Hell yeah, you read that right. Though, that’s 124 over two days, so it is only slightly less impressive when put into context.

On October 6th, Alex/Laz and I loaded up in my car and took off for the Black Walnut Bottom camping area along the Pine Creek Rail Trail. While he took to setting up camp, I took to the trail heading south. Since BWB is almost a halfway point in the trail, I decided to use it as a base and bisect my ride.

Day 1 took me all the way into Jersey Shore, a 25 mile ride, before turning around to head back to camp. It ended up being a six hour ride with food, foot, hydration, and bathroom breaks. Once back at the camp, Alex served up a heap of carbs so I’d have energy for the next day. We closed out the evening with some rather odd conversation about investing in evil companies and the origins of the microwave oven.

Day 2 started at 6:30 AM for breakfast. I suited up and hit the trail at exactly 8AM, having most of the trail to myself until about 25 miles into it. At that point, the trail goes into the PA Grand Canyon proper and the numbers of other visitors picks up dramatically. My goal for the day was to ride to the Ansonia trailhead (30 miles), turn around, and head back to camp to call it a weekend. That was a good goal until I unknowingly blew right through Ansonia and rode an extra 7 miles nearly to Wellsboro. That little gaffe added 14 miles total to the ride, putting me in at 74 miles for day two.

As a result, day 2 took me about 9 hours. Part of that was also the fact that I encountered a lot more people on day 2 that wanted to chat with me about my trike. A few people even stopped to take photos. I don’t mind. I’d snap some shots, too, if I saw something unique on my ride.

I managed to keep a fairly detailed log throughout the ride, chronicling wildlife encountered and what exactly I did at each stop. The intent was to post that here until I read over the notes after getting home and realized they were both repetitive and boring.

You don’t need to know how often I stopped to urinate.

Sort of.

I had this grand plan of taking my trike and all the gear I could strap to it on a trip up and down the Pine Creek Rail Trail.  Only, it turns out that there aren’t any camp sites at the far north end of the trail, and I don’t want to drive the extra hour to start north and camp south.

So, instead, I’m starting in the middle of the trail at the Black Walnut Bottom camp site.  From there, I’ll bike 27 miles south and do the return trip.  On day two, I’ll bike the north leg of the trail, again returning to the middle.  I’ll then break camp and head home.

Oh, and I won’t be going alone.  My cousin (Laz for you FITHers) decided he wanted to come along to at least manage the camp for me so I’m not wasting time setting up tents and cooking meals.  Awfully nice of him.

When all is said and done, I should total 114 miles for the weekend.  Assuming my legs don’t explode.

As I get older and my family more complex, I find that going camping is a huge god damned production. This isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy camping - I really do - but just check out this list of stuff we take:

To buy
Gallon Zip Loc bags
Batteries - 2 D, 1 brick
Firewood
Lunch Saturday - Something easy
Dinner - Mountain Pies
Bread
Pizza sauce
Cheese
Pepperoni
Butter
Breakfast Sunday - Eggs (beaters), bacon, juice
Lunch Sunday - Cold cuts, chips
Bread
Turkey
Mayo
Tomato
Lettuce
Potato or Sun chips
Snack - marshmallows
Diet Coke
Bottled water
Ice

To pack
Tent
Chairs
Flashlights
Sleeping bags
Pan
Cooler
Sleeping pads
Bikes
Draftmaster
Hatchet
Lighter
Newspaper
Mallet
Shovel
Gareth’s food and meds for two days
Gareth’s suction, catheters, and charger
Toys/books for Gareth
Diapers, wipes, et cetera
Clothes for the three of us
Swimsuits
Towels
Biking bag, water bottles, trike cushion
Kayak and related gear
Camera and batteries (recharge them)
trash bags
paper towels
bug spray
Toiletries
Sunscreen

Part of me wishes that our camping could be simplified to a tent, some trail mix, and a good pair of hiking boots, but the reality is that we are suburbanite flatlanders who require some level of comfort while recreating in the woods. One time, I even looked at prices for pop-up campers. Doing so filled me with the same sense of dread as shopping for a mini-van, but I know that, at some point, a camper will be more and more appealing to me.

