Catching Up

/ Kerry McHugh / Leave a comment

My 52 Hike Challenge got set back a little bit with illness and other things but this is a recap of where I’m at, what I’ve hiked, and lastly how many hikes I have to do to get back on schedule haha.

Hike 6/52: Hawk Mountain Trails. Hamburg, PA. 

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So originally my best friend Kayla and I had planned to hike the PA grand Canyon but when we got there the snow and ice was too bad for us to do the trails we wanted to (which again shows my lack of proper planning). We ended up doing this little half mile loops for the views. The next day however on our way home we decided to hike Hawk Mountain in Hamburg, PA. Neither of us had hiked there before but had hiked things nearby so we knew of it. It turned into a nice little day hike with some rock scrambling and a discovery of another trail we want to do in the future, the Skyline Trail they have there that follows the ridge line.

Favorite part: The company, sometimes thats all you need to make or break a hike.

Least favorite part: The whole “no dogs allowed” thing haha

Hike 7/52: Kincaid Lake Loop. Alexandria, LA. 

My brother-in-law is from Louisiana so I often go down to visit them and my beautiful little nephew, this time I got a hike in as well. I dragged a good friend of mine with me even though he doesn’t really hike and we hiked about three miles into the Kisatchie National Forest around Kincaid Lake. So not a very long hike but definitely a fun one!

Favorite Part: The eagle’s nest we got to see as well as just spending time with a friend I don’t get to see that often.

Least Favorite Part: Didn’t really have one

Hike 8/52: Marsh Creek State Park. Downingtown, PA.

Another close to home hike, but still very rewarding. Marsh Creek State Park is mostly about the lake but there is a trail system that surrounds the lake for hikers, horses, and bikers. It was lightly raining the day we hiked but the clouds made for such a beautiful view of the lake it didn’t matter.

Favorite part of the hike: The peacefulness of the lake

Hike 9/52: Welsh Mountain Nature Preserve. Lancaster, PA. 

Little four miler

Hike 10/52: Ridley Creek State Park, White trail loop. Edgemont, PA.

Four and a half miles of a relaxed hike with the dogs.

Hike 11/52: Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Blue-dot and red-dot trail. Bushkill, PA. 

This was my first hike that wasn’t just out of convenience in a while and it felt so good. The hike was challenging enough to let me know I was severely out of shape haha but still very enjoyable. We brought three dogs with us for this trip so there was never a dull moment that’s for sure.

Favorite part of the hike: The hot springs were a surprise and definitely make me want to go back to swim when its warmer.

Least favorite part of the hike: one of the dogs we brought was a little Australian Shepard who had never hiked before so getting her acclimated took a little bit but she warmed right up and everyone on the trail was very understanding of her tough guy act.

Adventure Series 2016: Stewardship hike: we picked up every piece of trash we came across.

Hike 12/52: Bushkill Falls. Bushkill, PA.

Bushkill falls surprised me a bit but in a good way. Going into it from what I could tell online it was kind of a tourist trap but it had lots of really cool falls, which was true but what had pleasantly surprised us was the trail system they had was more extensive than we expected. It made for a really nice 3 miler.

Favorite part: Seeing my dogs react to the different people and waterfalls.

Least favorite part: The number of people was a lot and it got kind of congested but it wasn’t too terrible.

Adventure series 2016: Waterfall hike 2/5

Hike 13/52: The Pulpit and the Pinnacle trail loop. Hamburg, PA. 

The Pulpit and the Pinnacle trail loop was one of the first hikes I did when I started to get into hiking by myself so a friend and I decided to hike it again to see our progress from when we started hiking seriously to where we are now. It was just as rewarding and fun, I would say the difficulty was the same but for different reasons. The first time we hiked it we we’re just really green and new so the hike itself was difficult. This time however the fact we had three dogs, two of which were inexperienced with hiking as well as hyper created the difficulty for the hike. It was definitely fun to see their progress as the hike went on with their social skills.

Favorite part: the nostalgia aspect for sure haha

Hike 14/52: Name of Park I can’t remember (haha I should know but I don’t). Media, PA.

Took the pups out for a quick little hike and for their first swim of the season, the puppy’s first ever.

