McKeldin Area Derecho Damage

Friday night, we had the mother of all storms. It was a rare thunderstorm that had a huge wind system move in right before it. The winds were hurricane strength, breaking trees in the area like twigs. Then the lightening started. I've heard friends say that the sky was light as day because of all the lightening. This storm system is called a Derecho. Accuweather.com posted a story about this weekend's storm, if you'd like to read more about it.

Hubs and I came through the storm no worse for wear. We didn't lose one branch off our trees. We were lucky. Most areas were littered with downed trees and power lines. Most lost electricity. Some lost water service. The Governor declared a state of emergency, and what did Hubs and I do? Hiked, of course!

Well.. we tried to hike. Since we didn't have any problems from the storm, we didn't think to listen to the news about other areas of the state. So off we set to Patapsco State Park's McKeldin Area, where we planned to hike about 8 miles. Ever since I joined Everytrail.com I've been itching to try the McKeldin Area full day hike of about 16 miles, but we haven't had the nerve to do it. This weekend, Hubs and I were going to try half of it. At 8 miles it would be our longest hike.

What we saw when we pulled into the parking lot was destruction. Trees were down all over, power lines were haphazardly tangled in the branches.

As we continued along the trail, there were more branches and trees down, sometimes to the point that we had to weave our way through them. We knew that the park service had their hands full with many trails, so we did what we could. Any branches that we could pick up between the two of us we moved off the path.

In addition to the tree debris, the trail was very muddy and the storm water had changed the river to a sad brown.

I am absolutely astounded at the raw power of nature. This trip left me in awe of how dangerous nature can be, and how deadly it could be for an unprepared person.

As a result of the storm damage, we ended up only hiking 2 miles. Tree scrambling is not nearly as fun as rock scrambling! 

**Hubs looked at the GPS tracker and realized it cut off half way through our hike. He thinks we hiked about 6 miles total**

I would like to go back and hike this trail again (just maybe not right after a storm!), because the trail map promised some awesome sights to see along the way. I love a hike with a view! But even all the storm damage couldn't keep us from finding delight in this hike. We came across a young deer that bounded right across the trail! And this time, my camera did work!

You can see her in the middle of the picture, worrying about whether we were going to come after her.

We also crossed over train tracks (be aware that these are active tracks), and saw this beautiful tunnel.

No, I did not get close enough to take a better picture. I'm too much of a scared-y cat!

I'll leave you with a picture of these awesome geese, that are totally ballin'. They laugh in the face of danger!

There's more to come later this week so be sure to check back! Littlest Cloudy and I set off together and she's got some beautiful photos to share with you all!

Thank you so much for visiting My Journey from High Heels to Hiking Boots! I'd love to hear from you in the comments section! You can also follow me by email at the top of the left hand navigation bar by simply entering your email address. Happy Trails!

P.s. Ever made homemade chicken broth? I hadn't till last night cause I was so sure it would be too time consuming. Well thanks to Kelly at The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking I made it for the first time - and it's awesome! Mosey on over and see for yourself =]