It’s only funny because the kid survived.
Dr Bubbe
Oy! Such tsuris. All these nice, pretty, young patients of mine dating on the Internet. Such nice girls. Why can’t they find a young man to settle down with? Is it so wrong for me, their doctor, to want them to be happy?
Take my patient Rachel H. Such a shaina maidel!She’s 36 years old, and doesn’t look a day over 25! She comes to see me today for her annual check up, and we schmooze a little after her pap smear. You know, a biseleh girl talk…
Afterwards she sends me an email to tell me the visit has inspired a new chapter in her forthcoming book entitled – “Tequila Has No Carbs; and other things that are important to know when dating in New York City”.
I get a little verklempt just thinking about it! Me – in a Book! But I’m going on. Here, let Rachel tell you all about it…
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So, worse than the scrutiny by my Jewish grandmother as to why I’m not married is the conversation I have yearly with my gynecologist as she looks at my date of birth on my chart and then immediately says, “So, seeing anyone special?”
I look down at the floor shaking my head in shame, because of course, I have also indeed checked the box that says “YES, I have had new sexual partners since my last visit.”
Have you tried “eHarmony? I have a patient who just got married…”
She actually listens with great interest as I explain to her my friend Jen’s marketing theory surrounding Internet dating – and how few men despite how good the date is, are going to commit easily when 7 blondes have e-mailed him between our last martini and the time he gets home and logs on…
I tell her that most men around 40 – fall into a number of categories. After dismissing the divorced with kids, we get to the classic 40 something guy that and all my friends and I have dated – We all know the type – he’s too independent at this point to easily integrate someone into his life – and if he’s attractive and successful – he can get sex whenever he needs it – so why should he settle down?
I mention an exception, a friend that I had dinner with recently whose wife died several years ago… But he’s still getting over it and while he’ll make some girl really happy someday – he’s just not there yet. She nearly jumps out of her seat and says:
“THAT’S THE [type of] GUY YOU WANT!!!”
(and she’s getting really excited and animated now…)
“OR – THE GUY WHOSE WIFE CHEATED ON HIM!”
(at this point she’s squealing so loud nurses are surely starting to detect the conversation behind the closed door…)
“HE’S CAPABLE OF LOVE!!! THAT’S A GUY YOU WANT TOO!”
So I left the gynecologist this morning, one pap smear down, another few years reprieve from my first mammogram, with the following advice:
Place an ad:
Wanted: Damaged Goods.
Has your wife died or left you? If so, call me…
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Tsuris = Serious worry
Shaina Maidel = a pretty girl
Biseleh = just a little
Ken Ayina Hora = lit. = without the evil eye, “not to jinx it”
Verklempt = How you feel knowing you’re meeting Barbra Streisand. A voice like BUTTA!
Food Blogging at it’s Best
This post by Shuna Fish Lydon, a pastry chef in San Francisco with a blog called Eggbeater, is quinessential food blogging. It combines wonderfully enjoyable prose (in Shuna’s inimitable poetic fashion), judiciously placed links and photos to create the perfect blog post about the perfect cup of mocha, at a place called Blue Bottle Coffee.
Read and enjoy.
ps – Shuna also made the NY Times this weekend, in an article by Amanda Hesser.
Someone is Feeding Me
I signed on to one of those diet delivery services, with three fresh meals and 3 snacks delivered right to my door every morning in a little black cooler.
The food ranges anywhere from fabulous to just fine (that’s a particularly delicious lunch in the photo up there), and I’ve lost 5 lbs in four days. I’m giving up caffeine in the process (can’t drink coffee without half and half and sugar, so it had to go), so I can’t say I feel fabulous yet, but I expect that will follow.
What I’m finding is that this diet is NOT about the food. The food is taken care of, and it’s out of my control – except for restrictions I might put on it, such as no vinegar because it gives me headaches. The meals are good enough that I enjoy what I am eating, but can’t over eat. I just eat what they give me, and that’s that, on the schedule they suggest.
Which leaves me to deal with the emotions that come up when I can’t use food to stuff them down. It’s the closest thing to going cold-turkey that I can imagine.