Hike 15/52: Hudson Highlands State Park,Breakneck Ridge and Sugarloaf Mountain, White to Red to Yellow. Philliptown, NY. 

I can not tell you how much I’ve missed rock scrambling and this hike fulfilled that longing and then some. We did the basic loop (White to Red to Yellow) as well as summited Sugarloaf Mountain but I definitely want to head back to the Hudson Highlands and explore more. It seems like an area with plenty to offer.

So as it stands I’m about five hikes behind where I want to be… thank that never ending virus that paid a visit.

It’s all good though, still plenty of time left in the year.

Tomorrow I’m going for hike 16/52 in Shenandoah National Park for National Parks week and in a few weeks will be going on my first backpacking trip in the Adirondacks.

I’ll keep ya’ll updated on how that goes and maybe sprinkle in a few reviews of some gear!

 

~Kerry

 

 

 

52 Hike Challenge- The First 5

/ Kerry McHugh / Leave a comment

In a previous post I mentioned that I had decided to take on the 52 Hike Challenge. For those of you who have never heard of it I’ll briefly describe it but also definitely suggest checking out their website. Basically it is promise to yourself to complete 52 hikes. Now they suggest to hike once a week for a year, but you really can hike at whatever pace you want to.

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http://www.52hikechallenge.com

I really liked the idea of hiking at least once a week for a whole year, so for myself I pledged to hike just that. Even if I hike multiple times a week (which I often do), to hike consistently for 52 weeks. So here is an overlook and summary of how my first five weeks have gone.

Hike 1/52: Billy Goat Trail, Sections A/B/C. Potomac, MD. 

The Billy Goat Trails definitely kicked off the challenge in a great way. This is a place I had never been before but decided looked doable in a day trip so my little brother, two friends, and myself headed down to the DC area to hike the 7.8 mile trail. What they don’t tell you on any trail guides online is that the 7.8 miles is just strictly the trail, what they didn’t say is that there are long stretches that you have to walk on the walking path in between the sections that add to your milage. Aside from that fun surprise the hike was engaging while not being too difficult that a beginner couldn’t attempt it.

Favorite Part: The massive amounts of rock scrambling. Loads of fun.

Least Favorite Part: Maybe just how highly populated the trail was, but we went on a warm and sunny Sunday in December so that couldn’t really be helped.

Something I wish I would have known: This doesn’t really apply as much to me but for some people in my group sakes’, wear the right footwear. The rocks really take a toll on your feet and ankles if you’re not wearing stable and comfortable shoes. So yea, good shoes are a must.

Adventure Series for 2016: Introduced a new person to hiking ( yay Andrea!) and saw 1/5 waterfalls (Technically there were a lot of waterfalls the whole way but I’m only counting it as one)

Hike 2/52: Ridley Creek State Park, Yellow Trail. Media, Pa. 

Hike 2 was kind of a quick “I need to get a hike in, what is convenient” type hike. I didn’t have a lot of time to get out that week, but I still got the dogs and headed out for a few hours of forest therapy. A nice afternoon with the pups for sure.

Favorite Part: This was our puppy’s first time out off leash and this trail was a great first place to do that. He did excellent with the guidance of our sweet golden.

Least Favorite Part: More like a regret, but I wish I could’ve gone out for longer, but whatcha gonna do.

Hike 3/52: Turkey Point Lighthouse Trail. North East, MD.

The day I chose to hike to Turkey Point was cold, rainy, windy, but other than that, supposed to be an ok day weather wise. This was during my finals week and I actually had a final that morning at 8am, so my internal monologue went something like this,“I can handle some rain, no big deal. I have a rain coat. I just need a mental break from school, this hike will be perfect.” I checked the forecast to make sure it was only supposed to be rain nothing more, no major storm or anything just some rain. For the record, it was only supposed to be some light drizzling and fog. You can guess, I’m sure, that this was not what ended up happening which is just my luck. The beginning of the hike was really pretty, hiking in the fog is something I’ve always loved doing, it just makes things seem so much more mysterious and like it has a story to tell. I reached the lighthouse on the end of Turkey Point with no problems, ran around taking pictures and continued on the trail. About five minutes later I’m down on the second half of the trail, in-between the water of the Chesapeake bay and the woods on the other side and I hear this huge peal of thunder directly over me. Let me just remind you of what our dear friends at the National Weather Service have to say about being outdoors in a thunderstorm, and I quote, “There is no safe place outside during a thunderstorm.” Or their catchy version,“When thunder roars, stay indoors!” So needless to say, I’ve found myself in a really good situation. At this point I’m a good mile and half from my car, so getting “indoors” wasn’t really an immediate option. So I kept hiking, sprinted through the few open sections of the trail (the storm was behind me at this point), and made it back to my car pretty tired and wet, but grateful to see my crummy old honda.

