Hike #1004; Eckville and Hawk Mountain

Hike #1004; Eckville and Hawk Mountain Area

1/15/17 Eckville and Hawk Mountain Area Loop with Lowell Perkins, Neil George, Elizabeth Manner, Diane Reider, Jason Itell, Megan Itell, Michael ?, Veronica Yeager, and Sean TheRed Reardon.

This next hike would be a point to point starting at the State Game Lands parking area near Eckville PA.
At the start of the year, I had sort of decided I’d like to tie some things up with series I’d been doing on different trails and historic routes. I’d finished so many trails and such: Patriot’s Path, Lenape Trail, Conestoga Trail, Old Croton Aqueduct...the list goes on. I’d hiked all of the Appalachian Trail in both New Jersey and New York, but had only one small section left to complete Pennsylvania.

AT near Eckville

I figured it was finally time to put the AT to bed for new sections, and the short section could be part of a great loop. I could also use the hike as a feeler to see how much interest I could drum up for more difficult hikes out in Pennsylvania. I have long wanted to get to doing sections of Tuscarora Trail, and if I could get this, Tuscarora would be easier and about as scenic. I might as well try.
We met at Eckville parking area where I’d met with Rich Pace the first time he introduced me to his Eckville Bushwhack hike, a popular trip he posts through Appalachian Mountain Club. I figured we could optionally do a portion of that on this hike.

Climbing!

I had picked up Lowell in the morning; he was soon to go back to school in Lehigh Valley, and then in the beginning of Feburary he leaves for Bangla Desh to study under a professor for a special program. It might be the last chance to get him out hiking, so it was good to spend some time with him before he leaves.
Jason and Megan were back for this, as it’s the kind of hike they love, as well as Diane since it’s so much closer for her than other stuff I post. We had three newcomers, Elizabeth, who came through my friend Rob, and Michael and Victoria from King of Prussia area. They were all tough hikers and fit into the group very well.
We started by walking the woods road to the Appalachian Trail. It joins at an angle.

Off trail near Eckville

The rest of the group got quite ahead of me for a bit, and I called them to wait up because we’d soon be turning off to do the hard bushwhack part.
There really is no wrong way to do this next bit. It’s not easy either way. We stepped off trail and began climbing at an angle. I made switch backs on the way up, first to the right, but then to the left to avoid briars, then to the right again over a slope, and to the left to a wooded boulder field.
The boulder field became a scree slope at the steep of a large embankment with a single sentinel rock jutting up ahead of us.

Rock outcrop near Eckville

I carefully made my way over the rocks heading up hill at an angle toward the rock spire. It was sort of tough to go over, and one of the soles from my black Reebok shoes was coming off. I had worn the black and red shoes because I felt they matched the suit I wore, but it was probably not the best choice considering the terrain.

View of Owl's Head

From the rock spire, I began to climb more steeply until I got to the spot where it went vertically up. I had climbed this a couple of ways before in the past, but this time would be far tougher for me.
Obviously, my shoes were not good for this, but I had also sprained my wrist recently and was having trouble with the hand hold climbing where I needed it. I climbed up a bit, and then opted to take the safer route and go back down a bit. Neil passed me first, followed by Jason and others. I took Neil’s pack for him and continued around to get to one of the easier climbing locations. There was a nice view of the next outcrop, called Owl’s Head, to the north from the lower levels.

View off trail toward the Pinnacle

I started trying to climb the second area with somewhat vertical rocks; I made it a short distance before also opting not to go any further. I hate to admit when I can’t handle it, but this time it would not have been smart for me to attempt climbs I’d done in the past.

