My job has some perks. One of those perks is the ability to go to Rock Run Recreation in Patton for the annual Fisher’s ATV World Reunion. This is the 3rd year for the event in Patton and the 4th year overall. Each year, ATV enthusiasts from across the country come out to take part in the event that features a weekend of quad, dirtbike, and side-by-side riding, numerous competitions, a midway of vendors, and a concert. This year’s musical guest (yes, I know that sounds a bit like a late-show term) is Lee Brice.
In case you’re not familiar with the place, Rock Run is located in Patton in northern Cambria County and is about an hour from Johnstown.
From their website, Rock Run is about having fun. Here’s a little more about the place taken directly from rockrunrecreation.com:
Rock Run started out with 50 miles of trails for ATVs, UTVs, and dirtbikes. With the help of the Yamaha Trails Initiative Program, we were able to add an additional 20 miles of trails. Rock Run now provides over 70 miles of trails that you can enjoy on whatever type of machine you like.
I had the opportunity to interview Brian Fisher, host and executive producer of Fisher’s ATV World on The Outdoor Channel, on Friday night when I was there. He stressed the fact that they choose Rock Run because it’s a big area and a great area to ride. He also dropped some hints about the 5th annual event. Check out the video below for his interview. I’ll also include a couple videos of people having some fun at Rock Run after the interview. (Read More)
It’s been a couple of weeks since the last summer fun web update but this one is a big one! Today, I had the chance to visit Seven Springs and take a trip on the Screaming Hawk Zip Lines!
These are brand new to Seven Springs and actually aren’t even open yet to the public. That happens this weekend (July 29, 2011) in coordination with the Rib and Wing Festival.
Here’s how it works…
You get suited up with a lot of different safety equipment including a harness, cables, and a trolley that attaches to the overhead line, allowing you to zip from one platform to the other.
In all, there are 6 platforms. The first two platforms are 350 feet apart. The same goes for platform two to three. The next zip is a little longer, spanning 425 feet. Then, you cross ‘Black Bear Bridge’ to the fifth tower. From there, it’s a 777 foot swing from ‘Venom Tower’ to the final platform where you take a leap of faith off to finish the adventure.
Overall, the trip took a little more than two hours from start to finish.
Here are the stats to get to Seven Springs and take flight on the Screaming Hawk… (Read More)
It’s all about the summer fun and yesterday, I made my way to Hidden Valley Resort!
Most people think of Hidden Valley and they think of snow, skiing, and snowboarding. That’s not all they have to offer. During the summer, they have a golf course, activity center, horseback riding, hiking, fishing, mountain biking, paddle boats, and, my favorite, mountain boarding! They also have a lot of weddings over the summer to keep the staff busy.
So what will it take to get you to Hidden Valley over the summer? Let’s look at the stats… (Read More)
See 'The Blind Side' at Tussey Mountain on Friday.
I’m going to try to update you guys each week with some events going on for the coming weekend. Be sure to check back each week to keep up with things to do to get you out of the house.
Here’s a line-up of events for the weekend of June 17th and 19th.
- The 6th year of the First Commonwealth Johnstown Film Festival continues this weekend. Screenings will continue through the weekend and include some films created by folks in the area. Cost: $15
- RagBag is a family-friendly festival of creativity. It’s happening Saturday from 12-7 PM. RagBag will feature all-day, funtastic activities for kids, like a take home arts and crafts station, face painting and funky hairdos, hula hooping, bubbles galore, and fun with science. This takes place at the Roxbury Bandshell in Johnstown.
- Movies on the Mountain at Tussey Mountain is showing ‘The Blind Side’ with Sandra Bullock. Bring a blanket or lawn chair and enjoy the movie for just $1. There will be popcorn, soda, beer, hamburgers, and other food. That’s happening tonight (Friday), June 17th. The Movies on the Mountain promotion will continue through the summer with great movies including Despicable Me and Toy Story 3. (Read More)
Summer fun is in full swing and last week I visited Idlewild and SoakZone in Ligonier, PA. I visited the park back in 2010 for my summer fun web series but they’ve added something new this year… and it’s big!
This year, they’ve added the ‘Wowabunga Family Wave Pool!’ From their website:
Summer fun seekers can now “catch a wave” at Idlewild and SoakZone with the addition of the new Wowabunga Family Wave Pool. We call it WOW-abunga because it has a whopping 280,600 gallons of fun that’s better than being at the seashore. Following intermittent periods of calm water conditions, a signal sounds and the pool generates waves at timed intervals, allowing swimmers to “ride the tide.” Wowabunga replaces the park’s original pool built back in 1931. It has a sloping, zero-depth entry at its shallow end…just like the beach…gradually increasing to a depth of six feet at the other end.
