President's Trailhead

Dear Member,
June is Bustin' Out All Over!  It's summer, so get out for a hike and bring a friend!   

Thank you for your efforts in furthering our mission of providing, preserving, protecting, and promoting recreational hiking trails and hiking opportunities in Pennsylvania. Each of you, through trail maintenance in your club and throughout the state, advocacy on issues affecting our trails, and by just leading hikes, are making a difference at a grassroots level.

KTA developed a strategic plan to help guide us over the next five years. The plan is being implemented.

Our 40th anniversary KTA Trail Care program in 2024 is in full swing.  Plan to participate in one or more of the remaining trail cares Jenn Ulmer has lined up for us.  Check out our website for details.

The Scott Farm along the Appalachian Trail will eventually become KTA's headquarters.  KTA has started preparing the Scott Farm Trailhead Master Site Plan utilizing consultants HRG and James Crum AIA Architects.  Please keep an eye out for release of the Citizen Survey and please complete it so you can have input on the future of this wonderful facility and property.  

Its not too soon to start thinking about nominating members and clubs for our various service awards.  They include Certificates of Achievement, Volunteer of the Year, Club of the Year, and the Citation Award for lifetime achievement.  These will be presented at our fall KTA Annual Meeting.  Please see our website for a listing and description of these awards.  The Awards Committee will be seeking nominations for these awards later his summer.  Start considering members and clubs to nominate for these awards.

The Board recently approved the establishment of another hiking award -The Teen Hiker Award.
The Awards Committee developed the requirements to be similar to the existing Youth Hiker Award that is for youth 12 and under.  Requirements for the Teen Hiker Award: Applicant must be 13 to 18 years old during the award year and must have hiked at least 50 miles on any trails in Pennsylvania during the award year (award year is September 1 to August 31). Applicant may receive this award on multiple occasions, but must complete the 50-mile requirement on different trails each year.   We will be developing a special patch for this award. So please start promoting the encouraging teenagers you know to earn this award.  The other existing hiking awards are also listed on our website.  Check them out and hike toward earning one this year.

There is a full list of KTA hikes, events, activities, and trail care opportunities.  There is so much to do. Please visit our website and sign up for one or more and bring a friend.

Our KTA Fall Annual Meeting will be nestled among the many hikes and activities at the Keystone  Hiking & Outdoor Weekend in the Susquehanna Riverlands of Pennsylvania on October 18-20.  Please put these dates on your calendar and checkout our website to register so you can plan to attend.  

On behalf of the Board and the membership I want to thank Brook and all our staff for the wonderful job they are doing to further our mission. 

For the trails and those who wander on them!

Thanks
Wayne E. Gross
President, Board of Directors 
Keystone Trails Association

The Statewide voice of Pennsylvania Hikers

A Legacy Hike Interrupted

In July of 2022, I began an end-to-end hike of the Long Trail in Vermont to celebrate my recent retirement and honor a family legacy. In 1937, my father hiked the Long Trail to celebrate his high school graduation. Armed with his 1937 trail journal, I planned to retrace his steps and compare our journeys. After covering the first 100 miles, my plan was interrupted when I was struck by a car at a dangerous road crossing.

The accident was devastating. My injuries were severe, but after great medical care, I was able to return to the LT a year later. I made it as far as Camel’s Hump before I was forced off the trail again. This time, it was raining. Lots of rain. Catastrophic flooding rains. 

Hikers were asked to come off the trail until damage could be assessed and conditions improved. I went home to regroup and consider whether to continue this hike or listen to what the universe was telling me. Maybe it was time to quit. In addition to the rain, I had struggled with balance and footing after recovering from my injuries. I had fallen several times, narrowly missing additional injury. At my age, I needed to reconsider whether it was smart to pursue this goal and finish the LT.
A Trying Time

In between my aborted attempts to hike the Long Trail, I was home on the couch and hooked up to an IV, just days removed from being in the hospital again. This time it was for an unexpected complication that put my recovery on hold and required additional surgery. It was a trying time. I was physically unable to do the things I love. Several previously planned trips and events had to be cancelled or postponed: fishing, camping, hiking, paddling. For the most part, I accepted that reality with a positive attitude, feeling fortunate to be alive and on the mend.

