Sugarloaf Mountain

For something different, we headed out to Frederick, MD 

to Sugarloaf Mountain to try out one of their trails.  It's quite the popular place.  

People were hiking, rock climbing and picnicking.  

We headed off on the trail and encountered the steps from hell.  Steps are far worse than hiking up an incline- and that's saying a lot for me because I really struggle on inclines.

The friendly neighborhood vultures were in the trees above me.  

Pretty sure they smelled death.

The view was definitely worth the climb though.

It was a shame it wasn't a sunnier day out,

but it was still gorgeous.

Of course, when we reached the summit

we realized we weren't on the trail we had planned to be on.

We ended up needing to take another trail to get to where we planned to go.

There was another vista called White Rocks that was also gorgeous.

Even my normally afraid of heights son was impressed with the view- 

so much so he ventured out on the rocks.

We were finally headed back towards the car,

though it felt like the never ending trail.

It was supposed to be a 5 mile loop, 

but we weren't sure how much extra mileage we picked up 

when we went the wrong way.

We eventually made it back to the car.

I pointed out we could have seen gorgeous views 

staying in the parking lot.

In the end we hiked 7.4 miles

which is the longest hike since last October.

I didn't have much weight in my pack, 

but all in all I did pretty good.

Lucy did good too

though I did have to carry her for a short while

as she was getting tired.

Definitely want to go back to this spot and try some other trails.

Back to Catoctin: Hike 11

So, I'm pretty far behind in my posts.

If only I could stay home and write blogs all day and eat ice cream.

Anyway...

Hike 11 was at Catoctin Mountain Park in Maryland.

We did the loop that took us past Cunningham Falls, 

past the view at Hog Rock (above)

and back to the Visitor's Center.

Our spring has been nuts this year, and we went from 40* weather to 80* weather overnight.

The heat kicked my butt.

We ended up walking along the road for a bit to shorten the hike

but still managed to do over 6 miles.

Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve Green Trail

I am finally caught up with blogging our hikes.  This Sunday marked our 10th hike of the 52 hike challenge.  We chose to head out to the Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve to do one of their trails.  We have gone to this place a couple of times.  It has several trails to choose from that allows you to tailor your hike to your preferred length and difficulty.  I was happy taking our usual trip around the Swamp Trail that follows Swamp Creek, but my mom and husband wanted a longer hike (I'm still worried about the shape I'm in which is mostly roundish), so we ended up deciding to take the Green Trail which is longer and a little more difficult.  It branches off of the Swamp Trail and heads up on the ridge.





The weather was sunny but a little brisk at 40ish degrees with a steady wind.  I brought Lucy along on this hike to keep working on her hiking skills.  There were a lot of blow downs in the area, including one that was nearly impassible.  Luckily (I guess), there was another hiker coming up behind us who had been through the trail before and knew how to get around the tree.  Lucy learned quickly how to jump over the fallen logs.  It got to the point that she was trying to go off trail to jump random logs.  There was one blown down that was pretty high off the ground and was two separate trunks that she nearly flew over using one trunk to springboard over the other.






Though she learned to enjoy log jumping, Lucy seemed to be quite skittish on this hike.  Tree branches moving or snapping freaked her out.  It was like she was waiting for them to grow teeth and attack her.  Walking in deep leaves freaked her out too, though later she was chasing leaves that blew across our path.  She also doesn't like mud, so she cleared mud puddles with huge leaps.
Oh, and she doesn't really like stream crossings.  She dislikes them so much, she willingly used a fallen tree to cross the water.  Hopefully she gets over that, or trips to the beach and kayak rides are going to be really interesting.





Despite not really wanting to take the longer hike, I was glad that I did.  I've managed to lose a little over 13 pounds, and it's made quite the difference in my hiking.  I'm able to do hills without stopping every few steps.  I'm still fighting through aches and pains from my hip, knees and foot, but it's manageable.  Hoping to plan some backpacking trips once the weather gets a little warmer.  In the meantime, I'll keep building up my endurance, and then come home and crash- much like Lucy.

