What better way to spend Earth Day than out hiking in nature itself? Is there a better way to spend Earth Day then… actually spending time with the Earth? Its like visiting your mother on mother’s day, or watching a baseball game with your dad on father’s day. Its what you do.

Thats called “being a good kid” or “being a good offspring”.

This is the second “hike review” here on the blog. I’ve covered Hawk Rock before (Hiking Hawk Rock and Visiting Liquid Noise) as a bit of a travelogue. Liquid Noise, the brewery, in Marysville is right on the way to and from Hawk Rock (if traveling to / from Harrisburg) and makes for a great re-hydration spot and refreshment location.

My previous “hike review” was the Rattling Run and Walking Tank Trail which you can read there by clicking that link.

Earth Day

Earth Day 2021 was a bit windy, “blustery” as one might say, but not horrible, a slight chill with the wind, but not too bad. Still a great day for hiking with my favorite trusty puppy friend. By now, I like to think most people know what Earth Day is, or at least that its “a day”. Not that its an incredibly special day, there’s no fireworks, most people still have to go to school on it, etc, but its still a ‘notable day’. But for those interested, here’s some more information, as per Wikipedia:

“Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org (formerly Earth Day Network)^[1] including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries.^[1][2]” (Source: Earth Day – Wikipedia) (I’ll include a longer passage from the site later on in the article.)

Years ago, on Earth Day, Troegs Independent Brewing in Hershey gave away free hop rhizomes. Two consecutive years, at their Hershey brewery on Earth Day, if you bought a draft of Cultivator you could get a can that was filled with topsoil and had a hop rhizome in it. The one year it was Chinook and the other year it was Saaz. They might have done it more than those two years, but those are the ones I’m aware of / and went and participated in.

Hawk Rock

Hawk Rock is a beautiful vista view that’s in Duncannon / Marysville Pennsylvania. It’s a vista just off of the Appalachian Trail, as well as its own trail from a trailhead at the base of the hill. If you go up past the lookout view of Hawk Rock, there is the Appalachian Trail (the AT) and that stretches in both directions and provides some nice views and hiking as well. Most travelers to Hawk Rock go for just the climb to the vista and back down, and its a relatively easy to moderate climb, and not too far either (1.9 Miles according to AllTrails). It has a few steep (and really, thats stretching the term a bit) areas on the climb up, but for the most part, its moderately difficult at best. There’s a lot of rock cut steps and it does switch – back on itself a fair bit, but its a pretty steady, easy climb.

Most vista views aren’t this easy, or as short of a distance either, so this is perfect for someone just wanting a nice quick, somewhat taxing view. A good hike and climb that will make you ‘feel like you did something’ or ‘accomplished’ a goal despite not having to do that hard of a workout. Plus, the view is incredible from the top, at all times of the year, and especially at sunset.

Speaking of sunsets:

Lead Up

I had wanted to take pup dog (Leela) out for our hike earlier in the day, but due to a slow morning start, and then getting a call that my daughter was needed to be taken to a doctor’s appointment, it didn’t happen until a bit later. So after running some errands and taking my daughter to her appointment, and dropping her back off with the ex-wife I took Leela to Hawk Rock. From Hummelstown, its roughly a 30 minute drive (Google Maps will say anywhere from 30 – 35 minutes depending on time of day). I arrived at the parking area at the base of the trail at 5:20PM.

Hawk Trail via Appalachian Trail

Hike: Hawk Trail via Appalachian Trail
Location: State Game Lands Number 290
Near: Duncannon, Perry County, Pennsylvania
Length: 1.9 Miles (as per AllTrails)
Elevation Gain: 761 Feet Gain (as per AllTrails)
Route Type: Out and Back
AllTrails Map: Hawk Rock via Appalachian Trail
AllTrails Description: Hawk Rock via Appalachian Trail is a 1.9 mile heavily trafficked out and back trail located near Duncannon, Pennsylvania that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking, walking, nature trips, and bird watching and is best used from March until October. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.

The Hike

As you can see, I didn’t just do the 1.9 miles of the Hawk Rock trail that AllTrails shows. I decided I would hike and walk some of the Appalachian Trail as well. Why not right? Beautiful day and night and a beautiful scenic area. Why not hike it! Plus its Earth Day afterall!

At the start of the hike, at the foot of the trailhead, I could immediately hear the sound of a woodpecker. and sure enough, about two minutes onto the trail, there he was.

I tried taking a video of him as he ‘worked’ on the tree, but of course he just stared at me instead, so I left him be and continued my hike up to the Hawk Rock vista with Leela. The walk up was pretty uneventful, only passing one older (I would say late 60s) couple.

Got to the top – (well, the vista outlook, there’s a small incline to go yet to get to the Appalachian Trail) – and as always, the view was amazing and wonderful, and Leela was a good sport posing for me – to the best of her ability – while I took some pictures.

I sat and enjoyed the view and my time with Leela for a bit, until another couple came up, and I then took my leave and went up the small incline to the Appalachian Trail. I first took it out towards the river, where I know there’s another outlook and view over the river. From here, there is the trail down to get back to the road and to continue on with the Appalachian Trail, but I instead turned back and went the way I came, then passing the spur to get back to Hawk Rock, I kept going as if I was on my way to Cove Shelter. The way out was uneventful… but the way back… was at least… new to me.

