Second Annual Father-Dog Camping Trip, Part II

On Saturday, I went out to take pictures of the nearby stream. Tucker's GPS collar came in really handy, as it allowed me to give him some freedom, but still be comfortable that he was nearby. Otherwise, I would probably have had to tie him, as the dogs tended to get bored and wander off a bit while I was taking pictures.




This was the foundation of the trail/road as it ran through a little valley.


On the way back, I found this cool little guy, and dubbed him the official Bittner camp site mascot. Alas, the few minutes that it took to carry him back to camp apparently warmed him up enough for him to wander away.


After taking the camera back to camp, we set off to hike the Johnnycake trail. Unfortunately, after about a mile, I ran out of blue blazes as the trail disappeared under water.


We hiked cross country for a bit and picked up the trail at the next intersection. 10 to 17 to 16 was the most scenic hiking that we did. Johnnycake Run had all kinds of cool little rapids, pools, and islands. The trail wound through a shady pine forest, and about half way between 17 and 16, there was an awesome spring that came right up from between a tree's roots. Total hiking for the day: 13 miles.


On Sunday, we woke up to really heavy fog.


But it soon burned off, and it was a beautiful day.



I decided to hike back up the Johnnycake trail and take some more pictures. Instead of doing the first part cross country again (with my camera this time!), I took the canoe. The lake was calm, so once I got the dogs properly balanced (Hey idiots, you can't both lay on the same side!) it was a pleasant trip.

We had to canoe in through this small forest.


Hey, I found another blue blaze!


An interesting little flower growing along the trail.


Tucker sitting next to the biggest ant hill in the world (that I've seen (in real life)). The mound was probably 2 feet around, a foot high, and swarming with black ants.


Tucker and Grace chased dozens of chipmunks while we were out, but this particular one had great big monster balls of steel*. It ran up a tree and then, while the dogs were frantically jumping around below, ran right back down and between them.



If Grace hadn't had her backpack on, I think she might have caught it, as she took off and was only about a foot behind the chipmunk. It managed to lose her in some shrubs, and then ran up another tree to gloat.


* I didn't actually get a look at its undercarriage. It may have, in fact, been a chipette.

A small waterfall in Johnnycake Run.


And a really cool tree growing out over the creek.


Annoyingly, none of my pictures of the spring or the cool little stream crossings came out very well, but here are some more pictures of the dogs.




Total canoeing/hiking for the day: 5.8 miles.


Monday was uneventful. I gave my little bit of leftover food to my camp site neighbors. (Three kids on a trip to celebrate their recent college graduation. They hiked in three miles, and one of them carried a duffle bag with a cube of beer in it. Oh, to be young again!) Then we packed up and headed home.

Second Annual Father-Dog Camping Trip

I took Tucker and Grace back to the Allegheny National Forest for another awesome camping trip. Things went much more smoothly this time. No runaway dogs, no huge vet bills.

Mark was kind enough to loan me his canoe again. A few things I did differently this time that made the canoeing experience much more pleasant:

• Bought a kayak paddle. I got the 240cm version, which was about the longest I could find. A little longer would have been nice; I'm not sure that a shorter one would have worked. Not having to flip the paddle around every 2 or 3 strokes made paddling so much more efficient. It did make it a little bit wetter, though.
• Packed more densely. I brought about the same amount of stuff as last time, but I packed it into fewer bins. So I had less surface area above the water to catch the wind.
• Canoed less. Last year, the camp site I stayed at was about 2.5 miles from the boat ramp, and there weren't any trails nearby. The site I stayed at this year was only 1 mile from the boat ramp, and had access to plenty of good hiking trails.

Here is the GPS track on Thursday, canoeing from the boat ramp to the camp site. It took about 30 minutes to go about a mile.


The reservoir was crazy high. Not only was the boat ramp completely under water, the road to the boat ramp was partially under water.


Tons of trees were under water.


After canoeing in and setting up camp, we mostly just bummed around for the rest of the day. One of my Tiki torches blew out, which was kind of disconcerting. Thankfully, it wasn't close to the tent (or to me).


On Friday, we went on two hikes. The first time out, I got confused and took the wrong trail, which appeared to be an old road. Oddly, both ends of it dumped directly into the reservoir. Maybe it was from back before the dam was built? Anyway, I quickly decided to circle back to camp and change because I realized that I was way overdressed. It was really cold at night and in the morning, but then warmed up quite a bit during the day. Insulated pants and SmartWool socks were definitely not required.


Our second hike of the day was the Handsome Lake loop, which was a lot longer. A few miles in, I stepped into a mud puddle and ended up with a wet foot. A little while later, I evened things out by sticking the other foot in another puddle. Cotton socks really suck when wet. I stuck with my SmartWool the rest of the trip. Points where I missed my turn, and had to backtrack, are marked. Total hiking for the day: 10.6 miles.


The weather in the evening was beautiful, and there was an amazing sunset.




This was the view of the sky from my camp chair.