I’ve probably cried more in the past 4 days than I have in months. Not about anything in particular, or anything serious – just raw emotion coming up. Seeing Mama Mia last night, for instance, was a real wellspring. (Fun movie, by the way. A bit silly, but hey, why not? It’s summer, and a chance to see Meryl Streep singing and doing air splits and catch a little Colin Firth eye candy.) Maybe it’s just the caffeine withdrawal, but I really think it’s more than that.
Because in the end, my weight is not about the food. It’s about what I use food for other than sustenance. Now, someone else is dealing with the food. Leaving me to deal with the rest some other way.
So stay tuned. This is going to be interesting…
Touched by the Dalai Lama
Okay, I realize I am outing myself here, but it’s only for one post and it’s only because my sister writes such a great newspaper column, and I just have to say that this was one of her best.
Go read it and see if he touches you, too.
Love ya’, sis.
Grand Rounds Vol 4: no 43
Up at Unprotected Text, “a Scallywag’s journey through medical school”. Nice, concise format – head over for a quick read of the week’s best of the medical blogosphere.
Abortion on the Web
In countries where abortion is illegal, a group called Women on Web is offering medical abortion over the Internet. (via National Women’s Health Report)
Clients complete an online questionnaire and are then contacted by a doctor who prescribes the medications that are then taken at home to induce abortion. The medications are mifepristone (RU-486) and buccal Misoprostol. (Buccal is holding the medication in your cheek till it dissolves.) The vaginal route for misoprostol is avoided so that no evidence of pills is left to implicate a user.
The group has published outcomes on 484 women from 33 different countries who received their services in 2006-7. Follow up was obtained via e-mail or phone for 367 women.
About 8% of the women never took the medication. For those who did, outcomes were reasonable for the method used – Between 6 and 12% reported having to have a D&C for bleeding or incomplete abortion, which presents as an early miscarriage and can be treated safely in a medical setting. Continuing pregnancy rates were less than 2%.
These results are similar to those reported in the initial clinical trials of mifepristone here in the US.
The Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists has released a statement saying that it “neither approves or disapproves” of the work provided by Women on the Web. More from that statement –
The results from the study demonstrate that Early Medical Abortion is safe and acceptable to women, confirming other studies including the recent pilot study conducted by the Department of Health in May. The study also shows that women are capable of safe self-administration of drugs provided they receive good and clear instructions, are aware of the possible side-effects and the nature of complications which indicate that further medical attention is required.
And more from the BBC on the UK reaction.
What are the legal issues?
Women on the Web claims its services are legal, even in those countries where abortion is not, since the receipt of medications for home use does not violate customs laws. They do not offer the service in countries where abortion is legal.
The Women on the Web Site
I went to the site, and have to say that I am quite impressed with the quality of the service.
Women are told to go have an ultrasound if it is available to confirm their gestational age before using the service. (Ultimately 80% do so, an impressive percentage) For women where ultrasound is not available, instructions are given to determine gestational age, which prior research has shown to be accurate in most cases.
All cases are reviewed by a doctor for contraindications before medication is released. (I wish they had reported how many women were refused medication for medical reasons or referred elsewhere so I could get a handle on this aspect of the care.) Women are told to seek care for complications in a medical setting. Warnings about undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy, probably the most serious risk of this procedure, are clear and frequent.
The site uses idealized data from other clinical trials in their information about complications. (Now that they have their own data on outcomes, I would urge the group to use that info to guide women in their decision as to whether or not they wish to use this service.)
The site also asks women to post a photo and /or their experience on the site, in an attempt to remove the shame surrounding the procedure. For women who don’t want to use their own photo, the generic photo up there is used. The photo is a sexy, braless blonde in a mini dress. …what’s that about?
How do I feel about this?
Uncomfortable is probably the operative word. I like to see medicine practiced face to face whenever possible. Plus, I’m a law abiding citizen, whether I like the law or not.
But I know that I feel this way because I practice medicine in a country where abortion is safe and legal (for now, at least). If I were practicing in one of the countries where abortion is illegal, and seeing the consequences of those laws in the lives and health of my patients, I might feel very differently. As a physician, I’d probably prefer to handle the miscarriages that result from an early Internet-based medical abortion over the complications from a botched curettage.
