Interesting Christmas Gifts

The Christmas gifts in the picture sum up alot of what I'm about. I got alot of cool stuff including a louder Ipod boombox and a big toolbox for the garage but these gifts are among the most interesting. They are, left to right: Laura and Guy Waterman's "Yankee Rock & Ice", an antique doube-shot glass, a FoxPro "Skyote" coyote call, and Rollins' "Get in the Van" chronicling his time with Black Flag.

Laura and Guy Waterman's "Yankee Rock & Ice: A History of Climbing in the Northeastern United States": Both this and "Get in the Van" are books I've been wanting to read for a long time but somehow never got around to it. I admit to having an inordinate interest in the history of the rock and ice climbs that I actually get to climb (and some I won't ever climb). It adds something to the experience for me. Some people don't want to know anything about what they're gonna climb: no move beta, no gear beta, no history... they want it to be pristine. I can understand that. I like figuring out the moves and the gear (although I'll also admit to being nosy about any (relatively) obscure but critical pieces of gear "Oh, a #4 Camalot is handy for protecting the step-out move on 'High Exposure'? Good, I typically leave that heavy hunk of metal behind."), but the history? I want to know it all. I want to know that by the Pebbles Boulders -- very near where I had my first Trad Lead (Gunks' "Belly Roll") -- that someone committed suicide by climbing then jumping off the cliff. I want to know that the "Black Dike" was a coveted first lead when modern ice tools were giving pioneers the ability to venture onto more and more vertical terrain. I want to climb "Chouinard's Gully" and "Pinnacle Gully" in full awareness of what those climbs meant to past generations (who are likely still climbing harder than I am). That's part of why I like S. Peter Lewis' "Climbs of the Northeast". He's an interesting writer that gives a little bit of history or a personal story for each of the climbs in the book. That's why it's the only guidebook I've ever read cover-to-cover. I'm hoping "Yankee Rock & Ice" will fill in the gaps. BTW, it's a companion book to "Forest and Crag" which chronicles non-technical hiking and exploration in the Northeast... maybe next Christmas?!

If you don't know anything about Guy and Laura Waterman, let me give you some background - at least the way I remember it. I read his biography "Good Morning Midnight" (Great title, right? But just read the short version here). Tough read, not particular well written and if I hadn't been a new dad I probably wouldn't have finished the book. However I was a new dad and he wasn't -- apparently -- a particularly good father. At the time of his death, none of his kids were still talking to him and one son had committed suicide in a fashion that portended the death of Guy himself. Jon Waterman (NOT Jonathon Waterman) -- a name familiar to people who have read anything of Alaska Range mountaineering history because of his infamous 5 month solo up and over Mount Hunter and because he basically committed suicide by continuously walking unroped across crevasse-laced glaciers -- was Guy's son. If I remember correctly (a distinct possibility), another son was crippled when his leg was caught under a freight train he was hopping. Guy and Laura committed to a subsistence homesteading lifestyle in, I believe, Vermont (I'm going on memory here). They lived in a cabin in the woods ( called "Barra" I believe) built around a piano miles from town and accessible only by footpath. They wrote this book while living there. Eventually, he and Laura built another home closer to town and it slowly became obvious that this was "Laura's home". Meaning, of course, that Guy wasn't going to be around much longer. Shortly after it was finished he hiked up to his favorite part of the Northeast Mountains. A place that he had spent a lifetime exploring both on and off-trail in all four seasons, sat down, and died of exposure near Franconia Notch. Crazy. I can't wait to read this book, but it will take a back seat to my back rehab books (in the meantime I'll skip ahead to whatever climbs I'm doing next weekend...Trap Dike!).

Well , this got a little long so I'll get to the shot glass, the coyote call, and Rollins' "Get in the Van" later.