I was going to keep going for a while, but it was starting to get late, and doing the mental math of my walking and time, I figured it’d be a bit after 8PM til I came down from the mountain (and with no tablets and commandments to show for it!), so instead of going as far as I’ve gone before in this direction, I turned back towards the spur for Hawk Rock.

On the way back, around 7:15-7:30PM, I encountered… for the first time in the wild… Mr…..

Mr. Porcupine. This was my first time encountering one in the wild. Was very interesting to see one, and relatively up close (at about a distance of 15 feet or so). I quickly grabbed Leela’s leash (because up on the trail I had left her go, but hadn’t unhooked her leash just in case), and she also immediately saw the animal. Leela isn’t an extremely excitable dog, nor is she very aggressive, but I was still taking no chances, especially with the limited knowledge I have of porcupines. But, luckily, she too was in the ‘cautious’ frame of mind, and kind of stayed behind me and kept a close distance to me behind my legs, as we skirted the path and area around the porcupine. It turned its back on us, which I was pretty sure wasn’t going to be a good sign, but he stayed still, and then as we kept moving, he went back to his foraging, and we kept on our way.

We then made it back to Hawk Rock just in time for a gorgeous sunset. This is about the fourth or fifth time I’ve visited Hawk Rock now, and each time I just can’t get enough of the view, especially at sunset, always gorgeous, no matter what time of year.

I then made my way down the mountain and back to my car. Sadly, like I said, there was no commandments or tablets given to me up on the mountain, and I didn’t look like a man who had led people in a desert for forty years, but all the same, it was a wonderful trip and hike, and a great view and was a much needed refresher for the lungs, brain, feet, body, and soul.

If you are ever in the Duncannon, Marysville, or Perry County area, I highly recommend this small hike. It has a gorgeous view, it is moderately tough to get your blood pumping a bit at least and to make you think like your working hard, and just offers a wonderful getaway from the hustle and bustle of life. Also, nearby is Perry County’s first brewery – Liquid Noise, so give them a visit as well for some tasty re-hydration brewskies.

As always, thanks for reading everyone, hope you enjoy these hike reviews, there will be more to come. As well as more travelogues, brewery visits, beer reviews, brewery news, book reviews, and more, so be sure to check us out regularly, and to make sure to stop by and see what all we got going on. You can read on for more information from Wikipedia about Earth Day and Porcupines. Hope you all had a wonderful Earth Day as well, let us know what you did on Earth Day in the comments section!

Cheers!

More Information

Earth Day:

Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org (formerly Earth Day Network)^[1] including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries.^[1][2]

In 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, peace activist John McConnell proposed a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to first be observed on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. This day of nature’s equipoise was later sanctioned in a proclamation written by McConnell and signed by Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations. A month later United States Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed the idea to hold a nationwide environmental teach-in on April 22, 1970. He hired a young activist, Denis Hayes, to be the National Coordinator. Nelson and Hayes renamed the event “Earth Day”. Denis and his staff grew the event beyond the original idea for a teach-in to include the entire United States. More than 20 million people poured out on the streets, and the first Earth Day remains the largest single day protest in human history. Key non-environmentally focused partners played major roles. Under the leadership of labor leader Walter Reuther, for example, the United Auto Workers (UAW) was the most instrumental outside financial and operational supporter of the first Earth Day.^[3][4][5] According to Hayes, “Without the UAW, the first Earth Day would have likely flopped!”^[6] Nelson was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom award in recognition of his work.^[7]

The first Earth Day was focused on the United States. In 1990, Denis Hayes, the original national coordinator in 1970, took it international and organized events in 141 nations.^[8][9][10]

On Earth Day 2016, the landmark Paris Agreement was signed by the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and 120 other countries. This signing satisfied a key requirement for the entry into force of the historic draft climate protection treaty adopted by consensus of the 195 nations present at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.

Numerous communities engaged in Earth Day Week actions, an entire week of activities focused on the environmental issues that the world faces.^[11] On Earth Day 2020, over 100 million people around the world observed the 50th anniversary in what is being referred to as the largest online mass mobilization in history.^[2] (Source: Earth Day – Wikipedia)

Porcupines:

Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two families of animals: the Old World porcupines of family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines of family Erethizontidae. Both families belong to the infraorder Hystricognathi within the profoundly diverse order Rodentia and display superficially similar coats of quills. Despite this, the two groups are distinct from one another and are not closely related to each other within the Hystricognathi. The largest species of porcupine is the third-largest living rodent in the world after the capybara and beaver.

The Old World porcupines live in Southern Europe, Asia (western^[1] and southern), and most of Africa. They are large, terrestrial, and strictly nocturnal. In taxonomic terms, they form the family Hystricidae.

The New World porcupines are indigenous to North America and northern South America. They live in wooded areas and can climb trees, where some species spend their entire lives. They are less strictly nocturnal than their Old World relatives, and generally smaller. In taxonomic terms, they form the family Erethizontidae.

