Piney Mountain, Michaux
May 17, 2015 21:42:55 GMT -5
Post by AegisIII on May 17, 2015 21:42:55 GMT -5
Photos
Back in April I was planning on doing a couple of hikes in the Sideling Hill WMA in western Washington County in Maryland. I then decided to look up hunting seasons, and discovered that (a) there was now Sunday hunting, and (b) that weekend was the youth turkey hunt. I decided to change plans. M R Hyker and his group was doing a hike in Michaux State Forest on Piney Mountain. I had done over half of that planned hike, and the rest I thought would not be that interesting. But I figured I can do part of the hike with them, and then go off and do my own thing, following trails on the southern slope of the mountain.
We all started off on gated dirt Piney Mountain Road, slowly climbing along the mountain top. I soon left the others, taking a singletrack trail which paralleled the road for a short distance, mostly out of view. A fair amount of ankle biting rocks in the beginning, before turning into a nice mountain laurel line trail for a bit, then heading into more open woods and back to the road much earlier than I was expecting. I then caught up with the group at a turn in the road. I headed along with the usual suspects for a bit, and we took a break near the first crossover to the Appalachian Trail; we didn't use it.
At the third crossover, I said my farewell and let the group pass so they would not follow me, and headed east from the road on a nice woods road. After a bit, I turned onto a trail which wandered along the high reaches of the slope of Piney Mountain. In general easy going, smooth trail. It past a couple of rock outcrops and a few charcoal flats. Near the end, it climbed to get back up top and reached Piney Mountain Road at its junction with Long Mountain Road (another woods road.) I found a small rock for rest and lunch, and then inspected the ugly, rutted roadbed that is Piney Mountain Road and determined that no hiking groups had passed by yet today. Sure enough, a few minutes later, the group caught up to me.
After they left and I finished my lunch, I returned to singletrack trails to begin my descent down the mountain. I passed some rock outcrops which may have had a minor view, but I didn't see much reason to check. I then reached an unexpected trail junction. Looking at my map, it was not fully clear which way to go. I first took the level, sharp turn route. It headed level, perhaps a bit uphill; I had passed a possible trail on the way up to this point, and I figured this must have been that. I returned to the junction and took the steep downhill straight ahead trail. It soon leveled out, and then started to veer north, and became less distinct. This certainly was not the way. I climbed back up, and took the first option again.
Sure enough, it soon descended, and joined up with a woods road. It passed a charcoal flat expanded into a massive, trashy campsite; the trail beyond has clearly seen illicit use by ATVs and probably even jeeps. After following this ugly winding roadbed for a bit, I returned to better trails, following above a drainage. Then onto a surprisingly faint trail which wandered through a likely old farmstead or two; trail finding was made worse by large amount of deer rutting. Along this stretch was frequent rounds of gun fire. Not sure if something was going on at Gettysburg (150th year from the end of the Civil War) or if someone was testing out their extreme-paranoia level arsenal. I then followed a combination of trails and woods road to reach the easy rock crossing of a pleasant little stream, probably the highlight of the hike.
I followed a trail upstream, soon leaving into a side hollow, and then turning onto a woods road which led me to Bendersville Road, far below the parking area. Continued across onto a second, wider, wetter, trash-strewn woods road. Took a second to switch to more surprisingly faint singletrack; the beginning rather confusing. I continued west, the trail fairly twisting, going both up and down. At a woods road I again got confused, and for a bit I was not sure what trail I was on. Good spot for a final break. Still not having my bearings, I continued west (that I did know), and soon reached the wide old roadbed leading down from the mountain. This meant that I knew where I was, and I was close to finishing. I continued and took a parallel, somewhat less eroded and sunken woods road, climbing up Piney Mountain. At the top, when crossing gravel Piney Mountain Road (gated), I saw M R Hyker finishing up his loop; back at the parking area, I met up back with the rest of his group, who had gotten there sooner.
Frankly, not the hike I was expecting, and I wasn't expecting much. The trails in the lowlands had seen less use than I was expecting, and there really wasn't much special about them. Well, every hike can't be great.