SOUNDTRACK: Operation Ivy's "Unity". For no other reason than that's what is playing right now on my Ipod. Op Ivy is go-to music for me, though. Never a bad time for Op Ivy. Summer BBQ? Yeah, Op Ivy sounds so good, let's drink! Tooling around the mountains by myself on an introspective winter night? Sure, Op Ivy is perfect. Groundbreaking combination of ska and punk. Ok, one quick story. I stopped at the 7-11 on my way home from work one time in Norristown and I go in to pay for the gas and the guy behind the counter has the album cover from "Energy" tattoed on his forearm.

Me: "Nice Op Ivy tatto."

Him: "I'm surprised a guy in a suit knows who they are." (bear in mind I'm wearing a pair of khakis and a button down shirt, no tie, no jacket and I'm driving a beat-up 1987 Toyota pick-up with aluminum siding riveted over the gaping rust holes to pass inspection).

Me: "Umm... yeah, even The Man likes Op Ivy."

The Hunched Back Deadlift & Loss of Motor Control

Some people deadlift with hunched backs. No one argues that this is ideal posture. However, it's incredibly common -- and not just among people new to the lift or the gym. Elite national and international-level powerlifting competitors can often be seen with fully extended hips but with remaining lumbar flexion before the completion of the lift.

It really bothers me because I am extremely careful with deadlift form and I have still occasionally aggravated my disc herniation. If I were to get anywhere near these postures at weights near my 1 RM I'm pretty sure the nucleus from L5-S1 disc would not simply herniate, it would come flying out of my spine like a big hunk of snot. I understand that the thousands of reps and millions of pounds that elite competitors have lifted under the watchful eye of effective trainers probably means their body is prepared for how they lift, but what about the noobs?

McGill's "Low Back Disorders..." sheds some light on this subject (see the (rather poor) photo of pg. 105 of the second edition of this book). He brought in a bunch of powerlifters. He measured the maximum flexion of their spine unweighted. This is considered 100% flexion for a given athlete. Then he used several different means to monitor these lifters as they made heavy lifts. In every case but one (which we'll get to), while these athletes may have flexed their spine (so their spines are no longer in the "neutral" (or standing) posture), they always stopped 2-3 degrees short of full 100% flexion in any of their lumbar joints. OK, so these athletes are so finely tuned that their bodies know exactly how far they can flex and then they flex no more. I doubt the average gym rat or CrossFitter is so self-aware; especially at the end of a wod when completely winded... but it is possible that some people are just naturally more aware of spine positioning that others. And it appears that these people are less likely to become injured.

During the testing, however, one athlete experienced a loss of muscle control in one of the muscles (it's not clear which, and it's not necassarily important) stabilizing the spine. This permitted one lumbar joint (the L2-L3 in this case) to flex to -- and beyond -- 100% flexion. This athlete was injured. This illustrates a couple of points:

1 - It explains how all those hunched backs in deadlift competitions are not constantly injuring people. They probably never reach 100% flexion in any joint, so the soft tissue (ligaments, discs) remains free of acute trauma.

2 - Even if you've gotten away with it before, even trained powerlifters can have a momentary loss of motor control that can injur the spine. This is more likely if you have a 'hunched' spine where there is little room (2-3 degrees!) for error.

3 - This also explains how people hurt their spine doing relatively benign tasks. I 'tweaked' my back one time picking up my toothbrush off the floor! Obviously the loads here are very small, but if there is a momentary loss of motor control, one of the lumbar joints might reach 100% flexion, which results in injury.

Interesting stuff. I've not yet reached the part of the book where McGill will expain how I might rehab and retrain the 'stablizing' muscles of the spine to reduce the risk of 'loss of motor control', especially during hard breathing where these same stabilizing muscles are helping the athlete to breathe. This is howevery the point of the last third of the book. This seems particular relevant to the CrossFitter who is constantly being asked to lift hard, fast and to do so while really sucking wind.

