Backpacking Racoon Creek State Park, PA

Oh, the joys of backpacking! But before I get into explaining how enjoyable backpacking was this past weekend for my family and I at Raccoon Creek State, PA, I have to speak of some of the preparations involved in getting ready for the trip.

Planning begins with laying out a route that 10 year old boys can hike without feeling like a death march. There should be enough miles to hike in 2 days and still have plenty of time to stop, jump in the creeks, or swing on the vines. What "kid food" to buy and to bring that will feed their appetite. Make sure all hiking and camping equipment is in good shape. The kids have boots and a backpack. Make reservations for the camp site in early May. Pack clothes and equipment the night before and the food in the morning. The list goes on but after you survive the 2 hour drive in the car with silly boys punching each other and you set foot on the trail and soak in all the sights and sounds of nature you remember why we came out into the woods.

Before we start to hike the boys find a stream and begin "fishing around" and get their shoes and pants wet. If that's what they want to do to have fun then they are free to be boys and explorer the great outdoors.

We hiked 3 miles in about 2 hours the first day and 5.5 miles in 5 hours the second day. Backpackers typically hike 2 miles per hour which includes a 10 minute rest every 50 minutes but with little hikers there is no set pace. It's not about the hike but the experiences along the way that the boys love to enjoy.

Our campsite had Adirondack Shelters for us to sleep in, rest rooms near by, a well water pump and a bear bag pole. By the pole was a sign explaining how important it is in not "entertaining" the bears with food left in the campsite but to use the pole to string up your food and to get it out of reach from the critters. I had them read the sign so that they can learn some "best camp practices". I think it may have put some scary thoughts in their heads as the sun went down and it was time to go to sleep. We had to speak reassuring words that bears are shy and are not looking to bother us. Besides we cleaned up camp and left no trace of food for bears or critters to find.

We all slept fine.

Yes, there is a lot to get ready for a backpacking trip but where else can boys throw knives, wade in a creek digging up cray fish, swing on vines, and build fires? And that's why we'll be out in the woods again.

Rim to Rim

I'm back from 3 days and 3 nights of backpacking the Grand Canyon from the north rim to the south rim. We had great weather and lots of fun.

For most of us this was our first trip from the north rim to the south rim and we were looking forward to seeing the canyon from another view rather than from the south. We did run into a little unknown scenery snag, though. It just so happened the park was performing prescribe burns along the top of the north rim forest and the smoke settled in the canyon. This limited our views of the canyon while we were going down on the first day. But, the smoke was lifting while we were hiking to our first camp site at Cottonwood and the skies were clear for the afternoon and evening.

But when we woke up the next morning our camp site was clouded with smoke and we could hear people coughing from smoke inhalation. I was not bothered by the smoke and just chalked it as a rainy day in the woods.

After breakfast we continued to hike to the Bright Angel campground at the bottom of the Canyon where we did not have any smoke problems. Our entertainment for the evening was listening to a Naturalist talk about bats and the importance of their survival for the benefit of mankind. The naturalist did a good job of educating us, but when she made a comment about, proving scientifically that bats do not have any interest to fly into your hair, she lost our attention. After the show we went to our campsite to enjoy a beautiful clear night with so many stars never to be seen while living in the big city.

The next day we hiked from the bottom up to Indian Gardens. After setting up camp we hiked out to Plateau Point to enjoy great views of the Colorado river snaking through the canyon. On our way back to camp we stopped at a water fall to enjoy a cool refreshing shower. That evening we played a card game called mow mow for the canyon championships. One of the players said, he never laughed so much while playing cards. We were having so much fun teasing and bantering one another in good spirits.

The final day out of the canyon was a 4.5 mile hike to the top. My plan was to march up as fast as I could. I wanted to set a precedence of making good time on hiking to the top from Indian Gardens. I made it to the top in 2 hours and 5 minutes. I was met near the top by my sister-in-law who gave me a banana and an apple. I very much appreciated seeing her and giving me those treats. I dropped my pack off at the van and ran back down about 1 and a quarter miles to meet my wife to take her pack and walk with her to the top.

The time in the canyon goes so fast because we see and do so much. It also helps to share the time with those you love.

Bacpacking Tracy Ridge

Labor Day weekend my wife and I took my son, grandson and his cousin backpacking in the Allegheny's on a 9 mile hike of the Tracy Ridge Trail. We arrived at the trail head around 2:30 in the afternoon on Sunday and began hiking around 2:45. The hike was an easy down hill and we made it to our camp site around 4:30 pm. We had plenty of time for the boys to set up the tents, play in the reservoir, and gather wood for a nice camp fire.


