AegisIII
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Post by AegisIII on Aug 20, 2017 15:54:57 GMT -5
I'm thinking of doing a hike in Bald Eagle soon. I want it to be 6-10 miles, and it should be fairly easy to get to the trailhead from Belleville, PA. I thus am thinking of somewhere in the Poe Valley/White Mtn/Tall Timbers/Reeds Gap area.
In theory I could make a good 8-mile loop in the Poe Valley/Paddy area using the MST and what I've seen to referred as the Panther Hollow Trail. Of course, that is if such a trail exists. I'm not convinced. Does anyone have any good information on it?
I also thought about White Mtn Ridge, but it seems difficult to make a loop of less than 12 miles, and I don't think that would be in the cards for this trip. I could add a long road walk on Longwell Draft Rd, since half of that seems to be barely a road (look at Google Streetview), but that's probably is still too much road walking. Any other ideas? I've been looking at the section between the Reeds Gap Spur and the Devils Elbow Trail.
Tall Timbers/Snyders-Middleswarth is another place I've been wanting to visit. I had originally thought of staring from the west, along the top of Thick Mtn on Red Ridge Rd. But after looking further, it sounds like the Swift Run Trail ends at Krebs Gap Tr (unless one has differing info), and so the planned loop would have a long out/back on the Thick Mtn Tr. Still a possibility, but I still would like another option. Some maps show a Buck Mountain Tr (ridge on north side of Swift Run), but I'm thinking that may be ephemeral at best. Anyone been there? The other way would be the start along Kreb Gap Tr at either Swift Run Rd or Hunters Rd. Some more up/down, but it sounds like it's doable and that the relevant trails all exist.
I could also do a Reeds Gap Spur based loop. Looks like, starting from the Bear Gap Picnic Area, a reasonable loop can be made with the RGS, Long Path, Wolf Gap, and Thick Mtn/High Top Trs.
So, which of these would be my best bet?
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ki0eh
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Post by ki0eh on Aug 21, 2017 15:19:09 GMT -5
Kevin Busko has been attempting to find Panther Hollow trail. So far I understand he's found few, but not no, traces of it. It was editorially pruned from the PU map and the Purple Lizard map. Perhaps from excessive optimism, the alleged trace remains on the new May 2017 edition MST Map 307-311. The point of scenic interest on White Mountain Ridge Trail is Chimney Rocks. As the trail nearly doubles back on itself at the east end, a road-minimal loop would be possible using the valley road, which locally is called Weikert Run Rd. There is a current Reeds Gap Spur map on Avenza. Despite being produced by the MSTA GIS shop, it has not yet shown up on the MST web site. Could e-mail gis@hike-mst.org for a copy (specify 8.5x11 or the larger scale and recommended if possible 11x17). Though it's been a long time for me personally, I think the BESF Public Use map trails have some validity. So you could go east from Red Ridge Rd on Thick Mountain Trail, circle back up the drainage from Snyder-Middleswarth picnic area, and if its continuation doesn't exist west of Kreb Gap Trail, try north on Kreb Gap trail to Bull Hollow trail/old road and use it to double back to Wolf Gap trail for a relatively short re-hike of just a bit of Thick Mountain Trail. I suspect there may have been a boundary trail to Tall Timbers Natural Area on the northern ridge but memory fails me on that one. That Bear Gap Picnic Area Reeds Gap Spur loop probably would work but I can't recall any scenic points thereabouts. Another possibility for a not-every-day type loop in the southwestern areas of BESF would be to head out Sand Mountain Rd from US 322 to a large trailhead for Sand Mountain Trail System, work your way around the dual-sport trails a bit to head to Horse Path, follow it south to MST (the only tricky spot in this direction is a slight right-hand jog to climb up to a bulldozed corner of a deer exclosure at the Old Peat Bog Trail turn, where it may be a challenge to find the fully excavated but unblazed old treadway at the bulldozed bank) (it would be very tricky to come from MST, despite the sign the southernmost 100 m including the crossing of Greens Valley stream is totally obscured in the laurel) and circle back around on MST and the barely-more-than-a-trail Stillhouse Hollow Road. There are marked Scout camp trails to left/south off Stillhouse Hollow that would likely get you back to a longer return roadwalk on Sand Mountain Rd, but there are also tantalizing hints of remaining boundary trails (too late in the day for me to try those, this spring) around the private inholding on east side of Stillhouse Hollow Rd south of Sand Mountain Rd. Frankly, noting that Belleville is of course west/south of US 322, generally the Rothrock trails are more rewarding than Bald Eagle, so there isn't much reason to head over to this part of Bald Eagle unless you've already done all of the SST, MST, and NMBA mountain-bike trail based loops, including both sides of Greenwood Furnace, and Coopers Gap areas. For some off the beaten path ideas, check out the tracks of this guy: www.strava.com/athletes/5869446 |
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AegisIII
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Post by AegisIII on Aug 22, 2017 23:26:09 GMT -5
I've settled on a S-M/TT Natural Areas hike. I've been able to plan a loop which I'm convinced is comprised only of existing trails and of a reasonable length.
Recently I've been going to Rothrock (or, at least, points above Mt Union, and these only count not-on-Sundays hikes) at least 4x/year, and I wanted to try something different. (Tho I still have some more MST and SST in the area to do.)
