Adventuring Back to Deep Creek Lake

Friday, 13 September

After saying our goodbyes to our many Roadtrek friends, Sprinty headed northwest back to Westminster, MA so Kris and Darrell could play the Westminster Golf Course again. This is the same course they played on Monday on the way to the Roadtrek rally.

Based on the comment by the golf pro last Monday about no one really making tee times, we did not make a tee time in advance. In part because we did not know what time we would actually depart the farewell breakfast, and did not know what the Boston area traffic would be like.

We enjoyed light traffic for a workday as we traveled up I-495, and arrived at the golf course about 10am. There was an opening, so as soon as we loaded up, we were able to start.

We both hit decent tee shots on the first hole, which Kris was able to convert to a par and take the lead. Kris played her consistent game like last Monday, while Darrell kept looking for the game he had Monday. It took him 6 holes to catch Kris, and we made the turn with Darrell up by only one stoke.

Kris picked up shots on 11 (par) and 12 (birdie) to take the lead. Darrell slowly started to catch her, and on the final hole, Darrell was behind by one stroke. He chipped in for a birdie on the last hole to Kris' par to tie for the day.

After golf, we enjoyed another yummy lunch in the restaurant. As we had started and finished golf earlier than expected, Darrell selected some new options for where Sprinty would spend the night.

We headed west on Massachusetts Highway 2 which is also the Mohawk Trail.

From Wikipedia (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohawk_Trail):

• "The Mohawk Trail began as a Native American trade route which connected Atlantic tribes with tribes in Upstate New York and beyond. It followed the Millers River, Deerfield River and crossed the Hoosac Range, in the area that is now northwestern Massachusetts. Today the Mohawk Trail is a part of Routes 2 and 2A. It follows much of the original Indian trail, from Westminster, Massachusetts to Williamstown, Massachusetts, for about 69 miles (111 km), and passes through the communities of Orange, Erving, Gill, Greenfield, Shelburne, Buckland, Charlemont, Savoy, Florida and North Adams. The Berkshire mountains are clearly visible from several points. The modern day Mohawk Trail is considered one of the most beautiful drives in Massachusetts."

After about 30 minutes, we saw a sign for Starbucks at the next exit. As we had tied, neither of us had made an effort to find a Starbucks before leaving the golf course. We stopped anyway and enjoyed a post-round treat.

It was indeed a very scenic drive with fairly light traffic. Sprinty enjoyed the drive as well, turning in over 20mpg for the afternoon.

Along the way, we saw a first: a sign saying trucks to use shoulder lane as the slow lane climbing hill. We are accustomed to seeing a truck lane on steep uphills, but this was the first time we have seen the shoulder lane being designated as a slow truck lane.

Our Plan A for the night was the Historic Valley Park Campground in North Adams, MA. It is a city park/campground. Even though it was a Friday, Darrell decided to just show up. We arrived before 5pm, which was before the office closing time and were given many choices of sites. The staff suggested a site that was very nice, but the electric hookup would have required an extension which we don't have. So we picked the one across from it. A nice wooded water/electric site. Of 20 sites in this loop, only about 6 are occupied tonight.

An unexpected benefit was campground WiFi. While not quite residential quality, it was decent enough to stream video using the WiFi booster. The campground also has one or two bars cell signal on Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile.

Saturday, 14 September

With rain forecast for most of the day, we did some adventuring as we traveled in a west-southwest direction. First stop was the nearby Walmart for some provisions. In part because our first adventure of the day was nearby and did not open until 9am.

The first adventure of the day was Natural Bridge State Park located on the north side of North Adams, MA. Natural Bridge State Park was the site of a major marble quarry from 1810 until 1947. The park offers visitors the opportunity to tour the abandoned quarry and see the only marble dam in North America.

In 1947, the quarry was yielding 200 tons of stone a day when the buildings on the site were destroyed by fire. The owner of the quarry sold it to Edward Elder who managed the area as a tourist attraction until his death in 1984. The following year, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management purchased the site from his widow.

