Solo Backpacking Oil Creek - Waterfalls Galore!

[Music] hey everybody it's frozen and thanks for joining me today i'm here at one of my favorite state parks for a quick overnight and the goal for me is to see each of the four named waterfalls here at oil creek state park i'm recording this intro this way because i had some problems with my brand new gopro hero 9 which i quickly returned right after this trip however because this trip was so fun for me i just had to share instead of just scrapping the footage so sit back relax and enjoy my friends is that it is the site of one of the biggest if not the biggest oil boom in the united states and along the trail there's all these old structures some are recreations like this is original all these crazy sites of just the old machinery used to operate the wells and the powerhouses you can see a little barrel down the trail over there uh plus the whole trail pretty much you get a view of oil creek right here it's very nice very relaxing the trails very well maintained they do updates every year just a good place to go see the random structure is just kind of in the woods we're actually hiking along a little road right now just past rind farm and got a short little road walk along the bike trail over here passing over oil creek beautiful day look at that it's really dark and gray this morning and shaping up to be pretty darn good [Music] so welcome to the beautiful blood farm recreational area it's actually a day use area picnic benches nice place to hang out good fishing down here i've seen a lot of fishermen actually what's really neat is within the past couple years i'm not sure when they put that swing set down there in it's awesome i like this trail a couple times but i don't ever remember seeing this thing some kind of farm equipment something or other kind of crane i don't know interesting i probably should be more inclined to get the camp a little faster today i haven't done a lot of miles this morning and it's already almost noon i'm going to try to have lunch at the beninoff farm and i'm just i don't know why i'm just in i'm in no rush today i know it's gonna be a late day in the camp but um i just don't care completely opposite of my normal trips i try to do as many miles before five as i can and camp somewhere between five and six but if i get there at eight set up have a good night it'll be fun either way you got a bald eagle right in front of you up in that tree see it sticking its head out i think this same nest was here a few years back when i came in the spring as well that's so cool [Applause] it is an absolutely gorgeous day out today i'm so glad i came out here this is the time to see oil creek too i've seen so many uh just random structures off in the distance because there's no leaves on the trees yet up here it's actually really really perfect right at the beginning of spring fall is also very beautiful here too i guess it's honestly just like anything else spring and fall that's when you want to see everything all right at the sight of john benninghoff bending off farm oh i forgot to tell you guys light af is starting to make x-pac backpacks uh this is a vx07 we'll get more into it during a first look video but uh this pack's brand new it's a 30 liter uh curve uh in x-pac so it's first trip this is the maiden voyage for it so far so good i do like that you can see down into it because the inner is white i uh switched to a gopro hero9 against my better judgement nothing but problems already so far so hopefully this footage is turning out okay for everybody it's a really bad it's crashed twice now i had to pull the battery out of it uh sd card freezing might actually make a uh a video about gopro in general because i think i could probably save some people a lot of money i just looked at the map got about eight miles to go to wolf kill shelter site so that's pretty good that's actually less than i thought i had i thought i had like 11 12. doing good these are the types of buildings i was seeing off in the distance not sure what these were used for i'm not going to go in just because the uh well obviously you guys can figure out why i'm not going in um this was here before i don't think it was that crushed through that door over there i think another couple trees fell on it but uh yeah i've been seeing things like this quite a bit today just off in the distance where the leaves would normally block it for you i'm not sure what this was used for though maybe an old barn something i don't know it's just cool to see this stuff just chilling in the middle of the woods everything's been reclaimed you know huh all right greg falls two g's on this guy awesome nice little falls here hang on this tree there you go [Music] beautiful that's oil creek everybody doing good but man it's hot out here 84 degrees on my phone right now whoo at least the wind's blowing a nice climbing wall if it was bigger it's not too big lots of good hand holds there you can find these rocks down in laurel highlands see people climbing down there every time i go it's right at the beginning of ohio pile maybe two miles in bring your gear though if you're gonna do it it's they're pretty tall looks like an old bus or possibly a rail car that's crazy all right let's get to it just want to give a huge shout out to the