Mostly what I hope is that someday, contraception will be free and available to all women so that few women have to seek abortion, legal or illegal.
Doctors Dropping Medicare – The Domino Effect
When the docs in my area began dropping Medicare, their patients had no where to go but to the docs like me who still participate in the plan.
And so, over the past year or so, I began seeing more and more new older patients in my practice. The shift in my practice demographic was almost palpable as these new Medicare patients began filling my appointment book months in advance for routine annual visits. Add in a few retiring docs, and the influx of older women became too much to ignore.
On the day I saw seven new Medicare patients, all coming from the practices that had stopped taking Medicare, I knew that I had to do something.
The Practice Impact
Now I already see more Medicare than most of my colleagues in 0b-gyn. I’m known for managing menopause, and that tends to draw an older crowd to start with, who move into Medicare as they age. Plus, I like the older patients, and almost went into geriatrics at one point.
But this was getting to be too much. The Medicare patients were taking all my new patient appointments.
You see, unlike younger patients, Medicare patients usually call far in advance for their appointments, and fill up my new patient slots for weeks to months at a time. That leaves no room for the 25 year old who just moved to Manhattan and needs her pills refilled within the month, the 35 year old who thinks she is pregnant, the 45 year old with hot flashes who can’t wait till March, the Italian tourist with the UTI or the 16 year old whose mom just found out she was having sex. If I don’t have the slots to see these patients soon, they’ll find someone else who does.
These younger patients provide the variety that drew me to this field in the first place – the opportunity to care for women at all stages in their reproductive lives, with medical problems that change with each decade. My research arena is contraception and std’s, and that means younger patients. I especially love the teens, and ran the adolescent gyn and teen pregnancy clinics at my former jobs. I really missed seeing these patients in my practice as the older patients began taking all the new patient appointments.
What are the financial impacts? Well, if the visit is medically complicated, Medicare pays reasonably well for my time, although it’s still less than half of what I get from managed care for the same services. At current volume levels, it’s not that much of a problem. But if Medicare were to increase much beyond that, it could impact the bottom line significantly.
And finally, I have to be honest and admit that my temperament is not suited to seeing a large volume of elderly patients in one day. I can’t stand having patients waiting in my waiting room because I am behind. Older patients just take more time per visit, no matter what the reason. I can handle a few Medicare patients a day, no problem. But more than, and I am guaranteed to get behind on schedule. And that stresses me to no end.
In response to this rapid change in my practice demographic I advised my staff that if a non-Medicare patient called, for whatever reason, she got offered an appointment immediately, even if it meant adding her onto the beginning or end of an already full day.
I thought that would solve the problem.
But after a few months, it became clear that this was not working. New patient slots continued to be filled months in advance by the Medicare patients.
So I put a moratorium on new Medicare patients except those referred by colleagues for a problem. I am continuing to see my current Medicare patients, as well as my own patients who transition into Medicare.
I feel terribly guilty about all this, but it’s working. I’m seeing more and more new younger patients. The Medicare new visits are still coming, but on a more limited basis, and overall Medicare now comprises about 20% of my visits. Which is fine for now. This solution is working for me and for my current patients, as well as for my referring docs.
Of course, it’s not working for those women out there still looking for a new gynecologist.
Sorry, Doc
No more pens and mugs.
WASHINGTON — The pens, pads, mugs and other gifts that drug makers have long showered on doctors will be banned from pharmaceutical marketing campaigns under a voluntary guideline that the industry is expected to announce Thursday. (Via NYTimes)
Would cold, hard cash do instead?
I’m from Philly
So says the Accent Quiz. Amazingly correct. Try it yourself.
| What American accent do you have?
Your Result: Philadelphia
Your accent is as Philadelphian as a cheesesteak! If you’re not from Philadelphia, then you’re from someplace near there like south Jersey, Baltimore, or Wilmington. if you’ve ever journeyed to some far off place where people don’t know that Philly has an accent, someone may have thought you talked a little weird even though they didn’t have a clue what accent it was they heard. |
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| The Northeast |
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| The Midland |
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| The Inland North |
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| The South |
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| Boston |
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| The West |
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| North Central |
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| What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz |
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Uh Corse, if yuz wanna’ rilly tawk ike a Fluffian, en yuz godda moove ‘ere, dgrive over the Wall Women Bridge to Sener Siddy or Sow Shreet and rute for dem Iggles. ‘En yuz are rilly tawkin ‘ike a Fluffian.