I’m not sure why, but the one thing that I was most disappointed in missing was the KTA Trail Challenge on my home trails in the Susquehanna River Hills.

The 25K race is a major fundraiser for Keystone Trails Association, an organization devoted to trail stewardship and advocacy in Pennsylvania. Many of my hiking friends participated as runners or volunteers in the event. As photos appeared in my social feeds of friends toughing it out and crossing the finish, I was happy for them, but depressed that I was confined to the couch and unable to join them. In addition to suffering from my injuries and a serious infection, I felt a little sorry for myself and seemed to have a bad case of FOMO when it came to the KTA Challenge.

Challenge Accepted!

Fast forward a year later. Now that I was mostly healed and home from Vermont after the floods, I vowed to join my friends and run the 2023 race. I looked forward to it for months and started trail running again to improve my balance. With several hundred miles of hiking and backpacking under my belt, I felt ready. 

On race day, I started strong - running the flats and hiking the hills. But the humidity was brutal, and I wilted on the Pinnacle, a climb I’ve done several times before with a full backpack while training for the LT. I was well hydrated but still suffered from heat exhaustion. About halfway through the race, I seriously thought about giving up. And I hoped the EMT’s at the aid station wouldn’t recognize my distress and pull me from the race.

But finishing the KTA was a way to acknowledge how far I’ve come in the last year, so I rested up for more than twenty minutes and then set out to finish. My hiking friend Jenny was great company for the second half of the race as we looked out for each other. It wasn’t always pretty, but I persevered and completed the race.

The KTA Challenge became a launching pad for a return to the LT. I was ready to try again before the daylight hours got any shorter in the Fall. Two weeks after the KTA Challenge, I returned to the Long Trail with a better sense of balance and renewed confidence. I just “knew” I would persevere after toughing it out on the KTA. A week later I stood on the Quebec border at Journey’s End having finally completed the Long Trail.

I can’t wait for this year’s KTA. I’ll be ready for the Pinnacle this time!

This time I hoped to be a little better prepared, but that's no guarantee of success. I was in decent backpacking shape during my attempt earlier this summer, and had this been any other trail, it would have been fine. But this was the Long Trail where balance and agility are just as important as having endurance and "trail legs".

I started trail running again in the hopes of improving my balance. At first, I was tentative, afraid of injury. But then I started to find a flow and rhythm. Hesitation was something that plagued me on the LT after coming back from the accident. I would look at an obstacle and freeze, trying to decide the safest way forward. But it's often easier to maintain balance when in constant motion, and trail running forces you to make countless decisions on foot placement in just milliseconds.

For the first time since the accident, it no longer hurt to run. And overall, I felt better. The daily pain I experienced in my knee for over a year finally started to fade. Maybe it was the running, or possibly just some extra time to heal.

- Jim Bennett - 2023 KTA Trail Challenge Finisher 

Learn more about the 2024 KTA Trail Challenge: https://www.kta-hike.org/kta-trail-challenge.html

👋 Meet Jessica, a KTA supporter from Lancaster, PA! 

Q: What makes hiking in Pennsylvania special/meaningful to you?
A: "I love the diversity of the type of hikes you can take in Pennsylvania. There are short “rail to trail” type paths for a quick after work unwind and there are more challenging hikes for a Weekend Warrior schedule. The changing seasons make Pennsylvania extra special.  "

Q: What type of hiking do you typically prefer most often?
A: "My preference is a 5 - 7 mile hike on the weekend."

Q: When did you start hiking?
A: "I started hiking while training for an adventure in Zion National Park. It was about 4 years ago."

Q: What are you currently excited about in your hiking life?
A: "We are so excited to hike the famous Havasu Falls hike near the Grand Canyon starting on May 20th. It is a lottery system to get a reservation for 3 days and 4 nights near 5 amazing blue-green waterfalls. It is a steep 1.5 mile hike down from the rim into the canyon and then an additional 8.5 miles to the campsite. The training has begun!"

Q: Which hiking trails do you enjoy/recommend that are near where you live?
A: "We like to go to Lancaster Central Park and just have fun “choosing our adventure” at each turn. Money Rocks in the Welsh Mountains is a nice shaded hike."

Q: Which hiking trails do you recommend (anywhere in PA)?
A: "Highly recommend World’s End trails and doing parts of the Appalachian Trail in PA."

