The MS150 bike ride is coming up soon! This two-day, 150-mile ride from Moraine State Park to Conneaut, Ohio benefits the National MS Society. This is the third year for the U. S. Steel team, but this is the first time we have a large team with real jerseys! U. S. Steel kicked off the fundraising effort with a $2200 donation for the team, but we still have a few gaps to fill to reach the preferred $250 minimum per person.

Last Sunday was Pedal Pittsburgh, the annual city-wide cycling event, offering 60-, 50-, 35-, 25-, 15-, and 6-mile rides starting throughout the morning, designed so everyone finished around the same time in the South Side Works for a huge cookout. Thanks to LBSs Iron City Bikes and Thick Bikes, my revamped Univega Safari Ten survived the 60-miler, ending with a 10-mile loop up and around Mt. Washington.

Pedal Pittsburgh. Photo courtesy Jason Godlove.

About MS and the National MS Society
Multiple Sclerosis is a disease which weakens the immune system and damages the nervous system, often leading to visual problems, cognitive difficulties, and muscle weakness. The National MS Society is an organization devoted to raising awareness and funding for MS research.

If you would like to donate
Please do so by pledging support for the Escape to the Lake.

In the summer of 2008 I spent 115 days hiking 1,960 miles from Springer Mtn., Georgia to Rangeley, Maine. Unfortunately I did not keep a proper journal the entire way. This is an attempt to remember everything before it’s lost to senility.

May 15, 2008
From Icewater Springs Shelter, Charlie and I left at 9:15am and didn’t stop until TriCorner Knob Shelter for lunch at 3pm. It was a wet, cold, windy, miserable day, but we kept on keeping on with Standing Bear Farm in mind as a goal. We passed OD&CC, who I failed to mention earlier. We first met OD&CC at Fontana Dam, where they received a large mail drop from home and left some really good food in the hiker box. I picked up Meatless Mexican Rice and Charlie picked up Chicken and Brocolli. OD, a retired Army Ranger, is hiking with his wife, and packaged his own dried meals ahead of time. Charlie is pushing OD to start a small business, starting by sending meals to Charlie once OD gets back from his section hike. At lunch, we caught up to Ted, who left earlier in the morning. He joined us for the remainder of the day’s hike.
From here it was nonstop until dinner at Cosby Knob Shelter, the most depressing shelter ever. It was completely packed with (obviously) section-hikers, Ted and Ryan (The Brothers Not), and Haggis (the Scotsman). It was 9pm when we rolled in for dinner, when most were going to sleep. There were groups of 3 or 4 people scattered about, day hikers, friends who came out to hike in the rain but ended up staring at the ground, not speaking. The Brothers Not and Haggis were great company through dinner, and when we left there was little to do but sleep. However this was only the beginning of the night for us 3 hikers. We had 7 miles to go and no sunlight.
The only thing that keeps anyone going at night is conversation. “If you were to unintentionally fall off Clingman’s Doom, what would you yell?” “How many 5-year-olds would it take to kill you? 10-year-olds?” “What would you name your Leki poles?” “Why does Charlie call every headlamp a Petzl, and every trekking pole a Leki, even though he uses Black Diamond headlamps and trekking poles?”
We finally arrived at 12:25am, at Davenport Gap Shelter, 27.4 miles from our starting point. Sleeping here were the couple Turtlefast and Little Bear, and the Three Canuck Girls (Mama Maple, PB, Jam).

The Three Canuck Girls. Photo courtesy of the Three Canuck Girls.

Let me stop here to introduce the Three Canuck Girls. Ever since I left Amicalola on day one, they’ve consistently been one week ahead (from reading shelter journals) and they always have the longest, most-thought-out journal entries. It was great to finally meet them, but not under these conditions.
We caused a little ruckus getting our packs sorted out but finally went to sleep around 1am.
There’s a good reason for all of this night-hiking, and it is two-fold. If you get to a hostel at night, you’re essentially paying only to sleep, and that’s wasted money. It’s also a zero-day, which is a waste of good daylight. So the best time to get to town (or to a hostel) is early in the morning, so you have a day off without losing mileage.