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(Hat tip to Addicted to Medblogs, who also appears to be addicted to waste-of-time web things like this quiz, and feels it is her duty to get the rest of us addicted as well. Head on over for more Time Killers)
Summer Squash, Pea and Red Onion Salad with Feta
Mr TBTAM made this wonderful salad from Melissa Clark’s Recipe in today’s new York Times. In addition to getting the recipe, I encourage you to read the article on how she created the recipe – it’s a lovely story about how buying and eating locally can lead to a wonderful new dish.
The salad is delicious, and calls for blanched peas, and raw zucchini. I liked it, but could also see this salad with the zucchini blanched as well. We liked the zucchini slices halved as you see them in my photo up there, rather than whole as Melissa did them.
For the salad, Mr TBTAM used fresh sweet sugar snap peas, which normally we would eat whole, pod and all, raw and by hand – summer’s candy as far as we’re concerned. Now we are left with all the empty pea pods. Any ideas on what to do with them?
Grand Rounds, Vol 4, No 42 – The Seinfeld Edition
Most things in life can be related, one way or another, to an episode of Seinfeld.
It’s true. That TV show which claimed to be “about nothing” pretty much said everything that needed to be said about, well, everything.
Take this week’s Grand Rounds, the best of the Medical Blogosphere. It’s totally Seinfeld. Every post. Why I can hear Jerry, even now…
Grand Rounds? Can someone please explain what that’s about? I mean, is it Grand as in “large”? Or Grand is in “Isn’t that grand?”
No one says “Isn’t that grand?” anymore unless they’re 95 and in a nursing home for retired stage actors. In which case they should definitely not be practicing medicine.
And why do they call it “Rounds”? Is everyone standing in a circle singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat? What’s that got to do with medicine?
Or is it Rounds like a round of golf? D0 you guys keep score? “I shot a bogey on that appendectomy today. Lost a Titelist sponge somewhere behind the cecum.”
Doesn’t that make your nurse sort of like a caddy? “Nurse, hand me my 9 scalpel. Or do you think I should wedge it out?”
Grand Rounds. Now that I think if it, it sounds like some sort of Melba cracker you serve with cheese. “Would you like some Gruyere on a Grand Round? Oh do try it – It’s Grand!”
Cut to Jerry’s apartment, where his friend Dr Crippin, visiting from the UK, is ranting about how he is tired of the livers of his fellow citizens being given out to foreigners. Not an English citizen? NO LIVER FOR YOU!
Kramer tells the group he wants to listen in on doctor’s conversations, and wonders if Jerry’s deaf girlfriend, who reads lips, can hang out out in the OR and find out what they are saying. Joshua Schwimmer reminds Kramer about the fiasco when he tried that last time, and suggests that instead, Kramer hang out online in the Doctor’s Room at Friend Feed.
RL Bates has a great post on the retracted nipple – when it’s normal, when it’s not, and how to manage both. Elaine appears not to have that problem, as everyone who got her Christmas card can see.
Jerry may have gotten in trouble for using the F- Word in a Yogurt Shop, but Rural Doc finds out it can be pretty f*$#ing helpful in the Labor and Delivery Room. Great post!
When Kramer drops a Junior Mint into an open abdomen during surgery, the patient is miraculously cured. But Doc Gurly reminds us that lack of proper sterile technique can have disastrous consequences.
Dr Shock tells us that drug use does not appear to be related to drug policy, as countries with more stringent policies (e.g., the US) did not have lower levels of illegal drug use than countries with more liberal policies (e.g.,The Netherlands). Meanwhile Jerry and George wonder where Holland is.
Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer are waiting at the Chinese Restaurant for a table. “You ever notice how happy people are when they finally get a table?” says Elaine. “They feel so special because they’ve been chosen. It’s enough to make you sick.” Dr Jokes overhears Elaine. “Hmm.. I wonder what would happen if the restaurant treated her as if she were sick, and used the medical office model?” Unfortunately, Elaine never finds out, because they never get a table.