The marble dam, built in the early 1800s, is the only white marble dam in North America. The water store behind the damn flowed through a cement-covered pipe (the Penstock) to power the Hoosac marble mill.

Photo of the marble dam and part of the Chasm:

There is also a natural marble bridge. It is the only marble bridge in North America. It is 15 feet thick and spans a distance of 30 feet across the chasm.

Photo of natural bridge

Below the natural bridge is the remains of the quarry.

After leaving the State Park, Sprinty continued west on Highway 2, and entered the state of New York. Making our way to Albany, our objective was to visit the New York State Museum. The first challenge was navigating the unexpected detour as the exit to Empire Plaza from I-790 was closed for road work. The detour was signed, and it was very helpful to have Kris locate and call out the signs as we circled around at least two full turns and crossing the river twice.

Finally arriving at Empire Plaza, Google Maps was directing us to the parking garages underneath Empire Plaza, which had height limits that Sprinty could not get under despite his best limbo efforts. We had to get back on the interstate and go to the next exit, then navigate surface streets to find street level parking lots adjacent to the museum.

The New York State Museum was very nicely done. Exhibits were well spaced to handle large groups of people, even though there weren't too many visitors today. Exhibits included the Adirondack Wilderness, minerals of New York, birds of New York, native peoples of New York, New York Metropolis, and the World Trade Center. We probably only skimmed the museum in the 90 minutes we were there.

Albany is one of the oldest European cities in North America. A permanent settlement was established in 1614 on Castle Island and continuous settlement began in 1624 with the establishment of Fort Orange by the Dutch West Indies Company. Albany was a significant fur trading port (beaver pelts) for the Dutch.

One of the interesting exhibits had to do with the role of rum in the Colonies. Under British rule, rum consumption increased from less than 1 gallon to more than 4 gallons per year for every colonist, twice the modern consumption rate of all distilled spirits in the United States.

Britain tried to stop the rum trade with the French plantations with the Sugar Act of 1764 which contributed to the tension that led to the American Revolution. Both sides in the Revolutionary War issued rum to their troops, but the British control of the Atlantic trade created shortages for the Continental Army. George Washington wanted to establish grain distilleries for the military. The substitution of whiskey for rum provided a homegrown alcoholic beverage. It became the most popular drink in the United States following the Revolutionary War.

Another very interesting exhibit had to do with the New York underground. An exhibit showed the typical utilities, transportation, sewage and water that run underneath the city of New York.

After our visit to the museum, we cross the street and went up into Empire Plaza. From there, we took a picture of the museum that houses the New York Library, the New York Archives, and the New York State Museum.

We walked around in Empire Plaza taking note of the reflection ponds, the four tall government buildings on the west side, the Corning Tower on the east side and The Egg, a performing arts center.

After leaving Albany, we chose to avoid the interstates and drive the back roads. We made our way to Cairo, NY, located on the north side of the Catskill Forest Preserve. We then turned west, and followed the northern side of the Catskill Forest Preserve, and then turned south making our way to Roscoe, NY. Along the way, we enjoyed a very scenic drive taking note of the trees just starting to turn color. Interestingly, the colors seemed to be turning more as we got further west. At times, the drive reminded us of Skyline Drive in Virginia. It rained off and on all day after we left Albany, and we had gusty winds all day - which would have made golf today more challenging and chillier than we prefer.

Making our way towards Pennsylvania, we were looking for a campground for the night. Already some campgrounds in the area have closed for the season. Others lacked reviews upon which to select in advance. Still others were located in areas without cell signal.

We wound up picking Russell Brook Campsites in Roscoe, NY, thinking it would have cell signal based on the AllStays app icon proximity to New York Highway 17. When we turned off Highway 17, we had three and four bars LTE. As we neared the campground, it became evident that the icon location was out of place (second time that happened in 30 minutes) and upon arriving at the campground we found no cell signal. By now it was almost 5pm and we were done looking for a place for the night. And being a Saturday, we were glad to be able to find a place without having advance reservations.