Kettle Creek Lower Campground
Originally uploaded by ratsinis.

We took one last weekend to get out before the weather becomes unbearably cold, staying at the camp in Hammersley Fork.

While we were in the area, we stopped by for the Renovo Flaming Foliage Festival, which proved to be interesting. Renovo is a nearly dead town in the middle of nowhere that draws a majority of its economy from Lock Haven, State College, and welfare. Every year, they host the Flaming Foliage Festival to celebrate the changing colors of the leaves. Certainly, there is some beautiful scenery around there, but the town itself is a bit of a throwback. What really struck us were the 12 year olds walking around smoking cigarettes and the eight year olds shooting each other with Airsoft knockoffs. But we’re privileged yuppie flatlanders, we’re supposed to be shocked by such things (even though I lived in and frequented Renovo in my youth).

The Festival parade itself similarly harkened back to much, much simpler times. Looks like everybody was having fun, though. I enjoyed almost all of my carnie food except for the semi-raw hot sausage sandwich. Pro tip… if you are ever tempted to eat at Rita’s sausage stand, don’t. Go elsewhere.

We also managed to stop in and visit my grandmother, who I hadn’t seen since 1998. This was her first time meeting Gareth, which made the trip all the more interesting. Even after spending two hours with him, my grandmother still didn’t seem convinced that he was a sentient, aware being. Most people think we’re delusional when we say he is as smart and aware as any other kid - they can’t get beyond his lack of muscle control - but 80 year old women are especially tough nuts to crack.

Lessee… what else… Oh yeah, I did a dawn kayak paddle, hitting the water about 45 minutes before the sun came up. Sure was cold, though. There was frost on my kayak when I unloaded it and frost on it when I put it back on the rack over two hours later. It was a very peaceful paddle. Nobody else was on the water, and the folks in the nearby campsites were all asleep. They didn’t start stirring until about 8AM.

After packing up camp for the weekend, we took a drive around Kettle Creek to take in some fall color. That’s what the pic is from.

Looks like the Prebble family is going to get one last trip in before Summer fades away. We’re headed to Manheim this weekend for the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. We’ll get to see what it’s like when people make a living out of their SCA hobby. I’m not mocking the SCA by any means… I once wanted to join right before I learned I’d have to make my own garb. My fear of screwing up textiles held me back.

I took my pansy-ass self to Kettle Creek last weekend for some kayaking, but not before spending a night in a relative’s camp and then clearing trees from a road at 6:30AM. Fishermen are insane. When I arrived at Kettle Creek, there were already 12 boats in the water and the boat launch was nearly dry, meaning they got there a whole heck of a lot earlier than I did. I met up with a member of the Penn Kayak group to paddle around and check out some wildlife. The only thing I really learned is that my kayak is woefully inadequate when paddling alongside faster boats. The poor guy had to stop just to let me catch up.

So now the dilemma… New touring boat next season or new whitewater boat? If I go for a touring boat, I’ll sell my current Stingray. If I go whitewater, I’ll keep the Stingray around for lake paddles since whitewater boats kinda suck at that.

Group photo
Originally uploaded by ratsinis.

I took my family camping at Kettle Creek over the weekend. We spent the first night in my uncle’s camp, then stayed the second night in tents at the Kettle Creek Upper Campground.

Everything went incredibly well except for the flies that kept biting us to the point of drawing blood. Damn, that was annoying. That’s why four of us are wearing pants in that photo.

We got some firewood at a nearby shop where the first thing that happened was an 75+ year old man exited his home and called me a “flatlander“. I had no idea what the hell he was talking about, so I just grinned idiotically while asking him about firewood. If we go there again, I’m calling him a hillbilly.

Anyway, good time was had by all. I took my first drive on an ATV, learned that four year olds are wicked UNO players, and discovered that it is possible to make out while kayaking.