oil creek state park trail workers thank you so much this was just recently done you can tell there's sawdust everywhere thank you so much charles been perfect so far you guys rock and ladies feeling good i thought i'd be hurting a little bit today typically like the beginning of hiking season in the spring for me i go on a trip fully expecting that i'll have something known as it band syndrome which is like uh just this crazy pain on the outside of your kneecap and it usually gets me every single year but uh i've switched up my routine a little bit and i've been stretching like crazy to try to get this to not do it this year and man tomorrow will be the deciding factor on it but i'm feeling pretty darn good today this looks like birch bark i'm gonna try to take some of this dead tree [Applause] whoa you guys hear that scared the crap out of me this should be good i'm gonna shove this in my little water bottle pocket use it for later start a fire if it drops hopefully it'll get a little colder oops i gotta tighten this up [Music] i love making a new pack dirty thanks chris appreciate it bud all right oil creek right in front of you if you guys see right there in the middle there's that bridge we're gonna be going right down there and uh head up that hill to the left to get the wolf kill we're actually pretty close i'm surprised we're here already um doing good it is four o'clock i am expecting to be at camp around maybe 5 5 30. awesome got plenty of time to enjoy the night all righty made it to the wolf kill wolf kill whatever it is shelter area tent sites are back behind me but for those that are interested this is one of the shelters along the gerard trail at oil creek they're pretty nice they actually uh a little fireplace in here well yeah there you go you can see it now i've spent some nights in these guys that you can get these things really warm if you bring a tarp they got little tie outs on the front to do it but we're going to go down here because uh i just prefer my own shelter reservations are required here it's four dollars a night after taxes it ends up being like six uh they got restrooms they got firewood um bear boxes for your food take a look at that later and uh little trash bins so it definitely goes to maintaining the area this place gets a lot of traffic from boy scouts as well but it's a good place it's typically pretty quiet here as well all right home for the night first order of business setting up the tent so the way i set this guy up normally they want you to stake out the whole thing and then put your trekking pole in it what i like to do is i do the back side put the trekking pole in and it's so much easier to set up it works very well let's see 20 [Music] i can't remember the size we're just gonna eyeball it okay so what i'm doing right here is i'm using my pack liner that i use to kind of waterproof the important things in my pack and i'm using it as a pump sack this is a a one-way valve in here so you just get some air in the bag position the valve over the top of the the hole and just uh have at it all right i need to seal it up and you're good to go got my hammock gear 40 degree quilt tonight i was thinking about bringing the costco 50 degree quilt but uh i wasn't sure weathermen like to be wrong especially when i go to oil creek had some interesting experiences here i figured i'd play it safe you can always just kick a leg out hopefully i don't slide too much tonight okay for dinner i got a boring old noir rice side and then i got the good stuff put this into it this is a buffalo style tuna i love it i also brought some this spice dragon red chai tea which i've been enjoying at home thanks to toggs she turned me into a tea drinker togs is one of the people i hiked with uh in my tramway on the appalachian trail so for picnic tables when using an alcohol stove like this guy um you really can do a lot of damage to the wood and it's unsightly it's annoying i just use my pot lid and i just put the stove right on top of the pot lid so that always works for me and get some water going for the north side we want this hot so we're going to use a full ounce of fuel this is denatured alcohol if you'd like to try the alcohol stove i actually have a tutorial on how to make it i love it it's my go-to alcohol stove i've used maybe three or four different versions in the past and i just keep going out to this one though i do have a stove that i got from i can't remember his name uh i'm about to come i'll put it at the bottom of the screen but i got it from him whenever we were on the foothills trail last year and i've been meaning to try it so we'll see how that goes i'm going to put my spoon under here for some extra support there we go all right i think it is gonna be an absolutely beautiful night because there is not a cloud in the sky and this place is pretty good for stargazing i walk down to the other five shelters and there's nobody here there's nobody at the tent site and it's only 5 30. i got here in record time i didn't start until 9 30 i think we did maybe 16 or 17 miles maybe that's crazy must that's been flying it really does help that this trail is so well maintained i think i stepped over maybe one or two trees that had fallen down um just really really good maintenance in this area all right let's see um that's