Hike #100; Portland to Washington

 Hike #100

Skyler and I on the rail bed near Bridgeville

Hike 100

 

7/23/3

 

For my 100th long hike, I wanted do do something very special, a memorable great hike

with the biggest group I’d ever put together. Unfortunitely that plan fell through, but we

still had a great time anyway.

Arrow Island view from the way up Mt. Tammany

On Mt. Tammany

Mt. Tammany

On Mt. Tammany

Despite several people signing on, only Skyler Jermyn and Rich Nielson showed up in the

morning. The plan was to do the Lower Wothington hike, as I thought it would be fitting

to do the most difficult one. We headed to the Water Gap; I was wearing my costume I

wore in a “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat” theatre production I was in

in high school just to be weird. The costume consisted of just a yellow and black skirt and

a blue and yellow arab headdress! I wore a Tee Shirt some of the time, but most of the

time I went with the regular costume!

We headed up Mt Tammany in the rain, and there was barely any view. After reaching the

top, I decided to bag it and that the 100th hike should be the Portland one, which would

not rely on viewpoints as the most interesting point. Heading down the Blue Dot Trail

after the steep climb up the red dot trail was brutal on our knees.

DL&W tracks south of Portland PA

Ascending to the Shrub of Might along the former Warren Railroad

Manunka Chunk Tunnel

Manunka Chunk Tunnel

Sand quarry near Bridgeville

Turtle

Trail section of former Warren Railroad in Oxford

Just south of the Oxford Tunnel

We drove to nearby Colombia to park, and began walking as always. I must have looked

particularly crazy as I was wearing this crazy looking arab get up. In retrospect, probably

not the wisest of choices due to the scare everyone had of Arabs after the 9-11 attacks.

When we reached the Shrub of Might, Rich and Skyler both were able to ascend to the

top faster than Gianni and Amit did, surprisingly!

Just after we crossed the sand pit, the right of way beyond was getting very overgrown,

but the most prevailant plant were those that grew red rasberries, or wine berries. I

immediately began eating them, and Rich was skeptical about eating any. As I pigged out,

he made his way in to try one, to which his reaction was “Holy Shit!”. He and Skyler spent

the next several minutes fighting through the worst of weeds to get the ripest berries, to

my great amusement.

When we reached Oxford, Skyler was hurting pretty bad. He was having trouble with his

knees and did’nt feel as though he could go on, so he called his mom for a ride. I went

into the Oxford Liquor Store and got Rich and I some beer. We then entered the tunnel

drinking. I was feeling the effects by the time we reached the south Portal, but Rich said

he felt nothing. He did say that once I started drinking I did’nt shut up!

We returned to Washington in good time.

Former Warren Railroad near Warren Lumber, Washington

PICTURES! Photos by Mike Helbing, Rich Neilson, and Skyler Jermyn