Q: What do you value most about KTA's mission?
A: "I appreciate how the KTA promotes community involvement by setting up challenges."

Do you care about providing, protecting, preserving, and promoting recreational hiking trails and hiking opportunities in Pennsylvania?
​That's why KTA is here! Help ensure this mission continues to be fulfilled. ​

👋 Meet Daniel, a KTA supporter from Lancaster, PA! 

Q: What makes hiking in Pennsylvania special/meaningful to you?
A: "There's incredible diversity so close to home. Each season offers a new opportunity to experience the outdoors in a completely different way. We're fortunate to have the chance to hike through all four seasons on the trails. "

Q: What type of hiking do you typically prefer most often?
A: "Day hikes and weekend backpacking."

Q: When did you start hiking?
A: "Growing up as a child in the 80s"

Q: What are you currently excited about in your hiking life?
A: "I'm grateful for every moment I can get my kids out in nature, and I'll always be working towards my eventual thru-hike."

Q: Which hiking trails do you enjoy/recommend that are near where you live?
A: "The Mason-Dixon along the West side of the Susquehanna."

Q: Which hiking trails do you recommend (anywhere in PA)?
A: "The AT section between Rt. 501 and Rt. 183 in Lebanon County."

Q: What do you value most about KTA's mission?
A: "Preserving all these beautiful trails is a tireless, thankless job - but it impacts so many hikers who rely on the trails for their own recreation.​"

Do you care about providing, protecting, preserving, and promoting recreational hiking trails and hiking opportunities in Pennsylvania?
​That's why KTA is here! Help ensure this mission continues to be fulfilled. ​

👋 Meet Stephanie, a KTA supporter from Philadelphia, PA! 

Q: What makes hiking in Pennsylvania special/meaningful to you?
A: "Hiking has been a way to connect with the people I love, away from technology and distractions. I am a mom of nine kids, and sharing the outdoors with my family has been an excellent way to connect and share with them my adventurous side. Hiking and trail running was also a way that my sister and I stayed connected, we even did the Frozen Heart 50k and the Keystone Trail Challenge 50k. My sister died in 2020, and sharing those miles of trails with her has become a priceless memory. Every time I do the Keystone Trail Challenge, I am honoring her memory. 

Hiking is also a sweet time of solitude. It's been a way to get out of my busy home and recharge. I am convinced that if more people hiked regularly, the mental health field would not be so busy. "

Q: What type of hiking do you typically prefer most often?
A: "I would love to do a multi-day hike, but full day and regular short hikes have been what I do most. My goal is to stay in shape and plan for bigger hiking trips either with the family or with friends."

Q: When did you start hiking?
A: "I've always loved the outdoors and even did some backpacking in high school, but I was also on the track team so I saw myself as more of a runner. It wasn't until my husband and I took our kids to Canada that I fell in love with hiking. Even so, it took several years and a few more babies being born before I became a regular hiker. I started competing in Spartan races at 46 and then fell in love with 25k and 50k. Now in my 50s, I still see myself as a runner, but hiking definitely gets more time and appreciation."

Q: What are you currently excited about in your hiking life?
A: "I love the answers above! Where can I learn Wilderness First Aid? Right now, I am immersed in being a grandmother and homeschooling mom so I feel that there is a ton I would love to do, but have been limited in what I can explore. My bucket list is long!"

Q: Which hiking trails do you enjoy/recommend that are near where you live?
A: "The Philadelphia area has a beautiful trail area called Wissahickon Valley. I know most of them by heart."

Q: Which hiking trails do you recommend (anywhere in PA)?
A: "Wissahickon (also called Forbidden Drive) is amazing! Valley Forge also has some nice views and interesting historical sites. Ringing Rocks, Jim Thorpe, PA Grand Canyon ... too many to list."

Q: What do you value most about KTA's mission?
A: "I'm a holistic coach so I am super excited about KTA's mission. People need to have regular movement and to be in nature. They need to know how beneficial it is and definitely way more economical than gyms."

Do you care about providing, protecting, preserving, and promoting recreational hiking trails and hiking opportunities in Pennsylvania?
​That's why KTA is here! Help ensure this mission continues to be fulfilled.