Happy Valley

Last weekend's trip to State College reminded me of why I love riding my bike in the woods so much. Accompanied by Jeff and my former housemate Jordan, we spent the weekend barrelling up and down all of my favorite trails in Rothrock. Going in through Shingletown, the trail snakes along Roaring Run and you are enveloped in a dense canopy of hemlocks. Even IMBA took note of these ancient hemlocks in the IMBA Epic ride description:

Pausing for some water and a bite to eat four hours into the legendary R3 ride, I'm mesmerized by the ancient hemlock forest. The steady rain has drenched everything and heightened the trees' pungent aroma. The country's oldest stand of hemlocks, protected here in the 90,000-acre Rothrock State Forest, are a defining highlight of the Roth Rock Ride.

After a long day in the woods, Jeff and I gorged ourselves on ice cream at the Penn State Creamery and then headed to Elk Creek in Milheim. It was so good to see so many old friends, it really is Happy Valley.


Unfortunately, I don't have a whole lot of room in my jersey pockets for a camera now that I only have one bottle cage (the only down side of full suspension) so I will have to dig into my archives of State College photos and rely on my illustrative talents.

In other news, my old truck has found a new home on the Kreitz
Show Cattle farm.