Caledonia State Park Hike #9

March 31st brought a gorgeous day for hiking.  It was great to be able to get outside in some decent weather.  Because it was so nice, I decided to take Lucy along to see how she would do on a longer trail.  Plus, she has a new training halter that's supposed to help with pulling.
Because we needed to stop at the Michaux State Forest Office, we headed out that way for a hike.  Our scout troop has a backpacking hike planned for the fall, and we need to get some permits and special permissions out of the way.  Unfortunately, the office was closed so we'll need to head back there again.
Since we were right there at Caledonia, we stopped in at their office and picked up a trail map.  We opted to hike along the Ramble Trail which was listed as a 2.2 mile more difficult hike.  It travels along a small section of the Appalachian Trail near the end.
The Park was full of people because it was the first day of trout season, so there were tons of anglers along Conococheague Creek.  We only passed a few people along the trail along with some dogs.  Lucy did really well on the hike.
She tackled her first stream crossing, though she wasn't too thrilled about it.  She really wanted to stay on dry land, but she did go across though somewhat reluctantly.  She wasn't pulling as much as she typically does, but I can't say for certain if that was the new harness or that fact that she was racing around the yard earlier in the day and was already tired. Either way, it made for a nice hike.  She keeps me moving forward and gives me something to focus on other than my aches and pains.  I had her clipped to my belt with a carbiner to allow me to be hands free.  That seemed to work really well except for the couple of times she heard or smelled something in the laurel shrubs and popped open the buttons on my pants.  Needless to say, we still have some work to do.  She needs to not get so excited about seeing people, other dogs or invisible creatures in the underbrush.
The hike overall was a pretty easy one.  We're thinking the "more difficult" designation was because of the length.  There was only one small hill, and it could barely be called a hill.  Despite not being very challenging, it was a very pretty hike on a very well maintained trail.  Total mileage was about 2.7 miles which included a short amount on the AT plus the walk back to the car.  I would definitely do this trail again despite (or because) it wasn't too hard.  There are a few other trails in Caledonia that are listed as most difficult and we're planning on going to check those out in the future.

And one of the best things about this hike was the stop at the Appalachian Brewing company on the way home.  We each got a beer and shared some spinach and artichoke dip.  

We voted to hike more in areas that let us stop off and grab a beer.

St Patrick's Day Hike 8

St Patrick's Day weekend brought some sunny weather and my 4 year old grandson.  It's awesome that he's as into hiking and camping as we are, because it makes it easy to find things to do.  We recently purchased a used pop up camper, so we set that up in my parents back yard (it's a 6.5 acre back yard) and camped out in the "super great tent fort" all weekend.  Temps were in the 20's at night, but the camper heater worked really well.
On Saturday, we went for a hike at Hashawha.  We're getting a little tired of Hashawha because that seems to be the default hiking location, but they have an aviary with various birds of prey that are unable to survive on their own in the wild.  This let's my grandson see some wildlife up close.  Plus, there's a playground and a nature center, so it's a great place to take a 4 year old with a boatload of energy to burn off.
We hiked just under 3 miles by taking our usual route on the Vista and Green trails that took us by creeks and Lake Hashawha.  All four year olds love water, and my grandson is no exception.  I'm sure it will be even more fun when the weather is warmer and he can see some turtles, fish and snakes.  Still, he was thrilled looking for different animal prints.  Large dog prints were wolf prints, and my husband's boot print was an obvious sign of Sasquatch activity (this boy is seriously awesome).
At the end of our hike, we took some time to let the boy play at the playground.  It's amazing how a playground can give a 4 year old some renewed energy!  All in all, a decent hike.  It was good we managed to get this hike in, because just a few days later we ended up with 12+" of snow on the first day of spring.

Hike #7- Hashawha.... Again

For our 7th hike, we ended up at our faithful standby hiking destination: Hashawha Environmental Center.  I don't remember the exact mileage, but I'm guessing it was somewhere around 3 miles give or take. 
We took a short detour onto a longer trail, though we didn't follow it very far.  I was lucky enough to snap this photo.  Every now and then I get a lucky shot.  I think it shows just how quiet it is hiking through a grove of pine trees, which is one of my favorite things to hike through.
Here's hoping that spring will bring some nicer hiking weather (though so far that's been a bust).