Most porcupines are about 60–90 cm (25–36 in) long, with a 20–25 cm (8–10 in) long tail. Weighing 5–16 kg (12–35 lb), they are rounded, large, and slow, and use an aposematic strategy of defence. Porcupines’ colouration consists of various shades of brown, grey and white. Porcupines’ spiny protection resembles that of the unrelated erinaceomorph hedgehogs and Australian monotreme echidnas as well as tenrecid tenrecs. (Source: Porcupine – Wikipedia)

Hawk Rock
Hawk Rock via Appalachian Trail is a 1.9 mile heavily trafficked out and back trail located near Duncannon, Pennsylvania that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking, walking, nature trips, and bird watching and is best used from March until October. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash. (AllTrails)

Thanks for reading everyone!

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Hiking Posts

Just like we recently launched our “book review” section of the blog (for non – beer related books anyway, I had previously done a beer book review, and planning on doing more in the future), this launches our “hiking” blog posts section. There are a few hiking and brewery travelogue posts that you can find here on the site (Rickett’s Glen) as well as some where we visited a battlefield or location and then nearby breweries (Gettysburg and Monocacy).

But this is the beginning of a series of just “hiking” posts, where I discuss a trail (or more, depending on the hike) and how it was, where it is, etc. I take my dog (Leela) hiking, as well as go hiking by myself a lot, usually once per week, sometimes once every two weeks, depending on work, activities, kids, etc.

The hiking blog posts will be pretty similar to the book reviews and beer reviews done on the site. I’ll detail the hike I did, the hike’s path, and upload a picture of the route I take, as well as link to AllTrails (an app and website for hiking – that is similar to Untappd and GoodReads for hiking). AllTrails is a really great app that I recommend very highly, especially for new and novice hikers (points to himself), there is a paid and free version. I currently only use the free version, but I can see the benefits of the paid version.

COVID really helped sparked the ‘hiking’ bug in me last year, leading to many fun and exciting trips. By myself, with my dog Leela, with my daughters, with my friend Ming and his partner Don or just Ming, with Deuane, Gabe, and several others. What started as me taking my dog on various walks and hitting new parks using Google Maps, turned into me joining various Pennsylvania and nearby state Facebook groups dedicated to hiking, state parks, etc, which led me to getting AllTrails. What started as walking smaller parks and rivers and creeks, turned into hiking hills, (mountains technically), deep valleys (like the PA Grand Canyon), glens with waterfalls (Rickett’s Glen) and fantastic vistas like Pinnacle and Pulpit Rock, Hawk Rock, etc, and has taken me hiking in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, and Indiana.

Hopefully 2021 and the future has much more hiking adventures in store, and I’d like to start sharing them here on the blog. Just like the book reviews, most won’t gel and team up with beer and brewing, but some might. If your uninterested, you can always ignore or move on. But in some cases, the hiking will lead to breweries (as often is the case with Ming and Deuane and Gabe, be it nearby breweries or brand new ones), you can read much of those stories in the Travelogues section. For just hiking blog posts, check out the hiking section.

The Lead – Up

So what brought me to Rattling Run? Just like my beer reviews, brewery reviews, and book reviews, this section of the hiking posts (probably won’t go with such a bad headline as ‘The Lead – Up’ everytime from here on out) will pretty much just be my (typical) lead – in to the hike post. I will discuss the day leading up to the hike, what lead me to that particular hike and place, and who all was with me (be it Ming or Leela or whoever).

So this particular case, I had to drive out to Front Street of Harrisburg to drop off something, and took Leela with me, knowing I wanted to go hiking somewhere. After my errand, I then called up my AllTrails app, and looked for a nice hike in the area. I wanted something that would involve a climb, hopefully for something with a nice vista or overlook, and something that would have at least some level of challenge, since it was just me and my dog with, I didn’t have to worry about anyone else and it being too hard.

There were a couple of options, and several of them were similar or connected to Rattling Run and such, but I decided to try this one out based on length (AllTrails listed it as 10.8 Miles), some of the pictures people have uploaded of the trail, and the tower at the top of the trail looked interesting.

The trail is located on State Game Lands Number 211 and was about a 15-18 minute drive from Front Street of Harrisburg (Fort Hunter).

Stony Mountain Lookout Tower via Rattling Run

In the future, this segment will be where I give some of the details of the actual hike. What AllTrails gives as its description, as well as my MapMyRun map of the area I hiked and walked, this will give you a good idea of the hike and if you want to do it in the future, will give you some information on how to get there and what the paths and trails look like. The last section I’ll probably call “The Hike” and will be my discussion of the actual hike, my thoughts on it, my pictures, what I did, what I saw, what I liked, didn’t like, etc, etc, etc.

So firstly, right out of the gate, my very first hike post, and it will already slightly deviate from the norm….. figures right? I took the Stony Mountain Lookout Tower via Rattling Run trail to get to the Stony Mountain Lookout Tower, but then on the way back down I took the Water Tank Trail, so I actually did two trails instead of just one. So for this, I will cover the Stony Mountain Lookout Tower via Rattling Run trail, and then I will discuss / cover the Water Tank Trail that I took back down.