Our own meteorologist Tony Martin is a big fan and he and his family have already visited the park and new wave pool. (Read More)
My summer fun web series is back and to kick things off, I visited DelGrosso’s Amusement Park in Tipton! I’ll start all of my summer fun web stories with some stats including miles to get there from Johnstown, Altoona, State College, and DuBois, cost to get in [...]
Here’s a quick grab from the blog of our sister station, WTOV in Steubenville, about SKIN CANCER AWARENESS MONTH.
As the days lengthen, about 2 minutes per day, and the sun climbs higher in the sky, the sun becomes increasingly intense the more directly overhead. We are [...]
It’s time for the Fisher’s ATV World Reunion at Rock Run Recreation in Patton. Every year, TV star Brian Fisher brings his show on the road to Rock Run in the Alleghenies and invites thousands of his closest friends.
I was invited up to check it out today and had a blast.
The guys at the U.S. Army tent took us out in the Humvee! That’s the first time I’ve been in one of those and it was surprising bumpy. I don’t know what I was expecting, though.
Click into the post for the videos and a picture of the final product. You’ll also get a look at the schedule for Sunday and the rest of my exciting day at Rock Run. (Read More)
Head to the Clearfield County Fair for fun and excitement!
It’s a big week in Clearfield County as the Clearfield County Fair is underway! There’s so much going on that I’m not even going to attempt to tackle all of it here on the blog. I will, however, run down a list of some of the bigger events at the fair.
Monday: Fireman’s Parade and Gigantic Fireworks Display
Tuesday: The Beach Boys
Wednesday: ZZ Top
Thursday: Truck and Tractor Pull
Friday: Bret Michaels
Saturday: Jeff Dunham
There’s a lot of other events going on all week. Some of those include Buffo, The World’s Strongest Clown, Bixby’s Rainforest Rescue, the First Bite Fishing Tank, Primer Greys (rockabilly). Ok, I’m really not doing this any justice.
Head into the post for the website and some more details. (Read More)
It’s hard to believe that it is already the end of July and Steelers training camp is upon us. Well, deal with it! It’s here!
The camp begins today (July 30) and will run through August 20th with some practices open to the public.
Here’s some information you might need to know if you’re looking to head to Latrobe to catch the Black and Gold over the next few weeks:
From July 31 through Aug. 18, the Steelers will have afternoon practices open to the public with the following exceptions:
•Aug. 6 — night practice scheduled for 7 p.m. at Latrobe Stadium
•Aug. 7 — practice TBD
•Aug. 13 — nothing on schedule
•Aug. 14 — Steelers vs. Lions
•Aug. 15 — nothing on schedule
•Aug. 19 — nothing on schedule
•Aug. 20 — Steelers break camp
Afternoon workouts generally run from 2:55 p.m. to 5 p.m. at St. Vincent College in Latrobe. The campus opens to the public at 1:30 p.m. when there is a 2:55 practice only. Other times vary and are to be announced.
Bad weather could cause practice to be canceled without notice. The practice schedule is subject to change without notice.
There’s even more information after the jump. (Read More)
Have you ever wanted to try kayaking before but never had a way to do it? It really isn’t something you think of on a regular basis. Now’s your chance to try it out for free! On Friday, July 23rd, there’s a free paddling skills program being offered at Canoe Creek State Park.
The program is free and I am going to assume that they also provide the kayak (but I may be wrong). They will provide paddling tips, practice time, and other information.
If you’d like more information on the program, here’s the details from the website.
Paddling Skills at Canoe Creek State Park
RR 2, Box 560
Hollidaysburg, PA 16648
814-695-6807
There’s also a map that you can download to get directions. Here’s the link. This will open up in a new window. (Read More)
The ‘Summer Fun’ series continues with a trip to Seven Springs. I traveled down to Somerset County on Friday to find out exactly what kinds of activities they have during the summer.
I’ll be honest… I was expecting the place to be completely dead when I got there. I was expecting empty parking spots and a few people sitting around. Instead, I actually found a crowded parking lot and a lot of people around the resort.
So, what is there to do in the summer at Seven Springs? Let’s break it down activity by activity. I won’t go into depth on all of these, but you should know that there’s even more information at their website. I’ll post the link at the bottom of the post.
Let’s start with some of the activities that I did while I was there.
I promised you a second post about some of the things to do at Seven Springs. Here’s a list of few more things that you might be interested in. I’ll link you to the website at the bottom of this post and you can get more information there…
Golf
Trillium Spa
Alpine Slide
Bowling
Summer Camps
Disc Golf
Fly Fishing
Hiking and Biking
Mini Golf
Paintball
Paddleboats
Rock Wall Climbing
Horseback Riding
Swimming
I’ve done the disc golf before with Katie Sabatino. That was definitely a good time. If you go later in the season, I would recommend bringing bug spray with you. That’s really a given for anything outdoors that time of year.