SOUNDTRACK: Hey it's Christmas Eve and even punks (occasionally) write Christmas songs. Darlington's "X-mas" on the Album "Mess You Up" (BTW, I linked to Amazon to show the album cover which is... um.. confusing, but recommend your local independent record store) is slow but still pretty catchy. I know the feeling of the lyrics, "I need a bottle of holiday cheer..." They also have a good almost-cover of the Rocky Horror Picture Show "Timewarp" song. I saw these guys years ago at Upstairs at Nicks in Philly, bought a 7", enjoyed it. End of story I thought. They were called "Mess" then. Years later, though, I borrowed a bunch of CDs from a friend to listen to while I was re-finishing the basement in my house and was surprised to find that they had changed their name to Darlington. Just another slurred-speach version of TheRamones, but good stuff. Very poppy. Hits the spot sometimes. Like on X-mas Eve.

IMAGE: Taken without permission but with full credit from pg. 105 of Stuart McGill's "Low Back Disorders: evidence-based prevention and rehabilitation", 2nd Edition.

SGL 176 in the Snow

I've only had a chance to do a little exploring in the closest public lands to the new house, SGL 176. So, while my friends in philly got a paralyzing 23" of snow from the "Pre-Christmas Blizzard of '09", I took advantage of central PA's relatively modest 6" of snow to do a little more. I know there's a few geocaches in there and one mentioned beaver dams, so I went looking for ponds (that's the bigger of the two I found in the pic). With 6" of falling snow I didn't bother taking the GPS, though, just headed in the general direction. The place is criss-crossed with all kinds of trails. It's gonna be a great place for trail runs, but all that fresh powder and trails over rolling hills makes me think I need some cross-country skis. Preferably ones that hook into the toe of my climbing boots, but that's probably asking too much. The Play-it-again sports in Schenectady, NY -- where I bought a pair of new-to-me downhill boots earlier this year -- had alot of pretty cheap used x-cskis/bindings. I doubt they'd have a cheap all-mountain or touring set-up, but still, may have to try and swing by there on my way to the daks in a few weeks.

It was kinda nice to head out without any particular training objective or destination; although I was curious how my back would handle a ramble over uneven ground. Turns out it felt pretty good. I also used it as an opportunity to double-check my climbing boots. Last year, I bought new boots to replace the Koflach's Degre's. Although not nearly as warm, my new La Sportiva Trango Extremes are much lighter and definetely fit better but I still have some heel lift. Last year, I put green superfeet footbeds in the Trango Extremes to help take up some volume in my low-volume feet, but it damn near cost me my big toenail on the descent from Mt. Washington last winter. And that sore toenail KILLED me the next few days on New Hampshire's Frankenstein cliff. This year I'm sticking with the stock footbeds (and cutting my toenails the day before every trip), but I do wish that the heel locked down a bit better, especially on vertical ice. I want to put some more pitches on them before I try doing anything beyond alternative lacings. My gut feeling is that a slightly thicker tongue right around my ankle would help a bit and would only help keep my toes from hitting the end of the boot on the downhills.

Injury-wise, I'm learning a lot from Stuart McGills "Low Back Disorders..." It has provided some insight into the anatomical basis of some of the recommendations from CrossFit San Francisco's Kelly Starrett and challenged me to consider conventional 'wisdom' when it comes to sparing the lower back. More on that later.

Sound track: No soundtrack today. My daughter is on a kid-song kick and I can't get the song "Found a Peanut" out of my head; and that's not something I will ever recommend.

Hitting the Books

As I eagerly await the delivery of Stuart McGill's "Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance", PSU interlibrary loan delivered his "Low Back Disorders: Evidence-based prevention and rehabilitation." Although the title of "Ultimate Back Fitness..." sounds like an amateur bodybuilder's roadmap to "mile-wide lats" and "shredded traps," neither book is directed towards bodybuilders, strength athletes, or other athletes. Rather it is directed toward the doctors and physical therapists who treat injured people, including athletes and workers.

