Cook Forest Hike Part 2

 

I decided today to head over to Cook Forest in the great state of Pennsylvania.

My first stop was Fire tower Number 9 to catch the sunrise. This did not disappoint and I will post the video below. The road to the tower was closed and I believe it was a seasonal closure.

To the fire tower and back was 3.3 miles and extremely doable in the dark and of course I had my headlamp on.

The wind was howling and I needed to make my set up as low as possible. The fire tower is shaking a bit, but it was totally safe. The fire tower would not be safe, I don’t think for small children because of safety concerns.

After I was done, I drove to the trail head where I had planned my route to start.  After getting all my gear out and ready I realized I forgot to bring my micro spikes.

There was ice everywhere and you could tell the melting ice had just refrozen overnight!

I was long overdue and learned another life lesson!

For this route I combined a few different hiking trails from the Cook Forest area. I initially got the data from Alltrails and import it into Garmin Basecamp for editing.

I combined parts of Seneca Trail, Forest Cathedral Trail, Mohawk Trail, River Run Trail, and The North Country Trail. This initially was to be a 15.5-mile hike with an elevation deviation of about 7000 feet. I fell way short of that as I will explain later.

The trails are very well marked throughout the hike for the most part. The only true navigating issue I had is the amount of wildlife trails that in some areas can be very confusing. So, just remember to look at the painting markings ahead of where you are going so you can identify more quickly where you need to be going to stay on the trail.

The Cathedral Area was amazing and will make you feel humbled by the shear size of the trees. There was a storm that wiped out many of these magnificent trees in 1956. Here are some links to share more information about the area.

Cook Forest History Link 1

Cook Forest History Link 2

The reason I came here was to experience a lot of ascent and descent in a hike. In the first nearly three miles I experienced just that.

As an example at mile 0.37 my ascent was 211 feet, mile 0.29 ascended 157 feet, mile 1.85 ascended 423 feet, and the last large ascent was 479 feet at mile 6.82.

Because of the time I got to the trailhead and due to weather conditions I chose not to do the entire loop that I had laid out.  I will be back later this spring or early summer to hike in this area again.

The descent into the river valley would be 704 feet in 0.68 miles according to my Garmin 64sx. The descent into the river valley is nearly a straight shot down so be ready for that.

While in the Clarion River valley I noticed a few things about the river. This time of year, the river was low. I don’t know if it’s normally a shallow running river in this section, but I could see rocks almost out to the middle of the river. The river was at least in this section an easy and slow flowing section.

I turned northeasterly to begin my trek out of the river valley. The ascent would be 487 feet in 1.04 miles again according to my Garming 64sx. The ascent thanks goodness had some switch backs on it to break up the monotony.

I saw a few people working their way down into the river valley. I was still really surprised at the lack of people overall throughout the hike.

There are plenty of places to rest along the trail if a person needs to take a break.

There are lots of mossy rocks and wood throughout the duration of the hike.  In the spring the flowering would most likely be nice.

I like early spring the leaves have not begun to pop and you do get better views in my humble opinion.

The places where you could get water from were far and few between on the southwesterly side of the Fire Tower Road.

I still have some more content to edit, but I hope you have enjoyed the read.

Be well,

Sonder

Cook Forest Hike Part 1

 

Todays 15.4 Miler

Well, it has been a cold snowy winter. I have decided to hike up Mount Washington in 2027-2028. Before that even gets here, I need to prepare. I know you are most likely saying buddy you got time lol.

While you right I have time, but also life gets in the way and things come up that can prevent a person from reaching their goal.  I want to give myself a generous window of time to prepare.

This route has an estimated elevation deviation of 7000 feet.  While I have already done a 17 miler with a deviation of 6300 feet that was almost at the end of summer last after hiking for months.

Today I will be testing myself to see how my stamina and endurance have waned over winter.

I will pay close attention to my pace and see how it goes mile by mile today.

Todays hike profile!!

Todays time-lapse sunset

 

1930s Drafting Table Top Refurbished

I have stripped and sanded this beautiful piece.   I have opted to not finish the top.  I instead I am using a clear  table topper mat.  This mat is made by exatamat.   

The thickness is 80 mil and clear they call it crystal.  The table I am using it on is 6'x3'.

It allows the table natural maple grain to truly shine.  

Making fresh pressed coffee on a hike.

 

Hocking Hills State Park Ohio Outing

 

We love doing what we love doing. It’s a passion that many don’t understand. Like going to bed at 2000 to wake up at midnight and after making breakfast to watch a sunrise on a fire tower that’s 3.5 hours away.

Those experiences for the people who know it is amazing and for others they say I would never.

After making a pot of fresh ground bean coffee and having breakfast I headed out to the Hocking Hills State Park area.

I had read other reviews about the fire tower and how unsuitable it is for some people. Yes, the stairs have no risers. The small platforms at each landing do have some chain link fences on them. You cannot enter the structure, but you still can see an amazing view. I will attach the timelapse below of the sunrise.

I would also be chasing a few waterfalls today. I would be staring at the hike a little earlier than normal for myself and that’s only because I was trying to stay ahead of the number of potential hikers today.

As I hiked up into the gorge of the Twin Sisters Falls you could see the erosion damage from the storms from last year. A good amount of soil erosion had taken place, and it exposed new rock formations. This also has exposed quite a bit of tree roots and they have also fallen.

Some of the newer smaller waterfalls you could see them because of the ice dams that they left behind.

I was only going to do a short hike because of the amount of time I was going to spend driving there and back. I would still get in a miler with an elevation deviation of over 3000 feet throughout the hike.

I changed my GoPro settings to shoot in 9x16 format because it was more important to see the high walls of the gorges.

I hope you enjoy the artwork.

Hoofing in Hocking on Saturday!!!

