Welcome back for another backpacking adventure! This is the first solo trip I've done in quite a while and it did not disappoint. I lucked out with the forecast, with a high in the low 70's and low temps in the mid 50's. I'll definitely take that for a Pennsylvania trip in the last third of August! There wasn't a drop of precipitation to be seen and there was a slight breeze during most of my hiking to keep things nice and comfortable.

I was hesitant going back to the Allegheny National Forest after my previous trip there. About two weeks prior to the recording of this video, Sara and I did a backpacking trip along the Tracy Ridge trail in the Allegheny National Forest. That trail was overgrown the majority of the way and we had a group campground experience that turned the trip into the worst overnighter I've ever done.

WIth that trip fresh in my mind, I put it all behind me and started hiking along the beautiful fern covered forest. Allegheny National Forest doesn't have any amazing mountain views, enormous waterfalls like you would find in West Virginia or Virginia, but the forest itself makes for good hiking. I hiked along the Rimrock trail as well as Morrison Run Trail. There were sections of large rock formations, beautiful fern cover, mossy rocks along the streams and some very pretty old growth forest.

Towards the end of the first day, I decided to take a peek down at the Allegheny Reservoir. I was hoping to get some beautiful shots of the lake as I did during my previous trip here. Unfortunately, it's boating season and the group campground was completely full. It was swamped to the point that I couldn't even make my way down to the beach to set up my tripod. Undeterred, I pressed on an hour before sunset in search of a dispersed site to stay at. I was very happy to find a nice site along Morrison Run where I set up my hammock.

I decided to talk about some of my gear while at camp such as my cooking system, my new camp shoes and of course, my brand new dyneema tarp from Hammock Gear! I'll be getting much more in depth with my new tarp in a future episode, but I wanted to give all the viewers a first look at this awesome (and expensive) piece of gear. In the near future, I'll be doing a video reviewing ALL of the gear I take on trips and how much it weighs. I've been very pleased with my ultralight setup that I'm carrying in my Zpacks Nero 38L pack, so I want to share it with all of you.

Day two I hiked out along Morrison Run and got some good shots along the stream. There was some beautiful old growth forest blanketed in ferns the last mile or so and it was a nice biome change from the rest of the trip. Overall, this was a great solo trip and I'm glad you all decided to tag along!

Join our Facebook group and ask us some questions and tag along on our annual trip!
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Click the link below to see the GPX file for this trip!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o5lA...

If you want to see all the gear I bring on my trips, check out my LighterPack!
https://lighterpack.com/r/u6ekas