Hiking a Battlefield

Trying to fit in a hike, we decided to detour to nearby Antietam Battlefield in Maryland to walk some of the historic area, enjoy the weather and get in a little hiking.  We also had Lucy with us, so it was going to be her first ever hike.
My favorite area of Anitetam is Burnsides Bridge.  It's a little off the beaten path, and there are several paths in that area that would allow for some mild hiking.  We opted to hike down to the bridge, across it, along Antietam Creek and up a hill to view the bridge from the ridge.  It was only a short 1-1.5 mile hike, but it was better than not hiking at all.  Lucy did pretty good, but we need to work on her leash skills.  She pulls quite a bit.  Hoping she manages to settle down and be a relaxing hiking partner.

Hike 5: Codorus State Park

Hike number five was just under 2 miles.  It was a brisk day with windchill around 9 degrees.  My mom and I headed to another local trail at Codorus State Park.  This one travels around Lake Marburg and passes by an old cemetery.  As you can see from the headstone, it is pretty old with one person laid to rest there who fought in the War of 1812 and was defending Baltimore when Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner.  Most of the original headstones have worn smooth or are broken, but there is a large marker in the center listing all the names of those who were interred there.









It was a chilly hike along the one side of the lake, but when we rounded the edge of the lake, the wind was no longer an issue and the sun was warming us up.  There's still plenty of ice around even with the slightly warmer temps we've been having.













You can see from the photo of the lake that we're in drought conditions here.  The lake is drained in the winter, but this is lower than I've ever seen it.
My husband skipped this hike because of dealing with a nasty cold.  We both missed hiking this weekend because of rain and needing to take some Boy Scouts to a merit badge college.  We'll have to try to get a short hike in this week with the dogs to get caught back up again (my mom managed to get her hike in)

The New Hiking Partner

I love the idea of having a 4 legged hiking companion.

I have 2 dogs, but neither one would make a good hiker.

One is 14 and having arthritis issues.

The other one, while physically fit, isn't the best around strange people or animals,

so not the easiest to work with.

I've been fostering for a rescue for a year now, and when I saw this girl, I knew.

Lucy is a Boston Terrier Mix.

I can't tell you what she's mixed with, 

her mom was around 18 pounds with pointy ears and brindle fur.

Her dad was a full Boston.

She's 100% spoiled brat.

She has a thing for sleeping under blankets.

I'm guessing I'll have to come up with a sleeping bag for her

when we're ready for overnights.

Right now we're working on house breaking, basic commands 

and leash manners.

She'll do anything for a treat.

She'll be completely up to date on all of her shots in 2 weeks.

For anyone hiking with dogs, it's a good idea to get all the shots-

including those for Lyme's disease and Leptospirosis

(Plus your Distemper, Parvo and Rabies)

before taking your dog out to public areas.

Make sure your dog has a decent flea and tick preventative.

I've always used Frontline Plus, but right now we have a free trial of Nexgard

(and I've heard from other hikers with dogs that it works great).

If you have a young dog like I do, or even an older dog who has never hiked before,

make sure you talk to your vet about how to go about getting started.

Young dogs should not go on any extreme hikes.

Lucy will most likely do a mile or less to start and on easy trails.

Puppies bodies are growing, and you don't want to strain any ligaments, tendons or cause problems with growing bones.

And with an older dog who might not be in shape, you want to start out small and build up their muscles and endurance-

the same as you would for yourself.

So, in the meantime,
Lucy will be working on her training,
and most likely her napping.
For those on Instagram, Lucy has her own IG account
(my husband thinks I'm nuts)
Lucy The Boston Mix

Hike 4: Beaverdam Park

This past weekend, my husband and I went for a quick weekend getaway to the Tidewater area of Virginia.  I've been traveling to this area of Virginia my whole life.  My family has property there that has been in the family for generations. Even though we were on a mini vacation, I still wanted to get a hike in.  I found Beaverdam park located in nearby Gloucester, VA that had several different trail options.
Once again the weather was on our side.  The temperature reached 60 degrees and the sun was shining.  There are several trails at the park of varying mileage so you can really tailor your hike to your needs.  There is a trail for hikers only and trails that are considered multi use meaning horses and bikers are also permitted on the trail.  We opted to start out on the hiking only trail which is about 3 miles.

Most of the trail runs along the edge of the Beaverdam Reservoir.  There were quite a few boaters out fishing.  Beaverdam is apparently the only freshwater fishing hole in the Middle Peninsula of VA.  I'm used to the saltwater fishing on the rivers and bay in the area.  Unlike the trails at home in Pennsylvania, the trail here had very few inclines, and the ones it had were short and not too steep.  There were no rocks either, but there were areas where the tree roots stuck up across the path.  I think I almost prefer rocks as those roots seemed to pop up out of no where under the leaves.
When hiking the hiker only trail, you can either return on the same trail, or you can choose to return on the multi use trail.  My husband and I decided to take the slightly longer multi use trail return since the weather was gorgeous.