The wait for the restaurant on the show occurs in real time – 23 minutes. During which time, basically nothing happens. Well, nothing other than the earth moving. And The Samurai Radiologist can tell you exactly how far it moved during that wait in the restaurant. Or during the time you had sex. Or any thing you happen to be doing. Pretty cool.
Dr Toni Brayer shows us just how impossible it can be to figure out what the costs are for a hospital procedure. Reminds me of the episode where George finds out be needs his tonsils removed.
GEORGE: (To Jerry) Let me ask you something.. How much do you think it would cost to have tonsils and adenoids removed in the hospital?
JERRY: Well, an overnight stay in a hospital? Minor surgery? I dunno, four grand.
GEORGE: Uh-huh. And how much does the healer charge?
KRAMER: First visit? Thirty-eight bucks.
GEORGE: Oh, yeah? Holistic.. that’s what I need. That’s the answer.
Elaine’s boss, J Peterman, is off again on a world jaunt, this time to visit his friend the traveling Doc Kate. She’s in Pakistan, training the locals on how to diagnose and treat Sexually Transmitted Infections. Stay safe, Dr Kate.
George has a massage that stimulates him in a way he’s a bit uncomfortable with. Next time he should just read Fixing Posture and learn to take care of his back himself. And if he decides on aquatic therapy, Dean Moyer at the Back Pain Blog has everything he needs to know.
Elaine can’t sleep because a dog is barking outside her window. Or, wonders Dr Nancy Brown, is it just her hormones?
Kramer loves his hot tub. It relaxes him. And it’s not just in his head. Relaxation techniques can favorably affect the expression of stress related genes, according to new research discussed at Neuroanthropology.
Elaine has a rash that needs diagnosis, but no doctor will look at her rash because she has been labeled as a difficult patient. Too bad she didn’t see House. He’d have figured it out, knows Monash Medical Student, just as he diagnosed this week’s case of subacute sclerosing pan-encephalitis.
When the conversation gets rough, try to find the humor, says Barbara Kivowitz at In Sickness and in Health. Maybe that’s why Julia Dreyfuss can’t stop laughing every time Mr Costanza tries to get off that famous line “You wanna’ piece of me?“
Kramer hires an intern to get all his stuff done. Too bad he didn’t read Apple Quack’s two part post on project management.
The group has a contest to see who can remain “Master of their Domain” the longest. Kramer is the first to go. Maybe it because he eats watermelon, which JC Jones tells us increases blood flow to the genitals and may increase libido.
Anesthesiaoboist has compiled a very nice gallery of Medicine in Art, including my favorites, the ancient Persian drawings. I think she might also have included this painting of the famous Dr Van Nostrand…
Did you know that it was Rodney Dangerfield who gave Jerry Seinfeld his biggest break, by featuring him on his HBO special? Maybe Diabetes needs a break too, says Amy at Diabetes Mine. It’s the Rodney Dangerfield of diseases, ranked by the public lower than other less serious diseases as a cause of mortality.
The Cockroach Catcher has a fascinating post this week about how dried Chinese plums can be used as natural oral rehydration therapy. Hmm..maybe Kramer should try some. Those pretzels are making him thirsty.
Kramer and Jerry’s landlord has replaced their shower heads with low flow models to save money on water, and no one feels like themselves without a good shower. That’s pretty much what the government has been trying to do with health care costs since Medicare was started. At least I think I got that right. It’s very complicated, and Covert Rationing does a great job of trying to explain it.
George’s girlfriend can’t have sex with him for 6 weeks, and he discovers that without sex, he gets smarter. Maybe he should have read Dr Alvarez’s post on brain health and found some other way.
David E Williams has written a fascinating post about how a man’s Google search led to his conviction for murdering his wife using ethylene glycol. Hmm.. Do you think George might have googled “wedding envelope glue death“?
Vitum Medicus compares the med school class of 1960 to that of 2010, in his post Are Today’s Medical Students Wusses?. Hopefully, they are nicer than Elaine’s boyfriend who breaks up with her after he becomes a doctor. Or, as he puts it “I’m sorry, Elaine. I always knew that after I became a doctor, I would dump whoever I was with and find someone better. That’s the dream of becoming a doctor.”
