Westley Shaffer, a Liberty Mountain Customer Service Rep, found himself on an icy trail surrounded by in Rickett’s Glen State Park on the first day of the year.
Showing posts with label Pennsylvania. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pennsylvania. Show all posts
1/2/14
Hiking on Ice – A Winter Adventure in Ricketts Glen State Park
Westley Shaffer, a Liberty Mountain Customer Service Rep, found himself on an icy trail surrounded by in Rickett’s Glen State Park on the first day of the year.
9/12/13
Hiking Ricketts Glen - 21 Waterfalls
Located in the beautiful rolling hills and lush forests of Pennsylvania sits Ricketts Glen State Park. To enjoy this natural beauty located merely an hour from the Montoursville office and warehouse, Liberty Mountain's Pennsylvania team spent several hours enjoying the great outdoors.
10/30/12
Employee Climbing Night in PA
The crew from Liberty Mountain's Montoursville, PA warehouse held an Employee Climbing Night at the Milton Rock Climbing Gym on Tuesday October 23. Employees had the opportunity to go and experience climbing first hand in a gym setting. The event was attended by roughly 30 employees and family members of all ages.
10/29/12
The Golden Eagle Trail
The following trip report is from Nicole Porter, a Liberty Mountain Sales Rep who lives in Pennsylvania.
Recently, I hiked one of the best trails in PA. The Golden Eagle Trail has everything you could want in a hike. Just over 9 miles, it's great for a day hike, with vistas, hardwoods, massive pines, creeks, old logging camps relics, climbs, descents, and "the horn". Raven's horn is an outcrop of rock with a view that will leave you amazed and revived...especially after the climb it took to get up there.
Recently, I hiked one of the best trails in PA. The Golden Eagle Trail has everything you could want in a hike. Just over 9 miles, it's great for a day hike, with vistas, hardwoods, massive pines, creeks, old logging camps relics, climbs, descents, and "the horn". Raven's horn is an outcrop of rock with a view that will leave you amazed and revived...especially after the climb it took to get up there.
10/9/12
Pennsylvania's Rock Run
The following trip report is from Peter Swift, the Liberty Mountain Pennsylvania Warehouse Manager.
Rock Run is my favorite place in the world. It is a beautiful mountain stream that cascades down a beautiful gorge in the Loyalsock State Forest. Rock Run is surrounded by an amazing abundance of hiking and camping, as it runs parallel to the “Old Logger’s Path” for a distance, as well as being the terminus of Miner’s Run Path. I’ve lived near Rock Run all of my life, and I still haven’t hiked all of the trails surrounding it.
Probably the reason I haven’t hiked all of those trails is because I’m so satisfied with simply walking along the stream itself, or swimming in any of a number of exquisite swimming holes. In fact, Backpacker Magazine once called the “Upper Falls” at Rock Run one of the best swimming holes in America (much to the chagrin of locals who prefer to keep it a hidden gem).
I usually get up to the Upper Falls at least a half dozen times a summer, and a few times in the winter. However, this summer I did not make it to the falls a single time. I kept trying to make it up there but other plans kept intervening, or sales rep Scott Pershall would bail at the last second. However, the fifth attempt finally paid off. Two of my co-workers, Mid-atlantic Sales Rep, Scott Pershall and Customer Service Rep, Westley Shaffer joined me and a few other friends (Thad Temple and Dave Bratt) on a drive up to Rock Run. In Williamsport, the temperature was barely 60 degrees…and once we got up into the gorge, it was in the mid 50s at best.
After showing off some of the prettier portions of the stream, and obsessively taking panorama shots with my iphone, we all jumped in. As Westley or Scott can attest, the water is absolutely frigid! None of us wanted to get back in the water, except for Thad...but he’s not right in the head. I quickly realized that the cold water had shrunk my fingers just enough for my wedding ring to slip off into the water on my perfectly executed backflip! Dutifully and with the threat that I, as driver, would abandon them there, my friends got back into the water and searched half-heartedly for my wedding band as I shouted commands from dry ground. In my depressed state I would have been of no benefit to the search effort in the cold water. After what felt like hours, probably about 5 minutes, we gave up before hypothermia set in.
