Horse Farm AeroPress, Helicon Brewing on the Panhandle

Fri Nov.18 2016 20m
Nov. mtd:314 ytd:2732

I had a chance to ride with RC as he needed to complete his 2017 Coffeeneuring, for which he chose Coffee Without Walls at the Horse Farm on the Montour Trail.

He conducted a bit of a skills demo using an Aero Press, which produced some great coffee. It was like 70F, sunny, a nice day to be outside and feel the sunshine.

Encounted this "good human" sign, showing the distances to trash cans. Very well played.

Came upon a work crew assembling the door covers on the National Trail. They were really very good about letting people pass through their work site.

Apparently, in an ongoing series of experiments, they're experimenting with NOT closing the tunnel for the winter - just closing the opening, and leaving a flexible-plastic thermal barrier in the doorway. This is kind of exciting.

The National Tunnel crew, led by Bill Capp, began closing the tunnel for the 2016 - 2017 winter season. This year we plan to put strip seal air locks at each end to block air flow. If the strip seals (think beer distributor cold room) reduce the air flow sufficiently we will be able to both keep the tunnel open to trail users this winter and keep ice out of the tunnel. Last year closing the tunnel kept ice out, but it also kept out trail users. Volunteers: Joe Lodge, John Kozak, Pete Merther, Tom Prezel, Jesse Forquer, Doug Ettinger, Bill Capp, Dave Oyler

On Facebook, Farmer Troy Bogdan mentioned the soft opening of Helicon Brewery on the Panhandle Trail, in Oakdale where the (now-razed) Purina factory used to be. Apparently before the place was called Oakdale, it was called Helicon. I really like the idea of a trail-side brewery, especially after seeing three of them on the W&OD east of Leesburg VA.