May 16, 2008

Today we hiked 3.3 miles from Davenport Gap Shelter to Standing Bear Farm, where my mother sent chocolate no-bake oatmeal cookies, and my friend Jordan’s cousin Vicky sent me pictures of the upcoming trail along with a map of southwest Virginia and an invitation to a camping trip. The day off was well-needed ever since my ankle developed a sharp pain this morning.
Curtis runs the place, which provides Internet access, hand-wash laundry, and resupply. I spent some time typing up my earlier journal entries but gave up pretty quickly. A hot shower and clean clothes are a nice bonus out here.
Curtis explained that in the morning, the Davenport Gap Shelter crew arrives, then around noon the Cosby Knob crew shows up, and sometimes people come in from TriCorner Shelter in the afternoon and evening, so he keeps everything open and available all day and night, completely honor system. At 4 or 5 he goes for a beer/dinner run for the hikers.
Ted and Ryan (The Brothers Not), Haggis, OD&CC, Turtlefast, and Little Bear were all from these shelters and came in throughout the day.
Another couple spent the day with us as well, taking 5 days for a short hike between school and work. The girl left the privy in terrible condition, and the guy didn’t really talk to us at all.
Tomorrow we hope to hit 30 miles for an easy day into Hot Springs. We’ll see how that does. The weather is crappy throughout the ease coast.

In the summer of 2008 I spent 115 days hiking 1,960 miles from Springer Mtn., Georgia to Rangeley, Maine. Unfortunately I did not keep a proper journal the entire way. This is an attempt to remember everything before it’s lost to senility.

State borders on the AT are huge milestones (which also explains why all 550 miles of Virginia is so loathed). So when I approached my first state border, Georgia-North Carolina, I was really pumped. Uphill from the border mark was a small rock outcropping from which I took my notebook and wrote a good-bye letter to Georgia, without making a copy or taking a picture to remember, and left it in the register.

A few days later at a hostel, I received an email from Gentjack with a picture of the letter. Take a read:

Then a year later I got an email from Georgia! Really I know!

It has been a year since you were last here, and I have seen many hikers again on their journey..
My mountains are green and lush this year and teh wildflwoers are enjoying all the rain.
Hope this email finds you well and happy..
Thank you for your gracious message.

Georgia

I’m glad Georgia is keeping in touch.

This weekend I attended a 16-hour Wilderness First Aid course offered by the Wilderness Medical Institute of the National Outdoor Leadership School. Although appropriate for anyone planning to spend any amount of time in the wilderness, the certification is approved by many government departments, park services, and outdoor recreational organizations. It covers patient assessment, common emergency care, and spinal injury assessment and care [Full Schedule]. I’d really recommend this for anyone; it’s just useful information to have.

As a related topic, the Pitt Outdoors Club needs trip leaders for the upcoming Fall semester. Recently, the university ruled that only those older than 25 may drive university vans for club trips. This put a huge hamper on our operations, since most of our large trips (Coopers, McConnells Mill, Seneca Rocks) use two 12-passenger vans plus a few student cars. If you’re over 25, and have some current involvement with the university, we need you to drive us places. Please?

It’s important to have goals, but it’s even more important to actually accomplish them. If you know the sunshine-and-happiness feeling that comes after acing an exam or paying the next credit card bill, you’ll love how it feels to accomplish a long-term fleeting goal. For years I’ve planned to eventually run a marathon, and last weekend it finally happened.

I ran the 2009 Pittsburgh Marathon in 4 hours and 30 minutes. I’ve been stretching constantly and walking down steps backwards since I still don’t have full control of my quadriceps. It really hurts.

What else is on my list? Foreign language fluency and summiting Katahdin.