On Monday we had to hike 6 miles back to the car. We took our time and let the boys set the pace. The trail would lead us back down to the reservoir after about 3 miles walking and it was the perfect time for the boys to take the plunge and get refreshed. The challenge was still ahead of us because we had to hike 3 miles back up the trail to our car. The boys led the pace and we took plenty of stops along the way.


I really was impressed with the boys because this was a physical challenge that they have never done before and they enjoyed it. The closest thing to complaining was when they would ask how much time it would take us to the next trail marker.



After a great time we had backpacking the boys got to eat a big meal from the only half way decent restaurant we found in Warren PA called Perkins. These 9 year old boys had steak, buffalo chicken wraps, quesadilla's and other treats. They got in the car well feed and for most of the 4 hour ride home they slept like a log.

We plan on coming back maybe in the fall to hike more of this trail.

Backpacking Minister Creek Hiking Trail

My wife and I were driving to Allegheny National Forest this past weekend, with three 9 year old boys in the car, and when they were acting like silly little crazy boys, we looked at each other and asked, 'and why are we doing this'? We were taking them on their first backpacking experience for the weekend. If we had our druthers we would have been doing our own little weekend getaway trip, but this time was for us to have fun with the boys.

We chose to backpack the Minister Creek Hiking Trail which is considered a family friendly hiking trial. The trail is a 7.3 mile loop. We hiked about 2 hours on Saturday from the trail head to our camp site.

I let the boys lead the pace and if they wanted to stop and pick up hiking sticks, pick up a newt, climb huge tree roots that were growing on the side of a cliff, or jump in the creek it was all up to them and about having fun. I also wanted to teach them some backpacking skills. The first skill I wanted to show them was how to use a water purifier to pump out water from the creek. The only problem was I forgot to bring the filter cartridge. oops. The lesson learned was you almost always forget something on a backpacking trip. We had enough water for Saturday and for Sunday's breakfast but then we had to divided the remaining water among us for the hike out on Sunday. We only had about 4 ounces each with about 3 hours left to hike. I knew we would have to do something to survive the hike. Another lesson I taught them was to be friendly with other hikers especially if you notice a family out backpacking. We did find a father and his son at a camp site and we began to talk with them. We mentioned our water dilemma to them and they were more than willing to let us use their water pump so that we could fill up our water bottles. We were all elated that we had water to enjoy from the mountain stream. And the boys got to see how to purify water from the stream.

We were able to finish the hike with plenty of water and time to enjoy the scenery and the boys got one last time to jump in the stream to cool off and have some fun.

Backpacking turn Hiking

I promised my wife before we go on our backpacking trip in the Allegheny National Forest, P.A. this memorial day weekend I would mow the lawn, fix the leaking dishwasher, and chop out the tree stomp in our back yard so that she could put the tomato plants in place of the stump. But before I tackled my promises I had to get my "selfish" 57 mile bike ride in with the Cleveland Triathlon Club on Saturday morning.

The bike ride was a challenging and hilly ride. After a great bike ride and getting home before 1:30 in the afternoon I had 2 hours to tackle the chores. My dilemma was that I was pressed for time to get as much done before we were to leave to go on a church picnic and meeting all before 3:30 pm. I began chopping at the stump in bright sun and 80+ degrees for about an hour at which point I had to take a break from dripping sweat and getting light headed. I then mowed the lawn. That was all I could do for that day.

On Sunday morning at 7:00 am I was up and working on fixing the dishwasher which took me about a half hour to fix. So far no leaks. Then I went back out to whacking the stump for another 2 hours and finally the stump was removed from my life.

We loaded all our backpacking gear in the car and drove to the trail head parking lot 3.5 hours away. The Morrison/Rimrock trail is a 12 mile loop. Our plan was to bring all the gear and backpacks but leave them in the car and hike only with hydrapacks and home made power bars (yum, yum), apples, and other dried fruit. If we made the hike in good time we would get the tent and backpacks out of the car, hike a little into the woods and set up camp.


While out on the trail we enjoyed a variety of flora smells and a beautiful hike along the Morrison Run stream. We had a good hike averaging about 2.5 miles per hour and made it back to the car about 7:40 pm. As we finished we considered do we drive 15 miles to a motel 8 and have a nice shower then head over to Perkins for a warm cooked meal or do we get our gear find a camp site and set up the tent, eat MRE's, and retire with a camp fire watching the stars. The motel won the call.

Monday morning we headed out to hike the 8 mile loop Minister Creek Trail. It was another beautiful day to hike in the woods.

We definitely have to go back to the Allegheny's for some more good hiking/backpacking.