Hike #423 6/28/9
6/28/9 Hamburg/Port Clinton Loop with Shelly Janes, Kyle Zalinsky, "DJ Ray" Cordts, Eric Pace, Jim "Mr. Buckett" Mathews, Bill "Guillermo" Fabel, Jude Shabrach, and Irina Kulikovskaya.
Group shot in a mirror in Hamburg PA
By the time I organized this hike, I was really learning to have fun on my own. Jillane was out on her first tour in the High Uintas Wilderness of northern Utah and I thought she was unable to call me during that entire time. I was worried like crazy for a while, but then just tried to let it go. While I was swimming in the resevoir I missed a call from her, and I was pretty upset about it. Later, I missed another call while I was walking I guess, and yet another. I don't think I got to talk to her until her tour was almost over. Her satellite phone she used wouldn't let me call it back due to the strange amount of numbers and if I were doing anything loud like riding a mower, or if my phone died which happened often, I would miss her. She would leave me messages, and she was worried sick about me. I felt really bad about it, but at the same time it was really nice to feel so loved that my unavailability would cause so much concern. I would always do my best to catch her calls, but it was always tough when she was out on tours of duty.
I was burning myself out with all of the activity going on, and my worrying didn't help. I was eating surprisingly well compared to how I normally did, but burning off every bit of what I ate. I would use every ounce of energy I had and then pass out, sometimes abruptly I'd become too weak to stand and just black out. At the end of this hike, following my mad sprint to the cars, I passed out next to Kyle's car. I was woken up by him, laying soaked on the ground as it was pouring rain on me and I didn't even know it.
Hamburg, PA
Pond in Hamburg PA
Mirror shot
Mirror shot
Railroad tracks in Hamburg PA
Tracks in Hamburg PA
Tracks in Hamburg PA, Schuykill River Trail above
Tracks in Hamburg PA
Tracks in Hamburg PA
Schuykill River Trail in Hamburg PA
Schuykill River Trail north of Hamburg
Schuykill River Trail north of Hamburg
Along Schuykill River Trail
Along Schuykill River Trail north of Hamburg
View from Schuykill River Trail down to the other tracks
View from Schuykill River Trail down to the other tracks
Schuykill River Trail
Descending on the AT from Schuykill River Trail
AT in Schuykill Gap, Port Clinton
AT in Port Clinton PA
AT in Port Clinton PA
Sign along the AT in Port Clinton PA
Giant pieces of coal in Port Clinton PA
Along the AT in Port Clinton PA. Shhhh, it's a wildlife sanctuary.
Along the AT in Port Clinton PA
Along the AT in Port Clinton PA
Along the AT in Port Clinton PA
Along the AT in Port Clinton PA
Along the AT in Port Clinton PA
Along the AT in Port Clinton PA
Along the AT in Port Clinton PA
Along the AT in Port Clinton PA
Along the AT in Port Clinton PA
Along the AT in Port Clinton PA
Along the AT in Port Clinton PA
View from the AT east of Schuykill Gap
On Hamburg Reservoir property
On Hamburg Reservoir property
Hamburg Reservoir spillway
Hamburg Reservoir spillway
swimmin
spillway
Spillway
spillway
spillway
spillway
Kyle
Ascending toward Port Clinton Fire Tower
Ascending toward Port Clinton Fire Tower
Area along Little Schuykill Creek
Area along Little Schuykill Creek
Area along Little Schuykill Creek
Heading through fields from Little Schuykill Creek
My next hike would lead my group and I to Hamburg PA to do the next section hike connecting with my recent Pinnacle hike. Joining me this time were Shelly Janes, Kyle Zalinsky, Jim "Mr. Buckett" Mathews, Jude Shabrach, Bill "Guillermo" Fabel, Irina Kulikovskaya, "DJ Ray" Cordts, and Eric Pace. We met in the morning by the Taco Bell in Hamburg and began walking from that parking lot east toward the railroad tracks (0a-2). We followed these, which I think were part of the Reading Railroad, northbound under the former Pennsylvania Railroad (3-4) which was now part of the Schuykill River Trail. We turned up a woods road from the active tracks to the trail, bushwhacking through heavy brush to reach the right of way. Unfortunitely, while bushwhacking I lost my favorite glasses, my round Lennonesque lenses I had had since early 1997, and wore on hike #1 as well as many others. I searched a lot, but could not find them. It was very saddening. After reaching the trail, we headed northbound (5-8a) passing interpretive signs and seeing a nice railroad station below on the other tracks till we reached Port Clinton where the Appalachian Trail crossed. We descended on the northbound AT steeply (9) to the railroad tracks (10-11d), crossed, and followed the AT along the access road across the Schuykill River. There were the largest hunks of coal I'd ever seen at the entranceways. We wandered through Port Clinton (11e-12) and followed the AT soon along the Schuykill and passed under a large road bridge before beginning our ascent of Blue Mountain (12a-14). After crossing the road, the climb was very steep to reach the top, and aside from seasonal views, there was only one slight viewpoint which was'nt all that terrific (15-16a). We took a long break at the top and continued on alont the AT toward Hamburg Furnace site. Along the way, Eric and DJ Ray opted to take a short cut up another trail to meet up with us later. When we reached Hamburg Resevoir area, we left the AT and began following a woods road up hill (16b-16d). I was going barefoot for a while which was nice till we reached the rocky road. A short distance up we reached the dam for Hamburg Resevoir which I had to go check out (16e). The water looked deep enough below the resevoir, so I jumped off the high concrete wall (16f) which was great. Shelly, Kyle, Mr. Buckett, and I all took a dip in this dam area, and Kyle and I tried walking up the dam (and succeeded). We even got Mr. Buckett to jump off (16g-16q). Next, we continued along the AT northbound from where the wood road rejoined, and made our way into one of the little valleys near Eckville to follow a woods road west. We planned on an off trail bushwhack but it would have taken too long, so the road was the way to go (16r-21). There was a bit of a view of the valley I'd intended on walking through along the way (22). We reached a woods road junction where I ran ahead to check out the nearby Port Clinton Fire Tower (22a). I met DJ Ray along the way there, and he went with me to it. It was fenced in, but I jumped it and went up anyway which was awesome (23-30). We then headed back to the rest of the group. All together, we followed more woods roads gradually descending back to the Little Schuykill River. Shelly took a lot of mushroom pictures (30a-31f). We somehow made a wrong turn and ended up along the Little Schuykill much farther north than planned, and so had to walk north a bit and cross the creek to find the railroad tracks. We found a shallow spot and made our way over (31g-38). We bushwhacked a little through the woods west, soon coming to a field which we crossed (39-42). We then found paths through the woods (42a-49) eventually leading us to the railroad tracks (50). We followed the tracks south heading back toward Port Clinton (51-53e). Kyle and I shot far ahead of the others to try to get there quicker. It was getting very dark and I got in my fast stride walking faster than Kyle could keep up with me. We got in trouble for walking on the tracks in Port Clinton and so had to go back to the rail trail, following it to Hamburg. I turned off the right of way through a field and followed the road back to where we were parked, then fell asleep on the ground next to Kyle's car. Jude, Irina, and Guillermo all finished the hike, but Kyle and I picked up the others in Port Clinton. They went to Washington Diner for dinner but I fell asleep (35f-35k).
On the home stretch, along railroad tracks heading through Schuykill Gap
Group shot in a mirror in Hamburg PA
On the home stretch, along railroad tracks heading through Schuykill Gap
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