A State of Independence

     Made it to PA earlier today and am staying with a friend near Pittsburgh. Going to hangout for a few days and relax for the most part.

     

     Yesterday I had went to Wayne National Forest in Ohio. I planned on hiking a trail, but when I arrived at the trail-head it was overgrown. The office for the rangers showed me how to get up there. Luckily, on the map they had GPS coordinates of the area, because I got turned around. No signs anywhere! After a few moments of stepping out of the car the sneezing came, watering eyes, and shortly after an itchy throat. I miss the dry desert of the West already. At camp the day before I cut my foot by stepping on the tent stake. I decided not to hike the trail and continued to drive through the forest.

    

     Later in the day I ended up at the New River Gorge National River and checked out the visitor center. The area was gorgeous. Looking from the viewpoint near the visitor center you can see a long arch bridge, which starts and ends in what appears to be the trees.

     

     I plugged manual spot into the GPS which turned out to be an adventure. The spot I chose, which was supposed to be near the primitive camping sight. I just pressed on the map of the GPS that looked to be about where the site was. I ..was..wrong. I ended up on a 4-5 mile rock road that was not taken care of. Bottoming out the Subaru on loose rocks as well as dirt. I get to about .5 miles away from the destination and approach a "Private Area" sign with rope blocking the way. I had to turn around and go back through the zone. Listening to the plastic skid plate on the bottom being pounded evoked some emotional words out of me like "#(*#&$ and even $*#@(*&$*) I know, to harsh to even read. Relieved after making it out I decided to head towards the camping area again with a more precise method ....zooming in.

     As I'm driving along US 60 I notice a dog running alongside the highway. So, round two begins. The last dog I tried to help ran into the woods. This one bolted across the highway to where I had been standing. I just said "Hey, come here!". She was a cutie. A sheriff drove by and I waved him down. Said he would get me some help. While waiting I notified ODL (Obsessive-Dog-Lover) which is my Mom. She had posts on facebook, contacted dog rescue individuals, and had people searching within an hour. But when I ask about dinner I am chastised (kidding of course). Without doing any work myself I found the owner. He drove by and saw her. Crisis adverted. I almost had a new dog. All this lasted about two hours. Oh, by the way the Sheriff that stopped to help never returned. He said he was going to call a few different places to help me out.

     Once arriving I was greeted by a few friendly guys. One was attempting to get the fire going at a site before I even walked up to it. He couldn't get it going, but I did for a little while. I showed him the basics of how I do it.

     

     I talked with a couple of them for a while and headed to bed.  When getting up they had offered some eggs and bacon. John, the gentleman I showed how to get a fire going had started one by my methods to cook breakfast. They grow up so fast. They were a cool group of guys who were going whitewater rafting later on.

     

     A couple of days ago I had hiked the Leatherman Loop trail in the Daniel Boone National Forest. The area is in the northern section of the forest in the Cumberland county area, if I remember correctly. The trail was around 4 miles long and harder than I anticipated, cool though.

     

     I ate, grabbed a bath, and camped out at a primitive site. The other camper had an RV and had the generator thumping all night. So much for falling asleep to the sound of creek water flowing.