Natural Travels

Hiking the Laurel Highlands Trail

It hardly seems possible that it was a decade ago that I did my first long-distance hike, a 70-mile backpacking trip on the Laurel Highlands Trail (LHT) in western Pennsylvania. With me was “Gutsy,” a lady true to her trail name who’d hiked the whole Appalachian Trail the year before. I kept in touch, and she decided to drive up from her South Carolina home to accompany me on this trek between Johnstown and Ohiopyle. We did the hike in late spring, surprised in May by the chill at night and the lack of leaves on the trees at this elevation.

Writing an article with reference to the LHT today reminded me of that long-ago journey and how it taught me a new side of life: living outdoors and enjoying the act of putting one foot in front of the other for day after day after day.

Here’s a feature story I wrote about the trail soon after my hike.

After nearly a week in the Myrtle Beach area for my SATW Freelance Council meeting, I had the opportunity to experience the natural side of the beach at Myrtle Beach State Park. Opened in 1935, this lovely slice of nature is now crowded on all sides by development, making it a true oasis and a favorite escape for local families and visitors alike. The campground was abuzz with RVs and tent campers, the CCC-era cabins were fully booked, and today’s morning nature program, “A Crabby Experience,” was in full swing on the pier with naturalist rangers assisting families dangling crab traps into the water to see what they could find. Sea liver and a micro-sized blue crab were among the oddities dredged from the depths, but what fascinated me the most was this tiny sharp-nosed shark, which a fisherman had caught and Ranger Ann Wilson allowed us to look at up close before she sent it back to the surf. 

Learn more about Myrtle Beach State Park…