A Quick Review of 2018
This year ended up being much different than expected; mostly due to work eating up much more of my time than I had hoped. This meant condensing adventures to 24-36 hour stints when time and energy allowed. Fortunately my decision to stay close to some of my favorite public lands allowed me to work within these limitations. With seemingly endless opportunities for easy adventures at my doorstep, I managed to get out for a night in the woods at least once month and if I wasn’t camping I still took day trips nearly every week. This post is an attempt to collect my favorite moments from the summer.
Being Here
As many of you know home (aka Western NY/PA) has been one of my favorite places to be and a place I regularly retreat to for outdoor and family time. This has been my first opportunity as an adult to be fully immersed in this place for an entire year And it has not disappointed. This has meant being involved in everything from family visits, regular hikes with my mom, to simpler things like seeing the place change through the seasons.
Susquehannock Trail
Over the course of the summer I managed to hike all but a handful of miles of the STS and its numerous connector trails. Most of these were overnight adventures which connected sections of trail and various side trails allowing me to explore a huge swath of some of the prettiest woods in Pennsylvania.
Gravel Exploring
Many of my day trips were on a bike, using public use maps to explore gravel roads and trails in the state forests around the area. While hiking allows you to see many parts of forest the bike opens up huge swaths of forest on scenic roads and trails that wouldn’t be enjoyable to hike. On the bike I explored new state forests I didn’t know well and new corners of forests I thought I knew well.
Out of state adventures
I was able to go on a few longer trips to some of my favorite places with good friends. This included biking trips to North Carolina and West Virginia and a short hiking trip to Vermont. These were limited trips but were some of the biggest highlights of the summer.
