Perhaps I haven't properly introduced myself in this blog... Maybe you already know me! But if you don't, I can sum up a decent portion of who I am with four phrases: I love people; I love to eat; I love to cook; I treasure time in the outdoors; and I'm a vegan. All these objects of my affection have been part of my life at various points over the years. But it wasn't until recently that I had the chance to synchronize their benefits and enjoyment in a purposeful singular experience. Thanks to my sister (Bethany) and brother-in-law (David) for celebrating my birthday with me by planning a great hiking and camping trip for us! Where did we go to celebrate and commune with nature and each other? To the mountains, trees, creeks and trails of the Tioga State Forest in north-central Pennsylvania. It's not surprising that my beloved home state offers an endless number of forests; "sylvania" comes from the Latin word "sylva," which of course, means "woods." We've got William Penn to thank for giving this state such a topographically fitting name. Pennsylvania has a total of EIGHT state forests, but what drew us to Tioga State Forest (besides its proximity) was Pine Creek Gorge - the huge cavern that cuts through it. So vast is this gorge that its nickname is "The Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania." I'm sure it doesn't receive as many visitors as "the" Grand Canyon in Nevada, but I'm proud to have this national landmark in my own state, and we certainly didn't mind the absence of other noise-makers - err, um, people - tromping through the area with us.
Quiet, serene, and often mystically beautiful, hiking miles and miles up and down this green and brown landscape quickly reminded me that it had been awhile since I'd spent this much time in secluded wilderness. I was stunned and humbled by the minutia and grandeur. True, the more you look, the more you'll see. But it seemed like every few minutes I encountered a seemingly effortless presentation of unique sights, colors and natural treasures. Just a sample...
A fern-and-moss-infused fallen tree trunk:
Black coal hills and trails. Cool.
A cornucopia of mushrooms, of which this was just one:
All this was before lunch. Lunch? Oh yeah,
food! Our first lunch was pretty simple: sandwiches, mine being a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Like I said, pretty simple. Simply
delicious, that is! Lots of thick peanut butter and globs of elderberry jelly smushed between two dense and chewy slices of homemade bread. At the altitude of appoximately 1600 feet, after a few hours consisting mostly of ascents, I ate this sandwich with glee. After eating and relaxing for a few minutes, we checked out some of the crevices in our dining area.
Watch your step!
Some of these cracks in the earth were up to eight feet deep.
This little diversion didn't last too long, because we were set on getting more than halfway through our 15.7-mile hike before dinner.
A little while later, we paused for a few minutes to hear David read a history lesson and try to imagine how stones were transported and stacked to build this edifice:
We guessed that this stone foundation was originally part of a loading and unloading platform for the coal cars that once passed through this mountainside. Off to both sides were large stone columns that presumably carried the weight of the train tracks. It was hard to imagine the loud clackety-clack of steel and wood that must have echoed along this mountain pass years ago. Now, I could hear the sounds of my legs brushing past weeds, dirt mushing beneath my feet, and even my own breath.
And breathing did we do. You can see from this elevation profile that we had ventured on no easy trek (the difficulty rating was 144):
Stamina, mutual encouragement, inspiring views and a little bit of stretching propelled us forward. Well, up, down
and forward... and through. At the 7-mile mark of our hike, we came upon Stony Fork. We knew we would encounter this river, but really had no idea how deep it would be, given that our trail guide was recorded about five years ago. But we figured, best case scenario, we would traverse by hopping from rock to rock. In a nearly-as-easy scenario, we would take off our shoes and splash across. In the case that all the spring rains had flooded the river above knee-height, we'd go naked, carrying our bags on our heads. And in worst-case scenario, if the the river was impassable, we would turn south and hike along the river on level ground back down to the road and settle for a one-day hike.
Fortunately, the water was not quite knee-high. With our bare toes alternately gripping and slipping on stones, we all arrived on the opposite bank dry. Rejuvenated by the crispy cool water and knowing we were close to our camp (and dinner) site, we dried ourselves off and continued on.
We didn't go far, because we wanted to have water access for washing up ourselves and the dishes, as well as reloading our water supplies in the morning. While we were looking for a good place to set up camp, we saw this lagoon-colored portion of the river.
It's deep enough for jumping into.... but too cold this time of the year! And it would be a bit of a jump down!
So not far from the "lagoon," we found a clearing with flat ground for my tent, and well-spaced trees for Bethany and David's hammock.
While the fire was getting started, I took advantage of a few free minutes to get pictures of mushrooms!
I'd been seeing soooo many different kinds of mushrooms all throughout the day, but I barely took more than a second to take any pictures because I didn't want to slow down the trio. We kept up a great pace! So I plunked my tin-foil-covered dinner in among the flames and coals...
... and set off without the burden of my backpack to get some pics of toadstools!
I must have seen more than 20 different varieties of mushrooms in the span of eight hours! I wish I had a clue about mushrooming - finding edible mushrooms - so that I could have had some for my fireside dinner! Oh well, at least I did come prepared. The night before, I baked two potatoes in the microwave, sliced them open, and scooped in black beans, fresh basil and some spicy red pepper salsa.
I was hoping that it would taste good after a long day of hiking. I was not disappointed. I knew the baked "potato" would be a pretty reliable flavor, but I had no idea that the smoky goodness would permeate the black beans as well. What a serendipitous twist to my well-loved black bean flavor! Each spoonful of mashed up potato and savory black beans was like eating a whole new food. That, plus the red pepper kick, and the basil gave the whole package an extra bit of charm. I have a Welsh friend I met three years back, Lou, to thank for this dinner. She introduced me to the concept of "Jacket Potatoes." In the U.S. we have a limited menu of traditional baked potato "toppings" - butter, salt, maybe brocolli and cheese or bacon bits. None of that was gonna do for this vegan camping trip. But thankfully Lou had opened my eyes to putting pretty much anything inside a baked potato - I mean "jacket potato" - that you might think of putting on a sandwich, in a wrap, with rice, or with chips. So I came up with this smoky spicy black bean and basil jacket potato.
It was heavy to carry two of these babies in my backpack (I ate one and a half - Bethany and David happily ate up the rest), but they pulled their weight in nutrition and energy. One large baked potato, eaten with the skin, delivers 63g carbohydrates (21% DV), 7g Dietary Fiber (26% DV), 7g Protein, 4% DV Calcium, 48% DV Vitamin C, and 18% DV Iron. Carbolicious... and beyond! Just what I needed to refuel for Vegan Camping Day 2 - post coming soon!
Happy World Vegetarian Day and first day of Vegan MOFO (Vegan Month of Food)!! I'll be doing my best to blog as much as possible about vegan eating, vegan shopping and vegan living this whole month!
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