Hike #839; Caledonia and South Mountain Loop

Hike #839; Caledonia and South Mountain Loop

4/4/15 Caledonia and South Mountain Loop with Jillane Becker

Old hospital building

This next hike would be just Jillane and I, from a long weekend I had off from work.

My recent conflicts on my work schedule changed a few things for the better for me. Aside from just having Sundays off, I would not have every third or so full weekend off. The schedule is a bit more complicated, but as of now it looks like it is going to work out better. This would be my first full weekend off as part of the new scheduling.

Jillane and I decided to go away from the weekend, and we settled on the area around Gettysburg or Michaux State Forest where we'd left off from our last backpacking trip. I had already scaled off another loop hike from where we'd left off on the Appalachian Trail at Mean's Hollow Road, which would lead to Caledonia State Park. Rather than do that loop that I'd already worked out, we opted to do the next section south, on the AT between Caledonia and South Mountain for a long loop. We both went over the route and had ideas we were able to put together.

Thaddeus Stevens' iron furnace reconstruction

Thaddeus Stevens' iron furnace

We would start off in Caledonia State Park at the iron furnace. Caledonia was long a place I had wanted to visit. The name harkened back very far in my memory, and so the mnemonic device was set in my head from very early on.

On the Kittatinny Trails maps I'd been following since I was eight years old, Caldeno Creek on Mt. Minsi was marked as "Caledonia Creek" mistakenly because that's what it appeared as, also mistakenly on USGS topo maps. "Caldeno" was an amalgam of the names of the men who discovered that creek, and I found that Caldedonia was actually this place more than half way across Pennsylvania, and named for yet another place, Caledonia Vermont, which was the home of Thaddeus Stevens who owned the land that is now the state park.

Thaddeus Stevens had become a hero to me for both his radical ways and staunch support of universal freedom. Born in poverty in Vermont, he built his way up to politics in Pennsylvania with the Whig party. His differences of opinions pushed him away, but his strength and perseverance won him his celebrated place in the newly formed Republican party. He was a member of US Congress, and fought for the abolition of slavery long before even Abraham Lincoln was pushing such a cause. 

The great Thaddeus Stevens

Stevens began operating his iron furnace at Caledonia in 1837. When the Civil War broke out, his outspoken views on slavery, and how it should NOT survive the war, probably cost him dearly because General Jubal Early of the Confederate Army sacked and destroyed his entire works at Caledonia shortly before the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. The keeper at the Iron Master's Mansion at Pine Grove Furnace to the north, where we'd stayed the previous Fall, told me that the Confederates were told not to destroy homes and such, because they too hoped for re-unification, except for Caledonia. They were specifically ordered to wreck Thaddeus Stevens' furnace.

The Battle of Gettysburg was fought and lost by Confederates shortly after, and on April 9th, 1865, but Stevens was still not fully accepted into his own party, which was devided into Radical and Moderate factions. Stevens called for not only the abolition of slavery in the south, but to award land to former slaves.

Historic view of Caledonia

Perhaps what makes me respect Stevens so much is the fact that he fought for what he believed in, went with the "Radical" monicker rather than what was necessarily the most popular, and improved our country in a way that has lasted well beyond his years. He is also considered to be the father of Pennsylvania's public school system, taking the stance that education should be free thus giving anyone a chance to make something of themselves like only a man who built himself up from nothing could understand. Sometimes Stevens' methods were described as "Reckless motivation", which I can certainly relate to.

Recently, Jillane brought home a copy of "Lincoln", a movie based on Lincoln's Presidency in which Tommy Lee Jones portrayed Stevens. Some might say the film dragged, but I found it to be a wonderful historical piece focusing on facts rather than entertainment, and I quite enjoyed it. That was a reminder of the history I wanted to get closer to.

The furnace and iron works were rebuilt following the Civil War, but closed down in 1902. It was sold to the State of Pennsylvania in 1903, then leased out to Chambersburg and the Gettysburg Trolley Company. Amusement Park rides and such were built in the area, and it became quite a tourist destination. During the 1930s depression, Civilian Conservation Corps built many structures to develop the park, and the Alpine Club of Pennsylvania rebuilt the deteriorating furnace stack, pictured above. It's not certain whether the original furnace was at it's present location or not exactly.

Trolley right of way

The only other remnant we saw of the iron industry was the old blacksmith shop along Rt 30. There were a lot of people parked by the furnace, tons more than I'd thought there would be. I checked out the old furnace first, and climbed to the top of it while Jillane got ready. The first let of our hike would be just across the street, past the historic blacksmith shop, and then along the former trolley right of way that served the area.

Historic view of Caledonia Furnace

There was a nice little waterfall behind the furnace that might have had something to do with the power to the bellows of the furnace. There were some stones directing the water in place, but this might date to the time of the CCC rather than the Civil War. I wanted to check out more of Caledonia State Park, but there was really so much to see, I'd be happy with what we were doing, the loop to the south, and could come back to spend more time on the park, and hike Thaddeus Stevens Memorial Trail.

Small falls at Caledonia

The trolley right of way was an obvious path, and we had a power line along part of it. There was a small shelter building to the right we checked out, which had a nice painted map of the park inside it. The right of way followed above a creek, the Conococheague, down hill to the right. We continued along until the Appalachian Trail came up to the rail bed from the right. We turned left to follow it up hill on some steps to cross busy Route 30.

