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May. 1st, 2011 07:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickI've entered the Rothrock 30K, which is on June 4. Topo maps and elevation and whatnot are here. In spite of four dollar a gallon gasoline, I drove up to Boalsburg yesterday to preview some of the trail involved.
I had to pick the car up from Dave's at 10, forgot my directions and stuff so had to drive back to Breezewood and get them. Eventually I got to the state forest at around 1:30 PM, which was later than I'd planned. There's a lot of trail to look at and I didn't want to be out past around 6:30 PM.
I parked in the parking area. (There are signs.) Finding the trail, from the parking area, was nontrivial but I will be able to do a lot better next time. Garmin logging shows a fair bit of wandering in the wilderness there at the start -- this was because I was lost.
Rothrock is way more heavily used than Buchanan -- I actually saw other people ON FOOT and stuff. Amazing. Also saw some mountain bikers.
Once I figured out what I was doing and found what appeared to be the trailhead, I started out. Spruce Gap goes right the hell up the mountain. Also, it is a LOT of mountain. Ray's Hill, which I walk up regularly, climbs about 550 feet in one fairly steep go. Spruce Gap climbs like that for a thousand feet. There is a lot of difference between 550 and 1000 feet of climbing. A lot. Also, since trail is semi-vertical, there's the runoff problem when it rains so that the trail looks like creekbed. I had to stop multiple times to breathe. NOTE TO SELF: Take the hill seriously. Go slower next time.
At the top of the hill, you get generic mountain top trail, not terribly exciting. Spruce Gap makes a T with the MidState (orange blazes) up here. Make a left at the T, continue past the little monument thing, and make another left onto Kettle. Kettle is a bitch. It's steep, which is part of the problem. It also has sections of no-visible-dirt. In those instances, the "trail" surface is comprised mostly of fist-sized shifting rock. Just go straight down, you won't go far wrong that way. The only good thing about Kettle is that it's about half as long as Spruce Gap. At the bottom of Kettle, you make a right onto Longberger. IIRC, Longberger is pale blue blazes.
(A left onto Longberger runs around the mountain (sorta) and provides you with a way to get home that does not involve re-doing Kettle and Spruce Gap if you would like that, later. You might.)
Longberger is a mostly-flat section of fairly technical trail. It's runnable but you have to pay attention to your feets and things or you will fall on your face. There are rockier sections but they're not thick or horrible. Longberger ends at a forest service road. Make a left onto the road, go maybe five hundred yards or so, look for Jean Aron path off to your right. There's a 4x4 signage. The Jean Aron is soft and runnable footing on a level surface. Go for it. (It being an "easy" day for me, I walked absolutely everything.)
Jean Aron dumps you off onto the paved/gravel road immediately before the bridge over the brownish, brackish Bear Meadow water. Make a RIGHT onto the road, Walk over the bridge, past the small parking area, and pick up the Bear Meadows Loop trail. It'll be on your RIGHT, pretty close to the parking area. Blazes for this section are, I think, yellow. Don't worry, you won't really need them.
Bear Meadows is wet. This time of year, it is very wet. Swim fins and a mask would have been helpful. (I kid, I kid. Four or so inches of water in spots. Be prepared to wade. Bring a change of shoes and socks for the trip home.) I hope it dries up some by June but I ain't holding my breath with the amount of rain we've had here so far this year. The trail is singletrack, some rock, with a lot of rhododendrons. It is impossible to go off the narrow trail because the rhododendrons will eat you. Wet-n-muddy, with carnivorous rhododendrons and unexpected rocks lurking in the mud, that's Bear Meadows. But it's flat.
Go around Bear Meadows until you get to "Spring" path off to the left. It's supposed to be Sand Spring Path or whatever, but the 4x4 sign says "Spring". It's the one after Gettis Trail. (Best maps of the forest I could find without paying for them were from the Nittany Mountain Biking Association: nittanymba.org) Make a left and proceed uphill.
The climb up "Spring" is drier but also rocky. Go uphill to the orange blazes (you don't have to turn or anything, you'll run right into 'em because the orange-blazed MidState Trail runs into you from the left. Just keep on going uphill, and then go uphill some more. At the top of the hill are some gravel roads that do not concern you. Cross the gravel roads and follow the Midstate's orange blazes some more.
MidState Trail is about a shovel wide and about six inches deep, like as if someone had cut out a dirt trench for you. I don't know why it's like that, but it is. Rock. More rock. Really, unless I mention that the trail is exceptionally walkable or exceptionally rock-filled, it's best to assume that there are an uncomfortable number of rocks.
MidState Trail keeps going along the ridge back to the top of Little Flat (this is the mountain that Spruce Gap goes up) and if I'd known that at the time, there's a good chance I would have gone forward instead of retracing my steps. Ah, well.
I got to the lookout trail thing at the county line and it was time to turn around and go home, so I did. In reverse, the rocks seemed more -- they do that when you're tired. Kettle was an unpleasant climb, even though I took very small steps. Spruce Gap is the first downhill I have hated. Usually I like downhills -- less breathing, more forward. Spruce Gap is not a runnable downhill for me -- too steep. Knees were complaining at that point and I was really feeling it in my hip stabilizer muscles. But whatever.
I got back to the car and started the drive home. During the drive home, I stiffened up a bit and I was bloody well *starving*. However, I didn't stop and eat bad-for-me food. Drove home, made real food, ate it. Go me.