I've seen GC III's traces on Garmin Connect, and have found them useful and often interesting, since he seems to often hike areas not well known. Though I do have to consider which ones are bushwhacks sometimes. Actually, I briefly met him in the Rocky Ridge area of the SST when I went there.
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ki0eh
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Post by ki0eh on Aug 23, 2017 8:17:42 GMT -5
George's north side of Jacks Narrows not-on-the-Steps loop he's worked out is surprisingly actual though unblazed trails (dinkey grades and ATV trails).
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Post by jmitch on Aug 23, 2017 19:05:37 GMT -5
Swift run trail does end at Krebs gap trail, however I did see a yellow trail continue westward on the northern slope. There is no trail along the creek itself from prior experience, although I think Wolfe gap trail does exist. Thick mtn trail is well established. SM is worth seeing, though I think the forest becomes more scenic as you hike away from the picnic area. The adelgid has taken its toll, fifteen years ago that forest was absolutely stunning. I think buck mtn trail may exist.
Green gap trail is very scenic with even some slides and cascades. Penn creek valley was followable, and again very scenic. Henstep was a nice trail, and cold springs trail existed.
I hiked several of these trails a couple years ago, and also last year.
The state forest gem may be the Gooseneck, hikers have been going into it. Unique in the region, it is a talus gorge. I've not hiked it, but plan too. I'm told the Frederick trail exists, a trail along the creek exists with rhododendrons and cascades in high water, it ends at private property. Apparently there is also a trail on the south rim of the gorge that connects to Frederick, it may lead to vistas and two mysterious stone towers that can be seen on google satellite imagery. To explore all the vast talus slopes and views, scrambling and bushwhacking is required.
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Post by jmitch on Aug 23, 2017 19:09:39 GMT -5
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AegisIII
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Post by AegisIII on Aug 26, 2017 15:38:03 GMT -5
I went earlier in the week. The hike was nice and fine, worthwhile but also not the greatest. A couple of minor views, crossing of a small meadows, nice streams by the picnic areas, plenty of rhododendrons and hemlocks.
A brief report of trail conditions, first those I used, then those I passed. I was planning on a longer hike, but I spent more time in Belleville than planned, and bridge work caused a good delay getting to the trailhead.
Krebs Gap: exists, in reasonably good shape. Could perhaps use some trimming in places, meadow crossing could probably use some stepping stones or boardwalking, or at least a couple of trail posts to guide the way. (I briefly got off-track on my return trip thru.) Near Hunters Rd briefly uses old fence line. Blazed red from Hunters Rd south to Bull Hollow Trail. Then blazed yellow to the Thick Mtn Tr. South of there, again blazed red (did not take). May have continued north from Hunters Rd at one point, did not spot blazes or explored, would have been a steep climb.
Thick Mtn: exists, in good shape atop mountain. Blazed red west of Krebs Gap and east to Tower Tr, yellow east of there. Nice woods. Plane crash site is obvious, marked by memorial and large cairn. The eastern slope did get brushy, in large part due to hemlock death.
Swift Run: exists, in generally good shape, some blowdowns, also can get brushy. Nicer west of Tower Trail. Ends at Krebs Gap, blocked and overgrown west of there.
And passed trails:
"Lower Hunters Rd Fence Line": good shape, fence is no longer present. Obvious trail, and route flagged.
"Upper Hunters Rd Fence Line": obvious route, unblazed, no flagging. More overgrown than lower fence line, but probably usable.
Little Mtn: appears to be in good shape. Red blazed.
Bull Hollow: good shape. To east from Krebs Gap is cabin access lane. Vehicles blocked by stones west of cabin, trail is still obvious west of there. Pink/purple blazed for dual sport use.
Buck Mtn: There are two "trails" near the top of the mountain along Krebs Gap Tr. The "real" Buck Mountain Trail I think is just south of the ridgeline. It was blocked and basically fully grown over. I didn't see blazes. North of the ridgeline is an old woods road. It sloped down heading west, up heading east. Overgrown to the west, but in fairly reasonable shape heading east. I suspect that one or both of these winds up near the latrines of the S-M picnic area, but I did not check to see if those trails really continued.
Tower: Northern end of Swift Run, also passes Thick Mtn. Yellow blazed between these two, good shape. South of Thick Mtn becomes double track past old tower site; did not notice whether blazes were present. A rough singletrack trail also extends east along Thick Mtn from the tower site, flagged and roughly cut thru the laurel. Did not use.
Hemlocks: Started at the picnic area, headed along the south side of Swift Run until a bridge brings it to the Swift Run Tr. Yellow blazed, looked to be somewhat overgrown. Bridge by picnic area has seen better days.
The Goosenecks area looks like I should consider going there. But I think I will be heading to PA's Alleghany Plateau for my next far trip. I'm thinking Quehanna, probably a 5-8 mile trek. Perhaps Round Island Run if not in the wild area proper. I'm also thinking as alternates Yost Run/CKT loop or something around Black Mo/AFT.
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ki0eh
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Post by ki0eh on Aug 28, 2017 21:38:43 GMT -5
Quehanna, to me, has about the best scenery to pain ratio of the middle-of-PA trails. I can sometimes make excuses for driving out Quehanna Highway and it seems most routes at least close to the highway or the first loop around are relatively clear and findable but not the crowded super-highway of the A.T. and typical environs. I posted some of these on Gaia that you can probably find.
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