Following our frigid jumps into the water, we drove on up to Mansfield University to try some routes on their new rock wall. Davis Swift, former Liberty Mountain employee, is one of the route-setters and belayers at the wall, so we met up with him and tried a few routes. Westley climbed pretty much every route on the wall, including a boulder problem that had yet to be climbed by anyone. As Westly was the first to complete it, he got to name it. He went with: “You climb it, you name it” to frustrate any successful future senders…. Meanwhile, Thad and I, despite our awesome Singing Rock harnesses, failed to send even the easiest routes, we blamed it all on our tired arms from attempting some boulder problems earlier.
Overall, other than the lost wedding ring, we had a great time.
The following day, I received a phone call from a friend I hadn’t seen in years who heard about my Facebook laments over my lost wedding ring. This friend, Travis, is an expert SCUBA diver who instructs all the local classes in the area. He wanted to go up and search for my ring with the assistance of some bright lights and canned air. This was a bonus for me, since it would mean I get to go to Rock Run again! I went up with him, and after about 40 minutes of searching, he gave up – unable to deal with the frigid temperatures of the water, despite wearing a wet suit. In fact, Travis said the water temperature was the most brutal he’d ever been in, and he does a lot of cave diving and occasionally ice diving. He said he would never get in that water again without being in a dry suit. I didn’t blame him, but I did take an opportunity to try out my EK Dri-Cat waterproof case for my iPhone to try to take a POV video of myself backflipping into the water.
As long as my wife doesn’t read this, I have to say that being able to enjoy Rock Run’s beauty in the fullest with the fall leaves dropping into the stream seems like a fair trade for a wedding ring. I can’t wait to go back and search for it some more!
Rock Run is my favorite place in the world. It is a beautiful mountain stream that cascades down a beautiful gorge in the Loyalsock State Forest. Rock Run is surrounded by an amazing abundance of hiking and camping, as it runs parallel to the “Old Logger’s Path” for a distance, as well as being the terminus of Miner’s Run Path. I’ve lived near Rock Run all of my life, and I still haven’t hiked all of the trails surrounding it.
Probably the reason I haven’t hiked all of those trails is because I’m so satisfied with simply walking along the stream itself, or swimming in any of a number of exquisite swimming holes. In fact, Backpacker Magazine once called the “Upper Falls” at Rock Run one of the best swimming holes in America (much to the chagrin of locals who prefer to keep it a hidden gem).
I usually get up to the Upper Falls at least a half dozen times a summer, and a few times in the winter. However, this summer I did not make it to the falls a single time. I kept trying to make it up there but other plans kept intervening, or sales rep Scott Pershall would bail at the last second. However, the fifth attempt finally paid off. Two of my co-workers, Mid-atlantic Sales Rep, Scott Pershall and Customer Service Rep, Westley Shaffer joined me and a few other friends (Thad Temple and Dave Bratt) on a drive up to Rock Run. In Williamsport, the temperature was barely 60 degrees…and once we got up into the gorge, it was in the mid 50s at best.
After showing off some of the prettier portions of the stream, and obsessively taking panorama shots with my iphone, we all jumped in. As Westley or Scott can attest, the water is absolutely frigid! None of us wanted to get back in the water, except for Thad...but he’s not right in the head. I quickly realized that the cold water had shrunk my fingers just enough for my wedding ring to slip off into the water on my perfectly executed backflip! Dutifully and with the threat that I, as driver, would abandon them there, my friends got back into the water and searched half-heartedly for my wedding band as I shouted commands from dry ground. In my depressed state I would have been of no benefit to the search effort in the cold water. After what felt like hours, probably about 5 minutes, we gave up before hypothermia set in.
Following our frigid jumps into the water, we drove on up to Mansfield University to try some routes on their new rock wall. Davis Swift, former Liberty Mountain employee, is one of the route-setters and belayers at the wall, so we met up with him and tried a few routes. Westley climbed pretty much every route on the wall, including a boulder problem that had yet to be climbed by anyone. As Westly was the first to complete it, he got to name it. He went with: “You climb it, you name it” to frustrate any successful future senders…. Meanwhile, Thad and I, despite our awesome Singing Rock harnesses, failed to send even the easiest routes, we blamed it all on our tired arms from attempting some boulder problems earlier.
