Michaux March 2024

December 8, 2024 § 1 Comment

This will not be the post I thought it would be, because this was not the trip into the woods that I thought it would be. It certainly started out like the trip I thought it would be, and for the most part Friday night was almost a repeat of any Friday night spent in the woods with friends. As it so happened the only friends in the woods with me that night were my Brother-in-law Walt, and my friend Dan, as no one else was able to make it out on this weekend. The reason for this early outing was that Walt was being honored as an Outstanding Alumni by the College of Engineering at Penn State, and he proposed that we do a weekend in Michaux prior to his “Big Day”, and since I was planning on going up early anyway, I was automatically a “Yes”. I have rarely observed any camping request in which Dan was an automatic, however that was where it ended. For awhile that is. It seems Walt chose an old email thread that was devoid of a few key members of our clan, and since, like most people probably, no one actually looked at the list of recipients to see who was there and who wasn’t.

At some point someone did look, and saw that Kevin was missing, and then it turned out Jim was also not on the list. So as the date got closer, Kevin had plans, and Jim was busy Friday night, or maybe perhaps it was the early forecast for rain on Friday, that Jim just opted in for Saturday. A name I haven’t mentioned yet was that of Larry. Was Larry on the list? He was. Why was he missing? Larry wanted to be in, but he had some work scheduled at his cabin in Penns Valley and whether he could come out to play was really dependent on that work going well, and the closer we got to the date, the less well it was going.

Another name that was missing was that of Ali, the Persian Prince. I only just noticed the absence of his name maybe Friday morning, or the evening prior, and added him in. I wanted to make sure he was invited, though as anyone knows, it’s hard to make those kinds of short term plans when you have family that you probably already have plans with, but at least he got the invite.

Needless to say, Friday was just going to be the 3 of us, and we would get Jim on Saturday for 4. Walt was the first one out there, by 11 I seem to recall him saying, and Dan joined him not that long after. I didn’t see any reason to get up too damn early in the am, and so I took my time. It was going to be a 3+ hour trip for me, and if I played my cards right, Walt and Dan would already have gathered enough wood for the fire, and have that fire going by the time I arrived. I would sleep in, hit the bagel shop near me, (What about a Bagel?) and also get a coffee from Rook, and then fill the tank with gas and hit the road. Some minor clean-up before departure so that my house could be cleaned while I was away, and all was good indeed.

At some point, late in the ride, I decided to check in with Larry, and I could tell right away that he wasn’t standing in the cabin yard, but was instead in his vehicle. Basically there was an issue that wasn’t going to be resolved until Monday, and he was on his way back to Herndon, and dealing with the question of whether to stop by Michaux for a couple of hours. His plan was to drive back to the Cabin on Sunday. All this information hit me and I was thinking “Dude! WTF! Go home, pack up some shit, and come back tomorrow and spend Saturday and night in the woods with us!”. Seemed like a pretty sensible suggestion at the time. He expressed delight at the thought, but that it might take some pushing of Melanie to make that happen, and no sooner had he said that than I told him. “Dude! I got this.”.

I hung up on him, and called Melanie pronto. The expectation that she would actually take my call, though presently pretty high, might take a dig as I was using our friendship to get her to send her husband back out her door mighty quick pronto, and maybe pretended like I hadn’t just planned this with Larry dude himself. In any case, she was all in and that was that.

This all sounds pretty good so far doesn’t it? What could possibly go wrong? Read on.

At some point I lost the ability to reconnect with Larry. I was that close to my destination, and soon the LTE bar count was 0. That’s Michaux. Whether those two “saw” me drive up Swift Run Road or not I still do not know, but I parked, changed, and was soon on my way for a the short 1 mile hike to our campsite. In case you are new to this, we discovered an existing primitive site about 300 yards from the Tumbling Run AT Shelter. This is a well maintained giant AT shelter complex with 2 shelters for sleeping and a covered picnic area with plenty of tent and hammock space for a small army. Two bear boxes, and 1 very nicely maintained Privy, which is a real bonus as if you don’t wait too long in the am, then by the time you walk down to it, you are ready to take care of business, if you know what I mean.

So, I found Walt and Dan, and true to my expectations, the fire was going, and the wood pile was sufficiently supplied, and all I had to do was set up my tent, chill my beers (Of course I brought beer) and set myself down in front of the fire.

We had a very pleasant rest of the afternoon. It wasn’t sunny, but it also wasn’t all that chill, and it also wasn’t raining. I brought two tarps, but we decided to chance it, and not set them up. So we just chilled and eventually took care of our dinner needs, and then set in for an evening of doing in the bottle of Wolves Hop infused Whiskey that Walt had packed in. Yes, I said bottle. In actuality, Dan also had a bottle whereas I brought in a Nalgene of Woodford Reserve. Beer, Whiskey and a fire. What!?! What else do you need?

