Admin’s Trip Reports
Explore 296 Trip Reports (trail reviews) contributed by Dave Miller (Admin)
Grinnell Glacier Trail
Glacier National Park
Babb, Montana
Babb, Montana
11.8
miles
/ 19.0 km
September 16, 2024
Amazing hike back to Grinnell Glacier for the first time in 9 years (for me). This hike is one of my favorite hikes in the US and for good reason -- you generally get views the entire way and it leads up to the ancient, but shrinking, Grinnell Glacier with views of Salamander and Gem glaciers that sit in the hanging valleys above Upper Grinnell Lake. We started this hike around 6:30AM after driving out from West Glacier with a 4AM rise-time. Since the Many Glacier Hotel officially closed for the season on this day, the parking lot was still very full from visitors staying at the hotel the night before. Additionally, the construction nearby (Sept 2024 thru May 2026) caused the parking lot to fill-up and overflow super fast that morning. We hiked out via the Swiftcurrent Lake Trail to reach the North Shore Lake Josephine Trail and then hiked up to Grinnell via the Grinnell Glacier Trail. On the way back, we hiked around Lake Josephine to return back to the trailhead. At Grinnell, we did not hike out to the glacier's edge as I did in the previous hike in 2015, but rather enjoyed the scenery from nearby. Grinnell appears to have calved off since I last visited and the before/after pictures clearly show that the glacier is in fact shrinking. The hike up was awesome -- we had the trail to "ourselves" with just a handful of other hikers heading to Grinnell. The hike down was annoying at times -- we passed hundreds of hikers within the 6 miles out and many of them did not care to pause or move over during skinny trail sections -- please do not be those people. The crowds of hikers was a different experience from my secluded hike here on Sept 30, 2015 when we saw less than 20 other hikers the entire time. Despite the lack of seclusion, this hike is still one of my top favorites.
Hiking
Stony Peak & Twin Top Peak
Susquehannock State Forest
Abbott, Pennsylvania
Abbott, Pennsylvania
1.2
miles
/ 1.9 km
September 02, 2024
Cruised out to the top of Stony with the goal to mostly just enjoy the outdoors but turned into another maintenance session. Got less done than usual but took down some offending saplings and a few larger new growth trees on the steep slopes of the peak to open up new views.
Dogs
Hiking
Turkey Path
Leonard Harrison State Park
Wellsboro, Pennsylvania
Wellsboro, Pennsylvania
2.2
miles
/ 3.5 km
August 28, 2024
Beautiful morning for a hike into the gorge via the Turkey Path. It rained overnight so the trail was a bit slippery and sketchy in certain spots where the steep drop-offs sit. Waterfalls were flowing well and the morning fog above the canyon was a beautiful sight along the Main Lookout Trail. Jax had fun.
Dogs
Hiking
Turkey Path
Leonard Harrison State Park
Wellsboro, Pennsylvania
Wellsboro, Pennsylvania
2.2
miles
/ 3.5 km
August 26, 2024
Beautiful morning hike along the trail. Took Jax and Nina on this one. The canyon was full of morning fog when we started, but was clear when we ended. Solid way to start the day.
Dogs
Hiking
Turkey Path
Leonard Harrison State Park
Wellsboro, Pennsylvania
Wellsboro, Pennsylvania
2.1
miles
/ 3.4 km
August 22, 2024
First time hiking the Turkey Path in full on the Leonard Harrison SP side in probably 5 years. This trail is amazing, but I tend to ignore it due to the foot traffic. Mid-week is far less busy and most visitors tend to stay at the main lookout trail with views of the canyon. I showed up with Jax (my dog) around 10AM and took a nice 1-hour 2-mile out-and-back hike along the Turkey Path to check out the waterfalls. They were flowing strong and seems like over the years some of the views of the falls have been opened up, likely by park workers. Big shout-out to the park employees that maintain this steep gorge path. Need to take advantage of this trail more often, Jax loved the hike!
Dogs
Hiking
Stony Peak & Twin Top Peak
Susquehannock State Forest
Abbott, Pennsylvania
Abbott, Pennsylvania
1.5
miles
/ 2.4 km
August 15, 2024
More maintenance, clearing saplings, etc.