it right there the tuna tuna is what makes it great i mean north sides are like pretty bland as they are especially the right sides pasta sides i don't really need to add the tuna but i've had this meal so much it's just easy to cook i'm not a big like chef out here i just want to get eating and then get done you know very quickly there's something large moving in the woods over there it's probably a deer i've never seen a bear up here it sounds pretty big it's just stopped just real slow there's probably just a deer but i'll take some precautions just in case because i'm alone up here anyway this was delicious my belly is full and i feel refreshed gonna take some firewood back to camp this is the uh kind of wood pile right here it comes with your um your reservation costs um there's also a donation box right over there i like to throw a couple bucks in just because they do a great job at this park um but i'm gonna get the wood ready for tonight all right so i don't want anything too crazy i don't plan on staying up all night but it's only uh like quarter to seven still got about an hour's worth of sunlight left yeah maybe 45 minutes or so all right later it goes back in the ditty bag ended up going uh back down to the uh the wolf kill shelter area sign there's a little stream it's not really flowing very well but i was still able to get two liters of water and to do that because it was so shallow i just dug some leaves out so i could position the bottle a little bit better you know kind of like on an angle like this i dug down here and i'll tell you what i switched to this system on my through hike where i just use the one liter smart water bottles and like i used to carry this uh the two smart water bottles and then an ever new bag which is another two liters it was great for like long water carries but on you know trips that i know i have enough water like this place i just i just like the you know just take the filter off fill your dirty water bottle up put the filter back on get the clean water and it just works so much better and you don't have to carry that extra that extra water bag the extra water scoop because it's literally impossible to fill up a bag but it's really easy to fill up a bottle this is what i like doing man it's a i'm sure one day i'll run into a little tiny puddle that i can't get enough water from but in that case i will just take my pot and use that as a scoop so we're going on let's see 1400 miles of doing it this way and i'm really liking it it's really easy i can filter it my leisure like i can get the water at the stream but i don't have to sit there and filter it with the bag you kind of had to sit there and filter it and i'm just not about doing that all right everybody it's like 9 30. i just got lost looking up at the stars tonight they're uh no clouds in the sky it seemed great it's perfect fire was wonderful but uh i think i'm going to start getting ready for bed and try to wake up early get some hiking in anyway good night everybody see you in the morning good morning everybody oh man i'm glad i brought my uh 40 degree quilt because it's about 10 degrees colder than what the weatherman predicted last night it's supposed to be high 50s it's about mid 40s right now i probably would have slept in but turkey started gobbling at me for the past 30 minutes so might as well start the day early oh man oh real peaceful last night man it was really nice anyway i'm gonna go grab the bear bag before i do anything get some coffee get some oatmeal going i forgot to pack coffee oh that sucks so bad oh man that sucks oh maybe i'll try some tea i didn't get any tea last night it was too hot all right i got where is it i got some oatmeal today apples and cinnamon i like to do with these guys is mix them up really good you get all the sugars and everything mixed in there right and then i just eat them right out of the bag really good that way so so that's how i eat my oatmeal right there just right out of the package the only reason being is cleaning that oatmeal out of here it's like it turns into cement if you let it go too long anybody that's had oatmeal before knows that it's not coffee but it's gonna warm me up as far as plans today i think i'm just gonna stick to the original plan i'm not gonna push it today probably could but why this way i get to actually get home and have dinner with my family and uh surprise the wife by being home a little earlier so i told her i'd be uh probably right after dinner around seven o'clock but uh yeah free waterfalls can't wait all right just came from up there that's the gerard trail and i saw a sign for lower miller falls so that's what we're gonna try never been on this trail before um but it links back up with the main trail in 0.5 miles so i'm assuming it's just gonna link us back up just walks alongside takes us to another waterfall and that's what i'm out here to see the waterfalls they got more machinery back there as well call glad i came down here let's see [Applause] all right miller falls right here it's more of a cascade but i'll take it uh all right 2.5 miles probably three miles into the trail today i'm going to take this trail and get off the gerard trail for just a little bit links back up over the swinging bridge uh next one is bockton falls followed by plum dungeon so