The above picture is a little bit of a ‘side – walk’ at the top of Rattling Run when you finish the climb up and get on the plateau area. Me and Leela checked out a few of these cut and burn areas to see if they led anywhere, and as far as I could tell none did. They did look interesting, and sort of creepy in a Hollywood movie kind of way, and they did have a path to them, but none really led anywhere, so after a while I would loop back to the main trail.

Hike: Stony Mountain Lookout Tower via Rattling Run
Location: State Game Lands Number 211
Near: Dauphin, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Length: 10.8 Miles (as per AllTrails)
Elevation: 1,335 Feet Gain (as per AllTrails)
Route Type: Out and Back
AllTrails Map: Stony Mountain Lookout Tower via Rattling Run
AllTrails Description: Stony Mountain Lookout Tower via Rattling Run Trail is a 10.8 mile out and back trail located near Dauphin, Pennsylvania that features a great forest setting. The trail is rated as moderate and is primarily used for hiking, trail running, and mountain biking.

Water Tank Trail via Stony Creek Rail Trail

After getting to the tower on the way back down, I decided to switch things up, instead of just doing a straight out and back (like the original trail would be), I decided to veer off and take a divergence, going down the Water Tank Trail to get down to the Rail Trail which connects to the road that leads to where I parked my car at the bottom of Rattling Run.

Hike: Water Tank Trail via Stony Creek Rail Trail
Location: State Game Lands Number 211
Near: Dauphin, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Length: 6.5 Miles (as per AllTrails)
Elevation: 1,125 Feet Gain (as per AllTrails)
Route Type: Loop
AllTrails Map: Water Tank Trail via Stony Creek Rail Trail
AllTrails Description: Water Tank Trail via Stony Creek Rail Trail is a 6.5 mile lightly trafficked loop trail located near Dauphin, Pennsylvania that features a waterfall and is rated as difficult. The trail is primarily used for hiking.

The Hike

I got to the base of the Rattling Run at just shy of 10:30AM. Got the dog unloaded and started up the app, at apparently exactly 10:30AM (thats a nifty coincidence, and not one I tried, and just now noticed I achieved). Sadly, I was woefully unprepared for the hike. I had my leash for Leela in case anyone came by (only passed one man the entire hike, and that was going down the Water Tank Trail portion), but I didn’t bring my backpack (an orange Bengals backpack in case of hunters), so I also had no waters, or food, or anything else; and I also didn’t bring a sweatshirt or hoodie or anything, which I usually start off with, and if too hot can take off and stuff in the backpack. And of course…. that meant nature would make it bitter cold and windy.

Once I had gotten on the road leading to the parking area, I realized this was a trail I took my daughters to last summer (probably early May) during COVID. We got to the top of the hill / mountain and ate lunch, explored the plateau area a bit, enjoyed the view, and then went back down. And the girls ….absolutely complained…. at every single… step… of… the ….. way. Every. Single. Step. It was this: Step. “Ugh.” Step. “This. Sucks.” Step. “Why is it so steep?” Step. “Are we there yet?” Step. “This is tall. Step. “Why is it so steep?” Step. “Can we take a break?” Step. “I hate you dad.”

Luckily, Leela didn’t do nearly as much complaining. Actually, she was the complete opposite. She loved it, and loved being able to be off the leash because there was nobody around. (Shhh, don’t tell anyone how rebellious I’m being by not keeping her on the leash 24/7 on park land.) The hike was certainly steep going up, but not quite as steep as the Fort Hunter Conservancy hill I did the day before, nor as bad as I had remembered it with the girls. Granted, this time I was in hiking boots instead of running sneakers, but I doubt that made much more of a difference. Maybe the year of hiking and trips and walking more helped? Or maybe being just me and the dog it felt differently? No clue.

But, I can say, it was certainly bitter and at times quite windy and when the wind really got going it was a fair bit cold. I was in just jeans and a Pizza Boy t-shirt (with the hiking boots), and I certainly felt the cold at times, especially at the point where I got to the Stony Mountain Lookout Tower.

The main walk / hike is up the hill via Rattling Run. Basically a car size stone road leading up to the top. It does get pretty steep in some places but never to the point of being outrageous or too extremely difficult. The weather was a bit bitter and cold and windy, and plant life wasn’t quite fully emerged yet, so it was still a lot of ‘dead winter’ looking trees, a lot of browns instead of greens, and not a whole lot of animal life. Some squirrels, a few birds circling overhead or heard in the distance. Not a soul to be found, so I allowed Leela to be off the leash (kept the leash in my back pocket). She stayed mostly with me, sometimes going ahead, sometimes hanging back for a sniff here or there, but she did really well for an 11 year old Border Collie. It took about an hour and 20 to 30 minutes to get to the top and the plateau.

The plateau area (or top of the hill / mountain) is mostly flat, with a few little dips and such. Its mostly open spaced with some trees along the sides of the paths. You can see off the hill / mountain on the one side and it has some nice views. It was about another two miles to get to the Stony Mountain Lookout Tower.