Garmin record of the effort, including absolutely hideous pace information:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/82591296
I need more hills to work on. Must find bigger local hills. I've got a month.
I had to pick the car up from Dave's at 10, forgot my directions and stuff so had to drive back to Breezewood and get them. Eventually I got to the state forest at around 1:30 PM, which was later than I'd planned. There's a lot of trail to look at and I didn't want to be out past around 6:30 PM.
I parked in the parking area. (There are signs.) Finding the trail, from the parking area, was nontrivial but I will be able to do a lot better next time. Garmin logging shows a fair bit of wandering in the wilderness there at the start -- this was because I was lost.
Rothrock is way more heavily used than Buchanan -- I actually saw other people ON FOOT and stuff. Amazing. Also saw some mountain bikers.
Once I figured out what I was doing and found what appeared to be the trailhead, I started out. Spruce Gap goes right the hell up the mountain. Also, it is a LOT of mountain. Ray's Hill, which I walk up regularly, climbs about 550 feet in one fairly steep go. Spruce Gap climbs like that for a thousand feet. There is a lot of difference between 550 and 1000 feet of climbing. A lot. Also, since trail is semi-vertical, there's the runoff problem when it rains so that the trail looks like creekbed. I had to stop multiple times to breathe. NOTE TO SELF: Take the hill seriously. Go slower next time.
At the top of the hill, you get generic mountain top trail, not terribly exciting. Spruce Gap makes a T with the MidState (orange blazes) up here. Make a left at the T, continue past the little monument thing, and make another left onto Kettle. Kettle is a bitch. It's steep, which is part of the problem. It also has sections of no-visible-dirt. In those instances, the "trail" surface is comprised mostly of fist-sized shifting rock. Just go straight down, you won't go far wrong that way. The only good thing about Kettle is that it's about half as long as Spruce Gap. At the bottom of Kettle, you make a right onto Longberger. IIRC, Longberger is pale blue blazes.
(A left onto Longberger runs around the mountain (sorta) and provides you with a way to get home that does not involve re-doing Kettle and Spruce Gap if you would like that, later. You might.)
Longberger is a mostly-flat section of fairly technical trail. It's runnable but you have to pay attention to your feets and things or you will fall on your face. There are rockier sections but they're not thick or horrible. Longberger ends at a forest service road. Make a left onto the road, go maybe five hundred yards or so, look for Jean Aron path off to your right. There's a 4x4 signage. The Jean Aron is soft and runnable footing on a level surface. Go for it. (It being an "easy" day for me, I walked absolutely everything.)
Jean Aron dumps you off onto the paved/gravel road immediately before the bridge over the brownish, brackish Bear Meadow water. Make a RIGHT onto the road, Walk over the bridge, past the small parking area, and pick up the Bear Meadows Loop trail. It'll be on your RIGHT, pretty close to the parking area. Blazes for this section are, I think, yellow. Don't worry, you won't really need them.
Bear Meadows is wet. This time of year, it is very wet. Swim fins and a mask would have been helpful. (I kid, I kid. Four or so inches of water in spots. Be prepared to wade. Bring a change of shoes and socks for the trip home.) I hope it dries up some by June but I ain't holding my breath with the amount of rain we've had here so far this year. The trail is singletrack, some rock, with a lot of rhododendrons. It is impossible to go off the narrow trail because the rhododendrons will eat you. Wet-n-muddy, with carnivorous rhododendrons and unexpected rocks lurking in the mud, that's Bear Meadows. But it's flat.
Go around Bear Meadows until you get to "Spring" path off to the left. It's supposed to be Sand Spring Path or whatever, but the 4x4 sign says "Spring". It's the one after Gettis Trail. (Best maps of the forest I could find without paying for them were from the Nittany Mountain Biking Association: nittanymba.org) Make a left and proceed uphill.
The climb up "Spring" is drier but also rocky. Go uphill to the orange blazes (you don't have to turn or anything, you'll run right into 'em because the orange-blazed MidState Trail runs into you from the left. Just keep on going uphill, and then go uphill some more. At the top of the hill are some gravel roads that do not concern you. Cross the gravel roads and follow the Midstate's orange blazes some more.
MidState Trail is about a shovel wide and about six inches deep, like as if someone had cut out a dirt trench for you. I don't know why it's like that, but it is. Rock. More rock. Really, unless I mention that the trail is exceptionally walkable or exceptionally rock-filled, it's best to assume that there are an uncomfortable number of rocks.
MidState Trail keeps going along the ridge back to the top of Little Flat (this is the mountain that Spruce Gap goes up) and if I'd known that at the time, there's a good chance I would have gone forward instead of retracing my steps. Ah, well.
I got to the lookout trail thing at the county line and it was time to turn around and go home, so I did. In reverse, the rocks seemed more -- they do that when you're tired. Kettle was an unpleasant climb, even though I took very small steps. Spruce Gap is the first downhill I have hated. Usually I like downhills -- less breathing, more forward. Spruce Gap is not a runnable downhill for me -- too steep. Knees were complaining at that point and I was really feeling it in my hip stabilizer muscles. But whatever.
I got back to the car and started the drive home. During the drive home, I stiffened up a bit and I was bloody well *starving*. However, I didn't stop and eat bad-for-me food. Drove home, made real food, ate it. Go me.
Garmin record of the effort, including absolutely hideous pace information:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/82591296
I need more hills to work on. Must find bigger local hills. I've got a month.
