Lancaster County's Conestoga Trail and York County's Mason Dixon Trail offer exceptional passages through the Lower Susquehanna's River Hills.

But next Saturday, 400 men, women and kids will be traveling 28.4 miles on the paths through the rugged hills in a blur as part of the Susquehanna Super Hike and Ultra Trail Run.

Well, not everyone.

Fred Habegger, 57, of Akron, is a birdwatcher, butterfly photographer, mushroom observer and general admirer of the outdoors.

"It doesn't make sense to go fast through all that nice terrain," Habegger said the other day.

It took Habegger more than 9 1/2 hours to make the tough hike at last year's event. He finished 147th out of 182 finishers.

But he did see a peregrine falcon while crossing the Norman Wood Bridge. He took some nice photos of mushrooms with a digital camera and found two geocaches along the Conestoga Trail with his GPS device.

He's doing the hike-run again on Saturday. "I just like to get out," he says.

Most people will be going a little faster, though the Keystone Trails Association, which started the event, emphasizes it's not a competition.

"It's not all about your time. It is about the beauty and the scenery and the beautiful trails," says Curt Ashenfelter, KTA's executive director.

"First and foremost, it's a personal challenge event."

In the first event, about 25 percent of participants ran the trail. "A majority walked fast," he says. The median rate was about eight hours for the 25-mile event, or about three miles an hour.

"You're moving along but certainly you have time to smell the roses," advises Ashenfelter.

There certainly are a lot of roses to smell. The course passes through such natural gems as Kelly's Run, Tucquan Glen, Otter Creek and Oakland Run. If you want to take a breather, there are the vistas from the Pinnacle and Urey overlooks. For history, there's the Lock 12 area.

It's always a fun experience to walk across the Norman Wood Bridge and feel the vibrations from passing vehicles. In Lancaster County, the trail also passes Wind Cave, one of the largest tectonic caves in the eastern U.S.

If it's a warm day, walking or running through 9 different streams will feel good.

Certainly the up-and-down course through the River Hills will be challenging. Total elevation change will be more than 8,700 feet.

Participants will have to be in shape. You can certainly take your time, but you will have to cover nine miles in four hours to reach checkpoints and be allowed to continue. Last year, an amazing 182 or 202 entrants finished.

Event sponsor KTA is the state's largest hiking organization and protects and maintains many trails throughout the state. Part of its mission is to promote recreational hiking opportunities in Pennsylvania, including more long-distance trails.

The group hit on the idea of a super hike in an effort to attract a new generation of hikers and trail runners to the group.

The Lancaster Hiking Club, York Hiking Club and Mason Dixon Trail System embraced the event and have been sprucing up their segments of trails in readiness.

KTA was ecstatic to attract 202 entrants the first try. This year, 3.4 miles was added to the hike so it also qualifies as an official ultra run event.

Late last week, registration reached its cutoff of 400 so the event is closed for this year. Of course, there's nothing to stop you from making the journey the other 364 days of the year.

Volunteers to help with the event are still being sought, however. If interested, contact Becky Schreiber at 238-7017 or ktaadmin@verizon.net. For more details on the event, go to www.kta-hike.org.

If you want to go and watch, the event starts at 7 a.m. from PPL's Otter Creek Campground, and ends at PPL's Pequea Creek Campground.

Keep an eye out for Samuel F. Spearing of Holtwood, his wife, and their 13-year-old son, Samuel J. H. Spearing.

Last year, young Samuel needed a 20-mile hike to earn a Boy Scout merit badge. Dad, who is a scout leader in Troop 2, signed them up.

Dad rarely saw his son again after the start. "It was more of a lark for him," Dad says. "He wanted to finish before me."

Young Sam, then 12 years old, was the youngest participant &tstr; the oldest was 72. He acquitted himself well, finishing second among boys 19 and under and 118th overall.

"He was proud of himself," says the elder Spearing, 52. "He rubbed it in a good bit."

But dad and son will be back on Saturday, along with the boy's mom.

"Just for the fun of it," says dad. "We've been hiking the Lancaster County side of the trail for the past few months. We're still not running it, but we'd like to improve our time."

Also look for Ken and Deb Strickler from Mount Joy. The couple has done a lot of backpacks. Deb, 55, has done a marathon. Ken, 61, is a runner. But they had never hiked 25 miles in one day so decided to see if they could.

They could. They completed the course in 101-w hours. "It was just a personal thing to say, "Yeah, we did a super hike," says Deb.

It's like when you cross the finish line you say, 'Yes, I did this and no one can ever take that away from you.' "

This year, Ken will be making the trek along with the couple's daughter, Christie Hottenstein, 33, of Elizabethtown.

"It's a beautiful area and a beautiful place to hike," says Deb.

acrable@lnpnews.com