Elaine loves her Big Salad. But she’d better be careful- those tomatoes may have salmonella, says Paul Auerbach. Read his post for a great summary of the problem, plus some great advice on food handling.
R Murse summarizes California’s new regulations to help fight prescription drug abuse, but it’s too late to catch Jerry’s drug-using accountant, who’s already left the country.
For Chronic Babe, mixing it up occasionally is important in keeping healthy habits, whether it’s a change in routine or a new recipe. I’d say that’s something to dance about, wouldn’t you?
Kramer, as always, is the only member of the group with a heart (most of the time, anyway)… He’d have liked these following posts –
- Little Hailey has an incurable and fatal disease, and her only hope may lie in an experimental treatment being done in China. InsureBlog’s Henry Stern asks whether the airline that was supposed to fly her there did the right thing by refusing to.
- Dr Val tells the story of a young teenage mother who beats the odds in her review of the book Glori, a Different Story.
- PalMD uses a special pen when he writes notes to the relatives of recently departed patients. It’s too important a task to relegate to anything else. What a nice post.
- Susan Palwick of Rickety Contrivances has a wonderful post telling of a moving encounter she had with a pscyh patient.
- One of Dr Rob’s favorite patients is dying. His post reminds me of all the wonderful patients I have, and how they enhance my life. Thanks, Dr Rob for a wonderful post.
- Sudeep Bonsai wonders just how aggressive to be in treating an elderly depressed and very ill patient with congestive heart failure. Sounds to me like he did the right thing. See what you think.
- How to Cope with Pain has some suggestions to awaken Joy. She’s clearly a glass half full person.
- My heart goes out to Lisa, who has Cushing’s Disease. Stop on by and give her an encouraging word.
And that’s it, folks. Proof that everything in life, or at least in the medical blogosphere, can be related to Seinfeld.
Thanks to all who submitted posts. I tried to include everyone, although a few duplicate posts on the same topic came in, and so I took the one that arrived first. A few posts arrived late on Monday, and I’m sorry I just could not include them. If that was your first time submitting, and I didn’t include you, please don’t be discouraged – after all, there’s always next week!
Thanks to all who submitted posts. I tried to include everyone, although a few duplicate posts on the same topic came in, and so I took the one that arrived first. A few posts arrived late on Monday, and I’m sorry I just could not include them. If that was your first time submitting, and I didn’t include you, please don’t be discouraged – after all, there’s always next week!
Thanks as always to Nick Genes of Blogborygmi, who makes it all happen. Next week’s Grand Rounds will be held at Unprotected Text.
Just Another Nuisance Malpractice Case
I just heard from the lawyer defending a med mal case on which I gave expert opinion. The case was filed by a woman who claimed her miscarriage was caused by a hormonal birth control method that her doc initiated during an early pregnancy that she charges he should have diagnosed.
I can’t give further details, but suffice it to say that medically, this plaintiff had no case. The birth control in question does not cause miscarriages and there was no reason the doctor would have suspected that she was pregnant at the time the method was initiated. Although the doc did not do a pregnancy test, it would have been negative since the patient was only 1-2 days post conception at the time.
The case settled for $7,500 before any depositions were even taken.
The Defense Lawyer was thrilled. As far as she was concerned, $7,500 is “essentially nuisance”. With just a few hours work on my part, I had saved her thousands of dollars and countless man hours trying this case. Since the doc involved was a hospital employee, he was not named, so no harm was done. She wants to use me again as an expert.
The Plaintiff’s Lawyer made a few thousand bucks – not bad for a couple of hours work. He’s learned that these nuisance cases may not be windfalls, but if you file enough of them, they pay off. In fact, they’re the bread and butter of his practice, and are probably putting his kids through college.
The Plaintiff may not have gotten rich but this nuisance case has given her enough cash to pay off some credit card debt or take the kids to Disney World. Plus, she has a story to tell everyone she knows. Those doctors caused her miscarriage, and they had to pay. Not as much as she would have wanted, but they paid nonetheless. Her lawyer said something about “no admission of guilt”, but she doesn’t believe that – her lawyer just wasn’t as good as he could have been. Certainly not as good as her cousin’s lawyer, who’s promised her a hundred thousand dollars for her premature baby.
