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Trip Log
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Quick Trip to Racoon Creek |
At 9:00 AM on Saturday, January 30, 2010, Handlebar, The Goat, disconnected and I met at the Racoon Creek State Park Office on PA Route 18. We each paid our $5.00 camping fee with an honor envelope, left two cars parked at the office and took two cars about 5 miles east on a road that runs through the park towards PA Route 30 to the Heritage Trail Head to begin hiking the Backpacking Loop.
Dwight and Andrea had camped at the park the night before and decided to hike to our camp using the opposite side of the loop starting from the office and following the Forest Trail for about 3.5 miles.
We started hiking at about 9:45, heading generally northwest on the Heritage Trail. The Heritage Trail ends after about 9.5 miles, and the Backpacking Loop continues on the Appaloosa Trail which is a multi-use trail. As mentioned in disconnected’s log, horses were on the trail when it was wet and muddy and that has since frozen making for difficult walking. Handlebar said it was like walking on the PA rocks that are otherwise missing from this trail.
The temperature was in the low 20’s with some wind. The sky started out cloudy but eventually some sun shone through. There were no more than a couple of inches of snow on the ground. Our biggest obstacles were freezing water bottles and some stream crossings that required us to think to keep our boots dry.
The plan had been to spend most of the day hiking to the Pioneer Camping Area. Burning some miles to stay warm. We arrived at the camp area at about 3:30 PM. According to the GPS we travelled about 11 miles at a moving average of about 2.3 mph. We gained a total of 1399 feet and lost 1027 feet of altitude. We made brief, regular stops to hydrate (& de) and take in calories.
When we arrived at camp, Dwight and Andrea had a welcoming fire going. We chose our spots and set up our shelters. We got water from the hand pump at the campground and cooked our dinners. While the water at Pioneer was potable, it really wasn’t very palatable. I guess that the pump probably suffers from lack of use. We used the water for cooking and hot drinks, but decided to stop at the Sioux Camping Area on the way out the next day to pick up drinking water.
We enjoyed the fire, checked out the stars and planets and watched the just-past-full moon rise. I retired to the warmth of my tent and sleeping bag at about 8:00 PM. Others stayed by the fire talking until later.
We all started stirring about 8:00 AM on Sunday. Although sunrise had been 90 minutes earlier, Handlebar’s thermometer read 4.8 degrees. Dwight again got the fire going and we all went back and forth between its warmth, eating breakfast and striking our camp.
We started Sunday morning’s hike at about 10:15, with all six of us. Again we were walking on the grossly uneven surface of the Appaloosa Trail. We had about another mile of that and then we were on the Forest Trail. About a mile further on we came to the access trail for the Sioux Camping Area. The pump at Sioux is powered so all you have to do is hold the handle down. Thanks to Dwight and disconnected for leaning on it long enough to get the water flowing. We all filled our water bottles and got back on the Forest Trail.
About 1.5 miles farther on we were back at PA Route 18 and the Park Office where Dwight and Andrea took their leave and the rest of us continued on the loop. We arrived back at the Heritage Trail Head at about 3:00 PM.
According to the GPS, Sunday’s hike was just about 9 miles, including our side trip to Sioux, and again the pace was about 2.3 mph. We gained a total of 926 feet and lost 1299 feet of elevation. It was a big, blue sky day with temperatures in the mid 20’s and still some wind.
The trails were all well blazed. Having a map and the knowledge to use it was most helpful at intersections (thanks, Goat.) Probably a good indication of this area's lack of use was the abundance of downed wood literally feet from the fire pit
Afterwards we all went to check out Pittsburgh’s newest REI store at Settler’s Ridge.
Thanks to all who attended, through every individual’s effort, we succeeded at every endeavor. I was privileged to be the organizer.
See you on the trails!
Mark
Here’s a link to pictures that Dwight took:
http://picasaweb.google.com/eplingd/RaccoonCreekStatePark?authkey=Gv1sRgCID1hJiEuou7Tg&feat=email#
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