Pinchot Leaves His Mark

September 18 - 21, 2017

Gifford Pinchot was against the formation of many National Parks, wanting instead to create areas that would be "managed" rather than "preserved".  Thankfully others saw the value in not cutting down trees in say, Yosemite, but clear-cutting in many National Forests is due to his policies.  Bainbridge Island had a Graduate Institute (recently acquired by Presidio) started by his grandson who has the same name and all I knew about the man was that he did believe in sustainability - balanced with usability.

Turns out that Pennsylvanians know all about the guy, seeing as how he was governor of Pennsylvania for eight years.  He also has a nice park named after him.

Needing some time in the dirt I decided to stay a couple nights at his park and regroup. It was delightfully empty in the middle of the week and the camping areas are surrounded by super-easy walking trails.  When I eventually got a map from a helpful park ranger I saw that there was also a trail that circumvented the lake in the middle of the park.  Cool!  Eyeing the scale on the little map and making some guesses about twistyness of trails I figured the route was four, maybe five miles around.

I totally need to stop guessing about things.

About halfway 'round I was thinking that this had maybe not been the smartest decision but by that point I was 1) half way through so turning around wouldn't have been all that helpful and 2) in the middle of the woods, far away from any more helpful park rangers that could give me lift back to the campground.

Happily there was a vending machine at a day-use area around the back-side of the lake and I chugged something with sugar to recover a bit of energy.  Then I checked the time, looked at how much farther I needed to go, and tried to remember what time the sun set.

Then I hustled.  Getting caught in the woods in the dark was not high on my list of experiences that I was looking to do.  The path on this end of the lake was not as steep as at the first end and I made reasonable time, huffing and puffing much of the way until reaching the campground road.  Where, of course, I realized how much my feet hurt.

I made it back to the camper a good half hour before sunset and had plenty of time to hobble to the shower and sort out just how many blisters I had on my toes.  Bah.  But hell, I just did a 9.2 mile hike!  Woot!

Hanging Out in the Woods

July 29 - August 11, 2017

It turns out that both Vermont and New Hampshire are very pretty.  I decided to spend a couple weeks in the White Mountains camping and although I didn't manage to take any pictures there, I did get a few after I left.

The most curious thing happened after I left the campsite - I noticed that the truck would get warm going up hill.  Not hot - I am paranoid about overheating but previous to this the engine temp indicator barely moved even while climbing hills in 90 degree weather.  I've learned not to panic when anomalies occur so I kept an eye on the temps while considering possibilities, not sure if it was a mechanical thing, high humidity, or maybe I just never really noticed the temperature change previously.  I was pretty sure this last point wasn't valid, especially since I was also thinking that I had a bit less power going uphill. 

Something to ponder.

I also met a guy who moderates a Facebook Toyota Motorhome page that I promptly joined and instantly became part of a large group of fanatics.  I posted asking them about my hot truck and received a slew of different possibilities including one who's truck has always run warm and they deal with it by running the heater and opening the windows.  I'm going to resist this possible outcome as heating the cab when it's 80+ and dripping with humidity does not predict a pleasant driving experience.

Whatever.  I'll deal with it when I find a solution.

On my way to Toronto to meet with friends and I think Niagara merits a second stop.

Camping in the Alleghany

May 31 - June 16, 2017

The best place to be when it's hot is in the trees and by the water.  There are a bunch of free campsites along the Clarion Rive in the Alleghany National Forest and I scooped up a nice one.  They are really set up for tent campers but some of the spots have a larger parking area.  I walked up and down the road almost every day and only saw one tent but there were a lot of trailers crammed into small parking areas.  The benefits of being able to arrive on a Wednesday I guess.

Hot cat.  Well, if I didn't give him all my cooling resources he'd be hot.

The first couple days were cool in the morning and I let the cats out.  They don't wander although Butch has a tendency to find a hidden spot to sit and watch the world go by.  By the third day it was warm enough that I was worried about snakes in the underbrush and EEEEWWWWW  Bo came in with ticks on his face.  I'm getting less freaked out by then and I'm certainly not going to let my cat get sick from a tick-borne disease so off they came.  eww.

Butch was mad that I could go out and he couldn't.