A Lazy Hiker?

I've heard the term soft hiking and, quite honestly, to prefer soft hiker to lazy hiker.  However, before I heard the term soft hiking, I just felt like a lazy hiker and that's how I referred to my wooded wanderings.  Quite simply, I keep my hikes on the shorter side as I enjoy taking my time exploring and enjoying the experience.  I am a fair weather friend.  More than these, I am too afraid to camp out over night as most of my treks are solo hikes.

LT 28.42-25.24

Parking - 

Length - 3.3 miles out and back 6.6 miles total

This particular summer was was wet, but today was filled with sunshine.  A lot of my LT hiking in 2023 was through water/mud.  This log bridge was a treat.  A boardwalk in the woods.

Mary's View was a nice window of light entering the forest and could see it coming before I got to the view.

July 20, 2023

LT 28.42 - 32.22

Found a parking spot on Dry Run Road to start a hike to High Knob.  This is where I began and ended my loop.

Definitely took a walk on a very foggy day (from Canadian Wildfires) to check out the view from High Knob (and used the restroom facilities there) before continuing along.  I have driven to High Knob before and on a clear day the view is amazing.  Definitely worth the view.

As I navigated through the LT, I could see on AllTrails that I could exit the trail and get back to the roads that would lead me back to my parked car.  However, the exit contained high grass and couldn't see where my feet were landing.  (Concerning after seeing a couple rattlesnakes during my LT journey.  No snakes this particular day...of which I'm aware.)

July 17, 2023

LT 32.22 - 34.48

July 11, 2023

LT 45.96 - 43.27

This leg was an out and back hike from vista to vista - a little over 5 miles.  Starting with the Worlds End to Canyon Vistas. Section 6 is complete according the the Alpine Club's guide. 

You will encounter Pioneer Road along the trail.  Pioneer Road is an old road early settlers used as a horse trail to cross from Muncy Creek to Forksville. It was quite treacherous, and abandoned in 1895.

This trail also connects for a time with the Double Run trail of Worlds End State Park (which is one of my favorite trails).  Keep that in mind for another day.  Excellent trail along a creek side.

LT 39.59 - 43.27

For this 3rd leg of my LT journey, I still parked on Coal Mine Road and jumped on the LT at 39.59 and hiked to the famous Canyon Vista at 43.27.

This particular day, I saw a family of bear (mama and 3 babies) running away from me within a mile of my trek.  I must have surprised them as much as they surprised me!

This part of the trail is very well marked and documented with some key items on the trail including the mineral springs (picture 2 above), a waterfall, register, and Canyon Vista.  

Longer, sweatier, trip nearing 8 miles out and back.

Some notables:

• Before hiking the LT, I purchased a guide from the Alpine Club of Williamsport which was very helpful with breaking up this hike and provided amazing information along the way.
• Canyon Vista is way better than pictured above.  If you have the energy, go check out the Rock Garden that is located in the opposite direction from the Canyon Vista view.  Cross a road and flow up to the Rock Garden. If you do not have the energy, you can drive to this location and see both the vista and the garden of rocks.  
• Date hiked - June 30, 2023

LT 36.9-34.5

For this 2nd leg of my LT journey, I parked on Coal Mine Road close to the LT access point around mile marker 36.9 and went in the opposite direction from the first adventure.

This part of the trail took me very quickly to Alpine View (upper) within 3/4 of a mile.  Later, got to see Alpine View again from a lower vista.  There was another rattle snake at the lower vista.  The trail took me to Rode Falls that has a ladder to climb up in order to continue along on the trail.

Shortly after Rode Falls, there was a large gap in the trail that I had to leap over.  A large gap (a trail washout), while raining, which seemed very unsafe.  Looking back, I feel like I may have missed some trail markers warning not to continue along this trail. It started to rain hard and become a little treacherous (in my opinion).  In fact the gap in the trail (plus the rain) was scary enough to make me consider continuing my journey on the LT. Was this trail above my level?

Eventually, due to the rain, I exited the trail at 34.5 (to the left) which was a bit short of my intended hike for the day.  Found a path (named...) to the left that I could see would take me back to Coal Mine Road.  For the 2nd leg, I also completed a short circle.

Some notables:

• Before hiking the LT, I purchased a guide from the Alpine Club of Williamsport which was very helpful with breaking up this hike and provided amazing information along the way.
• Despite my feelings about this particular day/hike and all encountered, The Rode Falls is my favorite part of this whole LT trail.  I just love the ladder and the ravine area.  Definitely worth the trek. I would come here again.
• The Alpine View (upper) is only about 3/4 mile from the Coal Mine Road.  Even if you don't want to hike the whole trail, I would recommend the out and back hike just to see the vista.
• Date hiked - June 28, 2023