Black Forest Trail
Where:
Tiadaghton State Forest, PA
# Days: 3
Mileage: 16ish
Decided to spend the holiday weekend on a little backpacking trip this year - me, Tania, David, and Sheldon the dog. It was the dog's first backpacking trip, and David's second trip (we spend Halloween in the Catskills last year). I must say, the trip was a huge success, mostly of course measured by Sheldon's ability to keep trucking, not leave us (he was off leash 98% of the time) and stick around camp.
We arrived at the trail head of a cross country ski trail on Saturday, and began hiking around noon. We hiked somewhere around 6 miles, meeting up with the Black Forest Trail, before settling at a campsite near a small creek.
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| even had a little time for Skip-Bo hehe |
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| sleepy sleepy guy |
Sheldon was a little anxious, but mostly did really great. Tent situation - girls in one 2-person tent and boys in the other 2-person tent. I got to test out my new REI ultralight tent, which was pretty cool. Much smaller than the quarter dome, but a heck of a lot lighter - at 2 lbs 7 oz, the new tent is a pound and a half lighter than the old tent. May not sound substantial to most people, but anywhere more than a pound can be shaved is a huge success in the backpacking world :)
Day two, Sunday, we hiked about 9 miles, all along the Black Forest Trail. We had a few really nice views, LOTS of stream crossings, including a few we needed to de-boot for. The exact reason I carry crocs as my camp shoe - lightweight, airy, but strong/protective enough for river crossings. Tip to anyone who wants to hit up this trail - be prepared for water!
Camp Sunday night was a much nicer campsite, a little more secluded, and along another stream. The sound of the water all night was so great. Sheldon slept like a rock the whole night the second night, and you could tell he was starting to understand the tent boundaries. Great improvement over the first night where he kept trying to walk through the mesh parts of the tents!
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| he went right to sleep as soon as we stopped for the day |
Monday we only had about 2 miles back to the car. Passed a fire tower on the way, but it wasn't open to climb. Stopped to have lunch outside along the way, and everyone was able to relax before heading back to work on Tuesday (except not me - I had to work Monday night!).
Looking forward to the next trip, have a few bigger trips planned this year, so look for that!
