Laurel Ridge

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Hidden On: 04 Jun 2002
Waypoint (Landmark): N022B4
Open Cache:  Non-commercial use only
Cache type:  Normal
Cache size:   Normal

Difficulty:  (easy)
Terrain:  (moderate)

Misc:

Comments:

This was our first find using Navicache. I had my 2 boys (ages 5 and 3) out for their first overnight hike, and caches always make things go a bit smmother...."only a bit more until the cache, you can do it!" We checked out the first lookout for a bit, then grabbed the cache. I was a bit confused by there being two logs in it, but I signed one and the kids traded and we headed on our way. TFTC!

Well it was a lovely day and after getting warm up on IVC trail unplugged head off to get this cache. Man what a view can't be beat.

Came across a pair of hikers and the pups, at the rocks. They were doing handstand (the hikers not the pups), with the view in the background, bet it was a neat photo.

Thanks for the fun.

Time to continue on the yellow trail.

Lj

Had to go to Somerset today and figured, hey I'm in the area, why not! I've hiked this section of the trail probally a half dozen times, camping twice near here, the view gets better every time you see it. Thanks for giving me a reason to come see it again and give me more pull to get my brother to hike/camp this trail this summer. we are planning to do the whole trail, maybe in one trip probally two. As always, QM, a great place for a cache. I just wish more people would look here for caches, some of the best are here.

JimBat found it along with Batgirl30 and our dog Chico the Man. Out enjoying a beautiful fall day in the Laurel Highlands. Didnt have time to hike in so we drove as far as we could then bushwhacked across to the trail. Ive been here before but wanted to show Batgirl this spectacular view. The leaves were at their peak which made it even better. She really enjoyed this one and so did I even though Ive been here before. I rescued a TB and made some small trades. Thanks for another great one.

found it nice locale with a great view.took can cooler left utility knife.tftc

Found this one around 2:30 PM. Out and about cachin' with JimBat today. We hiked our way back along the trail and ran into a family of hikers near ground zero. We waited a while until they moved on and then we found the cache, made some trades and signed the logbook. More importantly we took in an awesome view! It was a perfect Fall day to be on the LHHT. The sun was shining, the leaves were as colorful as could be, and the air was nice and cool. We could just make out the USX Tower today. We made it a point to check out the other waypoints and bonus virtual caches listed and were glad we did. I suggest future finders do the same. The Air Navigation Transmitter was neat to see and the Pioneer cemetery was something to see also. Thanks Quest Master for showing us this section of the trail.

Wow awesome views from the over looks. Nice hike on a great trail. Thanks!

This was the third of three stops today for the whole Nellsnake crew on a clear and unseasonably warm Sunday in January. After visiting two caches along the ICV trail, we made our way over to this one. We pulled into the T910 dirt road and parked within a few hundred yards of the main road after deciding there was no need to put the Outback through that much punishment. We're glad we did. We bushwhacked over to the Laurel Highlands Trail and followed that to the cache. It was a very pleasant ~4 mile round-trip hike from where we started. The trail is very well maintained and relatively level in this area. The views from the overlooks were really breathtaking. We could see quite some distance from the lookouts, including seeing smoke from a distant smokestack on the horizon, which we guess may have been the one in Springdale. However, I was not able to convince myself that I could see anything resembling the USX Tower. I blame it on the haze from all that trash burning going on in the Cong today. After taking in the views for a bit and letting the GPSr settle, we were led directly to the cache. Alex scored the find. Thanks for another great hike and cache, QM!

After logging the Firetower cache, I continued my weekend hike southward with the intention of covering the 25 miles to the Ohiopyle shelters by nightfall. From the Firetower to this cache is about 9 miles through Seven Springs.

I arrived at about 1pm, which meant that my ambitious goal was beginning to slip. But first, a digression:

When dinosaurs ruled the Earth and the Atlantic Ocean was just new, the Appalachian mountains were already old. To say that they had been born one hundred million years before when North America plowed into Africa and life was just crawling out of the oceans would be an understatement as by that time they had already been tectonically born and erosionally worn down three times. The sandstone so commonly found along the Appalachian ridges are devoid of fossils, being made from the previous incarnation of the Appalachians, once rising higher than the Himalayas, washed into shallow seas when life was little more than a thin ooze.

Yet, for their great age, it is geologically recent events that give the mountains their unique Pennsylvanian character. The ice sheets of the last ice age didn't get quite this far south but the effect was profound. The harsh cycle of freeze and thaw across the Pennsylvania tundra broke up the Appalachians into jagged, oddly angled fields of rocks. Huge blocks that seem as if dropped from the sky. On the plus side, these rocks provide interesting formations and spectacular vistas of the type Questmaster has pointed out with this cache.

But, as anyone who has hiked long distances on the Laurel Highlands or Appalachian trail or gone after caches such as Brush Mountain (GC281C) can attest, there is a price to paid for that history. I've heard Pennsylvania ridges described a the place where boots go to die.

And die mine did. Shoelaces broke spontaneously. An eyelet pulled out. Threads broke. My toes pounded against the front. The boots and my feet inside took an absolute pounding and taught me a valuable lesson:

Lesson Number Eleven: K-mart is not to place to buy your hiking boots.

Don't by cheap equipment. I murdered my boots in a single trip. I was also disappointed in my backpack. The waist belt was too close to the shoulder straps, preventing my from putting enough of the weight onto my hips. If I had a properly sized pack and good boots I might have been able to cover the distance I had initially intended. As it was, I arrived at this cache about half an hour later than my minimum time. Loosing half an hour here meant that, if my pace didn't slip any further, I'd be hiking the last two miles in the dark. I remembered my Boy Scout days of twenty years ago and that last mile into the shelter area is a brutal, steep mile. And that's assuming my time didn't slip further. Unlikely.

By the end of the month, I'll be riding my bike down to DC. On the way back I'll be stopping at the College Park REI store to get professionally fitted for new boots. (The REI website has coordinates for each of their stores!)

After logging the cache (TNLNSL) I made my way to the 653 Shelters. I could have hiked further but I couldn't have covered the dozen miles in the time allotted. Perhaps it was good that I stopped, not only for the sake of my feet and shoulders, but at about 6pm, a thunderstorm rolled in and dumped heavy rain for a full hour.

I had called Kyrie, who was my ride back, but was unable to keep cell signal to give her directions to pick me up. I figured that when I got to the parking lot at Maple Summit Road on Sunday morning I would be in a better position to give her a call. Coincidentally, I ran into a Boy Scout troop that had just hiked from the Ohiopyle Shelter. As they were being picked up to return to New Stanton, I hitched a ride to Donegal. I was going to try hitching a ride from there up the mountain to my car but Kyrie called and told me she was ready to leave where she was and pick me up.