I might have to revisit this page AFTER I retire and fill this section out.

The next morning was an absolutely lovely morning. Jim, being the early bird that he is, was in camp before I got out of bed, and now we were four. Larry texted that he would be “NLT Noon”. We breakfasted on our respective breakfasts, and coffee drinks. When the urge hit us, we wandered our wander down to the Privy at the Shelter, and then we set about to re-supply ourselves with wood for the coming evening. Might as well might as well before Larry got there, as once he arrived we would hike along, so we built a very nice impressive pile of logs.

Larry did show, and once his camp was established we packed our day bags, and set off for Chimney Rocks. We were down low, and CR was up high, so we wandered down to the Shelter where we jumped onto the AT for the 1.5 mile ascent up the spine to the formation of exposed rocks known as Chimney Rock. Now, I know what you are thinking. “Chimney?” Really? The honest answer is that whoever looked at those rocks and thought “Chimney” wasn’t right in the head. Not even close. I have seen Chimney Rock in Colorado, and it’s as clear as day why that formation has that name. Not here though. Still, it’s a nice big open rock with a lot of space for people to spread out and enjoy their little nirvana. We did just that, and snacked on our snacks, and since we packed up a beer for each of us, we drank that as well. And there might have been some whiskey as well.

Rather than retracing our steps, we completed the loop and came down an alternate path, first walking through an Armageddon like landscape of forest service management. Last time I was in this area, we lost Andy, and the forest was, well, a forest. I found him then, but it would have been easier now as there wasn’t much forest left.

We descended down to the Hermitage Cabin and then down the trail to our camp site where lo and behold Ali the Persian Prince was awaiting us. The weekend was just getting better and better. With most of the afternoon still ahead of us, we gathered up downed trees for that evenings fire, pulling stuff down off the hill next to the camp. Since we were close to the cars, Dan had hiked his chainsaw in, and that may just be where we went afoul, but at the time all was fine and dandy. A good sized pile gathered, tents up, and the afternoon fading, we got our fire going and were sitting around as usual enjoying ourselves when we noticed two ranger-looking dudes walking up the trail. After waving it became apparent that they wished to see us, and they needed a little help finding a way over which I gladly showed them. I figured they were here for a nice chat.

They were not. In my recollection the two rangers couldn’t have been more different. There was the easier going “Let’s all have fun but there are rules for a reason” type, and then there was the junkyard dog. Apparently our use of the chainsaw attracted attention, and though they aren’t forbidden per se, we were in violation of a couple of PA dept of Forestry rules. 1) Since we were in the same spot for 2 nights, we were not “hiking through” and therefore we needed a permit, and 2) though it was a wet Spring, this was typically “no fire” season, and were we aware of that. We were not, as we had used this site 3 times before, and just didn’t check the Forestry Service site, which really seemed to rankle the junkyard dog ranger who seemed to me like he was trying to pick a fight. Just the way he always asked a question it was a loaded question, and with the nicer ranger taking me aside quickly, it seemed like he was used to his partners ways, and often took whoever seemed the camp leader aside to deliver the real resolution. That camp leader was me, and the resolution was that we had to pack up and move to a car camp site that was just up the hill. Also I agreed I would apply for a two night permit to cover our weekend, and with my mailing information, if they sent me a violation, I would take care of it. Lastly, call in to a given number when I paid for my reservation just to let them know that was done.

So, with light fading, we doused the fire, and pack up our things and then hiked up the hill to our cars where we then drove down to the “car camp” site we were directed to use, and set up in the dark, with no fire. With no fire there is no incentive to stay away long, because it gets cold in March at night, and so we all turned in early. I think our only trajedy was Jim who decided to just pack it in and drive home.

I believe we went to bed Ali, Larry, Dan, Walt and myself, and when we awoke it was just Ali, Larry and myself. I think Dan had issues sleeping in his car (He also did not just setup his tent again) and left early. Subdued we all awoke, and no one was all that excited to remain at this site, so we packed our things and got some breakfast before heading our separate ways. I did awake to a text that Walt’s sister, my wife Susan, was in State College and had decided to attend her brother’s event and wanted to know an ETA.

I took care of the reservation as soon as I had service again, and I gave the number I was given a call and left a message detailing my reservation number. To date, I have never received a violation for the fire, so I guess the good ranger decided that was not warranted. While, I liked Michaux a lot, it was now off our list as an acceptable place for a camping weekend. Even if we got the permit, the whole experience just left a bad taste in our mouths. Whoever called in to complain about us, having to pack up and leave such a nice spot. There are plenty of places we can go instead. All of those are a little further drive for me, but that is okay.