Rock climb

Much of the group did the tough vertical climb, which had one sketchy section, and even the easier one I was not prepared to do. I went down and around to the right, where there is an easier slope to climb, and there is even a rope there to help people up, which had not been there in the past. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was someone in my friend Rich Pace’s group that had put it in there, because I know of no other groups that attempt to do this particular climb. We got to the top, which had a really nice view to the east, of the Eckville Valley, as well as The Pinnacle, one of the most popular spots along the AT in Pennsylvania.
Jason commented that ten years ago I’d have climbed it and pulled my arm out of it’s socket if I had to. I don’t know if it’s really an age thing or what, but I don’t want to die; I’m having far too much fun to let go of anything now.

We continued up hill and passed a rather impressive camp site that had been made up since my last visit. There was always a fire pit on one of the outcrops above the overlook when I’d done this before, but it was seldom used. It now looked more regularly used, and they had stone benches and such set up around it. We continued along the crest of the ridge section, and passed a second, lesser used fire pit and continued further. There were seasonal views all around, across the Rattling Run valley off to the left of us. There was little undergrowth, so it wasn’t too hard to walk.

Rock outcrops

We soon came to another section of rock outcrops. This one was much easier to climb. Most of the stuff requires hand holds to get over in this area, but we were all able to do it very easily. At the top of the outcrop, there was a view to the south, of the Rattling Run area valley and it’s off trail “River of Rocks”, the result of years of freezing and thawing.
We continued further along the ridge, and managed to pick up what appeared to be a very faint old charcoal road. We had crossed two obvious former charcoal hearths that were associated with nearby Windsor Furnace, which was on the south side of the Blue Mountain formation near the current Hamburg water supply area.
We eventually came out to a woods road that was good and clear. We’d used this on one of the previous hikes through the area.
We made a left turn here. This took us out to another intersection eventually where a left turn took us toward the old Port Clinton fire tower. Diane had told us that not all of the woods roads appear on the current Appalachian Trail map series, which certainly leads to some confusion. I had thought we might use the off trail River of Rocks as part of this hike, but then opted against it because I was having a degree of trouble navigating the rocks with my arm.

View at the fire tower

We instead went to the fire tower, where there was a hunter with his two dogs running around off leash. The dogs were very distracted by us, and held him up going where he was going. As the guy went off into the woods, I ran around the base of the tower. There was a hole in the chain link fence, so I got through and ran to the top of it to get an epic view.

Fire tower

I think everyone but Jason and Megan ended up running up the thing. Neil was up front with me, and the others soon followed.
The view was epic. It was perfectly clear and pronounced at the time we went up. We had very good timing. The guy with his dogs came back while I was up there, but he didn’t seem to care.
After everyone saw what they wanted to see, we made our way around the parking area to figure out what we were doing. The hunter had made his way down the path we had walked in on, which would have been the more obvious route to take in order to get to the Hawk Mountain area. I didn’t want to disturb him, so then and there we changed the entire route.

View from the fire tower

Where the hunter had initially stepped into the woods and came back was a little path. Looking at the maps, we could head that direction and get to the Little Schuykill River. One of the trails was called the Wood Rat Trail.
We started following the path which immediately disappeared, then continued off trail down hill. Very soon, we came upon a huge mess of rocks. It wasn’t too far from what I could see on the aerial images to the woods road, so we carefully made our way down on these awesome rocks through the woods.
When vegetation grew thicker, we circumvented it all to the right.

Bushwhacking down

It didn’t take too long until we reached the woods road. From there, we turned to the left to follow it down hill gradually. This was quite a pretty little area. It went down to the right, over a tributary, and then continued to descend until we came to the Little Schuykill River.
During the pleasant walking sections, we had excellent conversations about perception, what we see, what we interpret, etc. It was a very stimulating time. Soon, we were within sight of the Little Schuykill.
I had hiked this area before, but on the other side along the railroad tracks. We had come in once from the north, and on another occasion looped using some of the woods roads, wading across to get to the tracks. None of this had been in my plan for this hike, but I’m glad it was. It added an entire other layer of interest to the hike that became more fantastic in retrospect than at the actual time.

Maybe Schuykill Canal?

