Nockamixon Hike with the DVAMC

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Hi Blog!

When the kids were little, it was a family tradition to go car camping and hiking over Memorial Day Weekend. We stayed in the same campground and hike the same trails each year. As the kids grew and went off to school and jobs, we transitioned from car camping to backpacking. We had joined the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club. We went on numerous club hikes and backpacks. We took all of the outdoor classes offered at the Mohican Outdoor Center, including Wildnerness First Aid, Map & Compass, and even Introduction to Winter Backpacking (brrrr). It didn't take long before we took the Leadership Training Course and began leading hikes. We enjoyed our involvement with AMC, but the open road was calling.

One of the reasons we became full-time RVers was the long drives (and plane flights) back from our hiking and backpacking adventures. On one of those long trips home from the mountains, we thought: Wouldn't it be nice if our house were parked at the trailhead? We could come right off the trail and take a shower and have dinner without getting stiff on that long ride or flight home. Thus began a five year plan to buy an RV, sell our house and hit the road.

We've been on the road now for 11 years. While we have been back in the Philly area each year, we were never here long enough to participate in any DVAMC outings. We have a week or so before we are scheduled to puppy sit again, so we logged on to the DVAMC Activity schedule and found a hike at Lake Nockamixon State Park. We had recently hiked a section of the park and were looking forward to discovering another section.

We meet our fellow hikers at the Kellers Church Road Trailhead. The weather was perfect and folks came out in droves. Once everyone signed in and counted off, there were 29 of us! At the beginning of every AMC hike, folks circle up and introduce themselves and mention were they are from. We actually encountered folks we hadn't seen in 11 years! We had a great time catching up.

The hike connected several different trails for a total of 8 miles. Group hiking is a social event. We answered lots of questions about full-time RVing. However, we also learned of new trails and paddle opportunities in the area. Unfortunately, all that gabbing left little time for photos. However, we did make a number of side trips. We used this dry stream bed to make our way to the lake shore.

It didn't take Kathy long to grill a fellow hiker on the fishing opportunities in the lake.

The weather was perfect for sailing.

After a quick snack and drink, it was back on the trail. The folks we hiked with were well traveled. Some were planning a trip to Nepal. Others were heading to New York, while still others were planning to head down to Chincoteague.  One of our fellow hikers is even planning a trip to hike the East Coast Trail in Newfoundland, which is what we plan to do when we take our RV to Newfoundland next year.  It turns out the hiker grew up on the West Coast of Newfoundland and is very familiar with places in that part of the province, such as Gros Morne, that we enjoyed so much when we visited The Rock in 2018.  It was much fun comparing notes with her about that wild and wonderful Maritime place.

 

After five miles, it was lunch time.

An old dock made a convenient picnic spot.

A anhinga also found a convenient place to rest nearby.

As we dug into our packs, a couple of kayakers passed by.

As we prepared to hit the trail again, we looked back to take in the lake. The recent cold nights are starting to bring out the fall colors.

As we switched from one trail to the next, we passed an historic house, which appeared as if it might be ranger housing:

While Nockamixon doesn't have a campground, it does boast several cabins for rental.  

There is an interesting ropes course that groups use for team building exercises.  The activity center for the ropes course was near our lunch spot --

-- as was the ropes course itself:

The climbing town was impressive:

With all our socializing, the last few miles passed quickly. Now you might think this was the end of the adventure, but there was one more stop to make.

Hike leaders often have their favorite places for post hike recovery. Some prefer brew pubs, while others go all in for ice cream. Today's post hike stop was Owowcow (O Wow Cow) for hand crafted ice cream. We decided to order milkshakes - Dave went with blueberry lemon, while Kathy picked banana chocolate chip.

Of course, even ice cream cannot be consumed by AMC hikers without a heavy portion of conversation, so we flavored our shakes with the spice of sociability.  We had a great time socializing with fellow hikers and look forward to getting out on another hike before we leave the area.