You know how some things just seem to come together without planning? Well, True Indigo, part of the Crayola Posse team, and I were chatting on FB Messenger Saturday afternoon and I mentioned a new series just posted by Pandajoy in Tuscarora SP, one of our favorite Pennsylvania state parks. I mentioned that I hoped to get the series on the following Monday if the weather gods gave us a break from all of the rain we had been having. We continued to chat and True Indigo mentioned that she had to leave because RGBisMe was taking her to buy new hiking boots for her birthday gift. That led to a quick conversation about breaking in her boots and the discovery that neither True Indigo nor RGBisMe were working on Monday because it was True Indigo's birthday. I offered a hopeful invitation to her because I really, really wanted company on this particular walk and Crayola Posse are my favorite hiking companions after my precious short people, Cool Dude and Puppy Kisses. When she said "yes" I was so excited!
We got to the park early on True Indigo's birthday and discovered that it was a LOT colder there than when we had each left our homes. So we salvaged any bits of extra winter wear from our cars and prepared to hike.
I had to take a picture of the new boots. I was certain that before the hike was over, they would be covered with mud. We have had so much rain this past month or so and several small snowfalls so I anticipated the trails being very muddy.
Fortunately, I was wrong about the mud, most of the trail was wet but because it was so grassy, it was not boot sucking messy. The exception was the little offshoot trail in the picture below where the water was over the tops of my feet and we had to hop from one high spot to another.
A pleasant side effect of the rain were pretty little waterfalls. Such a relaxing sound!
Usually, RGBisMe plays the part of One of Us, the name we give to the person who actually retrieves the boxes. Because this series begged for a variety of colors for each stamp, RGBisMe became the color master and True Indigo became One of Us.
Some boxes required a team effort to figure out the exact hiding spot.
I saw this interesting looking little cone arrangement. I had never noticed any of these before but True Indigo was able to identify them as falling from a larch trees, conifers which actually shed their needles in the fall like a deciduous tree.
One of the best parts about the Crow Trail is a large area of beautiful green rhododendrons. It makes a walk feel more like spring than winter when you reach this lovely section. It probably lasts for at least a tenth of a mile, this picture doesn't begin to do it justice.
More interesting finds! RGBisMe noticed this owl pellet hiding on the trail and we were able to identify several animal parts that must have been meals for some lucky owl.
While we were walking, I received a text from my Florida hiking buddy, Three Flamigo's. Crayola Posse greeted Three Flamigo's!
27 letterboxes later, we finished our walk and my expectations of seeing very muddy boots just didn't happen. True Indigo scraped some wet leaves onto them to make them appear broken in but in reality, they looked just like new when she finished the hike.
By this time, we were ready for lunch so we headed to the Beacon Diner in Tamaqua, had an excellent meal and ended up a really terrific boxing morning.
Happy Birthday, True Indigo!
