Hola Amigos y Amigas, Peru es Estupendo

Forgive me amigos but yo pienso mas en espanol than ingles at this point. We arrived in Cusco yesterday morning after the plane was ridiculously late getting out of BWI, then the flight from Miami to Lima was even later and after having a discussion with Terry I urged us to check our bags so we wouldn't have to deal with them. This was a critical mistake because our bags were the last off the plane causing us to miss our flight to Cusco. Luckily, the people at the Lima aeropuerta forsee these issues and employ assistants to get lost Americans out of messes.

At 5AM a wonderful hombre navigated us through the quagmire of airlines available and in a few hours we were mobile again and on our way to Cusco. The flight from Lima to Cusco was fabuloso, the mountains along the way stuck out of the clouds like craggy shards of glass, with glaciers. The mountain lakes are brightly colored in yellow and green from the minerals in the soil. The weather is aqui is most ambient, getting into the low 70s during the day and in the 60s at night.

The Peruvians are amazing people and while Terry was busy dealing with maps, innkeepers, other tourists and guidebooks once we reached our hostel I fled for the door. I hit the plaza D'Armas and saw a bunch of touristas so I headed for the sidestreets and struck up a conversation with a tiny peruvian mujer and her bambino. She didn't really speak espanol and neither did I but because I was making an effort to converse she offered me a popsical. What a gal!

I have a beautiful picture of this church at night but it is too large to upload. Anyhoo, Terry and I passed this church on the plaza last night, I went in to watch the church service. It was time for the wafer distribution so I figured I would participate so I could get a better look at the massive gold chatzkes up on the wall behind the priest. So I put my hand out for the wafer but didn't eat it immediately. The Peruvian priest admonished me in front of the entire congregation. Obviously I broke some sort of church rule. Mind you this is some iglesia, the local muchachas huff solvent on the front steps.

Speaking of drugs I have discovered a new one, chocolat con leche. These folks make the very best hot chocolate in the world. Then there is the food.... I had a 4 course lunch at a nice restaurant today that cost a little over $1. I didn't really know what I was eating but it certainly was delicioso.

Terry has turned out to be a wonderful trouper. When I suggested we do some light hiking he was immediately apprehensive. I pointed to a little mountain that had Jesus at the top and he nearly choked. I told him that he underestimated himself and then secretly regretted that I left my electric cattle prod at home. Terry lit a prehike cigarette and then we filled our bladders and went for broke. With no specific plan we hit the mountain and did 5 reasonable difficult miles with a 1200 foot elevation change. BTW, we started our hike at 11,000 feet, I took a picture of my GPS readout but it didn't come out so you can see the altitude. We walked through the bario and met all sorts of personnas.

Tomorrow we are going to leave Cusco and bus it to some other place that has a long name that I can't remember. Then we will push on toward Machu. Other tourists are giving us a lot of great information and being very helpful, they are from all over the world and are very very polite. The best part of this trip es dos semanas yo no vis no gringas monos gordos con SUVs grande. Life is muy bueno.

Also, special thanks to Edgar Huerta who spent an entire year drilling espanol into my head, it is paying off in spades.

North Central Rail Trail Pictures

I have ridden the same 14 miles of this trail over 100 times in the last 3 years but have never taken a picture until yesterday. These pictures are here so that I can remember how beautiful this place is when, in February, it is miserable cold and barren.

Harrisburg, Peters Mountain and the Susquehanna

Years ago I used to love to watch "One Life to Live",with Vicki and Dorian squaring off over Lanford power. At the beginning of every show was this lovely overhead shot of the bridges of the Susquehanna in Harrisburg, PA. I have since traveled on the highways through Harrisburg a few times but I never spent any time there enjoying the city. Since Harrisburg is only a few miles from the City of the Charm I figured now was as good as time as any to go get a closer look at those bridges.

I wanted to do some hiking in the area so members of the Mountain Club of Maryland advised that I explore the Appalachian Trail near Duncannon, PA. So without much preparation I decided to head north on Friday. 3 hours before I was scheduled to leave a crown popped out of my mouth. I decided not to cancel my trip and forged ahead with my tooth in my bag.

