Friday, September 14, 2012

Matthew’s Arm

When Dad and I were hiking in the Adirondacks I realized that I needed to start including more elevation gain & loss in my workout routine so decided to try and do a hike that included at least a 1,000 ft of elevation change at least once a month.  I figured I could Septembers hike in this weekend since I already had the RV out for Back to School Night. 

I left school a bit late and had some traffic to deal with, but that was ok because I was stopping at the farm to get my CSA stuff.  Leigh had told me that he puts the boxes of stuff “by where you turn off the paved road on to the farm driveway”.  When you go to the farm you turn off a paved road onto a dirt road and then from the dirt road on the farm driveway.  So was Leigh calling the dirt road the farm driveway or was he calling the dirt road the paved road?  This could go either way.  I found a place to park the van off the paved road and decided to head in on foot – it’s about a mile back to the farm.  I was almost to the farm when I encountered Leigh heading out in the farm van to put the shares out and go to Manassas for the pick up.  He offered me a ride back to the real paved road – I accepted mostly because I wanted to get the CSA stuff quick and get to the park.  I’m so glad I did!  It’s clear that Leigh drives this road in his truck regularly…I’m pretty sure he hit 40 mph – on a one lane narrow dirt road – and I know we caught air at least once!  It was like a 2 min roller coaster!  When we got to the paved road he pulled the shares out and I got my stuff and was on my way!

It was after 6 before I got to Matthew’s Arm but I was lucky enough to get the last spot in the “wifi” area! There’s a handful of spots at the top of the mountain that have great cell reception!  Turns out I got the site right out from under someone else who was trying to claim it!  1st come, 1st served! 

It looked like it might be hard to back in but somehow I just put it in reverse and cut the wheel and popped it right in on the 1st try!  I was amazed with myself!

By the time I went down to register and pay and walked back it was almost 7:00 – generator hours end at 7 and I needed to microwave my dinner!!!!  I pretty much ran up the hill, getting back at 6:55!  I managed to get dinner heated and the generator off by 7:01! I had a partial back up plan – I’d gotten eggs at the farm and I could have made scrambled eggs – I even had an onion, a green pepper and some potatoes all of which I could have cooked up on the stove, but I didn’t have any oil or seasonings.  Gotta keep that stuff in my “always gets packed” basket.

By the time I was done with dinner it was dark!  Gets dark early these days! I like it because it gets dark closer to my bedtime! I did get in a walk around the campground before chores, blogging and now reading!

Tomorrow I’m planning a 10.6 mile hike in Thornton Hollow – which is advertised to be some of the best bear country in the park!

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