Favorite Part: The view out on to Chesapeake bay with all the fog. Really really cool.

Least Favorite Part: Thunder. Plain and simple.

Something I wish I had known: That it was going to fucking thunder and lightening. For real, don’t mess with the weather.

Adventure Series for 2016: Hiked to a body of water

Hike 4/52: Susquehanna State Park Trails. Havre De Grace, MD.

I’m realizing while writing this how often I’ve been going to Maryland for these haha. Susquehanna State Park had some really pretty trails along the lower half of the Susquehanna river. It was a nice hike with a mixture of  steep inclines, flat land, and varying scenery. A nice place to hike around for a day.

Favorite Part: The views of the Susquehanna

Least Favorite Part: Didn’t really have one, I was pretty content with how the day went.

Something I wish I had known: To have the common sense not to hike this on a bum knee. Lots and lots of r.i.c.e. followed this hike.

Hike 5/52: World’s End Trail and Parts of the Loyal Sock Trail. Forksville, PA.

World’s End is not an understatement, getting to this park is a long haul but I would say worth the drive if you’re up to it. There are various trails to choose from with a few different views. We started off the day going up the World’s End trail, which is a short but pretty steep trail up to the ridge line. For some reason we didn’t realize that the view that we we’re trying to get to was actually off the Loyalsock trail. I guess we just assumed  because we couldn’t find anything online about it that the main view, the Loyalsock Canyon Vista, that you see advertised was off the trail that was named after the park. We were wrong, which was fine, the World’s End trail was still a fun hike, but when we came down we found the trailhead for the Canyon Vista trail took that to the Loyalsock and found the view we came for before it got close to dark. What I really liked about this hike was the solitude you felt, there was almost no human contact. You really felt like you were in this far corner of the world untouched by anything you know.

Favorite Part: The solitude, the evergreens, and how happy my 8 year old puppy was while hiking it. She becomes like a different dog entirely when we’re out on the trail, her joy and vigor always puts a smile on my face.

Least Favorite Part: How long it took us to find the canyon vista trail head haha.

Something I wish I had known: This is definitely a park for more than a day trip, I would say definitely take the time to camp there for a few days. I wish we had stayed, fished a few days, hiked another few. Definitely a little gem worth discovering.

Adventure Series for 2016: I suppose this counts as a forest its in the Loyalsock State Forest haha, it’s all in the forest.

Hopefully this was informative or my lack of preparation was entertaining for you (it definitely made me laugh, I don’t think I realized how go with the flow I was until now. Like to a fault). I’ll keep updating with different hikes that I’m doing and more misadventures I happen upon due to my nonexistent planning.

 

~Kerry 

Shenandoah

/ Kerry McHugh / Leave a comment

Following my Adirondacks trip I caught the bug to get out and keep hiking, haha I have I really bad. The next two weekends I drove to Shenandoah National Park to satisfy my thirst for mountains.

The original plan was to hike somewhere within a 3 hour radius of where I live, I was ok with driving up to three hours. Thats what I told myself anyway, because very quickly as excitement built up about getting out there 3 turned to 3 1/2 and the final time was a solid 4 hours one way. It was so worth it though

The first weekend we hiked the highest peak in park, Hawksbill mountain and the nearby Stony Man and Little Stony man summits. Definitely fuel for my mountain junkie heart.

Hawksbill

 

Stony Man and Little Stony Man

The second weekend we stayed over night so we had a better opportunity to hike for longer and farther.

