| Hike 39 Continued> After dodging a line of psycho drivers from New York speeding down the road, we reached the surprizingly dry Buttermilk Falls. While there, we talked to a ranger who had to stop a girl from climbing on the falls. I sent him after those damn New Yorkers. The ascent from the base of the falls up to Woods Road Trail was the biggest of this hike. The lower part of it has had stairs construcked on it since my last visit. These were only the beginning of a grueling climb. We switched on the walkie talkies as I ran ahead. Peeps was quite a ways behind me, and Tea Biscuit was even further than that. The incline was bad at first, a long RDF of 7 or 8. There was a nice unusual ridge along the top on Buttermilk falls trail, not as much of a view, but interestingly unusual terrain, as the ridge was like a long camel hump. Soon after this I reached Woods Road Trail. We were all running low on water. We ate some granola bars, gummie bears,and Pop Tarts that Tea Biscuit had brought. Every time we took a break the two of them went into deep discussions about masturbation. What a hike this was. Woods road was'nt a bad walk; it took us past Hemlock Pond, a temping place to swim, but there were people sitting on the rocks we would have swam from. We only saw 11 other people on this hike, most of them were near the roads, and some were on Woods Roads on Bikes, and of all places, where we wanted to swim. The Woods Rd. Trail was full of PUDs (Pointless Ups and Downs) which by now was starting to get to us. When we neared Blue Mountain Lake we turned up the northernmost abandoned road past the Indian Rocks. On this road we found an abandoned house. It looked fully furnished, complete with refrigerator, stove, etc. Perhaps when the Tocks Island dam project was still a possibility the residents were some of the people forced out.There were even two cars outside; they looked like 1970s models. They along with the house were a shambles, broken windows, trash everywhere, pots, pans, and plates strewn about, but it was still interesting. Soon, we reached Blue Mountain Lakes Road, which we followed to Donkey's Corners. This was the cornere of The 'Lakes road, Donkey's Corners Road and Flatbrookville Road. We followed Donkey's Corners Road, now overgrown and only opened to hikers as "Donkey Hollow Trail", out to Millbrook. Along the way it's visible where homesteads once stood, all ripped out as part of the Tocks Island Dam project. Tea Biscuit waited behind while Peeps and I entered the well preserved ghost town of Millbrook in search of a drink machine. When we did'nt find any, we waited for Tea Biscuit before ascending Millbrook Blairstown Raod. I reached the car first and drove back down to pick them up. We walked a total of 26 miles this time. Then we had a big dinner at Family's Pizza in Washington. |
| Hike #40 9/30/1 Portland to Washington The largest group we've assembled yet, a total of nine hikers. Eight of us were dropped off in Colombia at the footbridge; Tea Biscuit, Ronald, his girlfriend Natisha, Rich and Eric Pace, Bill Bill, Peeps, and myself. Peeps ran across the footbridge first to find his friend who was supposed to meet us at 8:30. Fortunitely for him we were also late, for it was already 9 am. Soon the new guy showed and we began hiking. Ronald wanted to name him since I usually give everyone the stupid new names. He wanted to call the guy Peppermint patty, but I did'nt like it, so Bill Bill chimed in and said "Let's just call him Mint!" and it stuck. Just outside of town we climbed around on parked railcars. Mint turned out to be hyperactive and he ran into every patch of weeds he could find in search of insulators from the poles. In Delaware we followed the right of way more closely than ever before, revealing to us that there are better alternatives to following the highway. Near the gas station Rich pointed out an old railcar that appeared to be a caboose sitting on a flatbed truck trailor. After checking that out we made our usual stop at Smiddy's. Just past Smiddy's was the sign forbidding us from following the right of way near where the new cell tower was built. We walked along the highway for maybe 100 feet before deciding to scale the embankment to the railbed. In the process of doing so we nearly dropped a dead tree into Rt. 46 but Mint, Tea Biscuit, and I were able to push it out of the way. The railbed was intentionally covered with sticks and fallen trees to keep motorcyclists and others out. At the incline before the Bush of Might, a wooden railing was built. We did our usual bush of might activity anyway. Peeps had the record time for the day with 