Below the woods road, between it and the river, was a rather deep trench and a berm on the other side. Could this have been part of the old Schuykill Navigation System? At first I felt very sure of this, but then I realized that this canal followed the main Schuykill River up to Pottstown. I am not entirely sure what this could have been, and I cannot find any historic documentation of there having been a canal following the Little Schuykill, but it’s certainly not impossible by any means. Jason went down first to have a look. I followed, and then so did everyone else. I decided we’d try to trace the route of this “canal” rather than the road for more interest.

Old rail bridge site

Soon, I was surprised to come across what appeared to be the abutment to an old railroad bridge. This was not making sense really to me. I knew there to be only one railroad following the Little Schuykill in this area, a branch of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, and that line was still very active on the other side of the river.
I figured I must just be mistaken with what was there at this time. We explored the old railroad bridge site, and could see that with the right of way looking as it did on the other side, it was in fact a railroad. Diane then mentioned to me that around Port Clinton, the river was actually moved to accommodate the railroad. The thought had never crossed my mind that it could be this location.

1889 map showing the rail line and Little Schuykill

Upon researching this site more, I discovered that this WAS the spot the river was moved, unless there were more places where the same had happened!!!

Recent USGS map showing the railroad and Little Schuykill

If there had been a canal in this area, it was obviously short lived. 1889 maps of the vicinity bear no trace of a canal, on both the Little Schuykill or the main river. It must have been abandoned in the area earlier through here.

Could this be a section of locks between where we walked and Port Clinton?

On the other side of the rail bed, there was one spot with what appeared to be some rock and such, but nothing to say for certain that it might have been a canal.
I did further research using aerials, because I could find no trace on any historic maps, and did find evidence to suggest that such a canal did once exist along the Little Schuykill.
The spot we had found the potential canal had only an up stream prism (trench for the canal). I had suggested that since the Schuykill Canal, even in name is actually “Schuykill Navigation System”, that this could have been a canalized section of the Little Schuykill, where boats would have made use of slack water of the river rather than an independent parallel canal.
Just down stream a bit from where we were walking, and parallel with the river I spotted something that appears to be a short watered canal stretch and potentially former locks.

Old path

We did not follow the river directly for long enough to see if there was any evidence of a former crossing of the river to the north, though one would have at one time existed. Aerial images here prove that piers from this bridge still exist in the woods today.
There was possible former canal evidence above this point, in either roads that could have been towpaths, or sections that could have been washed away canal prism. If the canal did exist, it was probably something that was started and not finished. the area to the north was considered to be too treacherous to construct a canal, and this is why the Little Schuykill Railroad was constructed up to Tamaqua. It was only the third railroad in America, in 1831. The old line had wooden rails, and I wonder if any of what we walked could have been that earlier right of way.
We eventually took a path up to the main woods road on the east side of the Little Schuykill. This took us north to a place called Millers Crossing, a former road bridge site over the river. One abutment remains that we saw. We then continued on the road past someone’s house, then a gate that let us know we should not have come that way. It started snowing a bit just before we came out, and it was accumulating fast.
Red Sean met up with us a bit down the road at the second state game lands lot. We met one of the land owners along the Little Schuykill who had a girl up there he was showing the property to. He didn’t know anything about the land or railroads, and took off when he saw off leash dogs down on his land.
From the second lot, we took a trail in to a woods road, which we soon started to ascend Cobble Mountain on. It was a gradual ascent, and it followed along a small brook for a time.
When the woods roads split, Diane headed out to get back to her car earlier. She knows the area well and would have no problem.
We crossed over one brook, but I found that we had made a wrong turn. We were going far too far to the south, and had to backtrack, then head to the north to get to a woods road that leads to Hawk Mountain.
I had followed some of these roads with the group back in 2009, but they were still not marked well. Occasional snow mobile routes are marked through, but little else.