For the second trip had purchased a new day pack. I was in the market for a lightweight pack and a water reservoir anyway so this trip gave me the perfect opportunity to test it out. What I had ended up getting was the Camelback Daystar 18L hydration pack. It came with a 2L water reservoir, which at first concerned me because I wasn’t sure if that would be enough, but I was really wrong. The 2L was more than enough water for our 10 mile hikes that weekend and the pack also had room for two more water bottles if needed. I was surprised with how much room the pack actually had and how light it was considering. I’ve been using the pack for a few weeks now and so far so good.

The first day we hiked to Mary’s rock on the panorama trail which is right by the Thornton Gap entrance to the park. What should have been a relatively short trail became a lot longer when we decided to follow a lesser used part of the trail and ultimately bushwhacked to the top of the mountain. Smart decision? No, not particularly. Fun decision? You bet! An hour in on a trail that disappeared with the majority of it being a rock scramble definitely made for some uneasiness but we made it, exhausted, invigorated, and way more thankful to see the summit than we would have been if we took the actual trail.

Lesson Learned: Take the road less traveled by (within reason). It’s way more fucking fun.

Day two there was a rain storm on the East Coast so it made for some very nonexistent mountains (visibly anyway).  So we decided to hike the Whiteoak Canyon trail and go in the valley and out of the fog rather than further into the grey abyss.

Along this trail there are three main water falls, considered the best views of a waterfall in the park, with the highest one being 86ft high.

Definitely a really cool trail, a bitch going uphill on the lower part of the trail with rocks that are basically like walking up stairs for a mile or so ( if you like that type of climb then its perfect for you haha, I just don’t like stairs).

Virginia is definitely for hikers.

I will post again with more photos and snarky remarks!

 

ADK

/ Kerry McHugh / 1 Comment

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About a month ago I made the decision to drive 8 hours to visit a friend in upstate New York with the only objective being to hike in the Adirondacks. Basically just hike what ever we could get our feet on weather permitting.

My friend Kayla is spending the semester there and kept telling me to come up and visit her, that it was so worth it, and that I would regret it if I didn’t. I don’t think I realized how much of a catalyst the trip was going to be for me and my pesky wanderlust.

Ampersand in the clouds
Topless Tour on Baker Mountain
haha
St. Regis
Lake Placid,New York

Sappy. I know, but honest. So two weeks after I made the decision to just do it and drive up I was in the car with one of my close friends who also craves mountains and we were on our way.

That weekend was the first snow of the season and our first hike was right in the middle of the storm. The hike itself was beautiful with all the fresh powder snow, and then as the elevation got higher and higher the ice. The summit lacked that famous Ampersand view but was still a really cool experience none the less.

That same day we hiked a smaller mountain with the hopes of maybe getting a view, which Mt. Baker definitely delivered.

The view was nice of course but I think what started that day with those two hikes was the discovery of how great and terrible the journey there and back can be. But also how much of a bonding experience that can be or  the opposite.

I’ve been hiking since before I could walk  (my dad made sure to have one one of those backpacks they make that you can put your baby in)  but this trip was my first real kind of trip where I was not in my home state, or comfort zone, or with family who made all the plans. This was me, a couple of close friends, and the Adirondacks.

I don’t know, something just clicked. This was something that meant something to me and that I really enjoyed. This was a place that now meant something to me. Baptism by High Peaks I guess.

St. Regis Mountain was just a reinforcer everything that had started to grow in me. Up this point I really only day hiked, which is still the majority of what I do but this trip has definitely made me hunger for longer and bigger trips.

I will post more photos soon from Lake Placid and the View of Whiteface as well as some pictures from the aforementioned places.

This is a new hunger in me,  I want to hike anything I can put my feet on and I’ll keep you updated along the way. I’ve decided as kind of a concrete way to keep this feeling alive and well, to sign up for the 52 Hike Challenge.

Follow my blog as I build my collection of gear, miles, and happy memories on all the trails I can find.

~Kerry

How to Survive Finals

/ Kerry McHugh / 1 Comment

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Stock up on cookies! IMG_7917

The gluten free club here at my university has an event at the end of every semester where they give us members gluten free ( and dairy- free if you’re both) food to get through finals! Sometimes you just need a little sweetness to get you through the day.

Definitely excited for these cookies!