that is across the way let's get to it [Music] do nice little view here that's the bridge we crossed you can see it in the middle of your screen and then uh we went pretty much straight up that hill on the right switch backs up to get back to the drawer trail all right let's continue making good time today good morning it's starting to heat up out here though for sure [Music] all right made it to bogton falls i was originally gonna head down this hill but uh seeing how steep it is again um yeah i'm not gonna chance that one i'm going to admire it right from here just fine though that's pretty i think this is like the one true false the other ones are dinky but uh still nice to look at surprisingly that is actually not considered one of the named waterfalls the oil creek i don't know why it's just as good as the other ones i don't know especially on days like today where it's just perfect weather wind's great been seeing some good sights and waterfalls it just makes me miss hiking every day now i'm sure if it was windy and rainy and cold i wouldn't be saying that but just thinking about it a lot right now i can't wait couple more years to be on the pct if all goes well oh man i can't help but feel excited about it already hey little guy i almost stepped on you i like had to force myself to trip to not kill this guy oh well all right last set of falls is right here plum dungeon sorry i figured with the leaves not on the trees yet we'd be able to see something but this one's uh this one's still pretty hard to see lots of pine here but uh yeah plum dungeon check that off the list four waterfalls seen in one trip awesome i was just passing through and throwing out some garbage down there at the restrooms stopped for a break while this was heating up and i saw a dude leaving and he turned around and he looked and uh he came back because she's you that frozen guy i'm like like yeah man what's up and he's like he's telling me about some some hiking that he wants to do he's uh he's look he's eyeing the a.t he asked me if it was worth it and uh yeah for sure so sean i think i'm sorry if i messed your name up sean hopefully you do it man like i said reach out if you ever see this video um really cool dude hope he ends up doing it that's i love that i love running in to people that actually follow me um hikers just talking to hikers in general is just really fun for me anyway i wanted to mention something and hopefully doesn't bring the video down uh my uncle jeff passed away a few weeks ago unexpectedly uh for those that don't know uh uncle jeff was one of the most outdoorsy badass people that you could ever meet he's a hunter a fisher a trapper just just that just that big manly outdoor guy right and he can't help but just look up to him for how strong he is you know well anyway he uh i've talked about this before but he had an accident where he went up hunting one morning it was real dewy right he slipped off his tree stand he woke up paralyzed from the waist down in the hospital that accident pushed me to hike the a.t and just that inspiration that he gave me was just amazing i'm so glad that i just did it you know i'm not glad that he had the accident by any means but the accident really pushed me to change a lot of things in my life that were just bad just really really terrible and i came out here the day after i heard the news and i turned back i just wasn't feeling it at all i wasn't feeling it and then last week i was thinking i was like i shouldn't have done that no one is ever really gone until you forget them and i know that he is going to be someone that i will always think about when i'm out here if you do something that honors that person's memory they're never really truly gone and that's the way i feel whenever i hike i feel like uncle jeff is just here with me i don't know i don't know how to explain it but um he will be missed but he never will be forgotten [Music] so [Music] [Music] so all right last little overlook for the road heading down to the car you guys see right in front of you that building with the metal roof that's the bending off farm we had lunch there yesterday all right whole bunch of signage here petroleum center 0.3 more miles all right we did it going this way there's the road and there's where we entered yesterday anyway that was an awesome adventure even for an overnighter i'm glad i did it wish it would have been longer but hey i cannot complain it was so relaxing we had the whole shelter area to ourselves last night the stars were popping got to see all the waterfalls including the one i've been missing miller falls because i never wanted to go down the side trail the light af curve 30 the x-pac version worked out perfectly and uh just exactly what i expect from light after packs anyway i'm frozen with outdoor adventures find time and go on your own adventure [Music] you

Channel: Outdoor Adventures

Views: 11,639

Rating: 4.9591837 out of 5

Keywords: appalachian trail, at2019, thruhiking, thru hiking, camping, backpacking, reviews, gear, outdoor adventures, frozen, hammock, mountain, hike, camp, backpack, trails, ultralight, hammock camping, solo hike, oil creek, pennsylvania hiking, pennsylvania, PA hiking, PA

Id: vXMdWt1adL8

Length: 40min 6sec (2406 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 21 2021