Sprinty got a very quiet, water/electric campsite by the water which made up a bit for the cost, lack of cell signal, lack of WiFi, and tired facilities.

Fortunately, there was WiFi down by the office, so Darrell walked down and was able to make a plan for the next two or three days. Not knowing where we would stop for tonight until we stopped for the night made it hard to plan tomorrow.

Sunday, 15 September

After a quiet night with occasional rain, we were ready to play some golf. As we planned to head for a state park south of Scranton, PA, Darrell's trip planning done last evening on the campground WiFi under the eave of a camp building in the rain found a couple of potential golf courses to play about an hour away.

Our first choice, which worked out, was Panorama Golf Course in Forest City, PA. It was an 18-hole course with a senior rate on weekends. We drove the back roads to get there, enjoying the early Fall colors in some of the trees.

When we arrived, the parking lot was about half full, but almost no one in the queue to get started. They said we could go right off after a two-some that was just heading for the tee box. We were able to do a few practice chips and putts, then we were up. We both started well, making par on the first hole. It took Darrell the entire front nine to get a couple of strokes ahead. We both struggled a bit with putting trying to get used to the greens speed. On the back nine, Kris was gaining until she had uncharacteristic (for Kris) tree trouble on the 15th hole. Kris played well, however Darrell's birdie on the 18th hole secured honors for him today.

The pace of play was about 4 hours, which is to be expected for a Sunday with good weather.

Our destination for the day was Hickory Run State Park Campground in White Haven, PA. As the route passed by Scranton, PA, Darrell was able to treat Kris to a Frappuccino at a Starbucks. The easy part was navigating to the Starbucks. Getting back on the road turned into a bit of a challenge. There was road work on I-81 just past the Starbucks exit which resulted in no merge lane onto I-81 South. The prospect of trying to coax Sprinty to 60+mph from a standing start in about 50 feet into moderate traffic was not appealing.

Google Maps offered an alternative, however, I-476 is a toll road that did not take cash - only EZPass, something Sprinty does not have. Fortunately, we saw the signs before we got on, so we could make yet another plan. After wandering in a couple of circles, we got on I-81 south further south of the no-merge entrance ramp and had an uneventful drive to Hickory Run State Park.

Arriving at the park, we decided to stop at the park office to pick up some information for planning our activities here in case we did not have internet. Good thing we stopped - the normal campground office is closed for renovation, so the park office is where you register get a campsite.

Sprinty got a nice, fairly level, wooded site in the water/electric loop. The site also had cell signal - 2 bars Verizon, 2 bars T-Mobile, and one bar AT&T. Good enough to refine our travel plans for the next few days and stream video.

We also scouted out sites in the two water/electric loops in case we wanted to return tomorrow night. The site we are in is slightly sloped, and we looked for a site that was better sloped for how we like to orient Sprinty. A just in case effort.

Monday, 16 September

Our first priority today was adventuring in Hickory Run State Park. We learned of the adventuring opportunities from Dave and Irene Carey's recent YouTube video (Carey on Vagabond) where they visited the park (see link below).

One of the unique features is the Boulder Field. Reviewing the information we got at the park office yesterday, we confirmed we could drive to the Boulder Field via 2.8 miles of unpaved road, each way (vice having to hike to it). As the Carey's had made this trip in their Roadtrek, we knew Sprinty could handle it as well. The road was fairly good, well-graded for most of it, with occasional pot holes to dodge. Similar to the descriptions of some of the roads in Alaska.