Back in April I was planning on doing a couple of hikes in the Sideling Hill WMA in western Washington County in Maryland. I then decided to look up hunting seasons, and discovered that (a) there was now Sunday hunting, and (b) that weekend was the youth turkey hunt. I decided to change plans. M R Hyker and his group was doing a hike in Michaux State Forest on Piney Mountain. I had done over half of that planned hike, and the rest I thought would not be that interesting. But I figured I can do part of the hike with them, and then go off and do my own thing, following trails on the southern slope of the mountain.
We all started off on gated dirt Piney Mountain Road, slowly climbing along the mountain top. I soon left the others, taking a singletrack trail which paralleled the road for a short distance, mostly out of view. A fair amount of ankle biting rocks in the beginning, before turning into a nice mountain laurel line trail for a bit, then heading into more open woods and back to the road much earlier than I was expecting. I then caught up with the group at a turn in the road. I headed along with the usual suspects for a bit, and we took a break near the first crossover to the Appalachian Trail; we didn't use it.
At the third crossover, I said my farewell and let the group pass so they would not follow me, and headed east from the road on a nice woods road. After a bit, I turned onto a trail which wandered along the high reaches of the slope of Piney Mountain. In general easy going, smooth trail. It past a couple of rock outcrops and a few charcoal flats. Near the end, it climbed to get back up top and reached Piney Mountain Road at its junction with Long Mountain Road (another woods road.) I found a small rock for rest and lunch, and then inspected the ugly, rutted roadbed that is Piney Mountain Road and determined that no hiking groups had passed by yet today. Sure enough, a few minutes later, the group caught up to me.
After they left and I finished my lunch, I returned to singletrack trails to begin my descent down the mountain. I passed some rock outcrops which may have had a minor view, but I didn't see much reason to check. I then reached an unexpected trail junction. Looking at my map, it was not fully clear which way to go. I first took the level, sharp turn route. It headed level, perhaps a bit uphill; I had passed a possible trail on the way up to this point, and I figured this must have been that. I returned to the junction and took the steep downhill straight ahead trail. It soon leveled out, and then started to veer north, and became less distinct. This certainly was not the way. I climbed back up, and took the first option again.
Sure enough, it soon descended, and joined up with a woods road. It passed a charcoal flat expanded into a massive, trashy campsite; the trail beyond has clearly seen illicit use by ATVs and probably even jeeps. After following this ugly winding roadbed for a bit, I returned to better trails, following above a drainage. Then onto a surprisingly faint trail which wandered through a likely old farmstead or two; trail finding was made worse by large amount of deer rutting. Along this stretch was frequent rounds of gun fire. Not sure if something was going on at Gettysburg (150th year from the end of the Civil War) or if someone was testing out their extreme-paranoia level arsenal. I then followed a combination of trails and woods road to reach the easy rock crossing of a pleasant little stream, probably the highlight of the hike.
I followed a trail upstream, soon leaving into a side hollow, and then turning onto a woods road which led me to Bendersville Road, far below the parking area. Continued across onto a second, wider, wetter, trash-strewn woods road. Took a second to switch to more surprisingly faint singletrack; the beginning rather confusing. I continued west, the trail fairly twisting, going both up and down. At a woods road I again got confused, and for a bit I was not sure what trail I was on. Good spot for a final break. Still not having my bearings, I continued west (that I did know), and soon reached the wide old roadbed leading down from the mountain. This meant that I knew where I was, and I was close to finishing. I continued and took a parallel, somewhat less eroded and sunken woods road, climbing up Piney Mountain. At the top, when crossing gravel Piney Mountain Road (gated), I saw M R Hyker finishing up his loop; back at the parking area, I met up back with the rest of his group, who had gotten there sooner.
Frankly, not the hike I was expecting, and I wasn't expecting much. The trails in the lowlands had seen less use than I was expecting, and there really wasn't much special about them. Well, every hike can't be great.