As the sign says, take caution on the multi use trail, there might be poop.
I've hiked trails that are considered multi use, but I've never encountered more than one or two cyclists.  On this trail, we actually encountered 4 different horses- and 2 of them more than once.  There were also many people on bikes.  I'm going to take this moment to mention a PSA about courtesy on the trail as it seems to be something a lot of people need help with (here anyway).  The rule is: Everyone yields to horses
Bikers and joggers yield to hikers and downhill hikers yield to uphill hikers (unless I'm the uphill hiker then I use the moment to catch my breath and let the others pass).  I want to stress the horse thing.  I know there are a lot of people who do not have horse knowledge.  If you are hiking or biking and come upon some horse back riders, step off the trail to let them pass.  Be visible and ask the riders if you're in a good spot.  Some horses spook at the strangest things, and if they haven't realized you're there and you scare them, it could cause a situation where a rider is thrown or someone is kicked.  Cyclists- this means don't ride up on a horses butt.  I saw a family out riding bikes that rode right up on a horse.  The kids were lucky the horse only picked up speed because if the horse had kicked, it would have surely hit one of the kids.
Anyway, it was a very nice hike.  It was warm and it smelled like earth and pine.  We were actually pretty tired from the hike, though we are pretty out of shape.  This one completed one of my hikes to a body of water.  I have 1 more left of those, and I already have an idea of where I'd like to go for that second one (it involves looking for shark teeth fossils).  I've completed 2 of my 5 waterfall hikes as well.  I still have a bunch of challenge objectives to complete, but we have 48 more hikes to go!
On a side note, Beaverdam Park is a great place to visit for the day if you're in the area.  It has very clean bathrooms, boat rentals, picnic areas and of course the trails.  Our family will definitely be visiting again!.

The funny thing about this, my husband's name is Ernie.

Cascade Falls: Hike #3

Last week the temperatures warmed up to the 50's, so we headed out to someplace different.  We opted to make the hour drive to Patapsco Valley State Park to see if the waterfall located in the park was still frozen. Cascade Falls as it's known, descends down a 10-15 foot face, and is reached by the Cascade Trail located near the parking lot in the Orange Grove Area of the park.  Patapsco Valley State Park is pretty special to me for many reasons: I grew up going to this park when I was a kid, my great-uncle (who was like a grandfather to me) was a superintendent of the Park back in the day, and I was married in the park (I even hiked to the falls in my wedding dress).  So, because I had extra prepaid admission passes I had purchased for the wedding, we headed to the outskirts of Baltimore.

 The Cascade Trail is about 2.5 miles.  The beginning of the trail makes one think the entire hike might be too strenuous, but it isn't.  After the initial climb up the hill (really not bad- remember I did it in my wedding dress), she begin to see some of the rapids before finally coming to the falls.  It's a popular place in the summer as families like to splash around in the pool at the falls' base.  Turns out it's just as popular in the winter.  Despite having a couple of warm days, the falls were still mostly frozen.  You could see the water rushing behind the ice, but the rocks were coated with ice and the pool at the base was frozen solid.  Usually my journey along the trail ends at the waterfall, but we wanted a longer hike so we continued along the trail. 

We followed the stream that feeds Cascade Falls.  It was ice crusted, but not frozen solid probably because of it's fast movement and the few warmer days.  The trail was also incredibly muddy.  A good moment to mention Leave No Trace- it's better to go through mud than around it.  If everyone starts going around, you make a new trail and that's not really a good thing.  So make sure you wear shoes you won't be upset about getting full of mud.
We continued along and eventually reached the far end of the trail that butts up to some houses and another parking area for the trail.  Here the trail makes a large loop before joining back to the original trail and heading back down to the falls.

Once we were back to the parking lot where we started, a couple of us headed across the iconic swinging bridge to the other side of the Patapsco River.  We were looking for a spot to be able to walk down to the water's edge and rinse off our boots.
Did I mention that the trail was super muddy?
The swinging Bridge does "swing", or rather, it bounces a little as people walk across it.  Back when I was a kid, it would really sway and bounce.  Then someone fell to their death and the bridge was redone in a way to make it have less movement.  The bridge was built as a replica of one that spanned the river in the 1800's and allowed employees of the mill to get to work.