Overall, other than the lost wedding ring, we had a great time.
The following day, I received a phone call from a friend I hadn’t seen in years who heard about my Facebook laments over my lost wedding ring. This friend, Travis, is an expert SCUBA diver who instructs all the local classes in the area. He wanted to go up and search for my ring with the assistance of some bright lights and canned air. This was a bonus for me, since it would mean I get to go to Rock Run again! I went up with him, and after about 40 minutes of searching, he gave up – unable to deal with the frigid temperatures of the water, despite wearing a wet suit. In fact, Travis said the water temperature was the most brutal he’d ever been in, and he does a lot of cave diving and occasionally ice diving. He said he would never get in that water again without being in a dry suit. I didn’t blame him, but I did take an opportunity to try out my EK Dri-Cat waterproof case for my iPhone to try to take a POV video of myself backflipping into the water.
As long as my wife doesn’t read this, I have to say that being able to enjoy Rock Run’s beauty in the fullest with the fall leaves dropping into the stream seems like a fair trade for a wedding ring. I can’t wait to go back and search for it some more!
9/27/12
Welcoming Autumn in on Pennsylvania's Pitch Pine Trail
The following story is from Nicole Porter, a Liberty Mountain Sales Rep.
This past weekend was the first weekend of Autumn, pretty much my fav as far as seasons go. My husband Chad, daughter Ella and I headed up to our cabin, as we try to do most weekends. Our cabin only sits on 2 acres but is surrounded by Tiadaghton State Forest with 214,000 acres and Sproul State Forest with over 305,000 acres. As you could imagine these two State Forests have hundreds of miles of trails, including the Black Forest Trail. Now, my daughter is only 3 so the BFT is not quite in her range yet, so we decided to take in the beautiful Fall morning with the Pitch Pine Trail, which is a 2.5 mile loop. Not too much for Ella and just enough for Chad and I to get our nature fix.
We enjoyed the start of the leaves changing in the mixed hardwood forest and the crisp Fall air. Ella loved trying to spy the chipmunks that ran through the dense thickets of Mountain Laurel, PA's state flower. About half way through the hike there was a vista that over looks Miller Run Natural Area, a beautiful spot for a rest, a drink from the 'ol Nalgene...or to throw stones as Ella loves to do.
The rest of the hike had much of the same type of forest and Ella and I were able to find many treasures to bring back for our nature wreath. Toward the end of the trail the forest opens up in to a shaded field, full of ferns, most of which were turning golden, no longer the lush green from the summer. Our pockets full of acorns, pine cones and leafs, and our bodies revived, we were ready for some lunch and to enjoy the rest of the day playing in our woods.
This past weekend was the first weekend of Autumn, pretty much my fav as far as seasons go. My husband Chad, daughter Ella and I headed up to our cabin, as we try to do most weekends. Our cabin only sits on 2 acres but is surrounded by Tiadaghton State Forest with 214,000 acres and Sproul State Forest with over 305,000 acres. As you could imagine these two State Forests have hundreds of miles of trails, including the Black Forest Trail. Now, my daughter is only 3 so the BFT is not quite in her range yet, so we decided to take in the beautiful Fall morning with the Pitch Pine Trail, which is a 2.5 mile loop. Not too much for Ella and just enough for Chad and I to get our nature fix.
We enjoyed the start of the leaves changing in the mixed hardwood forest and the crisp Fall air. Ella loved trying to spy the chipmunks that ran through the dense thickets of Mountain Laurel, PA's state flower. About half way through the hike there was a vista that over looks Miller Run Natural Area, a beautiful spot for a rest, a drink from the 'ol Nalgene...or to throw stones as Ella loves to do.
The rest of the hike had much of the same type of forest and Ella and I were able to find many treasures to bring back for our nature wreath. Toward the end of the trail the forest opens up in to a shaded field, full of ferns, most of which were turning golden, no longer the lush green from the summer. Our pockets full of acorns, pine cones and leafs, and our bodies revived, we were ready for some lunch and to enjoy the rest of the day playing in our woods.
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