian Trail also goes through this area so there are miles of hiking and cycling that can be done. I have been looking for new places to take my nephew bike camping so Kevin and I grabbed our bikes one sunny day and headed out to see if there were any campsites near the trail that we could get to with our bikes.
Appalachian Trail
One Day Hike
I think I first heard of the One Day Hike from reading other blogs. It is a non-competitive hike that is held every year. People start at about 3 AM in Washington DC and hike up the C&O Canal ending just past Harpers Ferry, WV. They have until midnight to complete their hike. There is also a 30 mile option. I wasn’t feeling adventurous enough to try either of those yet, so I saw they needed bike patrol volunteers. This is something I wanted to try for a long time. I often see cyclists at races, biking the course with runners. Honestly, half the time that I am doing a race I am wishing for my bike anyway – so this seems like a pretty good compromise! I contacted Frank, the coordinator, and requested a shift.
Bikepacking Trip – Day 1
I was supposed to bikepack the GAP and C&O trails from Pittsburgh to DC on my week of vacation, but a hurricane decided to crash my trip so after going through MANY backup plans I decided to still go, but cut my trip short. I was having trouble finding a train ticket for my bike, finding a ride, finding hotels…etc. After MUCH research I decided to start at Harpers Ferry where my dad dropped me off, bike to White’s Ferry and take the ferry across. From there a shuttle would pick me up and take me to my hotel in Leesburg, VA. The next day I’d take the shuttle back over to the C&O trail and continue into DC where I would spend the rest of the week cycling around the city. I haven’t been to DC in….I can’t even tell you when the last time was.
GIVEAWAY!
This year when I was setting up my Christmas tree I was just not happy with all the old ornaments I have had for YEARS. They are just very generic ones that anyone could get at any major store – nothing personal about it. I remember being a kid and almost all of the ornaments on the tree had a special meaning – either my sisters and I MADE them or they had some other significance (1st Christmas, etc). Thinking about this made me realize my tree was pretty drab and how I could personalize it better.
I am a big fan of supporting local artists and shops on Etsy (In case you don’t know Etsy is a website that sells only handmade or vintage items), so I set out to see what kind of ornaments I could find to “spruce” up my tree (see what I did there?? 🙂 haha!) OK – bad jokes aside I found several LOVELY ornaments that would let me bring my love of the outdoors in! Then I thought, why don’t I share these with all my outdoorsy friends on my blog – and have a giveaway with one! (We will get to the giveaway in a sec)
Pulpit Rock, PA
Yesterday I was feeling better so JoJo and I headed out to Hamburg, PA to hike to Pulpit Rock which is along the Appalachian Trail – it was an absolutely perfect day for a hike too! I didn’t want to waste it as the entire week was beautiful and I was sick the whole time! 
We pulled into the Hamburg Reservoir – I shouldn’t have been surprised that it was so packed with cars because this is a very popular hike, but it was Friday so I wasn’t expecting it to be as busy as it was. We found a spot and headed down the trail – it is a road walk for a little while until you see signs for the Windsor Furnace – there are several trails to take at this point, but I chose to turn right, cross over a small bridge and stay to the right along the Appalachian Trail up to Pulpit Rock. The other trails bypass Pulpit Rock, but I honestly like the view from there better than the Pinnacle which is almost completely covered in graffiti. There are also a few telescope towers right next to Pulpit Rock that is on the property of the Berks County Amateur Astronomical Society – there are signs stating it is private property, but as far as I know they are ok with people walking through – I even have friends that were invited to join them when they were having a meeting and got to see planets and solar flares during a day hike! How awesome!
4 day/3 night backpacking food list
Tomorrow JoJo and I leave for a 4 day 3 night section hike along the AT and I wanted to share what I will be taking along with me to eat. I plan on eating a big breakfast tomorrow AM before I drive to the trail head.
Maryland and West Virginia State Highpoints
I’m not exactly sure what got me interested in hiking all the state highpoints. I like hiking and seeing new places- so why not right? So after much planning, my dad and I set off to conquer 3 state highpoints – that was the plan anyway. I follow the Summit Chicks blog and got a lot of information about the highpoints from them as well as various other sites. I saw that you could potentially get 3 highpoints in 1 day – WV, MD and PA. Always up for a challenge, I started making plans for a road trip with my dad and JoJo. We saw that Skyline Drive was fairly close to Spruce Knob, the West Virginia highpoint and I have always wanted to see Shenandoah National Park so we decided to take the scenic route to our 1st highpoint.
blisters and bug bites 