The tower itself sits on an area of the trail that is technically the end of the Rattling Run trail I took, and is also a part of the H. Knauber Trail, and I believe one or two others (would have to check AllTrails other trails to find out and correlate). At this point, it would be the end of the trail on the out and back portion, so here you would turn around, and go right back the way you came. The tower sits in a small square barbed wire fenced area and is off limits, though there obviously has been recent attempts to get in (successfully too it looks). The one side of the fencing paneling was removed. I walked a little of the surrounding area which was part of the H. Knauber Trail, before returning to the tower and then back the way I came towards Rattling Run.

At about the six mile mark of my journey I made it back to the intersection of the Water Tank Trail and the Rattling Run Trail I had been taking. When I first passed it, I decided I would think about taking this way on the way back down, and once I reached it, I made the decision to take it. Figured it’d be more interesting to make a loop and to see new areas rather than just re-walk the area I had already previously been to.

The Water Tank Trail was extremely difficult going down. Firstly, for some of it, its just the water spillage from the top of the hill / mountain, and that’s also the same as the trail, so you have wet sloggy, muddy, rocky, terrain…. then you get to the real fun. At this point, the water is on both sides of your “path” (and I use the term loosely) and it does offer a beautiful waterfall view on each side. But, your movement down, is completely loose rock, shale and other stone, and each step down causes small avalanches of rocks tumbling down. The path is somewhat marked, but it is hard to see, and at times I found myself looking for a good minute before seeing the blue markings on the trees.

As you can see in the pictures above, both Leela and I had a hard time going down the hill / mountain this way, but we did make it. I would rate this portion of the trail difficult to extremely difficult depending on your skill level. I wouldn’t recommend it without hiking boots.

The view going down was beautiful though. The water cascading on each side of the path was tremendously beautiful, and the lovely gurgling sounds of the water was really pleasant the whole way down. The trees were still bare and wintry though, so not much in the way of vegetation or animal life to observe, but the water cascading on each side made it all worthwhile.

It does taper out at the bottom of the hill and becomes easier to walk, at this point it just becomes a slightly rocky walk through the woods. It then connects to the Stony Creek Rail Trail, which is a biking, hiking, walkway / trail for people to take. I walked this for a few miles til it connects to the road that led me to the access point for Rattling Run trailhead. The flat area of the Rail Trail was nice, and offered a nice view looking down over an embankment, which looked like it had several little trails one could access if one wanted (I didn’t try any).

Conclusion

This was a fun hike. Granted I went when it was still somewhat wintry (thanks Pennsylvania “Spring”) and I didn’t bring a sweatshirt or hoodie, but the actual hike itself was nice. Going up Rattling Run and down Winter Tank Trail was moderate to difficult I would say. I think most can go up the Rattling Run if they are in good health and have no ankle or knee issues that would be too much for most other hikes. Going down the Water Tank Trail was a bit more difficult due to the loose and moving stone under foot. Perhaps different seasons it might be better, and there might also be less water to see cascading down on each side.

There isn’t anything exceptional about seeing the Stony Mountain Lookout Tower, and since its closed, you can’t access it and go up it, so it’s not quite the impressive landmark that it could be (like the tower at Governor Dick for example), but it was still nice to get to go and see it, especially since I didn’t get to do that last year with my daughters.

Dogs should be fine on the hike as well, Leela is an 11 year old border collie (will be 12 in November / December) and had no issues. (She is a great hiking dog and loves going on long walks and hikes.) I would recommend a leash for your pet just in case, as I expect the trail sees more activity in better weather. I know when we went last summer there was a lot more foot traffic on the Rattling Run trail (some runners, some walkers, some hikers, various ages, a few dogs on leashes).

All in all, I would recommend the hike. Maybe not as a first time hiker or a novice, but as someone experienced enough and energetic enough. It also doesn’t have the most amazing vistas or anything, but the find of waterfalls on the Water Tank Trail on the way down was nice and a welcome surprise. It was just over a 10 mile hike, and took me nearly 4 hours to complete (counting time to take pictures, hiking, going a bit past the areas of the map, etc.).

I hope everyone enjoyed the first ‘hike’ blog post here on The Beer Thrillers. If people tend to like these, I will certainly post more in the future. I know I have done some in the past that correlated with breweries I / we / us visited afterwards; but this was the first hiking blog article that was more in the vein of the beer reviews (and now also book reviews) that I’ve done on the blog. I hope people will like the divergence from the beer related articles and themes of the site and enjoy and indulge me on my “side projects” or “vanity projects” if you will. There will certainly be plenty more book and hike reviews and stories in the near (and far) future here on the blog if people don’t mind indulging me.

As always, be sure to leave a comment or question if you have anything to say, as I would love to hear from all of you. Be sure to like, subscribe, and follow us, here on the blog as well as our social media pages. I hope everyone is doing well and safe and getting vaccinated so we can get back to the old normal instead of the new normal. As always, thanks for reading, and cheers!

