Saturday, 30-Mar-2019
In conjunction with The Grill’s one-year anniversary, we planned to launch the first OCR training in preparation for a Spartan race. Originally, Sensei was going to Q this event and planned to have us carry sandbags up the road to Pulpit Rock. Unfortunately, he had suffered an injury, so we didn’t follow through on the original plan. Nonetheless, six PAX opted to make the hike, albeit, without sandbags.
Following a thorough beatdown by Uptown Girl at the Grill, the PAX overran Four Twelve coffee shop. After 25 men were served and we had time to socialize, 5 PAX drove to the Pulpit Rock/Pinnacle trail head at the Hamburg Reservoir where we were joined by Boo Boo.
It turned out to be a beautiful day — partly cloudy with temps in the 60s.
After a quick change of shoes, spray down for ticks and YHC being maligned by Dr. Seuss for my skinny legs, we hit the trail. The goal was to make our way up the paved road to Pulpit Rock as quickly as we could.
The trail has an elevation gain of 830 feet and is 3.8 miles round-trip. Pocahontas was the most familiar with the trail and became our guide. You can see him scouting the terrain at the overlook in the attached photo. We may have to rename him “Sacagawea”.
We were rewarded with a spectacular view of Berks county from the top including the boulder field with Blue Rocks compound at the base which is owned by Teardrop. YHC can foresee future F3 expeditions such as a hike to the Pinnacle from the campground.
After some time to take in the view and some photo ops, Uptown Girl, Neon, and Boo Boo headed back down the road to the parking lot to meet other commitments. Beaker, Dr. Seuss, Flame, and Pocahontas, took the more leisurely but circuitous rocky trail back down the mountain.
The hike was fun and thoroughly enjoyable (especially since we weren’t lugging sand bags). We will have to plan more events like this in the future.