Hiking
North Rim Trail
Watkins Glen State Park
Watkins Glen, New York
Watkins Glen, New York
1.0
mile
/ 1.6 km
August 04, 2024
Hiked back to the Gorge Trail after hiking up from the lower parking lot. Waterfalls in the gorge were beautiful but the lookout point along this trail was completely covered by the summer-time vegetation.
Hiking
Watkins Glen Gorge Trail
Watkins Glen State Park
Watkins Glen, New York
Watkins Glen, New York
1.1
miles
/ 1.8 km
August 04, 2024
Nice hike through the gorge on a busy Sunday morning. Showed up around 8:30 to find the lower parking lot was 70% full. By the time we got off the trail, it was fairly packed at 10AM. Waterfalls were beautiful, but wish I showed up earlier.
Hiking
Stony Peak & Twin Top Peak
Susquehannock State Forest
Abbott, Pennsylvania
Abbott, Pennsylvania
1.0
mile
/ 1.6 km
August 01, 2024
Mowed the trail from the service road up to the peak, re-cemented the peak summit marker, and chopped down a ton of black birch saplings to prevent the view from being blocked in the future. The mow to the top was rough, especially in almost mid-day sun. Not much shade at the top of Stony aside from the peak's crown canopy which made it a bit easier to cool down. Solid day of maintenance.
Hiking
Gillespie Point via Mid State Trail
Tioga State Forest
Blackwell, Pennsylvania
Blackwell, Pennsylvania
3.4
miles
/ 5.5 km
April 14, 2024
Super warm Sunday afternoon in mid-April made for a nice loop hike to Gillespie Point - I brought Jax with me. Funny enough I ran into Dustin right as I started the hike! With no leaves on the trees at ~65 degrees (F), it was pretty hot being baked by the sun, but the views from the top of Pine Creek and the canyon were worth the climb. I decided to come back via a loop by taking the service road that sits on the south slopes of Gillespie. I also had no clue, until today, that there was a decent view of the mountains toward Morris, PA (noted by the radio tower). The service road was a great way to turn this hike into a loop and to take some weight off of the knees by adding more mileage in a trade-off to a steeper downhill climb that my original track includes.
Dogs
Hiking
Mt. Washington via Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail and Jewell Trail
White Mountain National Forest
Randolph, New Hampshire
Randolph, New Hampshire
3.8
miles
/ 6.1 km
March 10, 2024
Short out-and-back hike to Gem Pool Falls along the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail during early March. Original goal was to summit Mt. Washington as a winter ascent, but the weather did not hold out for our cabin reservation and a snow storm blew into the mountains the night before. Arrived at the trailhead around 9AM with morning wind speeds around 20mph at the base of the mountain with summit winds reaching 105mph, so shooting for the summit was pointless. Instead we decided to hike the Ammonoosuc Ravine for as far as we felt comfortable with. Snow was whipping and the precipitation even included a bit of rain. Along the trail during the winter, hikers should be aware of the 45-degree sloping angles that the snowpack creates, which makes it all too easy to trigger small avalanches that could send you down into the creek, located ~20-feet below. We took these sections slowly and carefully - sometimes hiking up into the trees and around the main trail for additional safety. Our crampons provided extra grip on the ice that sat below the snowpack. Postholing was fairly common with some pockets reaching 3-feet deep. Eventually we reached Gem Pool Falls and took a nice long break, taking photos and videos of the icy cascade. We attempted to cross the creek to continue, but the recent warmer temps and rain caused any ice built-up in the creek to turn to complete mush. It was clear that to continue we'd have to risk putting our feet in 6-inch-deep creek water at the very least. We decided to turn around here for safety as summitting was a foolish task that day anyway. Looking forward to another winter summit attempt someday.
Hiking
Pixley Falls Trail
Pixley Falls State Park
Boonville, New York
Boonville, New York
0.5
miles
/ 0.8 km
February 12, 2024
Quick hike down to Pixley Falls -- checked out the other waterfalls along the way including Step Falls and Shelf Falls which sits adjacent to the 50-foot tall Pixley Falls. Water was flowing pretty well after all of the recent rain and snow melt. During the Winter, the further parking lot is blocked by plowed snow piles, so the walk in is slightly longer than during the Summer.
Dogs
Hiking