-B. Kline

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

When I go hiking, I like to enjoy a good ‘hike’ beer, especially at the top or vista point of a beautiful hiking trail. In this case, it was Pinnacle Point in Kempton, Pennsylvania. (Just outside of Hamburg Pennsylvania.) (This beer was also covered in my travelogue about Pinnacle Overlook, Pinnacle Peak, and Pulpit Rock and the hike there, you can check that out here: Pinnacle Overlook, 1787 Brewing Company, and Schaylor Brewing.)

This is another case of beautiful can art. Also, since this was a trail beer, I didn’t have a glass, and drank it straight from the can; like a heathen, a barbarian, an outdoors man, a rogue hiker, a man’s man. …or well, just a person who didn’t feel like carrying around a glass, and hiking for four hours and eight miles carrying a glass that could break, especially while his hiking buddy is a four legged beast that best resembles a wolf on her best days….. (don’t worry Leela, I still love you).

So, this review will be forgoing the “appearance” section, though, I have seen pictures of it on Untappd, and it looks in the pictures I’ve seen, like a light straw colored IPA / saison looking beer, but I won’t go into details, since I did not see it with my own eyes.

For any people familiar with Pinnacle Overlook and the hike there; right before you get to the gorgeous vista of the Pinnacle Overlook, there is a giant cairn. Cairn works… but not really. Most people associate cairns with tombstones and what people would do to bury people in places they couldn’t dig the earth up or make a grave for, so they would dig as much as they could, and then cover them in rocks to keep prey from getting to the remains. But the true definition of cairn is: “a heap of stones set up as a landmark, a monument, a tombstone, etc.” (Dictionary.com Definition: Cairn.) (For more about graves…. you can read my beer review on Shallow Grave by Heretic Brewing …. yay for cheap plugs! I feel like Mick Foley!) Anyway, its right before you get to the overlook, its a giant stone and rock heaped pile. The very first time I went and hiked the trail, I almost thought – this was it. This giant pile, this cairn, this heap of rocks and stones, was it, and this was the “view” and the Pinnacle everyone was talking about. (Pinnacle being the height of something.) Thank goodness I walked past it and saw this gorgeous overlook….

Needless to say, this view is a lot better…. A LOT…. better than just a pile of stinking rocks (or non-stinking rocks). To get to this point, it was about a 3.5 mile hike. (Going back down, since I took a different route, and stopped at Pulpit Rocks, it was another 4.5-5 miles, making it 8-8.5 miles all told of just the mountain, plus getting to and from the car.) So, I camped out here a bit with my dog, Leela, which by now anyone reading the blog regularly has heard of quite a bit or seen in the background of pictures (she’s an 11 year old border collie that is commonly mistaken for an Australian Shepherd, named after Leela from Futurama). I didn’t bring food with, since I was going to visit 1787 Brewing Company in Hamburg afterwards, but I did enjoy my beer on the ledge with my faithful furball companion, and then did the treacherous, very rocky hike back down – which is the Appalachian Trail path.

All in all, if you are ever near Kempton or Hamburg area of Pennsylvania, and love beautiful views, where you can see and feel the turkey buzzards, hawks, and other large birds soaring right past your head, this is definitely a great hike and a beautiful view. From Hershey its roughly a 45-50 minute drive.

Beer: Mutant Temple
Brewery: Strange Roots Experimental Ales
Style: IPA – American
ABV: 5.3%
IBU: 5
Untappd Description: IPA dry hopped with Citra.

Since I’m not doing an appearance segment for this beer review, let me just say, I thought this cairn was the perfect picture opportunity for this beer. It looked alien, strange, mutant like, and would be a Hollywood esque temple location; like something filmed for a Star Wars planet or something. Also, the can art for Mutant Temple is phenomenal to, here it is:

Here also, I want to bring up Strange Roots Experimental Ales. According to Untappd, they are a micro brewery out of Gibsonia Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh). They have 394 unique beers with over 102K ratings, and a global average rating of 3.86. The Untappd description reads: “Strange Roots exists at the intersection of farmhouse brewing tradition and creative, locally-driven experimentation. We’re passionate about celebrating our environment through the use of local ingredients, varying fermentation methods and micro flora, and strive to create unique artisan ales inspired by our surroundings here in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains.”

Ok, now lets get back to the beer review.

(Skipping the appearance… sorry folks…. moving right along to aroma…) Coming out of the can you get a very citra hoppy aroma. Not surprising since this is a Citra dry hopped IPA. Citra has probably become the most used hop in America in the past two years, primarily for New England IPAs, and primarily because of that. Its a very juicy hop, and gives off a ton of lime, citrus, grapefruit, some peach, some mango, and tropical fruit notes. Both aromatically and in taste. Due to the proliferation of New England IPAs in the past two years, its market has exploded, usually used in conjunction with mosaic. (Cue up the Hallmark Christmas movies meme of Mosaic & Citra.) This is a strong IPA, but not as potent as most New England IPAs, and its definitely not a New England IPA, but it has a very strong citrus, lime, aroma; some notes of grapefruit and peach and mango.