Central Pennsylvania seems awash in transportation. I don't know who decided to put all these roads and railroad tracks everywhere but you can't seem to get away from the transportation noise, there are trucks everywhere. The good news is that with trucks come truckstops, delicious food at competitive prices.

If you wave at a Marylander they wave back, if you wave at a West Virginian they invite you in for pie. If you wave at a Pennsylvanian they scowl at you. I don't think anyone actually has a friend in Pennsylvania, I think Rick Santorum has the citizens all obsessed over the dearth of family values. The good news is that Pennsylvanians don't seem to be very fat, you see many joggers and people exercising so you don't have the whale problem that you have in WV.

I drove to Duncannon, Pennsylvania and spent the night in the minivan on the street. Duncannon is a nice little town right on the AT. It isn't run down enough to have empty homes, but not quaint enough to have Bed and Breakfasts with cutsie flags either. It was hotter outside than I expected in the high nineties and I had trouble falling asleep.

After careful consideration I decided that the Peters Mountain side of the AT looked steeper than the Duncannon side so I made my way to the trailhead on Saturday morning and climbed the mountain. Even in the heat I sailed to the top, I am getting much better at going up. Of course, in PA you always have rocks on the AT and here was no different. I think I did a total of about 8 miles and quickly tired of traversing the pointy-rocked ridge. It was hot and not a molecule of air was moving although this trail had some excellent views of the Susquehanna. I decided I needed to ride my bike so I headed south to Harrisburg for the afternoon.

Harrisburg is a capitol city and quite nice. It has rowhomes, activity on the corners and a downtown, so it immediately gets high marks from me. It has a beautiful bike path that is parallel to the scenic Susquehanna. Unfortunately, with the heat and it being late summer, the poor river was starting to reek. With its wide streets and stately turn-of-the-last-century homes Harrisburg reminds me of Albany, NY (Gee, I wonder why?).

I parked across from the police station downtown and grabbed my bike and hit the bike path. I first explored an island on the river that has a sports arena, mini-golf course, beach and tiny little railroad....very cute. Then I went north and south on the trail by the river near Front Street. I never expected this city to be so inviting. I was probably its only tourist yesterday.

I was hungry and, although I had plenty of food in the car, I wanted to enjoy one of the restaurants on second street. Because of the heat nobody was outside but I bet this place is really buzzing in springtime. I was well served at the Neato Burrito. Afterwhich my tooth problem really started to bother me and I didn't think I wanted to spend another night in the heat so I reluctantly headed homeward.

When I drove down Light Street towards my house I saw a big 400 pounder. I can swallow the fact that my beautiful city gets overrun with fat suburbanites in the summer where I find them so offensive that I can't enjoy my own harbor area. But when the summer ends it is time for the heifers to retreat so I can have my city back. Does it ever occur to these people that they are responsible for serious visual pollution?

Backbone Mountain, Tubing the Upper Yough and Hiking Big Savage

This weekend is dedicated to a woman named Christine whom I met last year around this time. Christine and I got to talking about Backbone Mountain, which is the highest point in Maryland. I had just finished reading an article about it where the write said it was pretty unfabulous, Christine quickly lost her temper with me in a spectacular fashion, she claimed to have been there and said it was a rugged and exciting climb to the top. The only conclusion my group of friends and me reached from this discussion was that Christine had an anger management issue. So I devoted this weekend to finding the truth about Backbone Mountain.

I had remembered reading about Mountain Lake Park in Garrett County and vaguely recalled there were supposed to be beautiful Victorian homes there. I decided that would be my travel objective on Friday night. Upon my arrival I quickly found the mountain lake but no gorgeous Victorian homes, MLP turned out to be a disappointment. I traveled on to Oakland for the evening where I caught up with the Little Yough Summer Music Festival featuring that night Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion. My advice to those two is don’t quit your day job and practice more.

