Hiking on the day after squats and legs is rough. But it was a blast. This week I decided to head out to Shingletown Gap. There are tons of trails over there, but I decided to hike up to the top of the ridge. Link to my route is here.
Unfortunately, Mikey went to Florida this weekend and Kirk went back to Philly, so I was without hiking buddies. When I arrived at the trailhead, the parking lot was empty. This made me a bit worried about something going wrong and not having anyone around for help, but I went on anyway. Luckily, nothing bad happened and I stayed safe.
The start of the hike was not so good. Plenty of people appeared to have been on the trail over the winter, packing the snow down into a nice sheet of ice. The main parts of the trail on the way up were super slippery. If I stayed to the edge, I could walk on some crusty snow, or I would occasionally step off the trail just so that I'd have snow to walk in. I really wish I had a set of crampons and/or trekking poles. I might look into getting a set if I keep up with this hiking. The hike up was killer on my already sore legs, but with that good burning feeling to let you know that you're working!
Once at the ridge, I intersected the Mid-State Trail and headed southwest for a while. I came across my first wide open vista and took this panoramic.
Unfortunately, I can't find the software for panoramic stitching that came with my camera (and it appears it wouldn't work anyway with OS X), so I used a 3rd party software to do the stitching. It is a great product, but I don't really need to pay for it right now. So, I'll make due with the little watermark on the bottom of the image.
Eventually, I turned around and headed northeast and came to a sign for the Roman Tower. I was intrigued, so I followed the signed trail to check it out. Turns out, this is where Mark took me back in May when he visited. I hadn't paid much attention when we hiked it back then, too busy talking and being exhausted (was just after I was mobile again following my knee injury). This was one of the few spots where I had a clear view to the North. Unfortunately, it was cloudy at this point, so the pictures weren't so great. I did get a couple of shots of State College though, check them out in the album (click on any of the pictures).
All in all it was a pretty nice hike. Unfortunately, my new backpack hadn't arrived yet, sorta. I was torn between the Osprey Kode 30L Pack and the Osprey Kode 22. Amazon had the 22 for Free 2-Day shipping AND free return shipping, while the 30 was available from another seller through Amazon. I thought that I'd get the 22 and see how I liked it. It arrived in 1 day on Thursday of this past week (WOOO AMAZON and UPS!) and I really like it, but decided that I would like the 30L more (hey, more features and more space). So I looked online and amazon was now selling the 30L directly through them, free 2-day shipping woo! Also, they were having a President's Day sale where if you spent more than $100 (on certain items of clothing) you'd get $25 off your order. Apparently, this counted in the sale. So, I ordered the Osprey Kode 30 Pack in Alpenglow Orange. The coupon didn't work, but a really nice amazon chat employee fixed my order so that I got the promotion! The new pack should be here on Monday, not in time for me to have used it today. I'm pretty pumped to use it this coming weekend to break it in.
Unfortunately, Mikey went to Florida this weekend and Kirk went back to Philly, so I was without hiking buddies. When I arrived at the trailhead, the parking lot was empty. This made me a bit worried about something going wrong and not having anyone around for help, but I went on anyway. Luckily, nothing bad happened and I stayed safe.
The start of the hike was not so good. Plenty of people appeared to have been on the trail over the winter, packing the snow down into a nice sheet of ice. The main parts of the trail on the way up were super slippery. If I stayed to the edge, I could walk on some crusty snow, or I would occasionally step off the trail just so that I'd have snow to walk in. I really wish I had a set of crampons and/or trekking poles. I might look into getting a set if I keep up with this hiking. The hike up was killer on my already sore legs, but with that good burning feeling to let you know that you're working!
Once at the ridge, I intersected the Mid-State Trail and headed southwest for a while. I came across my first wide open vista and took this panoramic.
Eventually, I turned around and headed northeast and came to a sign for the Roman Tower. I was intrigued, so I followed the signed trail to check it out. Turns out, this is where Mark took me back in May when he visited. I hadn't paid much attention when we hiked it back then, too busy talking and being exhausted (was just after I was mobile again following my knee injury). This was one of the few spots where I had a clear view to the North. Unfortunately, it was cloudy at this point, so the pictures weren't so great. I did get a couple of shots of State College though, check them out in the album (click on any of the pictures).All in all it was a pretty nice hike. Unfortunately, my new backpack hadn't arrived yet, sorta. I was torn between the Osprey Kode 30L Pack and the Osprey Kode 22. Amazon had the 22 for Free 2-Day shipping AND free return shipping, while the 30 was available from another seller through Amazon. I thought that I'd get the 22 and see how I liked it. It arrived in 1 day on Thursday of this past week (WOOO AMAZON and UPS!) and I really like it, but decided that I would like the 30L more (hey, more features and more space). So I looked online and amazon was now selling the 30L directly through them, free 2-day shipping woo! Also, they were having a President's Day sale where if you spent more than $100 (on certain items of clothing) you'd get $25 off your order. Apparently, this counted in the sale. So, I ordered the Osprey Kode 30 Pack in Alpenglow Orange. The coupon didn't work, but a really nice amazon chat employee fixed my order so that I got the promotion! The new pack should be here on Monday, not in time for me to have used it today. I'm pretty pumped to use it this coming weekend to break it in.
