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Yesterday definately was a long day for my trip down to Pennsylvania. I left camp maybe 5 minutes after 6 AM and returned around 10 PM. It was nice to get away, to a very different landscape, but I am still recovering this morning – felt a bit sick to my stomach but after some cider vinegar water, a brief toke, a sit out in the cow pasture, then coffee and blueberry-carrot pancakes I am starting to feel this morning better. I was still up a little after 6 AM needing to visit the bucket shitter and because the sun was up early – despite being awake until after 11 PM by the time I had dinner and was all jacked up on the ice cream and caffeine pills I pounded before leaving Barbour Rock.

Got through my full bucket list of places to visit in Pennsylvania yesterday – Lamb’s Overlook, Gillipse Point, Chimney Rock, Barbour Rock and a scenic drive along West Rim Road. 🚶‍♂️ I wish I had more time to ride some of the Pine Creek Rail Trail starting at Slate Run and heading north to Cedar Run. It would have been nice but I didn’t get back from the hike to Chimney Rock until nearly 5 PM. Hiked along the Rattlesnake Ridge section of PA 414, and then stopped briefly at Rattlesnake Rock before driving West Rim Road. I think the last time I drove West Rim Road was in 2010, so it’s been a decade and half now. 🚛 Well maintained for the most part, a nice smooth drive. The drive up from PA 414 on West Rim Road is steep and without guide rails, though I am not sure why I fear those open ledges, it’s not like I would want to hit a guard rail in my brand new SuperDuty but yeah, I saw that picture of that car that drove off the road at Dolly Sods.

My goal was to explore parts of Pennsylvania Grand Canyon country I had not done before, so I skipped over Leonard Harris and Colton Point State Parks entirely, along with the Pine Creek Rail Trail. 📃 Despite having been to Colton Point a dozen times, never did the Barbor Rock trail. A big foggy on the way down there at times, especially around Elmira, and that gas station that wouldn’t take my credit card outside, was super sketchy, probably shouldn’t have gone there, but the SuperDuty drove great – definately like the hill descent control on the rougher dirt roads – and for the long descends, I used tow-haul mode which keeps in lower gear for longer, but only use it on the longest mountain descends as the brakes are pretty damn good on the big F-350 unlike my old Silverado.