Excerpt from Wikipedia (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hickory_Run_State_Park)

• The most notable feature of Hickory Run State Park is the huge boulder field located in the northeast corner of the park. The boulder field can be reached by car on Boulder Field Road or by hiking the 3.5-mile long Boulder Field Trail from the trailhead on SR 534. The field comprises about 720,000 square feet (16.5 acres) in area (1,800 feet east-west by 400 feet north-south). The top of the boulder layer is virtually level with the approaching path. This boulder field, known as the Hickory Run boulder field, is the largest of its kind in the Appalachian region. It consists of a very gently sloping expanse of boulders that occupies axis of a small valley with approximately 100-foot of relief. A coniferous forest with stony loam soils surrounds the Hickory Run boulder field. The boulders in the Hickory Run boulder field range from less than 3-foot to more than 30-foot in length. They consist of hard, gray-red, medium-grained sandstone and conglomeratic sandstone from the Catskill Formation which forms the adjacent ridgelines. The boulders at the northeast, upslope, end of the boulder field are generally more angular than those found downslope to the southwest. In the southwest part of the boulder field, boulders are typically subrounded and overlie a layer of small, polished clasts with a red weathering rind. To the southeast, there is a distinct group of boulders, which are less than 15-foot long. They appear to be bedrock that is shattered in situ.

The Boulder Field was very interesting. Reminded us a bit of Devil's Golf Course in Death Valley. The boulders were much smoother than the rocks in Death Valley, but as we walked out into the boulder field (jumping from rock to rock), we had to think around the consequences of a missed jump. Fortunately, no missed jumps by either of us.

Our next adventure was to hike the Shades of Death trail. The park brochure indicated it was 1 mile long and rated as "most difficult hiking." We were not sure about the difficulty rating, and guessed it was a relative rating, not an absolute rating. The brochure also said:

• "Although it has a gruesome name (attributed to the thick forest and rough terrain experience by the early settlers), this is probably the most picturesque trail in the park. This rocky trail follows Sand Spring run and meanders through rhododendron tickets and unique rock formations. There are also remains of logging mills and dams dating back to the early 1800s.

Parking for the hike is by the amphitheater off PA 534 or by the park office. Initially we thought we would start at the higher end (by the amphitheater), but later decided to park by the park office and hike up. We are glad we chose to start at the bottom. We walked along the stream for most of the hike.

The top end of the hike runs into PA 534, and we decided to walk back to Sprinty at the park office along the road. It was a little easier navigating the hill down by walking along the road than to navigate the roots and rocks we walked over on the way up. Even so, we can report that the "most difficult hiking" rating is a relative rating as we found the hike very doable, although it required navigating some steep slopes with rocks and roots to navigate.

Here is a link to the Carey on Vagabond video that served as the inspiration for making Hickory Run State Park our adventure destination today: https://youtu.be/jOhfm1gqnUQ. They had said it was the best hike - and as they had assessed the hike at Buttermilk Falls State Park (which we did in July) as "the best hike ever", we figured a "best hike" rating from them meant it was pretty good. It was.

Finishing the hike just before 11am left us time to play golf at Mountain Laurel Golf Club located a few miles away in White Haven, PA. The web site indicated a senior rate of $30 with a cart on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. When we arrived, the parking lot was only about 1/3 full, and we saw no one waiting to tee off. The Pro Shop said we could get right on, so we loaded up and headed for the first tee without any practice hitting, chipping or putting.

We both started well, both making par on the first hole. Darrell made a birdie on the next hole to take the lead. Kris stayed steady and putted better to make the turn ahead at three over par. The 10th hole was tricky with an island green. Kris found the water which allowed Darrell to tie it up. Kris bounced right back and it took Darrell until the 16th hole to tie it up again. A par on the final hole helped Darrell take honors for the day.

Finishing golf at a reasonable hour opened up some choices of where to spend the night. Factoring in that the closest Starbucks was enroute to another campground an hour away (about halfway there), we decided not to spend the night at Hickory Run State Park. We elected to not backtrack after a Starbucks visit.