At the river's edge, there were a lot of ice piles deposited by the river.  They were all several inches thick.  Had we managed to get to the park before the warmer weather, we would have seen a frozen river, or at least witnessed some ice flows. 

Maybe we would have even seen a couple of penguins and a polar bear riding the ice flows as well.

Hike Number 2: Hashawha

 

For my second hike, I headed out to a local Environmental Center that has several trails.  I hike here often as it's close, offers a nice bathroom in the Nature Center and has enough trail options to be able to tailor your hike to several different mileage lengths.
The weather was still cold.  I think the dashboard temperature reading showed 12 degrees.  I'm pretty much over the frigid temperatures.
The small pond at the beginning of the trail was frozen pretty thick.   I don't know what it is about frozen water and the way it whispers to you, "Come on, walk on my, I'm solid."  I always manage to resist because, you know, hypothermia. We ended up doing what has become our usual hike at Hashawha that is about 3 miles long.  It takes us past the raptor cages where I always hoot a greeting to the resident owls.  They don't hoot back, in fact, one turned his back on me.  The lower portion of the trail follows a stream before coming to the larger pond on the property that you cross using a series of boardwalks.  There were still icy patches on the stream, and one section looked pretty cool with the water running under the ice.  It was cold, but the sun was strong, so I was almost sweating towards the last portion of the trail.  As always, I was pleased I had pushed myself to go.  It seems every time it's cold out, I start talking myself out of going outside.  But in the end, getting some exercise in the outdoors helps clean out some of the winter head fog.

Hike 1 of 52: The 52 Hike Challenge

I don't really make New Year's Resolutions anymore, but I do make goals for myself to try to accomplish in the coming year.  One of those goals is to try to hike every week at least once.  So I signed up for the 52 Hike Challenge.  
There are three different challenge options.  The first is just committing to hike 52 hikes (1 for each week of the year) anywhere you like to hike.  The second option is the adventure series and the third is the explorer series.  I opted for the Adventure series.  





It asks you to complete these 17 specific types of hikes within your 52:

• 5 Waterfalls (even if they are dry)
• 1 Forest (if not possible, go to National Park/ Site)
• 1 National Parks, Monuments, Preserves, Recreation Area or Historic Trail
• 2 Hikes to bodies of water: Lakes, Rivers, or Ocean
• 1 Stewardship hike (pick up trash or join group to help with a restoration project)
• 1 Group hike (if you are regular to one group, visit a new group to meet new people)
• 1 Introduce someone new to hiking (on an easy trail)
• 1 Sunset or Sunrise hike
• 1 Hike from your Bucket list (somewhere you have always wanted to go)
• 3 Reflection hikes (journal at the beginning, middle, and towards the end of your challenge).

The weather here, as with much of the East Coast, has temperatures in the teens.  My area hasn't gotten too much snow, really just about an inch with the "Bomb Cyclone" that came up the coast.  Still, those temps in the teens have kept me in the house. So, I missed the First Day Hike because of the weather.  This made me more determined to get the first hike of 52 accomplished. 
Because the temperature was supposed to rise to the 20's (balmy compared to the weather we've been having), my husband, mother and I planned a short hike.  So yesterday we headed out to Cunningham Falls State Park to do a short mile hike to Cunningham Falls.



I don't think the temperature ever reached 20 degrees.  And I'm pretty sure my husband asked me 5 times if I was sure I really wanted to hike.  But I was/am determined.  So we headed down the trail.  I wanted to get a look at the waterfall frozen.  The trail is only a 1 mile round trip trail.  I'm horribly out of shape and didn't want to push it- plus it was cold. 
It didn't take long to get to the falls.  It was cool to see it frozen, though it wasn't as spectacular as some other ones I've seen photos of. We took a few photos and then headed back towards the car.  We all said we could have gone longer, but the other trail option was more difficult with steeper inclines.  Since I'm so out of shape, I felt it was best to stick with the easier trail.



It felt great to get outside.  Hiking definitely helps clear out the brain funk when you're stuck inside in the winter.  I'm looking forward to the next hike

Me on "Little McAfee Knob"