Tasting this, (out of the can, not from a glass, just for perspective’s sake), this is definitely not a New England IPA; but a classic American / West Coast IPA. But its not full blown hop bitter West Coast IPA. Its nothing like Perpetual IPA, or Hop Slam, or something extremely high IBU or hop heavy. This is smoother, but not New England smooth, its not pure juice, but its still a juicer IPA than most West Coast styled ones. Theres a great deal of hop flavor , and some hop bitterness, but I think its smoothed because its dry hopped, especially with it being dry hopped with such a fruity hop like Citra. You get some earthy hop notes, a bit of pine, a wee bit of grassy-ness, to it, but overall the citra elements kick it into ultra drive on this, and you get a lot of the fruitier, more notable hop tastes from the citra; like lime, citrus, grapefruit, bit of peach, bit of mango, some tropical fruits, and the like, and this rounds it out and makes it a lot more tastier, seems to give it a lot more to the beer. I wouldn’t call it an extremely fruity or floral or juicy IPA or beer, but its got a lot of fruit forward flavors, its still definitely an IPA, there’s still the bite and the hop – ness to it, still some bitterness to it; still a “beer’s beer”. There is a nice body to it, and its got a good mouthfeel, it doesn’t feel too light or weak or watery. It’s also only 5.3% ABV, so thats really not bad, almost in the low regions by most beer standards nowadays. Most IPAs clock in the 6-7.5% range; and DIPAs then going from 7-9%. (Of course, then there’s also TIPAs and QIPAs even nowadays too.) I like the low ABV on this, especially for hiking, and despite picking it up at Breski’s as part of a mix-a-six, I could definitely dig this in a four pack and crush it. Would make for a great mowing beer, or working around the house, or shower beer, something where a nice beer would fit, but you don’t need or want to get hammered or pounded or anything. The Untappd description also lists it at only 5 IBU, but it does (still) have a hop bite and some bitterness. There’s no off flavors or after taste, nothing you’ll be burping up hours later, nothing off, or cloying, just a nice drinking beer. Great for hiking up a hill / mountain with your pooch!

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.93 (as of 12.26.20)

Untappd actually has a checkin spot for Pinnacle Overlook, you can see it here: Pinnacle Overlook on Untappd. I love how for even far to reach hiking places and spots where not even WiFi exists, or I even get internet, there’s still Untappd check-in spots. Thank. Goodness.

Thank you all for reading. 2020 is winding down, and we’re getting near to the end of the year. January 4th will be soon here too, and hopefully Governor Wolfe will be updating the mandates, and letting us get back to drinking and eating indoors at breweries, pubs, restaurants, and bars. In the meantime, get out there and help support local breweries. Support your favorite places, and tip your favorite staff, they all need it! (I know as someone furloughed / laid off / unemployed because of this recent shut down, its a tough time and a tough season, especially with it being the holidays too.) So help out wherever and however you can.

As always, make sure you are taking all the precautions everyone. Stay safe out there, mask up, wash your hands, don’t lick doorknobs, etc.

Cheers everyone!

-B. Kline

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Some recent beer reviews:

• Beer Review: The Soft Glow of Electric Sex (RAR Brewing)
• Beer Review: Snow Tracks (New Trail Brewing Co.)
• Beer Review: B-52 (2017) (Cox Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: I Voted for Kodos (Second Sin Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: I Voted for Kang (Second Sin Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: Java the Stout (Jackie O’s Brewery)
• Beer Review: This is the Whey (Bolero Snort Brewery)
• Beer Review: Space Broccoli (Other Half Brewing Co.)

Started the day waking up in Morgantown West Virginia to the full cacophony of noises one can only hear at an Econo Lodge at 5AM. After getting situated, getting gas, mountain dew for the drive, basic necessities, I made the hour and a half trek to Ohiopyl Pennsylvania. There I made landfall in the state park at 10:30AM.

I started at the parking lot by the Cucumber Falls (pictured above) and took the long yellow trail. It was about 6 miles out and back to get to Flatrock and then Cascade Falls. (I’ll post pictures of them in the full recap.) This was a more difficult hiking trail than some I’ve done on the trip. The Meadow Run rapids and the Cascade Falls were equally beautiful.

There was a few other things to do in Ohiopyl, but since this was my last day, and by 3PM (the time I finished the hike), I figured it would be best to head home. It was roughly a 2.5-3 hour drive home, so I wanted to get moving. If I took the turnpike (and selected tolls) on my Google phone GPS maps whatever, it was going to be 2 hours and 15 some minutes (plus stops). If I did no tolls, it had me drop into Maryland just below the Mason-Dixon line and then come back up and be 3 hours and 34 minutes. Or something like that (don’t quote me on it exactly, I didn’t write it down).

But, I didn’t take either of these routes. I wanted to at least try a brewery in the area, since I most likely won’t be in this area again. So the closest, most local brewery, was Whitehorse Brewing LLC in Berlin. So off I went. Forty minute or so drive there.

I was a bit surprised by this place, because it looked like a typical development / suburban house and garage. (And I’m pretty sure it was, just converted into a brewery.) Inside was the brewer and a bartender and they were extremely nice, generous, and talkative about the area. I got an Apple Butter Cream Ale and enjoyed it outside by the fire before moving on.

