This article was previously published on Hiking with Impunity in August 2011
Date: July 27, 2011
Total Distance: 5.98 miles
Time: 2:20 (hr:min)
Elevation Gain: 292 feet
Type: Out-and-back
Difficulty: Easy to moderate
The summer can be a vicious bitch, and I mean that with all due respect. It had been nearly two weeks since our last decent hike. Thunderstorms, heat waves, work - every time we tried to plan a mid-week mini-hike, something got in the way. On Wednesday, July 27th though, the humidity was low and the temperature was a cool mid-80s. I picked up one of my favorite books - 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Philadelphia, by Sandra & Gareth Kear - and flipped through it looking for our afternoon excursion.
When I'm preparing for a hike to a new location, whether it's a long day-hike or a quickie, I do three things now: 1. I find out as much as possible about the trails at the park using either my favorite texts or my favorite websites; 2. I pay close attention to the elevation gain; and, finally, 3. I look to the website of the park I am going to for maps and trail information.
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Hiking in Green Lane Park
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If you can find the elevation gain of a hike published, this will give you a rough estimate of how strenuous the hike may be. Elevation gain refers to the sum of every gain in elevation over the course of your trip (whether that trip be a hike, climb, etc.) The hardest hike we have done to date (Hike #4, Hawk Mountain) had an elevation gain of 778 feet. That was a strenuous hike! Over the course of the 5.64 mile hike through Hawk Mountain we had climbed approximately 778 feet! As I said before, it's a lot for a former couch potato! If you are a true beginner at a low physical fitness level, I would caution you on doing any hikes with elevation gains over 250 feet. After you build your strength and endurance, go for it! This beautiful hike through Green Lane Park was only 292 feet in comparison. And, it was beautiful!
This hike started at the trailhead located in the parking lot near the boating rental office. After picking up the Whitetail Nature Trail, we continued until we began to see blue blazes on the trees indicating that we were now on the Blue Trail. The Blue Trail had a difficulty rating of easy to difficult per the map provided at the park office. It was a multi-use trail that had a lot of single-tracks.
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Hiking along a single-track portion of the Blue Trail
Single track refers to a narrow trail that is the width of one person. That means no side-by-side walking with the future wife! It also means one more thing - playing hopscotch with animal scat (poo, dung, crap, shit - whatever you wanna call it). Keep your wits about you - between the horse and deer droppings chances are you are going to put your foot in it at some point! And that's okay.... |
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Hiking along the Green Lane Park Reservoir
The views from the trails are amazing. There are so many great spots along the trail for you to stop and take in the sights. Remember: it's not just about the walking - the activity - you have to stop from time-to-time and look around. Appreciate where you are! After multiple stops along the way, we reached the end of this out-and-back at a small parking lot. The two most common type of trails are loops (a trail that goes in a loop from start to finish so that you generally are not traversing the same trail more than once) and an out-and-back (a trail that is essentially a straight line from start to mid-point and back to finish - you traverse the same trail from each direction). When I first started hiking, all I wanted to do was loop trails. I foolishly thought that an out-and-back was boring! Who wanted to see the same trail twice in one day?! I'd ask myself. Again, foolish. An out-and-back can be just as interesting as a loop trail - you may be on the same trail, but the world can look startlingly different and just as amazing from a different angle. We will definitely be going back to Green Lane Park soon! It was a great short-hike, and the most enjoyable afternoon we had outside in sometime.
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