We picked Locust Lake State Park Campground in Barnesville, PA, as our destination in part because it was on our way to Ashland, PA. The web site indicated lots of non-electric sites available. The electric site loops were closed (maybe for the season? maybe for repairs?). We chose to drive the back roads as Google Maps indicated it was only 10 minutes longer than taking I-81.

When we arrived, the park staff advised that their water main was under repair and there was no water in the campground at all. Our backup plan was a Harvest Hosts place (also non-hookup), but when we tried to call at 5pm, we did not get an answer (they closed at 3pm). The park staff recommended a campsite about 30 minutes down I-81 which had good reviews on AllStays. After some thought, we decided to just stay at Locust Lake State Park Campground for the night.

The park staff let us drive down to the sites, pick one, and call back to the office to pay for the site. Most of the sites were very sloped and Sprinty would have been most uncomfortable. Not unexpected as the review on AllStays dinged this park for unlevel sites. We found a suitable site and called back to the office. Being a regular in ReserveAmerica made it real easy to register by phone as most of our info was already in the system.

Later on, the Ranger stopped by with the paperwork. Sprinty is one of maybe a dozen campers in the campground tonight, out of 50 sites. Being a weekday, no hookups, and no water are likely contributors.

As the park is fairly close to I-81, we had a usable cell signal on Verizon and AT&T, and even got to coax some video streaming on T-Mobile.

Tuesday, 17 September

Another quiet night - which you expect when the campground is almost empty. As we left the campground, we were both struck with the beauty and peacefulness of the lake.

First adventure of the day was the Anthracite Heritage Museum (http://www.anthracitemuseum.org) in Ashland, PA, about 40 minutes away. We had conflicting information on the operating hours - the museum web site indicated it opened at 9am, while Google Maps said it opened at 8:30. We arrived just before 9am, and were allowed in. The museum had a nice collection of exhibits which explained what anthracite coal was, why it was found in this area of Pennsylvania, how it was mined, etc.

We finished up just before 10am, which was the opening time for the Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine located a block away. The web site (and answering machine) said they had three mine tours a day on weekdays: 11am; 12:30pm; 2:00pm. Our original goal was to get on the first tour at 11am.

As we walked up to the Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine building, we saw a tour bus by the building, and a lot of people using the restroom in a nearby building. We headed inside to purchase our tour tickets and learned that there might be room on the second tour for the bus folks.

The group were Sierra Club members from California. Their group was big enough they broke it into two parts. The Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine was putting on a special tour for them. So we joined the second group waiting to board the mine car.

We boarded the mine car and decided to sit all the way in the front.

We lucked out, there was room on the second tour so we entered the mine at about 10:25am. The mine car took us 1,800 feet into the mountain. The ride was very bumpy, just as the signs at the ticket counter said (and as Dave and Irene Carey said it was). The bumpiness is due to flat spots on the mine cars (which are original) and minimally maintained track system (since the mine closed in 1931). We entered and toured on the third level of the mine, which was 400 feet below the surface at the stopping point. The second level was 300 feet below the first, and the first level was another 300 feet below the second level.

Our guide pointed out ladders and chutes used in mining the anthracite coal. 

The anthracite coal veins in this mine were quite sloped - the mammoth vein of coal - the Buck Mountain vein - is the largest vein of anthracite coal in the world, and has a slope of 80 degrees. It measures 55 feet thick in this mine.

The anthracite coal veins run east-west, so the mine tunnels run north-south to intersect the veins. One of the veins we saw was the Little Buck Mountain vein, which is the vein that is currently burning underground in Centralia, PA. Our guide assured us that the fire of burning coal was moving away from Ashland.

The Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine started operations in 1911, and closed in 1931. Our guide said it was because of the depression.

At the end of the main tunnel, our guide explained how they loaded the coal from the chutes into the mine cars, used mules to take the mine cars to a point near the entrance to the mine, then let gravity take the cars out of the mines. Mules were not allowed to go out of the mine for fear they could contract illnesses or diseases.

