RangerZ
08-19-2015, 21:13
I spent last weekend in Raccoon Creek State Park in western PA. It’s not the AT but it’s handy. The weather was nice and my wife worked all weekend so I took off for the woods just to get some nights under nylon.
The camp sites are only in the northern half of the SP, you have to reserve sites from the PA DCNR ($4 a night for PA residents). Somebody had my favorite site at Sioux for Friday night so I hiked through to Pioneer. It hadn’t rained recently so the trails were dry. I didn’t see anyone on the trail Friday night; there was a father/daughter team at Pioneer for the night. Temps were 86/59; I put the rain fly on my tent but folded it up to allow the air in.
Saturday morning I spoke with the father/daughter team – he was prepping to hike the Shenandoah in October, his pack was 60 pounds and he was having a hard time getting his stove lit for breakfast. I moved out, counterclockwise around the loop, the distances weren’t great - only about 17 miles for the whole weekend – the point was to be out. I saw more people on Saturday than I’ve ever seen at Raccoon. There were two scout troops, the Friends of Raccoon Creek SP, several couples and another father/daughter team.
One goal of the trip was to carry less water (weight) and resupply as needed. I ran out and resupplied at the next creek that was flowing. Traverse Creek was flowing, its first order tribs were flowing or trickling and its second order tribs were trickling or dry. I filtered and treated two liters, had lunch and talked with people as they passed by.
I walked into Sioux through the car camping area, me with 30 pounds or so on my back and them with their SUVs full of “stuff”. I tanked up on city water, got to the backpack area relatively early and found one of the scout troops there.
They were in the front of the area in sites 1-3, I thought I had site 2 but when I pulled out my reservation form I found that I had it reserved for Sunday not Saturday. [The PA DCNR reservation site was good until they improved it earlier this year.] Without a fuss the scouts picked up and moved a tent to make space for me toward the back of the area. I have no bad comments about the scouts, they were organized and quiet. I didn’t get the troop number but it was from Warren, Ohio.
Saturday’s temps were 87/64, again I folded the rain fly up but lowered it when we got some thunder rumble. It didn’t rain overnight. Both nights it was warm enough to sleep on top of my poncho liners in my long base layer.
At Raccoon Creek SP you get a 0630 or so wake up from the first departures from Greater Pitt airport. Sunday AM I got up and made breakfast while the scouts pretty quietly packed up, policed the area and left. I walked back out to the park HQ. The Friends of Raccoon Creek SP were there getting organized for a trail care day.
Lesson learned: Using your pack as a pillow is a good idea – if your reservoir fill port is tightly sealed, otherwise it’s not a good idea. My Sea to Summit Aeros lightweight pillow should arrive this Friday.
The Hungry Hammock Hanger’s Chili-Mac recipe is good: http://hungryhammockhanger.com/styled-4/index.html . Zatarain’s jambalaya with a Spam single is good but not as good as the real thing in NOLA.
There’s no trail magic but there was a hiker feed at the first McDonald’s on the way home.
Score: Miles = 17+/-, falls = 0, snakes/deer/varmints = 0, teenie tiny toads = 1
The camp sites are only in the northern half of the SP, you have to reserve sites from the PA DCNR ($4 a night for PA residents). Somebody had my favorite site at Sioux for Friday night so I hiked through to Pioneer. It hadn’t rained recently so the trails were dry. I didn’t see anyone on the trail Friday night; there was a father/daughter team at Pioneer for the night. Temps were 86/59; I put the rain fly on my tent but folded it up to allow the air in.
Saturday morning I spoke with the father/daughter team – he was prepping to hike the Shenandoah in October, his pack was 60 pounds and he was having a hard time getting his stove lit for breakfast. I moved out, counterclockwise around the loop, the distances weren’t great - only about 17 miles for the whole weekend – the point was to be out. I saw more people on Saturday than I’ve ever seen at Raccoon. There were two scout troops, the Friends of Raccoon Creek SP, several couples and another father/daughter team.
One goal of the trip was to carry less water (weight) and resupply as needed. I ran out and resupplied at the next creek that was flowing. Traverse Creek was flowing, its first order tribs were flowing or trickling and its second order tribs were trickling or dry. I filtered and treated two liters, had lunch and talked with people as they passed by.
I walked into Sioux through the car camping area, me with 30 pounds or so on my back and them with their SUVs full of “stuff”. I tanked up on city water, got to the backpack area relatively early and found one of the scout troops there.
They were in the front of the area in sites 1-3, I thought I had site 2 but when I pulled out my reservation form I found that I had it reserved for Sunday not Saturday. [The PA DCNR reservation site was good until they improved it earlier this year.] Without a fuss the scouts picked up and moved a tent to make space for me toward the back of the area. I have no bad comments about the scouts, they were organized and quiet. I didn’t get the troop number but it was from Warren, Ohio.
Saturday’s temps were 87/64, again I folded the rain fly up but lowered it when we got some thunder rumble. It didn’t rain overnight. Both nights it was warm enough to sleep on top of my poncho liners in my long base layer.
At Raccoon Creek SP you get a 0630 or so wake up from the first departures from Greater Pitt airport. Sunday AM I got up and made breakfast while the scouts pretty quietly packed up, policed the area and left. I walked back out to the park HQ. The Friends of Raccoon Creek SP were there getting organized for a trail care day.
Lesson learned: Using your pack as a pillow is a good idea – if your reservoir fill port is tightly sealed, otherwise it’s not a good idea. My Sea to Summit Aeros lightweight pillow should arrive this Friday.
The Hungry Hammock Hanger’s Chili-Mac recipe is good: http://hungryhammockhanger.com/styled-4/index.html . Zatarain’s jambalaya with a Spam single is good but not as good as the real thing in NOLA.
There’s no trail magic but there was a hiker feed at the first McDonald’s on the way home.
Score: Miles = 17+/-, falls = 0, snakes/deer/varmints = 0, teenie tiny toads = 1