So here’s the plan…I park my car at a campsite at Tohickon Campground, a Bucks County park in Point Pleasant,  PA.

Hike, with all my gear, across the park to High Rocks and down the ridge to Ralph Stover State Park.

The last time I hiked with a loaded pack, I got about 100 yards down a trail and pulled my Gastrocnemius. It felt like an electric shock in my calf! It was cold,  I wasn’t warmed up, and I was my usual over excited self, nearly flying down the trail. I had a pack filled with books and a hammer! Over 20 pounds.

Oh, did I mention,  I tend to overdo EVERYTHING!  Not booze anymore, thank Zeus.

Lovely woods, yes? And very dry. Not tick friendly! Me and ticks have a history.

High Rocks is a climbing spot. At least one person dies there each year. Not the climbers, other maybe intoxicated or just crazy people who don’t take these signs seriously. It is sadly a suicide spot as well.  😦

Hard to tell from these shots but it drops straight down just past the fence…

I love this park. All kinds of terrain only 40 minutes from my house. How lucky am I?

Well.  I’m back at the campsite.  I’m the only one here! 25 sites and 24 empty.  Cool.

Oh, can you tell I bought a selfie stick? It feels dorky just to write “selfie stick!”

This is the next morning.  I had there two shirts in my car ready for the cleaners.  It’s actually cold today!

 

I decided to hike another 5 or 6 miles again this morning.  For a change I went down the roads to the other end of the park and just hiked back.  I needed different scenery. These stone fences are a hallmark of this part of Bucks County. I wish I had been around to watch the farmers clear their fields and create these fences as they unearthed stones while tilling the fields.  They would have put me to work and I would have helped gladly.

This just looks like Fall doesn’t it?  My uncle used to go pheasant hunting in fields like these.  There were pheasants everywhere when I was a kid. They would fly up as you startled them in the grass and scare the piss out of you. I can still hear the noise they would make; all air, flapping, and cackle. I had a great childhood.

Nice barn with a stable underneath.  Maybe for the horses used for travel and working the land.

These old abandoned stone farmhouses make me sad. Someone grew old and no one wanted him. Maybe the kids sold it to the county…it’s in the park.  I wish I knew all the stories of all the houses.

This was dinner last night. Cheesey brocolli shells with Vienna sausages!  That would be Austrian for hot dogs. It was really good and I was really hungry.  That’s my alcohol stove under there.  Works great.

Hike finished.  Going home. Sad again.  I had a chat with a guy on the trail about an hour before and then I got a hiker’s high.  I went the last few miles effortlessly. I could do another day of this.  And another day of this.

Oh yeah.  Why “Thank You Osprey?”  It’s my pack, an Osprey “Volt 60.” It was FANTASTIC! I have had back problems always. Surgery in 2007. I had NO BACK PAIN.  If you decide to do this buy a good pack.  It’s like a walk with a back brace on. Magic.