I probably won't read "Low Back Disorders..." cover-to-cover like I will "Ultimate Back Fitness..." but I did start reading it and taking notes last night. I approached it like I do any textbook: skim the whole book emphasizing the figures and charts and their captions; then read the preface; then actually start to read it. Seeing as how this is pretty dry text, a few fingers of whiskey (see image) and some Screeching Weasel in the background help make this more enjoyable. Typically when reading or skimming a book like this I mentally note the points that AGREE with my worldview, but seeing as how my normal worldview is what keeps getting
me into this mess, I'm trying really hard to notice those things that CLASH with my current understanding. This won't be hard, since dispelling current "clinical wisdom" is one of the main points of this book.

Here's a couple of comments that caught my eye:

pg 8 Right off the bat, "Ill-advised Rehabilitation Recommendations" include 1) "Strengthen the muscles in the torso to protect the back" (her argues that endurance is more important than strength); 2) "...bend the knees, not the back" (he argues that very few jobs can be performed this way and there are better techniques) and 3) "Tight hamstrings...lead to back troubles" (maybe but not neccessarily). Interestingly enough, immediately after the recent aggravation, I started planning to really start strengthening my (lower) abs and lower back, stretch my hamstrings, and learn to better recruit my torso muscles to stabilize
my spine. I'm getting the feeling that learning to stabilize the spine is where I'm going to be spending the majority of my time.

pg.144 "Should Intra-abdominal Pressure (IAP) Be Increased During Lifting? Generally the answer is no: At least IAP should not be increased conciously..." with the caveat, "very strenuous lifts...will require the build-up of IAP to increase torso stiffness and ensure stability."

pg 150 "Is it advisable to maintain a reasonable level of fitness? ... well-chosen (ed: not situps, apparently) exercise is the most powerful strategy for preventing occupational back troubles."

pg 156 illustrates the proper way to roll-over in bed!

pg 157 "Reducing the risk in athletes. ...Without exception, they had to change the way they trained. Their backs were breaking down for a reason!"

pg 187 "Train to breathe freely while maintaining the stabilizing abdominal wall contractions"

pg 218 "Eliminating Unsafe Exercises" where three exercises are listed as "inappropriate exercises" that have been "prescribed for people with low back difficulties": sit-ups, leg raises, "traditional extensor exercises" (think back extensions and those "back extension" machines).

pg 239 "Training to Squat and Power Clean...If perfect starting position cannot be obtained, then other means are needed. Many great atheletes can not do these lifts."

SOUNDTRACK: "Three Sides" by Screeching Weasel from one of the all-time great pop-punk records "Anthem for a New Tommorrow". The lyrics "Three sides to every stupid question, three sidees to everything you see" struck me as appropriate last night as I look to challenge what I think I know about my back and my health.

Well Enough to Work, But Not Well Enough to Play

I'm always angry that "well enough to work" precedes "well enough to play" when recovering from an injury or illness. It just isn't right. Or maybe I should take up less active "play." If I lived to play video games, then, man, would I love being immobile. Unfortunately for me, I haven't owned a video game console since my Atari 2600 when I was a kid and the only video games in the house are Ms. Pac Man and Pole Position and so the progression generally goes:


1 - Sick
2 - Well enough to work
3 - Well enough to work around the house
4 - Well enough to workout
5 - Well enough to play

So last night after doing some work in the garage and getting angrier and angrier. I thought I would very gently TRY the hangboard. After all, it's right there, and besides hanging is supposed to be good for herniated disks: it's supposed to open up the vertebrae and give the disc more room to go back to where it belongs... ie nowhere near my spinal cord.

I got my Metolius Simulator (see pics) this summer from a friend who had a long-lasting finger tendon issue from climbing and didn't see the hangboard as anything he would ever risk. It's harder than I thought. After no real climbing in over six months, I couldn't hang at all from the 'hard sloper' and could only manage at most a few seconds on the smallest crimpers. Since I'm brand new to ha
ngboards and haven't climbed in months, my entire 15 minute workout was probably equivalent to the first half of a real climbers' warm-up. Still, I could feel it. I threw in a few hangs on the pull-up bar and some circuits on the ice tools for variety.

