What beautiful weather we have been having in southeastern Pennsylvania! We decided Sunday to go for a walk around Muddy Run Recreation Park. This park contains a campground that I used to stay at with family and friends. They have a beautiful 3 mile hike around the Muddy Run Power Reservoir. I’ve made the quest many times as a youngster. Eager to get started, I grabbed my old but still new hiking shoes (from my Girl Scout days), laced them up and and hopped in the car. Dennis and I know that the terrain is a bit more angled than most so we grabbed our hiking sticks for the jaunt.
Muddy Run Park
That wasn’t supposed to happen
Disposed of
Not even a 1/2 mile into the hike, both of the soles of my shoes began to disintegrate. We immediately turned around and headed back to the trail head. When we exited the trail, one sole came completely off of the shoe – luckily there was a trash can there to discard “my sole”.. hahahah. I was less than happy that I had to cut our hike short because of an apparel malfunction. We exited the park and began our journey home.
In an attempt to return to the park to complete our quest, we stopped at the local tractor supply store to see if they had any women’s shoes. That’s when the sole fell off my other shoe. Grrrrr. Dennis was laughing with me because now I was standing there in what we later deemed my “Pocahontas moccasins”. I was surprised because even though the soles were missing I was still comfortable enough to walk in what was left of my shoes.
Feeling duped, I suggested that since we still needed another mile to fulfill our daily commitment to the 60 mile challenge for November, why not find another park near the river to check out for hiking at a later date. We didn’t look at a map, just enjoyed the Sunday drive through Lancaster County.
We finally happened upon Susquehannock State Park. At the park there is a beautiful overlook showing you the Susquehanna River from the Norman Wood Bridge to well past Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station. Since Dennis and I both worked there for many years, this view was very appeasing. This park has 5.6 miles of hiking trails. We ventured out on another pursuit to complete our goal of two miles. We figured we only needed another mile so one of the many trails should help us obtain those steps.
Right off of the overlook area is the Overlook Trail. It is a half mile trail that winds through the woods and drops you into a beautiful meadow. On the trail we found a few places to get photos and a tree stump with shelf mushrooms that reminded me of hobbit houses.
We crossed the entrance road and then followed the Fire Trail that eventually joined back up with the beginning of the Overlook Trail. This trail had an abundance of poplar trees and several fallen trees covered with a brilliant white fungus. We got back to the car and checked our pedometers and we had hiked another 1.18 miles.
Do you share your adventures with your spouse on the weekends? What are your favorite activities to do?
Karen “Shoe”-less!