Anthracite coal is used in a variety of ways: burning in furnaces for heat, for making carbon steel, and even in carbon filters like Brittany water filters.

There are currently six anthracite deep coal mines in operation, down from twelve in operation four years ago. Most coal, including anthracite, is mined via strip mines.

Once again, we are grateful for the adventuring by Dave and Irene Carey (Carey on Vagabond) as their recent YouTube video (same video what we learned about the Boulder Field: https://youtu.be/jOhfm1gqnUQ) is how we learned of this adventure.

Finishing up at the Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine earlier than anticipated meant we could add golf to the day's adventures. While there were no golf courses in the Ashland, PA area (due to the mountainous terrain? maybe coal miners don't play golf?), we had a list of possible courses to play about an hour west of Ashland, which was our general travel towards Deep Creek Lake.

We headed for Deer Valley Golf Course in Hummelstown, PA, just east of Hershey, PA. As we drove up, we saw lots of golfers out on the course, but were optimistic as a check of their on-line tee times showed lots of open slots for the afternoon.

We got right on, and played at our pace until the 12th hole. Shot for shot, we stayed close, both making par on the first hole, and both making birdie on the short par-5 second hole. We made the turn tied up at 5 over par. We both continued to play well, although Darrell managed to pick up two strokes on the back nine to have honors, finishing at 8 over par for the day. Kris grumbled a bit about shooting an 82 and not getting to buy.

Too late for Starbucks, but plenty of day left, so we stretched a bit to continue westerly another hour-and-a-half to Cowans Gap State Park Campground near Fort Loudon, PA. Anticipating that we might not have cell signal in the campground, we did some quick planning of tomorrow including making a tee time.

We arrived about 6pm after the park office had closed. We picked up a campground map and consulted with the site availability list (nearly every site was vacant) and went looking for a suitably sloped site. Most of the sites were too sloped for us, and many sloped the wrong way to back in. After reviewing a lot of sites, we selected a non-electric site in the B Loop. Partly because it had a one bar Verizon 3G signal that we might be able to boost using our Weboost cell booster.

We had slight connectivity for the evening - enough to check emails, text with family and friends, and stream a couple of short videos with periodic buffering.

Wednesday, 18 September

As it was somewhat on the way back, we decided to play golf at the Down River Golf and Country Club in Everett, PA - the same course we played on the first day of this trip. We don't often get to play the same course twice as we adventure about, so this was an opportunity. It also helped that they had a good special rate going on.

We both started well, and played well. Throughout the first nine holes, we were tied or within one stroke of each other. Darrell was up by one stroke at the turn. The back nine was similar - one of us would gain a stroke, then the other caught back up a hole or two later. Early in the back nine, Darrell thought to himself that it would by a nice way to finish our trip if we both played well and we tied. And on the 15th hole, when Kris tied it up, Darrell shifted his thinking to hoping we would finish tied as Kris has a habit of coming in strong at the end of a round. We halved the final three holes to tie for the day.

Even though it was a tie, Darrell still owed from yesterday, so we backtracked the 7 miles to Breezewood, PA for the only Starbucks nearby. Debts paid, we headed back to Deep Creek Lake, stopping for groceries needed at the lake.

Today was our final day of this adventure which started 5,831 miles and just over nine weeks ago on the 15th of July. Lots of adventures, some golf, lots of memories, and new friends made. Seven states (Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts) and four Canadian Provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec). Another amazing journey.

Here is a link to a MyMaps layer which shows all the places Sprinty camped. The blue tent-shaped icons are the stops on the way to Bar Harbor, the red caravan-shaped icons are the stops on the Fantasy RV Caravan Tour, and the green tent-shaped icons are the stops on the way back to Deep Creek Lake.

2019 Canadian Maritime Adventure - https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1NyIG8vozrTWhl4G21mjF1QifxfESZafc&usp=sharing