It's easy to see why so many people provide such boisterous cautions about overuse with these things, though. It's not easy to imagine that if this is the workout I was limited to for a few weeks that I would very quickly overdo it and then really be up the creek as overuse injuries in the hand are notoriously slow to heal. Therefore, I consider my biggest success last night one of discretion: I cut the workout short and refused to do even one slow strict pull-up. And my back was the better for it.

Soundtrack: "Pack Your Bags" by The Bodies. I love this song. So funny. I can't find a link to a sample or even the lyrics but it's on TKO's original "Punch Drunk" comp, which is pretty good and cheap (if you can find it). The summary: Guy kicks out girlfriend ("f-ck off and don't you know, I don't give a damn where you go!"), then see's her picture during the bridge and begs for her to come back ("Alright, I'm not mad, won't you please, please come back?") It's a staple in my wod playlists where it always get's me pumped up AND makes me laugh. A rare combination.

CrossFit for Outdoor Athletes

World renown ice climber Will Gadd, who literally wrote the book on modern ice climbing techniques and who is currently training for an 'endless ascent' 24 straight hours of vertical ice climbing at Ouray, finally got around to giving CrossFit the "full-on committed" effort for 3 months. He comments on what he's learned on his blog. I'm currently working through the back catalog of his blog, and I pay special attention when truly world-class athletes give CrossFit a shot and are kind enough to comment. In general he was surprised by his strength, fitness, and mass gains but has a few minor critiques that are worth considering if you're a climber and like to get outside and get after it.

The herniated disk feel much better today than yesterday. I can sneeze without debilitating, excruciating pain, for instance. During breakfast I commented, "This is exactly the time when I typically overdo it and hurt myself worse." Still... by lunch I was planning on going out and having a go at a strict pull-up/hangboard workout. I think it's wiser to just let it heal for a few more days.

IMAGE: The image is one of my favorites "Will Gadd on Aweber" by Christian Pondella , who as tons of great pics on his website. That ice has got to be rock hard.

soundtrack: NOFX "What's the matter with kids today?" Great question I think of often as a dad, but, even if I do love GG Allin (and tried to visit his grave!), do I want my daughter to "drink and fuck and fight?" Probably. Eventually. When I'm dead (or rather, over my dead body).

The CrossFit Comeback! ...Interrupted

Well, two weeks and just one and a half full-intensity WODs into my long-anticipated Crossfit Comeback and I've aggravated my herniated disk. Unbelievable. Nothing "popped" as it has in the worst cases in the past, but anything other than walking (except maybe the hangboard... we'll have to see) is not happening right now. And it couldn't have come at a worse time either. Tussey Mountain is starting to blow snow and should open this weekend, a deep freeze
has settled over the entire Northeast creating favorable conditions for ice to finally start to form, and lake effect snow is blowing all the way to Maine. ...And my back is screwed again. Let me see I can get the timeline right and then start thinking of a way out of this.

The comeback was going well. I'd been eating zonish all of November. My first week of wods(starting after Thanksgiving) was all half-volume, medium intensity just-get-back-into-the-groove type stuff from the main site or from CrossFit KoP. I felt good. I was stiff and sore in all the right ways. I was happy to learn that the skill-based "crossfit tricks" (things like double-unders, kipping and butterfly pull-ups, against-the-wall handstand push-ups, pistols, etc) all pretty much picked up where they left off, and I was finding a way to fit the wods into my schedule. Of course, my strength and stamina were seriously degraded, as was my mental ability to push the intensity... but I knew I'd get those back quickly.

After one week of this, the wod called for a 1000m row, then 21-15-9 reps of GHD sit-ups and back extensions. Pretty straightforward. I'd sub 45lb sumo deadlift high pulls for the rows, abmat situps for the GHD situps, and supermans for the back extensions. A not-bad workout that I could do full-volume. But I felt the tug in my lower back during the SDLHPs. So, being very cautious about my lower back, I cut them short and wrapped up the situps and supermans without issue or discomfort. "Damn. I'm so smart and approriately cautious," I thought.

