2018-10-03 42 -78

Location

Allegany State Park by Camp Allegany

Participants

Pedalpusher
Simon the dog
Myka the dog

Expedition

This is near the top of my list as far as Favorite Expeditions go (even though I'm writing it up almost a year later). I was still working in Williamsville (Northern Suburb of Buffalo) at the time, and Allegany is an hour+ from my house in Hamburg (Southern suburb). Fortunately, I liked to get to work around 08:00 which allowed me to leave around 16:30 so I could miss the worst of Rush Hour, especially since they were doing major construction on the I-90 for the drive home. The commute home was 45 minutes on a good day and I knew getting to Allegany and the hash was going to be really tight based on the time of Sunset, around 19:00.

This was going to be a real adventure, and uncertain if I would actually make it with time to get out of the woods before I lost all ambient light. I went back and forth on this throughout the day since it was going to be a real rush to get down there, but in the end I decided to go for it. I would be able to stay on trails almost right up to the hash which was the deciding factor. If I was going to be bushwhacking through the woods in the dark, I would have passed for sure. I left work a little earlier than normal to give myself some extra time and the commute home was pretty standard.

Getting in the house, I put the dogs outside and started packing up the necessary items: GPS, Flashlight, Food for the dogs afterwords, etc. and quickly changed out of my work attire. We were on the road a bit after 17:00 and got to the Bova Ski area at Allegany around 18:15. I had less than an hour before the sun went down and I'd lose light fast. We made our way up the trails, and my legs were starting to feel the burn quickly especially once we started to go uphill. I knew I would be going out of my way on the trails (estimated 2.5 miles or so), but I'd also move faster too.

Nearly to the spot where I'd have to leave the trail, the time for sunset had past so it was starting to get dark, but I still had good light to get to the hash area just a bit down the hill for the GPS dance. The GPS was acting up AND I had some trouble getting a good signal on my phone but my best option was to use the HashDroid App. Needless to say, it was a wide ranging and a bit frustrating of a dance, but I finally got within a satisfactory reading and took a few pictures.

Finding my way back to the trail, I could now take my time walking back as the evening slowly faded to dark. I had a small hand-held LED lantern to help guide me back and as it turned to night, the dogs stuck closer so they could see where they were going too. It was really interesting walking back in the dark in the woods; I hadn't been on a night hike in a really long time. I was half tempted to walk up to the top of the old ski hill, but it was getting late and we really needed to get back home. I did have to work the next day after all. But seriously, what an unexpected adventure in the middle of the week to boot!

Photos

Not quite to the hash yet, but the sun is setting.
Close enough after a long GPS Dance.
It was getting dark and the phone camera was terrible. Best view of the woods by the hash.
Dogs patiently waiting at the hash.
Standard Stupid Grin.
Trail sign at an intersection. A mile to go to the trailhead by the car.