Figured I'd ask yinz guys and see what you advise...
We (me, husband, and 55# dog) have a love of camping and one of us goes crazy with fireworks (the dog). So the thumbed ones in the family thought that maybe a nice thing to do would be to escape into the wild blue yonder for "the fireworks time" this weekend, but aren't sure where to go. This could involve bicycles, but doesn't have to - pup would be on foot so that limits the distance/speed we could go (but she LOVES tagging along on bike rides, so would be fine with that).
Hubby thinks Laurel Mountains (no bicycles), one of the hike in shelters (0.5 miles in), but I'm worried about neighbors of the trail figuring their isolation protects them from the law and enables them to set off their own private display. all. night. long. (like our neighbors)
Does anybody have any advice on a place to go that will be relatively quiet? We'd considered absconding to Canada (after the 1st, their fireworks day), but that's a little much of a drive. We'd also considered getting puppy drugs, but prefer camping if we can. We're a little last minute, but figure isolated hard to get to spots might be easier to reserve late. Two hour drive or closer is preferable.
Any suggestions are welcome!
Allegheny National Forest. Assuming you're into primitive camping, there is no shortage of amazing sites on just about every hiking trail out there it seems.
Pictures from a bikepacking trip I did with Erok last month: http://randomprecisionphoto.com/2011/allegheny-national-forest-bikepacking/
Wow, that trip looks awesome, Brad! This is probably a silly question, but did you have to reserve any sites, or was it pretty much just pitch where obvious?
The sites weren't marked, nothing to reserve. Just cruise until you find a fire ring.
National forests allow camping anywhere unless it's specifically prohibited.
Nice, sounds perfect. Now I just have to talk the husband into it (he's... more civilized than I am).
(the dog). So the thumbed ones in the family....
The book "The Art of Racing in the Rain" is told from a dog's point of view, and it continually mentions how much he would like opposable thumbs. It was a good read.
That sounds like a cool book, I'll have to check it out. I sometimes wish she had thumbs, but sometimes I wonder what she would do with them. I know I don't always make the best use of mine. She's a purer soul, but does have a mischevious streak.
We've postponed our Grand Wilderness Adventure to a time in the future when the more civilized of us can wrap his head around the concept of being far away from everything. I'd underestimated his... enthusiasm for total self reliance, as he puts it.
Instead, we have ample amounts of bacon to soothe the one without thumbs through the fireworks. We'll see if we can't teach her that loud noises mean an exciting abundance of delightful pork products.
for a non-travel solution I just try to keep the dog down in the basement where he can't hear. It's a partailly finished space, and if I'm down there with him he may miss the whole thing completely.
eta: that book sounds interesting, just added it to my list on amazon
@ejwme ... loud noises mean an exciting abundance of delightful pork products.
Seems to work for Congress and invasions of 3rd world countries.