I decided to head back to an apartment complex in MLP to bed down for the evening. I entered the complex quietly and parked off to the side in a parking area. It was hot in the minivan so I took off my clothes and slipped into my sleeping bag. 10 minutes after retiring for the evening I hear a police siren. A police cruiser arrives in the parking lot and parks right next to my minivan. I figured somebody in the apartment complex became suspicious when nobody had exited my vehicle and called the police. 2 minutes later another police cruiser arrives and parks on the other side of my minivan. I stay still assuming that I will be questioned thoroughly. Then a fire engine arrives and parks directly behind my car. Between all the blue, yellow and red lights, the interior of my car is lit up like a Christmas tree on steroids. This seems like a lot of firepower for one middle-aged woman sleeping in her car and I figure I might be spending the night in the lock-up. I am sure there is some sort of rule in Garrett County about sleeping in your car naked on private property.

I hear the public servants talking but I dare not rise to find out what is going on. Then I hear the police and firemen walk toward the apartment complex and away from my car. I can’t see what is happening or why they were there but apparently the armory was not called on my behalf. Eventually the emergency personnel leave without noticing me and I drift off to sleep.


The next day I rise early and head off toward Backbone Mountain. People on the Internet suggest giving oneself 40 minutes to climb to the top. I decided to give myself 20 and take off. I arrive at the summit in 21 minutes. The place is definitely unfabulous. There is a marker denoting the peak at the top.

Afterwards I stupidly decide to tube the Upper Youghiogheny between Swallows Falls and Hoye’s Run. Kids, don’t try this at home. I failed to do my homework and it turns out there is some serious whitewater not suitable for a float tube between the two points. I had a wonderful time but had to portage around some of the trickier areas. I also passed by where they perform the dam release for the Upper Young, that is some serious scary equipment the utility company has where I wouldn't want to be anywhere near that place when they let the water free.


On Sunday I decided to return to Savage Mountain and actually find the Southern trailhead this time. The campground was completely empty, unlike Memorial Day, I was able to enjoy this trail with beautiful weather. Figuring that I wouldn’t pass anyone I decided to hike up the mountain without my clothes on. I found some neat rocky outcroppings at the top. Before I descended I decided to put my clothes back on which was a good thing because I did meet one other hiker. This man’s name was Ron and he was a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown Campus. Turns out he lives on Washington Street in Cumberland, one of my favorite neighborhoods.

Tubing on the Gunpowder

UPDATE 7/8/06 For another Cham post with pics about tubing on the Gunpowder please go here

ANOTHER UPDATE 6/24/08 I'm working on another Cham post about Gunpowder tubing, this one will have a video and a map!

As some of you know, I work in Hunt Valley which gives me access to all the fun in Northern Baltimore County. Yesterday I decided to inflate my tube while sitting in my cube(hey, that rhymes!) and then take off to Hicks Road for some tubing fun. When I got to the intersection of Bee Tree Run and Hicks at 5:30PM it started to pour. This probably should have dissuaded me from attempting this as it would any normal person, but it didn't. I waited out the rain in my car and then descended into the run. A cool mist settled over the water and visibility was about 10 feet. I could have seen better in a snow blizzard.

I needed to go about 3 miles to Monkton where I left my bike and I didn't get started until a little after 6PM. I never tubed this area before so it was a crap shoot whether I would get done before dark or not. At sundown and in the mist this area becomes incredibly creepy. At one point I heard a terrible noise and noticed some sort of large bird, maybe a crane, swooping down over me in anger, I guess it wasn't pleased I was in the river. Since it had rained hard there were a fair amount of rapids which made tubing fun and fast.

When I hit the confluence of Bee Tree and the Gun Powder the water temperature dropped by 20 degrees, the Gun Powder must hail from some sort of freezing underground spring. The air temp was in the 90 degrees F and I had goose bumps all over my legs.

I arrived Monkton a little after 8PM with great relief since I had a few minutes of dusky daylight left. I deflated my tube, put it in my backpack and headed north on the NCRT back to my car. It took me a scant 15 minutes to bike what it took me 2 hours to tube.