The night before Christmas, Dad asked me if would take a hike the next day. I didn’t want to at first, but he said we might not have a good week end day for a hike. So I gave in. He told me to pack an extra pair of shoes and socks.
I got up before 8 o’clock, ate breakfast, and we started out the front door at 8:50. Pudgy wanted to go so bad she was crying, so we let her tag along. It was a beautiful morning; not a cloud in the sky. No wind, but it was cold enough to see our breath. We went up Gibson St. to Wheeler then over to Pine St. I saw a male cardinal near the Little League ballpark at the bottom of the Gibson Street hill. Lake Lincoln looked full of water but only had thin film of ice at the shallow end. We cut down over the bank and along Davis trail to Roaring Brook Bridge. There was alot of greenish-looking water rushing over the falls. We went up the stone steps, cut up to the Erie railroad tracks, over to the Erie Bridge, and hit the highway at 9:23. It took 7 minutes more to get to East Mountain Rd. We walked up to the Lake Scranton and over to the dam. Dad took a picture of me on the little bridge. We went down Ore Mine Rd. and looked down at the pond near the clearing. Dad said he smelled a skunk and he put Pudgy on a leash (just in case).
In another twenty minutes we arrived at the Coon’s Mt turnoff. A bull dozer had turned up a bank of dirt across the turnoff and scooped out a pit on one side so that water wouldn’t rush across and washout the road. We saw horse tracks frozen in the ground going and coming. The horse tracks stopped before we got to #5 dam. We met an elderly man in a dark beret and tall walking stick. He told us that there were a few wet spots in the road. After we left him, we overtook a boy with a big German Sheppard named Rex. The boy was carrying a rifle. He said he was looking for fox. Dad told him about the path over the mountain in back of the #5 dam. We had to go downstream to find a place to cross. We crossed on a downed black birch tree. Pudgy swam across. We left #5 at 11:10.
We angled up the mountain to the first wash (gully) and followed it until it ended. We then continued straight up the hill until we reached a second wash lined with large boulders on both sides. We followed it to a path marked T-CS. The path was fairly clear to the little swamp. We had a little trouble on the path leading to Starks Pond. More trees had been uprooted and blown across the path since dad last cleared it out. Dad looked around for his markings and we arrived at Starks at 12:05. It’s a nice looking area. We hiked down to Covey’s Swamp. It looks like a hayfield with a crooked stream traveling through the center. We skirted the upper end of the swamp and jumped across the stream. Then we climbed the hill heading into the sun. The climb took us 23 minutes. We came out on top at Pole 25 and 25A. Pole 25 has a transformer on it. Pole 25A has a blinking red light.
The top is all conglomerate and someone drilled quite a few 3-inch holes into it. At the face where it has been blasted away, half of the drilled hole remains. The drilled hole was at least 15-ft in depth. We walked around to find a good spot to watch the airport. We saw one plane cross the field and take off into the wind. A large plane landed crossways and turned around and taxied back.
We climbed down the old road along the mountain side. It was covered thick with leaves. We came to a place where a tunnel runs through the mountain. The tunnel isn’t very high and a large diameter pipe runs through it. Dad said one day we ought to camp overnight and climb back over the top of the tunnel and see where the pipe comes from.
We could see the highway on the opposite mountain. The autos looked like the toy cars kids put into auto carrier toys. Dad said, “See how far that place is? Well, you’ll have to climb that mountain on the way back.” We hit the bank of Spring Brook at about 3:10. There must have been a bridge here at some point in time. Dad jumped over then cut a log and pushed it across to help me over. Pudgy jumped in and swam across. Dad ran to get a tree limb and put it along side of Pudgy so she wouldn’t be carried away downstream.
We used a downed black birch for firewood. Part of it was wet and rotted, but with the aid of as fire lighter and Dad’s inspirator, we son had a good fire going. I wrapped Pudgy in the extra jacket I took along. Then I made three hamburgers for each of us and I warmed some tomato soup. We changed our shoes and socks, cleaned up a bit, and went on to the dam. We left the cook site about 4:00.
We hiked to the highway, up to the top of the mountain and down the other side. Dad told me that when snow covers the highway, the thin metal rods aligning the edge of the highway would show where a culvert, abutment, or ditch was. We put Pudgy on the leash. We got to the Spring Brook inlet we saw a man parked on the wrong side of the road. He said he was going down to look at his trapping line. We saw deer tracks heading across the highway, a post marking the county line at 4:52 and two fat chickadees.
There were eight house trailers parked at the Glendale Trailer Court. There was a stack of big iron pipes and earth moving machinery on the right side of the road. I stopped at Matties Gas Station in Glendale. We left there at 5:24. Dad had to carry Pudgy across the bridge. She didn’t like the feel of the iron floor. After we crossed the bridge, it was really dark so I broke out the flashlight. The sky was overcast and there was no moon.
After we passed Belind Village, we could see the turnpike over to our left. It crosses the Erie Trestle at an angle. We climbed up the Erie RR bed at 5:47. I saw something in between the railroad ties. It turned out to be a big possum with part of its head missing. At 6:23, we passed milestone 10. Boy, were my feet hurting. At 6:58 we passed milestone 11. Dad lit a trench candle he had taken along. It threw a lot of light and burned for over a mile, but as it began to burn down, it started to drop pieces of glowing paper and we had to be careful with it.
We decided not to cook supper at Little Virginia but to keep on plugging along. My feet were hurting on the bottom. When Dad got to milestone #13, he walked over in the dark (I had the flashlight) to get a good look at the milestone marker and stepped into a deep pool, of water (over the top of his shoes). We got to Schirras at 7:55. We walked down to the highway and I call my mother up from a pay station. Dad kept calling back to me “to hurry up because Pudgy wanted to get home.” I complained that it wasn’t fair because every time he stops to wait for me to ketchup (catch up), Pudgy lays down to get a rest and so does he. I never get to stop and rest.
We got home at 8:45. Dad went up and soaked in the bath tub and I lay down to watch TV. It was wonderful to just lay still. Before bed, I took a long, hot bath. I wasn’t tired; only my feet.