The passion we have for what brings us joy is strong. Hmm I might have gone to bed a 2000 and got up at 0000. I am going to drive down to the Hocking Hills area to capture a time lapse of the sunrise and then go on a hike.

I will also be chasing a few waterfalls while I am down there!

10.2 Miles out in back in the CVNP

Here southerly from the shore of Lake Erie we are not blessed with mountains. Here there are glaciated valleys and hills.

They have their own beauty, and they are what has made northeast Ohio. A hiker who is looking for a lot of elevation deviation in their hike will need to learn through trail and error what trails or trails offer them the challenge they are looking for.

On Sunday I had chosen a trail that was 11.2 miles out and back, but the elevation deviation was roughly 1700 feet ascending and descending.

Today’s trail started out in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park Headquarters parking lot.

I brought along my normal gear, but also packed my micro spikes by Kahtoola Web Link

After the first flight of sandstone stairs and feeling the ice under my boots I knew I needed to strap those MICRO spikes on.

One still needs to use caution while wearing them. You need to lift your feet higher and look where you step. I did not have my GoPro at a great angle for this and ended up with more of the trail in the videos and not the landscape.

The great thaw was not an issue this morning when I started, but buddy did that change on my return leg of the hike. Everything was getting sloppy and water was starting to run in the ditches and creeks.

What water did see going into the woods was clear, but coming out it was turning into chocolate milk.

I also noticed in this area particularly that they coyote like using the trail as a bathroom and It’s better than dog crap!!

I also saw a very interesting piece of 1800’s history out in front of the Summit County Engineers office out post (see photos below).

I also saw a huge wolf dog and I did not try and pet him, but he nosed my hand.

It was not because I was afraid of him, it was just out of respect for him and his owners.

Going to the CVNP this Sunday to hike 14 miles

The parking lot was to full to do the 14 mile route!!

2026 Goal to complete a 20 Miler in the CVNP this summer

 

New Backpack Osprey Aether 65L

 

Future Hiking Plans - The White Mountains - Presidental Range

 

Sunset Time Lapse

 

Brandywine Creek Gorge in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park - Video Entry

 

Headed out to the CVNP later!

 Stay tuned folks!

Stay warm out there friends

Allegheny National Forest

 

Video Entry of Waterfalls Today on Paine Creek

 

This just means I need to return and make some ladders!!!!

Here is the climbing profile up the gorge wall.

Triple Falls Hike

 

Paine Creek is a tributary of the Grand River in Northeast Ohio. I have been hiking Paine creek a lot over the last few years.

The shale gorge of Paine Creek is in some locations have shale walls that are over 100 feet high.

The other thing about Paine Creek is it has a lot of tertiary streams flowing into it. Now, some of them are so small you can kick a rock across them.

Several sections of Paine Creek are accessible via the Lake County Park system.

Today’s hike will be a shorter hike than I normally do, but all the vertical deviation I will be doing will make up for it.

Today’s temperatures are going to be below freezing. The first part of this hike I have done dozens of times, but when it comes to hiking around ice and water, I always approach it like I have never been there.

I will be wearing my waders and changing into my regular hiking clothes for the overland part of the hike.

One of Paine Creeks features is that it has mostly a shall bottom. While this is generally very slick thew majority of it is shallow. The average depth is 18” and yes it has some deep holes that you can swim in. I will be steering clear of those today.

My main priority is doing some hike recon for what I am going to call Triple Falls Creek.  This little ditch has high gorge walls that are over 100 feet high.  I will attach a video that illustrates what I am trying to convey.

I don’t know if I can actually climb the two other falls and to be honest just getting past the first falls might be a challenge also.

I might have to return several times throughout this year and build some ladders to get up the falls. This trip is more about intel gathering than anything else really.

Have a great Sunday folks,

Sonder

The New PC Finally!

 

I selected the MSI Aegis RS2 AI C2NVR9-1294US Gaming PCIntel Core Ultra 9 285K 3.2GHz Processor; NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB GDDR7; 32GB DDR5-6000 RAM gaming computer to edit the content I create.

I also slapped 64 GB Ram into the PC. Right now it runs smoothly and I hope it continues to do so. I also added another 27” monitor.

I also needed to send my GOPro13 back for a warranty exchange. I will be back at it in two weeks.

Stay safe folks and be well.

Sonder

Video Journal Entry For Raccoon Creek State Park Pennsylvania

I hope you enjoyed the artwork. I will be getting a new PC and for the next few days I will be sorting that out. I also needed to return my GoPro13 back for a replacement. The content will be limited for a few weeks. Hang in there folks and stay safe.

Headed to PA on 1.11.2026 for a 13 mile hike

I have the content edited and will post tonight.  

First Hike of 2026 11.9 Miler in the CVNP

I chose to wake up and drive over to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The overnight low was going to be 18 degrees.

I knew that only the silliest of hikers would be out this morning. I saw four woman that must have started when the sun came up lol. They were in their 70’s you go girls!!!

One of the hardest things I think of while hiking below freezing temps is how do I dress?

I carry a pack so I can always take layers off, but if you leave it in the car, you can never have it. So, with that said you need to think of what your pace is going to be and will the heat transfer adequately enough so that your skin stays relatively dry enough.

If the sweat stays on your skin because of the clothing you’re wearing will not allow the sweat to transfer though your layers you will be miserable and cold!!!

I had chosen a nearly 12-mile hike. I had to create this trail loop because it’s a combination of three trails.  The two trails are The Wetmore Bridal, Lake and Salt Run, and part of the Cross Country Trail.

I saw several deer foraging in the woods for food. I did see all kinds of small birds. It was supposed to get to 25 degrees, and I can attest that did not happen ..lol….

Happy New Year Friends and Family