Sharon asked me to add today's hike report to the one I'm doing for
Rickett's Glen so I'll try not to confuse anything that happened today with
our annual trip to the heart of Pennsylvania, also known in some circles as
"Pennslyltucky". It is kind of a remote area after all. 3 of the four of us
on yesterday's hike made it out again today, including our illustrious hike
leader Sharon Blabec. Steve Norovich also did both hikes (hope I spelled
your last name right Steve). Steve is new to hiking with the club but able
to climb steep hills without breaking much of a sweat. And he was not a bit
sore either.. The fourth hiker at Rickett's Glen was long time member and
former school teacher Shirley Kellam. She and Steve snapped many photo's,
but like Steve and I Shirley has no idea how to actually forward them via
email.

Suffice it to say that Rickett's Glen was at it's best, the rainy summer
making all of the waterfalls just awesome. Rickett's Glen is a place where
tourists meet hikers and vice/versa. We probably passed over 200 people,
some of them using a shuttle that allows you to hike from the top to the
bottom and get a ride back. Personally I'd prefer eliminating the downhill
part.

We stopped at two convenience stores on the way up and back but did not find
any Funyons. Damn.

It rained for about 1/2 hour on our last mile or so back to the
cars. Perfect timing. There was some thunder in the distance too.

Instead of swimming I decided to just get a quick shower and change, until
we got to the beach and the shower building was gone! Completely
demolished. Apparently it was crumbling & a new one is being built. So I
got my soap-less bath in the lake instead.


Today Sharon led the hike with Lindsey's help, both of them taking turns as
leader & sweep. Lindsey of course seemed to always be the leader when it
came to extremely steep uphill or downhill parts of the hike! The youngest
person joining us today was a Gal by the name of Kristin (that's right, two
"i's") who happened to be 12 years of age. Her Mom "encouraged" her to join
us, with the possibility of a little Ice Cream sometime later in the
day. Turns out that climbing hills are not a part of her favorite things.
Join the crowd !

Lindsey said he was the one that baked the cookies we all shared afterwards,
though they were so good my guess is that Sharon might have been the one
with the recipe.

Wolfe Park is the muddiest place I've ever hiked in my life, by far. In the
middle of a drought it would still be muddy. Which reminds me that there was
a lady we met yesterday that told us how muddy the return trip up the
gorge (on the Ganoga Glen Trail) at Rickett's Glen was going to be. Ha,
there is no comparison!


Kevin


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