Plans for this spring: Cranberry Wilderness

Well, it is that time of year again, the air is warmer, the birds are returning and people like myself start making plans to head off into the woods again. This spring has found me dreaming of a "bucket list" hike.

Over ten years ago I read an article in Backpacker Magazine about the Cranberry Wilderness in the southern part of the Monongahela National Forest (MNF) ( You can find a more recent write up at Backpacker.com )  Please continue reading after the jump for more!

Bureaurcracy - A Creeping Menace

One of the pleasures I get from backpacking, or just being in the out-of-doors in general, is the feeling of freedom. To me being away from technology, the interconnectedness of the new world, and the press of society at large allows a burden to be lifted from my shoulders. Out in the wild areas you are beholden to no one. Your schedule is set by the sun and your stomach alone.

In this day and age, the ability to cast aside the yolk of society, even if temporarily, is a huge relief. It just seems that in day-to-day life the bureaucracy all around us is getting worse. I'm not making a comment on Democratic or Republican control of the government either. Bureaucracy is an ever growing phenomenon in our society that involves not only government, but corporations big and small. From going to see your doctor, to getting plates for your car, to trying to get adequate phone service, to making sure you are in compliance with regulations in our parks systems.

Had a long weekend - Here's some links.

I had a long weekend, which I will write about soon. In the meantime, here's some links to other sites I enjoy.

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The Nutnfancy Project:
http://www.youtube.com/user/nutnfancy

This guy has great gear reviews. Very prolific. He's more of a para-military style backpacker so if you do not want to know about firearms, please don't visit. I like his stuff though.

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Northeast Ohio Backpacking Club:
http://www.neohbackpackingclub.com/gpsLib.aspx

This is the NEO BP club's repository of GPX tracks. Great resource for trails in Ohio, Western Pennsylvania and parts of West Virginia. There are also some other trails stuck in there.

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Mohican Memorial State Forest
http://www.backpackohio.com/mohican.html

Did you know that Mohican State Park had a backpacking trail? Neither did I until I found this site. I've been to the lodge several times, but I have yet to try out this area for backpacking. Trust me, it is on the "To-Do" list.

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Backpack the Cuyahoga Valley National Park
http://www.nps.gov/cuva/cuyahoga-valley-ed-venture-group.htm
http://www.cvnpa.org/ExtraordinarySpaces/OtherServices.aspx <-- See bottom of page!

The Park service just recently added backpacking to the list of activities that you can participate in within the boundaries of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I love hiking in the CVNR so I am looking into backpacking there as well. Check out this link!

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Midatlantichikes.com
http://www.midatlantichikes.com/

This is a great resource for trail reviews and GPX files for trails in the Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia area.

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That's it for now. I will be posting again soon.

The Zaleski Backpacking Trail - Beautiful Misery

Thanks to Facebook (a website that I loath, but still get too much benefit from to ditch completely) I was able to reconnect with a college acquaintance whom is an enthusiastic outdoorsman. Through some Facebook messages and some IM conversations I was able to get myself invited to go along on a backpacking trip he was planning. This was to take place in April of 2009.

I was extremely excited. This would be my first backpacking trip in several years. I immediately started digging through all of my equipment. I got my pack out and sleeping bag. I discovered what equipment I had and what I had lost in our last two moves. I also purchased some new gear; an MSR Blacklite Gourmet Cookset and the MSR Alpine Kitchen Set.