I took a much needed day-off just to catch up on my sleep and everything felt fine. The next day I decided to go full-on intensity for a couple of short benchmark wods. The first was 200 double-unders for time. That felt OK, and I was surprised to find my time (5 minutes and some change) not as bad as I thought it would be. I rested a bit. Played on the hangboard for a few minutes. Then I did a couplet "ramp" or "half pyramid" from CFKoP: 1 burpee and 1 53lb kettlebell swing the first minute; two each the next minute until I couldn't complete a round in one minute. I love these types of wods! It was GREAT! I mean, I only made 8 full rounds but it felt good to take the governer off and just go for it. Not exactly an impressive score, but I was happy to find my mental ability to increase the intensity on these burners was coming back. My lower back
felt OK but I could tell it wasn't 100%.

The next morning I spent about an hour shoveling extremely wet, heavy snow. Thank god my
neighbor cleared the bulk of my driveway with this tractor-mounted snowblower. I was as careful as I could be, but my back didn't much care for it. But still, I felt no sharp pains and was expecting to have to work through a bit of discomfort as I got back in the groove. "So far so good," I thought.

That night the main site wod was to run a 5k. No way was I doing that in the dark at 25 F. That would be a sure-fire case of bronchitis. The famous "300" wod was on the CFKoP site. I could do that with the weight scaled back a bit. The deadlifts were already plenty light (135 lbs) and I'd just cut them short if it bothered me.

Well they did bother me, and I did cut them short, but by the time I got halfway through the box jumps, I knew I should stop. Unless I very consciously tightened my abs and held my breath, I would feel a little twinge when I landed at the top. So I stopped. It still didn't feel that bad and again I congratulated myself on my ability to make the tough decision to just cut the workout short. "This is how I will avoid a serious injury," I thought.

That night it bothered me when I slept. It kept waking me up and I couldn't sleep on my stomach like all good people prefer. The next morning it was obvious that this wasn't gonna heal up in a day or two....I would be lucky to be able to ski ro board by christmas and make the first climbing trip by the end of the year. "Damn it!" I thought.

Last night's therapy was a whiskey-soaked, rest-the-back-and-ice-it-continuously viewing of "Old School". Tonight's plan -- after I stop at the liquor store to get some vermouth and bitters -- is to perfect my Jim Beam Manhattan so that I can have a Jim Beam Manhattan-soaked, icing-and-resting-the-back-viewing of say, The Big Lewbowki.

I've started to formulate a path to comeback to the comeback. This will be tricky, though. I need to "fix" this once and for all. It's really the only part of my health that I can complain about. For that I am very thankful, but it is still a significant hit to my life and lifestyle, so it's worth doing right... finally. "So, what is 'right'?" I thought.

Soundtrack: Swingin' Utters "Nine to Five"

Open Letter to Crossfit Veterans

I posted the following on CrossFit King of Prussia's blog on December 3rd. It was a bit out of the blue and not really germain to their wod or other people's posts that day but it was on my mind. I thought I'd post here to jumpstart this blog again and provide a bit of background as I begin hitting the workouts hard again after a long layoff.
**********************************************

Hey, i know this will be a long post, but WTF.

I read that 'hunk to chunk' article. The article mentions that the hardest part was to get motivated after six months of no workouts and extreme eating. That sounds about right. I'll try to make a different point from a similar situation: it's easy to forget how intimidating some of these CF Wods can be to a new comer.

I CF'd for about 3.5 years -- since DEC 1st 2006 – missing a few months total in that time due to injury and a kid in the hospital. For personal reasons, I recently took almost 5 months off from CF. In that time I did maybe 3 or 4 short trail runs, and a few bodyweight only wods, maybe 1 or 2 per month. Basically, nothing. Without a reason to eat correctly, my consumption of sugar and alcohol skyrocketed (ahhhh..... whiskey). It was fun for awhile, but the whole time I kept checking the CF websites (and lurking here on CFKoP) and I knew that winter sports season was coming and this couldn't last forever, but i kept finding reasons to put it off.