Instead of driving for 2-2.5 hours straight home, I decided to break it up and hit another Pennsylvania brewery I hadn’t been to yet….

Gearhouse Brewing in Chambersburg. I’ve heard nothing but good things, and know the brewers and many people who frequent it, unfortunately, getting down to Chambersburg hasn’t been in the cards until now. So I stopped there, had a flight, a delicious hamburger, and then it was ontowards home.

Sort of.

Earlier in the day my friend Drew texted me saying if I was home by 5 he’d be at Rubber Soul; well that didn’t work out, but my mom had wanted to go to Rubber Soul to try their Italian Wedding Soup (as did I; being a huge huge huge fan of Italian Wedding Soups), so I drove to my parents place, and we walked over to Rubber Soul for dinner.

And while I was gone, they had released four new beers I hadn’t had yet, so I got a flight of the beers I’ve missed (enjoyed all of them by the way, especially the blueberry pomegranate IPA and the sticky stout). Showed mom the pictures of my trip, the museums, the waterfalls, etc. Discussed how her grandmum (pure 100% Italian) made wedding soup, and my mom even went so far as to say this was her favorite Italian Wedding Soup she’s had not made by her family. Which for her would be extremely high praise.

Finally got home, and got to be reunited with my dog who I hadn’t seen since Sunday morning when I left. My ex-wife took good care of her, but she was still so super eager to greet me and take another walk that she basically pulled me the entire way.

The above picture doesn’t do justice to how excited she was to see me, and I have to say the feeling was very mutual. I sure missed my pup.

After taking her for a long walk, came home to see that I had a beer mail package from a buddy out in Bristol PA.

We did a trade 2 cans for 2, and he threw in the extra – 12 oz can of Dulachan by Lavery – for me to review for the blog, free of charge. Thanks Steve! So be on the lookout for all three of these being reviewed soon.

Well, it is 11:30, and I am exhausted and its been a long seven day trip and I can finally rest and sleep in my own bed, so that is exactly what I am going to do.

Goodnight everyone and cheers, and thanks for following along on the trip!

-B. Kline

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

The Trip to Indianapolis:

• The Trip to Indy
• The Trip to Indy – Day One Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Two Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Three Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Four Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Five Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Six Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Seven Recap
• Recap and Stats

I arrive, get out, and despite (what I realized at the end when leaving) that I parked right where I was SUPPOSED to begin my hike, I went to the port-o-pots (had to go!) and from there saw a trail, so I took that red trail because it had signs saying “Cedar Falls”…. well, little did I know, that Hocking Hills is all set up (at least mostly all) as one way hike paths. So the three mile red path that got me there, was not the correct way to go. I cheated a bit and still went down to the rapids, and then took the blue path to Ash Cave, then the yellow path to connect back to Whispering Cave, Hemlock Bridge, and back to the visitor center. I never even got to see Old Man’s Cave, despite it being the biggest thing about the park, and right next to the visitor center. Oh well. Gives me things to do for the future. I hiked 12+ miles in 4 hours, and I hadn’t eaten yet, so I leave around 3:30PM.

My first stop was Jackie O’s Tap Room / Brew Pub outside of Athens. They didn’t do anything other than snacks, so I just got a flight, grabbed a mix six pack to take home, and after spending my time there, I then went to the next Athens area brewery…

Little Fish Brewing Co. Here, I got a lamb panini / taco thing that was pretty interesting and good. Had a beer (they didn’t do flights), and then made my two hour and forty minute drive to Fairmont West Virginia.

I arrive at 8:40PM in Fairmont at a brewery called Short Story Brewing, which Facebook listed as closing at 9PM…. but they did last call at 8:30, so I wasn’t able to drink. She recommended Rambling Root bar and for breweries Mountain State and Morgantown in nearby Morgantown.

Hopped back in the old mobile that is really racking up miles, drove the 5 minutes or so to Morgantown, and stopped at Mountain Stain. It kind of reminded me of an Outback Steakhouse, Texas Steakhouse, Applebee’s conglomeration. Had a flight there, and they were ok. Wish I would have done their guest flight too, since it had several breweries from the area (including that Short Story Brewing) that I’ve never had before, so I would have at least been able to try a larger range, but it was getting on 10PM and they were closing up, and so I figured I’d quickly hit Morgantown because they close at 11PM.

Morgantown Brewing Company was a nice front street type brewery that was the neighborhood bar too. Talk ranged from politics, to philosophies, to weather, to crops, to TV shows, from the nearby tables. I sat back and sipped my pint til closing time.

Made it to my motel, checked in, and watched the latest episode of The Mandalorian (wow! wow! wow!).

Tomorrow brings me to Day 7 and my final, complete, road trip back home. I will do much more in-depth reviews, pictures, etc, for the days in a few days, when I’m able to soak things back in, get back to normalcy, and not be rushed by the seven day road trip. I’ll also post lists of what all breweries I hit, mileage, steps, my route, etc.

Enjoy, and see you all here tomorrow for the conclusion!

-B. Kline

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

The Trip to Indianapolis:

• The Trip to Indy
• The Trip to Indy – Day One Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Two Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Three Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Four Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Five Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Six Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Seven Recap
• Recap and Stats