Snowy Picnic at Tobyhanna Creek

 Wednesday, March 3, 2021

Hi Blog!

The polar vortex took another shot at us yesterday. With temperatures in the single digits, we decided to stay in and bake bread. Dave received an amazing assortment of olives from daughter Katier for his birthday. We used some of them to bake olive bread. More on that later.

A weekend of rain and an extreme drop in temperature has turned our fluffy snow into ice. We decided to skip skiing this week because of the ice, but we couldn't resist getting out and enjoying the bright blue sky and warming temps.

After packing our picnic lunch on fresh baked olive bread, we drove over to Tobyhanna Beach. By parking at the beach, we cut out a half mile of Lakeside Trail, which enabled us to hike further on the Yellow Range Trail.

The first part of our hike is like visiting with an old friend. It brings back memories of running this trail in the fall and walking the grandpuppies over Christmas.

A trip along the Lakeshore Trail would not be complete if we didn't stop at Ruthie's favorite watering hole.

As we crossed the bridge over Tobyhanna Creek, we noticed the beaver dam seemed to have survived the recent bad weather.

As we reached parking lot No. 5, we noticed the parking lot is still snowed in. However, that hasn't stopped the cross-country skiers and snowshoers from making their way out here. 

After about a half mile, we left the Lakeshore Trail and started north on the Yellow Range Trail toward Gouldsboro Lake State Park. In another half mile, we crossed Tobyhanna Creek. We decided this would be the perfect spot for our picnic. We checked the time and calculated the miles. If we continued hiking for another mile-and-a-half and turned around and came back, we would be back here in time for lunch!

We noticed an ice bridge over the creek. Neither of us was brave enough to try and cross it.

Very few folks venture this far in the snow. A cross-country skier had been through before the rain and ice. The faint indentation of their ski track could be seen in the snow. This made a great track for us to follow to minimize our postholing.  There may have been a snowshoer or two, but their tracks were also washed away.

After another half mile, we crossed a powerline easement and noticed a lineman making his way along the easement checking the line. He never caught up to us, but on our return trip, we saw his snowshoe trail heading off into the State Game Lands.

As the afternoon arrived, with its warm sun, the snow began to soften, and we found ourselves postholing in the deep snow.  Somehow, this allowed David to duck beneath the overhanging fallen tree:

As the distanced hiked according to our GPS approached 3 miles, we decided to stop for a snack and an equipment adjustment.

The 1.5 miles out and 1.5 miles back to Tobyhanna Creek were probably our toughest miles. The trail is seldom used and therefore not as packed down. In addition, the softer snow denied support for our boots and we postholed on every step.  We found ourselves sinking in snow. 

By the time we got back to the creek, we were ready for lunch!  We sat, eating our sandwiches and marvelling at the patterns the ice made along the creek:

Time to bust out the thermos with hot tea and tuck into those veggie sandwiches on fresh olive bread! We make ourselves comfortable and watched the sunlight glisten off the ice hanging over the creek and listen to the water burble and splash over the tiny waterfalls.

In the photo below, Dave demonstrates how to chill on the trail!

It would have been nice to stay longer, but we had miles to go.

Other than the lineman, we only saw one other hiker the whole day, and he was walking the campground road. We stopped at the bridge over the entrance to Tobyhanna Lake and saw a beaver swimming in the open channel. We tried to get a photo but, as the beaver swam closer, it submerged under the ice and we never saw it again. Timing in life is everything!

Not sure how many more snow adventures we will have. The weatherman is calling for unseasonably high temps the next two weeks. We may have seen our last snowfall. Stay tuned.