Now, with the new house settled, the garage gym basically done, and skiing/boarding/ice climbing season right around the corner, I've been back on the zone bandwagon for most of November and started half-volume, medium intensity wods since Thanksgiving to get back in the groove before going 100% (in eight days!). Feels really good to be back (actually, I'm sore as hell even though I am intentionally loafing it and focusing on form).

It's been a long time since I was new to CF, and this gave me new perspective on how intimidating some of the wods can be; even for someone who is not new CF methodology. My first wod back happened to be Linda. Jesus. That got scaled back way more than half-volume and medium intensity. Yesterday's mainsite wod was basically a heavy one-handed Fran. Also very intimidating and heavily scaled.

So the point to my friends at CFKoP -- trainers and others -- that have been at this awhile and start to consider themselves salty, crusty CF veterans: Don't forget what it was like the first time. And don't forget that the veterans' attitudes towards the wods, your commitment to your training, and the way that you support all newcomers (no matter where they lie on the fitness continuum) every day is critical to help them see that this stuff isn't impossible... it's FUN! And it's worthwhile.

Raystown Lake

If you live in Central PA and you’re not frequenting Raystown, you’re missing one of our biggest outdoor playgrounds. In July, what was originally planned as a 3-day family camping get-a-way, was rescheduled as a 7-day Funemployment respite from job hunting when I lost my job. Eventually, however, it became a 5-day new job celebration when I accepted a new job offer in State College. And although you might think that Raystown is only a place for folks with big Bayliners and the cash to put gas in them, there’s plenty of opportunity for the more athletically inclined to enjoy more human-powered pastimes: just these few days would be a virtual smorgasboard of camping, boating, water skiing, tubing, fishing, mountain biking, trail running, swimming, kayaking, and cliff jumping. Now where else can you do all of this in a place where booze is legal (but not easy to get)? Let’s go over this in order:

Trail Running: I chose the 1000 steps. Excellent choice, even if you’re walking, and you’ve only got an hour or two. Otherwise, the mountain biking trails below would be good runs.

Fishing: Apparently this very deep, very long lake has some very big fish and one monster. I saw neither. Never have. I did enjoy some cool, calm evenings chilling with friends and snagging a few rock bass and sunfish while watching the sun set and listening to very bad radio DJs suggesting that I have a “Hoppy Day” and referencing “Captain Kermit the Weather Hermit’s” forecast for “heavy Frog in low-lying areas.” Ugh.

Drinking: Buy your booze and fill your cooler in Huntingdon. I suggest Miller Chill or Bud Light Lemon for hot July days when activities that might require a bit of hydration are on the agenda. Save the Saranac for the late night campfires. Save the whiskey for more discreet occasions.

Camping: Unless you’re boating, you’re left with any of the campgrounds in Seven Points, or Susquehannock. Seven Point’s are comically over engineered (well, that’s what you get when the Army Corps of Engineers is running things) but generally pretty nice and convenient but the quality of the sites vary. They have playgrounds for the kids, electricity, OK restrooms, most have showers, and a lot of giant RVs with satellite dishes. Susquehannock is the primitive, no electricity campground and although I’ve never stayed there I want to because it offers the greatest opportunity for easy recreation and zero RVs. However, I can honestly say that I’ve never seen so many extremely large tents pitched on such crazily tilted – and contoured – rocky ground. The real draw of Susquehannock is that the cliff diving and rope swinging and mountain biking and the large kayak-friendly-no-wake-zone bay and islands are steps (or strokes) away. That and zero RVs. You can swim to the cliffs, or float over on your air matress if you prefer… like the fine young ladies we met from Maryland.