I haven’t done the Alpine Slide, but you can get a pretty good idea of what it’s like with this first-person perspective that I found on YouTube.
Now I have to remind you that doing all of this at once would be extremely pricey. Keep in mind that this is a resort. Prices will be a little more expensive for things but you will get the convenience of everything being in the same place. You also have a superb quality with everything at Seven Springs.
How about this weekend, folks? The week has been phenomenal with plenty of sunshine and comfortable temperatures and just in time for the weekend… a warm-up! The weather, however, will be fantastic for fireworks displays across the Alleghenies. One of the biggest is the Central PA Fourth Fest on Sunday. Look for plenty of sunshine and temperatures warming up into the mid to upper 80s with some pushing 90.
In case you’ve never been to 4th Fest, check out some fireworks that I found on YouTube. Obviously, the fireworks are better in person. Your best bet is to go check it out!
I’ve talked about geocaching on the blog before but to save you the trouble of going back and searching to see what I had to say, let me just tell you about it again. It seems to be gaining popularity, which is great.
Geocaching is a virtual treasure hunt where you use a GPS to find a hidden ‘treasue.’ That treasure might be in a thermos or a tupperware container, or anything really. Your job is to successfully navigate to ‘ground zero’ and then search for the cache, or treasure.
Most of the time, there’s not much more than little trinkets or even a few band-aids in the cache. Sometimes, you’ll find some cool stuff, though.
There are a lot of of geocaches around the region, too. If you want to get a look at some of them, just head over to the geocaching website. Once there, click ‘Hide and Seek a Cache’ on the left side of the screen and then enter your zip code to find caches near you.
There’s a video that probably does a better job of explaining the game and a bunch of links if you click into the post. See you there. (Read More)
Our sister station, WPXI, was at Kennywood Park on Monday for the media debut of the new coaster, the Sky Rocket. Here’s part of the story from WPXI.com. You can also click into the raw video and see the coaster in action.
Kennywood Park debuted its new roller coaster, the Sky Rocket, to the media on Monday morning.Channel 11 and WPXI.com had crews at the park who rode the coaster. The reporters, photographers and interns said it was thrilling but smooth. A few of them rode it a couple times because it was so much fun.Kennywood describes the Sky Rocket as “a seriously twisted, pulse detonating, supercharged, stratospheric new ride experience.” The amusement park said riders will “vertical climb and say adios to gravity as (they) go over-the-top and plummet 90-degrees due south.” (Read More)
This is the second part of my (not sure yet) part series of fun things to do over the summer. If you like action and adventure, you might want to check out Rock Run in Patton, PA. It’s located in northern Cambria County and is only about an hour from Johnstown. Rock Run is a place to legally ride your ATV, UTV, or dirtbike.
They have different events throughout the summer including one this weekend. This weekend’s event is part of the Northeast Offroad Championship Series and features dirtbikes and kids of all different ages racing through the trails of Rock Run. The goal is to get as many laps in as possible within the time limit, which varies depending on the age bracket. The oldest group will race through the 10-mile course as many times as possible in 2 hours. I went on a ride through a good chunk of the course on Friday with Mike, the park manager, and it looked pretty tough. Want to see some of the course? Well, I recorded and uploaded a 10-minute video of some of the course onto Youtube. The beginning starts out wide open, but then we get into the trails. Keep in mind that we were going at a snail’s pace compared to the way these guys will fly around it. While you’re watching it, think about doing this while going fast and on 2 wheels while trying to avoid the oncoming trees and paying attention to the arrows that point you in the right direction. That’s a challenge!
They do welcome spectators but keep in mind that a lot of the event is held in the woods. There will be designated areas where people can watch. Spectators will be charged $5. Because of the caliber of the riders, the park itself is not open to the public for riding through the weekend. (Read More)
What’s the fastest way get from point A to point B? A straight line, right? Well, most of the time, you can’t do that. If you go to Raystown Lake, you can!
Raystown Zip Lines is a new place near Raystown Lake that has you flying high in the sky. You can soar 80 feet above the ground and over the span of 1,000 feet at speeds over 30 MPH! It truly is a fun time.
I took a trip there today and took a ride myself. (Okay, you got me. I took 3 rides.) You can see the video of me going down the zip line below. I also took some video of some other people going down the zip line. I’ve included those below, too. (They have finally uploaded and processed. There are 5 more videos down at the bottom of the post. I’ve also subbed out the top video with a better one. If you already saw the top video, look at the new one!)(Read More)
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