Friends, acquaintances and friends of friends of the plaintiff will hear the story. They will tell their friends, who will tell their friends. The story may even make it into an Internet chat room.
Some women using the same contraceptive method will hear the story and become worried. If it causes miscarriage, what will it do to their future fertility? More than a few will be frightened enough to stop their birth control, and will have an unplanned pregnancy. Perhaps an abortion. Perhaps another child they cannot afford to raise, either financially or emotionally.
I wouldn’t call this case a nuisance. I’d call it a tragedy.
Biking the Pine Creek Trail
These days spent in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania are like stepping back in time. The lack of development in the area has kept it preserved in so many ways.
But one nice development has been the completion of the Pine Creek Rail Trail – 62 miles of flat gravel that runs from just north of Williamsport through Pine Valley into the Pine Creek Gorge, known as the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, to the town of Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. There’s lots to do along Pine Creek, including hiking, fishing, swimming and birding. But it was the biking that attracted us.
We did a 22 mile ride in the mid-section of the trail yesterday, biking from Blackwell to Slate Run and back. Although this ride did not take us through the Grand Canyon, it’s a lovely ride through the Valley, perfect for those who might not want to pack food and picnic, because there are several places to stop and eat.
Blackwell to Cedar Run
Blackwell is a tiny town with a nice hotel/restaurant and that’s about it. There was plenty of parking available at the trail lot, so we parked there, despite the fact that the trail guide suggested that bikers use the Rattlesnake Rock access and leave Blackwell to the boaters. There are bathroom facilities and a pump for water.
As we took the bikes off the roof, we discovered that the nut holding my front wheel on had somehow come off. Luckily, we found a place that rented bikes.
No one was there, just the honor system, take a bike, leave the money in the locked box.
The bike could have used a bit of oil, but was good enough, and I had not trouble keeping up with Mr TBTAM and the girls.
The path is a 2% grade going N-S, so it’s easy biking either way. The gravel surface is well maintained, but its width is deceptive – it can drop off fairly steeply in places, so I wouldn’t ride more than 2 abreast.
There are a fair number of bridges to cross – old RR trestles and small foot bridges across tiny feeder streams.
Cedar Run is an adorable little town with nothing more than a general store and an Inn.
We arrived after 2 pm, and though lunch is served only from 11-2, they felt sorry for us and made us panini sandwiches, which we ate us on the shaded side patio.
Meanwhile, the front porch was a continuous stream of bikers and locals coming for their renowned homemade ice cream.
The Cedar Hill Inn is across the street. I’m told the restaurant is very good, and the rooms lovely (though no air conditioning, I assume from the fans in the windows).
Cedar Run to Slate Run
From Cedar Hill to Slate Run the trail winds through a wide valley. On this stretch, we saw a rattlesnake.
and hundreds of tiny, perfect little frogs hopping across the trail.
Mr TBTAM saw some great birds – one with a bright orange vest, and several hummingbirds.
There are camping grounds and primitive cabins along the creek as you approach Slate Run, where there is a large General Store with pretty much anything a person might need, including sandwiches, food, sundries, a huge bait and tackle shop and lucky for us, air for our tires.
I am told the nearby Manor Inn has a good restaurant for lunch, but we did not stop there.
The Ride Back
We put on speed on the return trip, with nothing more than a stop for water at Cedar Run. That’s the downside to doing a trail and not a loop – riding back over previously ridden ground. But it was a great work-out and a lot of fun, so we’re not complaining.
We plan to return again in early Fall to do the upper part of the Trail from Wellsboro to Blackwell, arranging with Pine Creek Outfitters to meet us at ride’s end and shuttle us back to your starting point, so that we can cover more ground in a one day trip.
Bottom Line
If you’re looking for a great place to bike for riders of all ages, the Pine Creek Trail is it. Make it a weekend, and stay in Wellsboro or one of the towns along the trail. Fall is probably best for the gorge, but summer is pretty darned beautiful as well.
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I used the antique settings on I Photo to make the photos look old. I’m having fun playing with my new MacBook…