Mountain Biking: Years ago, I brought my bike and had to content myself with Old Logger’s Path. Old Logger’s Path is now no-bikes (and may have been at the time, too, for all I know). But in it’s place is the fantastic new purpose-built mountain biking paths put in with Friends of Raystown Lake. The Allegripis Trail System. These trails are super fun. The western side was partially closed for logging while I was there and it obviously hasn’t seen the traffic that the main (eastern) trails have. The logging kind of ruined the atmosphere and solitude of my solo rides, too. Which shouldn’t be a problem if you’re there on the weekend. But, it’s the eastern trails that will bring me back. The first “bumps” section I came to on Grippis Trail was so enjoyable, I kept turning around riding it again and again, a little faster each time. Seven times to be exact, then I stopped and took this picture. Super Fun. I figured I’d better get going and was very happy to find two or three more “bumps” signs, and even a vista with the fog (not "Frog"!) rising out of the valleys and the haze softening the long ridges in the distance. All by myself on a summer Monday morning. Fantastic.

Tubing: Tubing is either easy and boring or almost terrifying and dangerous. This depends entirely on who’s driving. Beagle was driving, so it tended towards dangerous. It looks mindless and pointless, but when you’re skimming along about a foot off the water outside the wake with water spraying up in your face and big waves from a speeding cigarette boat approaching, you’re glad you’re wearing a life jacket and that you brought your ibuprofen. Too much fun.

Cliff Jumping: The most popular cliffs around Seven Points – and the only ones I know about – are on the little island just off the western shore of Susquehannock campground. As usual, they don’t look like much until you stand at the top and look down. I wish I could say that I pulled graceful swan dives and pike position gainers, but no, I only jump off the high ones. I’ll leave the fancy stuff to the drunks and those with more body control and/or less sense. That's Beagle taking the leap of the high one in the pic.

Kayaking: For the first time this year I had a kayak to enjoy. On a weekend, in the middle of the day, and in the middle of the channel, you might feel like a squirrel crossing the freeway. The rest of the time, especially when the lake calms down in the evening and the sun is setting, that’s a great time to be bobbing around in a cove or bay, feet dangling in the water… there’s no one else around… kicked back in your quiet little kayak sipping whiskey and soaking up the solitude. It's like a whole different lake.

Water-Skiing: We didn’t get around to this until the last day. Every year I spend about 10 minutes water skiing. This is broken up into 2 or 3 short sessions of two or three minutes. Each ends with me trying to jump the wake and eating it hard on the landing. Usually I end up hurt in some fashion. Not this year. No injuries. Which was a good way to end a great little vacation at Raystown Lake.

Challenge #1: Run the "Thousand Steps"

The "Thousand Steps"

Start: sign (40 23'29N, 77 51'47W):
Finish: large door (40 23'48N, 77 54'41W)
Exacerbation: None
Beta: Turn left at top to reach finish.

Stats: 914 vertical feet; 0.63 miles (3,326 feet). All uphill.

Time: 16:50.

Start:

Finish:Celebrate:

Notes:

1 - This was once the mineworkers' commute (and you thought YOU had a rough commute) on their way to and from a long day of busting and hauling rock. Take some time to enjoy the views and root around up and down the trails for other ruins, fossils, etc.

2 - According to this site and my GPS coordinates, the start and finish are 0.37 miles apart, the remaining 0.26 miles are accounted for in vertical gain, a few switchbacks, and the level sprint to the end at the top.

3 - Running down the steps was superfun, too (time: 7:56). Not very hard, but required concentration. I got going fast enough that I felt like I should have a helmet, then I throttled back a bit... this was day one of a five-day Raystown Lake mountain biking, kayaking, water skiing, water tubing, fishing, drinking, cliff-jumping camping trip (more on that later). I figured I had plenty of time to hurt myself.

4 - Hey, look, I know I'm not the first person (or the fastest!) to run this. I'm hoping to find the others. If you've run it, I'd love to hear your time because I'll be back to do it again. Next time, though, I hope to do it not just "faster," but "better". What's the difference? Well, to be "Better" you have to be "Faster" AND you have to have made it more difficult in some way. And for a short, fast, roadside challenge like this, there are ALOT of choices.

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