Normally every year as long as the weather is good, I try to see my college friends who are spread over New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington DC. Last year my visits ran the gamut of a Birthday Celebration visit to Pittsburgh, PA in May, two big group trips to Williamsburg, PA to stay at a friend’s cabin, the wedding of two of the greatest people in the world at Allegheny State Park, NY, and a trip to the Renaissance Festival in Sterling, NY. It was wonderful. As Fall 2019 bled into winter in our corner of the country, we were optimistic that when the weather got better, it would be more of the same.
And then you know what happened.
Now it’s August again and the nights are already getting colder.
So someone (it was probably me) had the idea that we could meet up in the middle and go for a socially distant hike. This would equate to about a three hour drive for each of us. And guys… we did it. We literally all drove three hours to go for a three hour hike together and then turn around and go home. Trust me, too, there are worse things to do with 9 hours of your life.
The weather was perfect. The roads were terrifying dirt tracts. The company was wonderful. Chief was a good boy.
The Penns Creek Trail was a nice rail trail type path, we dipped down into the woods to walk along the creek for a little while and had our picnic lunch at a stone fire pit nearby the water. Overall we probably walked about 6 to 7 miles out, and back. The highlight was a tunnel added to the trail in 2015 that was our turnaround point. The tunnel was so black in the middle that you lost yourself and the people you were with became distant echoes in a black world. And when you got into the light, and you looked back over your shoulder, you saw your friends emerging out of the gloom like they were shaking off darkness itself.
Chief’s favorite part was the creek.
