Appalachian Trail Trek

The Pinnacle Overlook along the Appalachian Trail in Berks County, Pennsylvania

The Sunday after Thanksgiving this year (November 29, 2009) in the Mid-Atlantic was spectacular--temperatures in the low 60s with cloudless skies. The day just begged for a hike, and we were happy to oblige. We tackled one of our favorite circuits--a 7-mile loop along the Appalachian Trail near Reading, Pennsylvania, that includes the best viewpoint in Pennsylvania, the Pinnacle. This portion of the AT is located just south of Hawk Mountain and shares many of the same physical characteristics with its more famous neighbor to the north: expansive views, challenging rocks, and soaring raptors.

One of the rare, relatively stone-free sections of the Appalachian Trail atop Blue Mountain

This circuit involves three separate trail segments. First, there's a quick, steep climb ascending 600 feet over a distance of about a half-mile. Whew! Then there's a long, flat, but extremely rocky section along the ridgeline of Blue Mountain. Finally, a side-trail returns the hiker to the starting point along a steep, downhill trail on an old logging road running beside a beautiful mountain stream called Furnace Creek, so named because it provided water for the nearby Windsor Iron Furnace in 19th century.

A tight squeeze for backbackers

Many Appalachian Trail through hikers consider the Pennsylvania portion of the trail the most challenging of all because it is so rocky. The image below shows one of the most--but by no means the only--challenging section of this circuit hike.

An especially challenging portion of the Appalachian Trail. This jumble of rocks is the trail.

The crest of the Appalachian Ridges is cloaked with a Mixed Oak Forest. This forest used to be called the Oak-Chestnut Forest, but the accidental introduction of the chestnut blight fungus in the 1920s all but wiped-out the American chestnut. It's niche was filled by chestnut oak (Quercus montana). The ridges are windy and cold, and the soil is acidic, well-drained and nutrient poor. Most of the trees are chestnut oaks, but there's a smattering of red and black oaks, black cherries, and birches in the woods, too. Labor Day usually offers a plethora of blueberries.

Chestnut oak (Quercus montana) replaced American chestnuts (Castanea dentata) in the Mixed Oak forests after the onslaught of the chestnut blight in the 1920s. Note the thick bark and the faded white AT blaze.

The Pinnacle Overlook--best view from the AT in PA

Most people hike this circuit to enjoy The Pinnacle Overlook, widely acknowledged to be the best view from the AT in Pennsylvania. At the peak of fall color, it can be hard to find a place to sit to have lunch here. This is the only place I have ever seen a rattlesnake in Pennsylvania; it was curled up under a ledge. There are lots of slump caves and narrow crevices to explore below the cliff face, too.

Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus) soaring on thermals along the cliff edge

After three hours of hiking uphill and or crossing treacherous rocks, the third portion of the hike on the old logging road is a real treat.

Mosses and ferns set aglow by low-angle afternoon sunlight

Eastern hemlocks and rhododendrons line Furnace Creek

Furnace Creek is beautiful along its entire length. Here, I discovered a small falls about two feet high. Just below this point, Furnace Creek is impounded behind a dam to provide drinking water for the borough of Hamburg, Pennsylvania.

Because of the depauperate soil and relatively harsh conditions in the Appalachian ridges, wildlife is not common--especially in November. We only saw one Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus), one Black-capped Chickadee (Poecila atricapillus), and one White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) in addition to the Black Vultures. Oh, and a small Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) that startled us by crawling across the trail--in November!

Yours truly at the Pulpit Overlook (elev. 1,582')

Turkey Day Weekend

I just had three good days. Three out of four ain’t bad but, unfortunately, the one bad day (Friday) was my wife’s birthday. Can I pick ‘em or what?

We had three days of fine weather this weekend (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday; Sunday was a rain-out from sunup to sundown), so we took advantage of them to go for walks each day. On Thanksgiving morning, we went for a walk at a nearby park. While we were walking, we ran into our representative to the U.S. House of Representatives, who was walking the trails with a large, extended family. Then, further along the trail, we ran into a person whom we hadn’t seen in over 10 years. I stared at her at first (not recognizing her) because she was preparing to saddle-up on her bicycle, which she had just removed from her Prius, and I wondered what kind of bike carrier she had attached to the Prius. (We have a Prius, too, which will accommodate few bicycle carriers, so I’m always on the lookout. It turns out that her bike fits in the hatch of the Prius if she takes off the front wheel). While I was staring at her, she called out my name, which surprised me since I hadn’t seen her in so long. We caught up for a few minutes before several of her companions came along and the group took to the trails.

When we got back home after the walk, we began preparing our 22-pound turkey. Because our turkeys are usually boring, we decided to consult our new Bon Appetite cookbook and make a citrus-glazed turkey with wild rice stuffing. It was the most delicious and moist turkey we’d ever made, but was a lot more work than a “standard” turkey. Nevertheless, it was worth it. Plus, now we’ve got leftovers for days.

While the turkey was roasting, I raked leaves. I made a lot of headway, but there are still a lot of leaves left to rake, load into a trash can, and dump on the compost mountain behind the house.

After enjoying and cleaning up after dinner, we watched Moonstruck. I just finished watching Brokeback Mountain on Monday, and then had a chance to watch Moonstruck on Thursday—two of my favorite movies in one week! Moonstruck is nearly perfect—only one false note when Cher first meets Nickolas Cage’s character (Cage overacts his part).

On Black Friday, my wife decided to help pump up the economy, so she went Christmas shopping while I stayed home to take care of errands and to rake leaves. For some reason, I became increasingly depressed as I raked the leaves. By the time she returned around noon, I was in a full-blown foul mood. It was a nice day, so we decided to take a long walk for exercise but hardly said a word to one another for almost two hours.

Because it was her birthday, I decided I’d better do something nice, so I started to bake biscotti late in the afternoon. She came out to help, and my mood began to lift. Of course, by then I had ruined her day. I made dinner, and then we watched The Incredibles on television—a clever animated film we’ve seen several times.

Saturday morning we decided to go see Bolt at the super-bargain matinee ($6 for all shows before noon). We both enjoyed the film and I’d recommend it, but there’s not much to the story; we both agreed that The Incredibles was better. After the movies, we took a long walk at a nearby state park. When we got home, I raked leaves again, and then we went out to dinner at a TGI Friday’s type restaurant.

After we were seated, the hostess seated a young family in a booth across from us. The father was a real “looker”—I couldn’t keep my eyes off him. He appeared to be in his late 30s, had a shaved head, and was handsome, slim and trim—just my type. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt, Carhartt-style canvas pants, and hiking boots. Woof!

Sunday it rained all day. It showered in the morning, and then steady rain arrived around noon. I decided to go Christmas shopping myself. I was gone for three hours, went to lots of different stores, and had mixed results. It wasn’t a total bust, but it wasn’t completely satisfying, either.