|
|
|
Trip Log
|
|
|
Laurel Highlands snowshoe adventure |
We all met up in Twinsburg, consolidated into 3 vehicles and met up again at Tall Cedars in Donegal by 9:15. We includes Youngvine, Kev78, Qi Wiz, Rob, Limeygal, artsyfartsy, and your author. We ate a bite, sipped a beverage or two and then caravanned up to the 271 trailhead. We were sorely disappointed to find that the parking lot had not been plowed. I can't believe we even found it! It was behind 5' bank of snow and under a blanket of 4-4.5' of snow. We put our hazard lights on and unloaded gear from vehicles to pile it on the snowbanks. Qi Wiz, Youngvine and your author then drove back down and around to Seward to fine the PA 56 trailhead. Also unplowed. So we drove into Seward and left a couple vehicles in a grocery store parking lot 1.6 miles away. We piled in your author's car and drove back up to 271, parked in a snowmobile trailhead about .6 miles from the trailhead, and then took a brisk walk in the 20 degree heat to our partially frozen compadres. We loaded up and headed out. It was probably nearly a mile in from the road to the shelter area. Snowshoe conditions were pretty good as there was perhaps a foot of powder atop the more consolidated lower layers of snow. Rob did have a mishap however as he fell into a void underneath a fallen tree and jammed his snowshoe. He snapped a trekking pole along the way. We got into the shelters about 1:30. I made hot water bottles and everyone else got to bed. It was a clear night with SPECTACULAR stars.
Up on Saturday about 8:00'ish. Rob received a late birthday cake with a candle for breakfast. We hit the trail by 10:00 in blazing sunshine. The woods were beautiful with hoarfrost stuck to all the trees. I was pulling my homemade pulk on its maiden voyage. Fun! It was a beautiful day to hike. Darn near perfect with temperatures in the lower 30's and brilliant sunshine. This section of trail from 271 to the Decker Ave. shelters is good for snowshoeing. It is extremely flat with the biggest climb (200' or so) coming from the shelter area to the main trail. We made remarkably good time for snowshoeing in 4' of snow. By 4:30, we were all at the Decker Ave. shelter area. Rob, Youngvine, Kev78 and Limeygal gathered a nice pile of wood and we had a "party" in the Youngvine-Kev78 shelter where the fire was. There was a lot of food, two MSR Dragonflys going for a few hours and plenty of beverage. It was a nice time. But we were all bushed and in bed by 9:00. It was around 25 degrees over night.
Sunday, we got out of camp by around 9:15 and climbed out of the shelter area. Again, this climb was our biggest of the day. The rest of the hike out to Seward was either largely flat or down hill. Around 1500' of elevation is lost. The weather again was sublime. It actually got above freezing later in the day making the snowshoeing slightly more difficult. Overall, conditions remained good though. Views of the Conemaugh River and Johnstown were excellent from the ridge. Youngvine and Kev78 beat us down the ridge and retrieved a vehicle. We were cozied in at Carol and Dave's Roadhouse for lunch by 1:00. Great lunch!
This was really a great snowshoe trip and I'm glad we had the group we did!
|
|
|
|