19 seconds. After climbing the fence to the road at Ramseyburg, we followed the right of way to Manunka Chunk with ease. We explored the area a bit, and Mint disappeared. When he finally resurfaced he had a torch he had made with sticks, some wire, and some fabric he pulled from an old mattrice. The torch worked rather well. We only had two flashlights between the nine of us. When we reached the small tunnel that connectes the two tunnels, Rich pointed out to us that there are still rails in the other tunnel! Just south of the tunnel we broke into two groups. I lead Peeps, Mint, Rich, Eric, and Bill Bill along part of the right of way through Catherine's Run, while Ron, Natisha, and Tea Biscuit opted to take the nearby farm road. The walkie talkies were again handy at this point. When we reached Bridgeville the antique shop that is located in part of the old station was opened and we were able to talk to the owner who invited us back. We may get to see the inside of the original station itself one day. When we neared the sand pit where all the dirt was piled on the |
| right of way, we were ready to walk around it when Rich wanted to head over. So as we used to we crossed the egregious piles of loose dirt and weeds, which is still always fun. Similarly, everyone was ready to cross the sand pit directly rather than taking the beaten path left around the former right of way. Mint collected a large amount of sticks for use on his next torch in an old metal bucket he'd found.Tea Biscuit ran out and climbed one of the steepest parts of the pit. Peeps followed him. After spending a little while throwing large rocks into small mud ponds below, we continued onto the railbed to Buttsville. Here, we took a break at the cemetary, then headed to the Rt. 46 crossing. Rich left us at this point to meet us later on. After watching Tea Biscuit and Bill Bill wrestle a little, we moved on. When we reached the border of Oxford Township, Tea Biscuit began hugging everyone. When he attempted to hug Mint, his strong resistance caused both of them to fall to the ground. Mint's many sticks he had been gathering. In Oxford, we followed the right of way as closely as possible through lots of weeds. Only Bill Bill and Tea Biscuit opted to follow the highway. This time, the six of us that decided to follow the right of way also followed the road which was built over it through Oxford, which we had never done before. We ate at Rita's, then split up again. Ron, Natisha, Eric, and Bill Bill crossed over the mountain through Vass Gap while Peeps, Mint, Tea Biscuit, and myself headed for the tunnel. We reached the tunnel with no problem, as the railbed was very dry. However, Mint and Tea Biscuit took quite a long time to construct their torches. They expected them to work even better than before because Mint bought a bottle of lighter fluid at Rita's. We finally made it into the tunnel after they stripped down to their boxer shorts. By this time we had already re-established radio communication with Rich, who was on his way through the tunnel from the south, and the others had reached the railbed as well. The water in the tunnel this time was'nt as bad as it had been other times, which is surprising because it was getting rather chilly outside. Mint kept clost to the wall spraying his torch with more fluid regularly. We met Rich just about halfway through. Tea Biscuit's torch had gone out by this time, which is'nt surprising. He was originally planning to burn an old bicicle tube he had found. Mint also dropped the end of his torch twice: once into the water, then he blew on it and it started back up again, the second time on dry ground. He burnt his had trying to pick it back up. There was a jeep parked at the south portal, which is a sight I'd never seen. Fortunitely it was a friend of Ron's. Ron and Natisha hitched a ride home with him, as it was his cousin, Thorton's birthday and Dr. Blease wanted him to attend. Rich also departed here. Tea Biscuit, Bill Bill, Eric, Peeps, Mint, and I continued toward Washington. In Washington we climbed on an abandoned railcar of some sort, and Mint kept putting junk he found on the tracks. He does'nt like conrail because they once ticketed him for parking on their property while he was fishing. Fortunitely Eric removed the garbage from the rails as we went on. After a brief exploration of the trainyard we headed down the trail to the Acme parking lot. We ate Pizza at Family's to end this hike, the most closely we've ever followed the right of way of the former Warren railroad line, and with the largest group assembled to date. Not too bad. Go Back to Index Page.... |