Laurel Highlands Trail

Last weekend, it was beautiful, clear, and calm VFR all across the midwest. Now, what would a pilot do with that kind of weather? Go flying, right? Well, normally, I would, but I had arranged many moons in advance to go backpacking on the Laurel Highlands Trail in southwestern PA. It's a 70-mile trail that runs along a mountain range near Ohiopyle and Ligonier, PA. I did not have the fortitude to hike that trail in a single weekend, and fortunately we were only planning to do two short sections totalling about 15 miles. Traveling with my co-worker, Metnick, we left early so as to get to our first campsite before the sun went down. We headed east on the PA turnpike, and promptly missed two exits, landing us 70 miles further east. Apparently, despite having grown up in the 'burgh, he couldn't find his way down the turnpike. Not entirely his fault though...somebody relabeled all the exits on the turnpike. Jagoffs. Well, after a short trip to the Altoona exit, we made our way to the shelter area on Route 30, near Laughlinton, PA. We met Ryen, one of Metnick's roommates from college, and Ryen's dad at the shelter, before hitting the sack for the night.
One nice thing about camping on the Laurel Highlands trail is that you don' t have to pack a tent. Extremely nice shelters with fireplaces are provided for the modest sum of $6/night! Super 8, take that! Also, you don't have to spend time breaking and gathering firewood when you arrive. The helpful rangers have provided cut and split firewood at every shelter area, which makes building a first-rate fire a piece of cake! We all agreed that the Laurel Highlands trail could be hiked by old men in roller skates. (of course, that was before we started hiking). Ryen's dad provided a hearty breakfast of eggs 'n bacon served on the tailgates of our trucks before we started on our trek. The trail follows a mountain ridge in PA, so at the beginning, there were small rises and some minor streams to cross, but nothing too strenuous. It really did feel like you could hike it in roller skates.
There were many airplanes crossing overhead, which was fun to try and pick them out between the trees. At about mile 44, we had stopped for a break, when 3 Apache AH-64 Longbows flew overhead at about 500ft AGL. One of them broke off and circled our position - I'm sure that he was tracking us with his FLIR, and it's good practice finding hikers in the woods - similar to finding insurgents in the Afghani mountains. We waved, and hoped that they weren't going to fire up their 30mm machine gun on us. Beam Rocks was our first view from the trail - we spent a couple of hours here, just enjoying the view, some sardines and beef jerky - YUM! We kept hiking and finally arrived at our second shelter after about 8 miles on the trail. My legs were TIRED and we were all beat - after Beam Rocks, the trail started to have a little more up-and-down. We sat around played with the fire, and I tried to make the Backpacker's Pantry meal of Potatoes Au Gratin boil down to what I thought it should look and taste like. No such luck. I think that potatoes were never intended to be dehydrated and re-heated on the trail. Next time, it's noodles n' sauce or Lasagna or something. Those meals usually reconstitute fairly well and taste pretty good.
Next morning, the sky was again perfectly clear, and I woke up early enough to catch a first-rate sunrise at the Turnpike Shelter area. We were about 1-1/2 miles from the PA turnpike, but it was absolutely quiet and still in the morning, and we really felt like we were miles and miles from civilization. Just think how much of the US you miss when you just travel the interstates, and don't get off the beaten path. In some cases, like I-94 through North Dakota, that may actually be a good thing:). Soon we reached the turnpike, and crossed the pedestrian bridge across I-70.
The next 5-6 miles were a series of rather strenuous 200-400ft climbs and descents as we made our way further south to the parking area. It was a beautiful weekend. Warm, but not hot, sunny and clear - and good times were had by all.