Viewless Hawk Mountain

While walking, the sole came off one of my shoes. I put it in my pack, but from here walking got extremely difficult. It’s amazing how that little bit of tread makes such a huge difference. The rest of the group got pretty far ahead of me.
We managed to get up hill alright. A left turn on the woods road at the top led to the north to the Hawk Mountain property. It was snowing rather heavily by the time we got to Hawk Mountain Road. We simply crossed over the road, headed slightly to the left and in to the trail system. I had wanted to do the vistior center, but with all of the snow it was going to be insane to try to get through as it was.

Skyline Trail

The first part of Hawk Mountain was fine. It is set up for people that don’t do a lot of hiking. There was one photographer on the first rock overlook area, which had nothing to see. After that we didn’t see anyone until we got to the north overlook where there was a couple.
This was the end of Skyline Trail. I had done this trail once before in 2009. It’s among the most difficult ones to do in the area. We were able to follow it down hill, but it’s a rough and rocky trail that requires some hand hold climbing. With the snow cover on the rocks, and me with no gloves, it was particularly rough. The sole fell off of my other shoe soon, and so I had absolutely no tread. Walking would get far more difficult.

Skyline trail

Somehow, I managed to get through the mess without too much a problem, and stayed up in the front of the group. All of the newcomers made it surprisingly very well. I was very impressed at their abilities.
We took breaks at a couple of the overlooks, but didn’t want to take too long. It would be getting dark soon, and it was slow going over this trail with all of the snow.
My original plan was to cover the River of Rocks Trail, but we added so much other stuff by going down to the Little Schuykill that it was no longer necessary, and it would have been far too difficult to traverse anyway.
The Skyline Trail seemed to go on forever, far longer than I remembered. It was probably just because it was so much more difficult. The snow didn’t stop, it just kept coming down and making it more slick.
We continued on Skyline Trail, and eventually came to the Appalachian Trail. This trail looked as though it would be far easier than Skyline because it gets so much more use, but for me that really wan’t the case.
The AT does not have as many pointy rocks on it, which was exactly what I was using for traction. Now,I was walking on the AT and slipping like crazy on the more level surfaces.
The trail reached an old logging road and used it to descend Blue Mountain to the southeast.
This section seemed to go on forever too. It got into the valley and seemed to weave all over the place.
After being in the lower lands for a bit, I saw what I thought might be the light from Hawk Mountain Road. It was not; it was three guys having a camp fire. The snow was letting up, but it was still not totally welcoming out. We stopped and chatted with them for a bit while the group all caught back up.

AT bridge near Eckville

It was kind of surprising to find that the guys were mostly from Morris County NJ and had come all the way out to this spot!
We continued from here through a very rocky patch, then crossed a stream on a footbridge. The trail picked up more woods roads and such, and eventually we came to Hawk Mountain Road. It was already totally dark out even by the time we reached the guys with the fire pit. Somewhere in this area was also a side trail to a shelter, but we didn’t bother to check it out. Everybody I think was pretty anxious to get done at this point. We crossed the road and continued south.
The trail picked up another woods road, but it seemed to be going up hill, then down slightly, then up again. I fell twice on this stretch. One time was okay, but the second time all of my weight came down on my right knee. It hurt terribly bad. I feared I might have broken something at first. We were so close to the end, and I was frustrated that I made it through so much rough terrain only to fall on a level section of woods road.
Soon, the trail made it’s final gradual descent to the woods road where we had first turned onto it. At that point, I had completed the entire Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania. I was feeling better about that, and my knee felt better after I got moving agian.
We headed down the woods road to the parking lot with no further problems, and then I took Red Sean back to his car just to the east of Hawk Mountain. He, Lowell, and I went to the Taco Bell in Hamburg to celebrate a victorious completion.
After the short time sitting down in my car, my knee was feeling awful. After sitting at Taco Bell, it ended up getting even worse. Any movement was terrible. I thought I might have to cancel my hike I’d scheduled for Monday.
Despite the injury and extreme fatigue from this tough hike, it was an incredibly rewarding day on multiple levels.