The Sweatiest Hike Ever: Kelly's Run

12:53:00 AM

"SO BE IT! You will be the Fellowship of the Ring!" "Great!.... where are we going?"

Wednesday morning found me awake bright and early to mentally prepare myself for the hike of the day. It's been sort of an annual tradition for me and my friends to get together to go hiking, eat good food, and have a little jam session. Each of these little reunions means a bit more now that we're all leaving for different places and walking different paths. This hike was pretty tough, we were all quite literally dripping with sweat towards the end. But it was a nice bonding experience and definitely made us depend on each other for moral and sometimes physical support.

I'll introduce the Team, then, shall I?

Michael
Position: Fearless leader #1, Resident hiker, & semi knowledgeable guide.
Interests: -Photography, although he was shooting film today so his photos will probably come later.
-He also likes to try to walk across tree bridges at risk to his own life.

Sam

Position: Fearless Leader #2 (except when it comes to the spider webs ;P), Cheshire Cat, Awesome Picnic coordinator

Interests: - Photography, well sort of. He didn't really take any pictures today and he made Willis carry his camera. But he made the food and bought the ice & bug spray so we'll forgive him for that ;P

- Likes to run on ahead of the trail and appear later, lazily waiting for us on some little outcropping or something.

- Sam's actually leaving for the middle east soon with the army :[

Alex (left) & Denise (right)

Positions: Gear managers (Definitely awarded for most prepared for the hike. I swear, they had everything), Photographer/videographers

Interests: -Photography and Art: both of them are quite accomplished in both but Denise studies art and digital media-animation.

- Animals: both, again, are animal lovers but Alex is studying biology and currently hopes to deal with veterinary medicine in the future!

Now, you may notice that this blog post's pictures are significantly higher in quality. That is because I didn't take them! haha!.... *sigh* Introducing...
Willis!
Position: Photographer, Chill Pill, Guy who cares if you trip
Interests: -Graphic designer, video producer, and photography hobbyist at KGFX Designs.

*Most of the people who joined me on this trip are pretty amazing photographers but Willis was the most dedicated in his craft today. He muscled along two dslr cameras (ahem, Sam) in his backpack and kept at the back of the group to take all the nice pictures you're seeing now! So, for once, you might actually see me in some shots. Enjoy the nice pictures while you can...

That leaves... Me. heh. Where's waldo? Can you find me?

Kelly's Run is a nature preserve part of the Lancaster County Conservancy. We actually originally planned on hiking in the highly popular Tucquan Glen but upon further research we discovered that Tucquan Glen was actually at risk of closing because of damage from high traffic and overuse. We so often forget that we not only affect nature individually we affect it as a whole. One hike seems like nothing but overuse can cause substantial damage. Even today, when we finally reached the Susquehanna, there was so much trash and debris on the beach it didn't seem like part a nature preserve at all. We encountered what seemed like a nest of butterflies but when they flew away we saw that they had been resting on an area littered with beer cans and styrofoam containers.

This is about half a second before I take that step and my foot slips into the stream. Everyone's feet got wet at one point or another throughout the hike, luckily it dried pretty quickly in the afternoon heat.

Trust building experiences... when you cross you help the person behind you, especially if you're trying to avoid falling in the water.

Denise was the smart one and brought a fan... Oh...Hi, Sam.

The River's just past the tracks!

We made it! Say hello to the Susquehanna River.

It's a beach so of course drawing in the sand was involved

Serioiusly though... Lord of the Rings moment.

Michael found a caterpillar!

"Where?" "There! Next to that gigantic spider..."

A little lost and hungry... okay VERY lost and hungry.

But we'll still stop and take a family photo. Because we're all tired as heck.
I think we only hiked about 4 miles or so but all the slippery slopes and uphill trekking took a lot out of us.

HEAVEN. 잘먹었습니다! Thanks for waking up early and making the food, Sam!

Hope you all get a chance to spend some time out in nature while the weather's bright and sunny! It was supposed to thunderstorm this day but we got lucky. Thanks, again to Willis for the pictures. Don't forget to check out KGFX Design on Facebook and other social media!