Date: 2015-01-18
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Miles today: 0.0

Saturday morning I got up early, cleaned my house a bit, did my laundry, and made some pancakes for breakfast. I drove out to York to run a 5k race at 9:00 that is part of a series that I signed up for a few weeks ago. The sun was out but it was cold. I ran a mile or so to warm up, ran the race, did a short cool down run, and drove home again. (I know this isn¢t a running journal, but I use it as training for my AT attempt. So there you have it.)Back to hiking. I packed up all my gear and enough of food for several days and drove to the Hamburg reservoir parking lot. The Hamburg Borough allows overnight parking there if you call the office in advance and provide them with name, phone number, make, model, and tag numbers of your vehicle. I made that phone call on Friday, so I was good to go. When I got to the lot it was parked full with day hikers. I did a bit of a weird park job in front of a stone pile that seemed as if it was in the middle of the parking lot.It was 1:00 by the time I got on the trail. I wanted to make it to Eckville shelter, which is about 9 miles away, before dark. My guide book indicated that the bunkroom is closed during the winter, I didn¢t necessarily want to camp there but made it my destination. As I made my way up towards Pulpit Rock and the Pinnacle it was slow going. The trail was rocky and there were lots of boulder fields to clamber over. And to make things worse, everything was covered with about half an inch of ice or hard crusty snow. It took two hours to hike the four miles to the Pinnacle. I met quite a few groups of day hikers on the way up, most of them were poorly dressed for this weather and looked cold. When I arrived at the Pinnacle there were lots of little groups of people standing at the lookout with their single bottles of water and a granola bar. I got quite a few curious glances at my 30 pound pack and hiking poles, so I did a quick look around and kept on going.After the trail left the Pinnacle it followed a forest road down the mountain which was much better walking. It was still really icy and treacherous but at least there wasn¢t as many rocks here. I walked till I got to Hawk Mountain Road, which is where Eckman shelter should have been. It was just getting dark, and as I waited to cross the road, an SUV with two couples in it stopped. They asked, ¢are you a thru hiker?¢ ¢Um¢¦not yet¢, I replied. ¢I want to be one this summer¢. The driver pulled off the road, got out, and introduced himself as Mike. He and his wife moved here from California a few years ago and started the Common Ground Farm and Retreat. They cater to thru hikers and are listed on page 122 of the 2015 A.T. guide by AWOL. He offered me a ride to Eckville shelter which was just a quarter mile down the road. I declined his offer and explained that this is a training run, and that I wanted to head back towards Hamburg again. He seemed concerned about me because it was almost dark and was getting colder. I assured him that I had a headlamp and had the proper gear to be out there, so he wished me luck and moved on.I crossed the road and hiked for a while longer and did not get to a side trail towards Eckman shelter. (I guess you have to walk down the road to get there) I decided I went far enough and started retracing my steps back toward Hamburg Reservoir. After it was completely dark I used my headlamp occasionally, but I really enjoyed walking in the dark through the snow under the stars. Once I crossed Hawk Mountain Road again I went about two more miles up the mountain till I found a nice flat spot under some tall trees and decided to set up camp there. There was about an inch of hard crusty snow where I set up my tent. The ground was frozen, so I couldn¢t use my stakes to stretch out my cover to create a vestibule. I made a quick pot of Ramen Noodle soup, hung up my bear bag, and was in my bag by soon after 7:00. I doubt if there are any bears in the area, but I had to see if I can hang a bear bag. It took a few tries but it went fairly well. My new full length Thermarest sleeping pad worked much better than the 34 length pad I tried the last time. I was warm and comfortable, and slept well till 12:30 AM.After 12:30 I couldn¢t sleep anymore, so I decided to break camp and start hiking again. I got quite chilled in the twenty minutes it took till I had everything packed up. But after a mile of strong hiking I was feeling great. I decided to go back up to the Pinnacle to see what it looks like at night, then come back down on this side of the mountain again and get a side trail to the parking lot to avoid the treacherous boulders I came up over yesterday. I arrived at the overlook at 2:00 AM, it was cloudy but beautiful. Seeing all the lights of the surrounding towns at night, alone, under a cloudy sky seemed magical. This is living!Once I retraced my path back down the mountain road I took a blue blazed trail that I thought would take me back to the parking lot. I was walking without my headlamp a lot of the time, I really enjoyed the peaceful solitude with only the crunch of my footsteps through the snow breaking the silence. Somehow I must have taken a side trail in the dark and could no longer find any blue blazes. One part of my brain kinda freaked out that I was out in the middle of the night, in twenty degree weather, not really sure where I was at. Then the rational side of my brain kicked in and said, ¢I am somewhere within four miles of my vehicle, I have enough of food for 2-3 days, and I have everything on my back to keep myself comfortable.¢ So I relaxed. I kept following trails that took me downhill, then sure enough, after a mile or so I came out to the reservoir and I knew where I was. Once I made my way back to the parking lot, I found my trusty pickup parked weirdly in the middle of the now empty parking area under the glow of a pole light. I sat down on a rock, pulled out a Snickers bar, and felt that everything was right with the world. It felt like the most natural thing in the world to be all alone at 4:00 AM on a Sunday morning eating a candy bar.I¢m looking forward to living on the edge of society for the summer.