The trail had only a very gradual climb on the other side to Rocky Mountain, part of the South Mountain formation heading south.

Rocky Mountain on the AT

It was very pleasant, and not too wide in this section. I found it to be rather relaxing, but not particularly interesting for a while. The ground was not rocky or difficult at all, and the trail wasn't super wide. We passed a few other hikers, but not too many yet. We saw only one backpacker.

I started to notice to the left that there were great rock outcroppings that the ridge must have been named for, and I wondered why they didn't put the trail up there where there might be views rather than the mellow route below. I was pretty happy when the trail made an abrupt turn to the left to climb those rocks for some more interesting terrain. Some of them were particularly interesting. I had to stop and take the time to climb on a few of them.

I was glad the trail was not overrun. I had recently read articles about concerns with the trail being far too overcrowded. Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail have become insanely popular, with thousands of people attempting it every year. It's becoming so trendy to the point where it's sort of a turn off, and at times there have reportedly been over 100 people trying to camp around one shelter area. It's for reasons like this that I almost never do an entire full day of hiking on the AT.

Along the AT on Rocky Mountain

There are reports that through hikers may be required to carry a special ID, and that trail names may be banned at some point because of crime issues.

We continued walking the ridge, which continued to have more interesting rock outcroppings. One in particular stuck out like a crazy nub, and I had to climb to the top of it. We had a nice little break here, but it was getting really windy. Jillane found a nice spot behind a rock to avoid it. There were no leaves yet on the trees, even though we were further south, so it could be rough at times.

View from the AT on Rocky Mountain

We continued along, and there were some views through the trees to the east toward Corls Ridge and Huckleberry Hill. We came to one rock outcrop that offered a view that was not a seasonal one. Had we done this hike as part a backpack, or in the Summer time, it probably would have really sucked. It'd have been too warm, not enough swim spots, and there would have been no views at all.

The trail took us slightly down hill and across a gas line right of way. The map said water tanks were somewhere nearby. Jillane had gotten somewhat farther behind me, so I threw my pack down and ran to the left, up to the top of the cut. There was a view there again to the east, with some buildings of the South Mountain area in view. Not the most impressive view, but one of only two we'd have had year round up there. I headed back down running again, and Jillane was sitting on the trail waiting for me by my pack. We sat down and looked over the map of where we were going. To do a satisfying distance, we'd have to continue on a bit further on the AT. We got up and crosed a gravel road, then descended a bit to cross Rt 233, Rocky Mountain Road.

Appalachian Trail below Snowy Mountain

The trail entered the woods and went over some sections of substantial turnpiking. It was quite wet in this area, but we could keep our feet dry due to substantial trail work through the area. At some points, deep ditches had been dug to keep water flowing off of the main trail route. We crossed Swamp Road and what was shown as Coral Ridge Road on the AT maps. The first road was gravel, and the AT turned on it briefly, then off of it. Also in this area, the Raccoon Run Trail broke off to head back north to Caledonia State Park. This would be part of our return route. It was also the former Appalachian Trail route.

We crossed two unmarked woods roads as we continued, then ascended slightly. Another woods road crossed, which is a forest trail heading out across Snowy Mountain Road. We ascended to the same road, but instead of following the AT further up Snowy Mountain, we turned right on the road for a ways to reach an overlook to the south.

View from Snowy Mountain Road to the south

I didn't think Jillane was coming with me, but I turned back and she had walked up the hill to see it too. It wasn't a great overlook, but we took a nice little break to enjoy it for a few minutes before turning back down the road.

We followed Snowy Mountain Road the way we had come, across the AT, then to the intersection with Swamp Road. We turned right here out to South Mountain Road and turned right. To the right of this, Old South Mountain Road ascended into South Mountain Restoration Center. We turned right to follow this route.

We could hear voices, which sounded like it was either juveniles from a detention center or a military operation. We didn't really see anyone there, only a white van with a state emblem on it that passed us a couple times, then twice parked at a distance away from us and watched us. The entire area was vacant now, with only some pieces of buildings still used. It was a huge campus with multiple buildings, much like Greystone Psychiatric Hospital in NJ, only the buildings appeared a bit newer.

SM Restoration Center

The main building we saw in the distance is now sort of a senior center according to up to date Pennsylvania web site. I initially thought that was vacant. The entire campus used to be the Mont Alto Sanatorium for Tuberculosis patients.

The first building we came close to other than a garage was a small church on a hill above us. This was the oldest building at the complex, built in 1911. A building boom occurred in 1938-1940, at which time the impressive Nurse's Home was built, which appeared on our left, the first building we passed to the left. This was where the shouting voices came from, which was the Cornel Abraxas Leadership Development Program, geared toward teen boys. We moved on past this and saw the largest building, to the right.

The large building is known as Unit 1, and is still occupied and used as a sort of hospital. It was completed in 1938 and housed the most critical of patients at the time. The next building, Unit 2, was the last one we passed on the left. It was in my opinion the most attractive and stately of the buildings there, but one of the newer ones, having been completed in 1840. It had giant columns on the porch, and we looked in to see an insignia put on the floor tiles. This was built to be the Children's Hospital where special care was given, but it closed down in 1985 and has been vacant ever since. Several plans were made to re-open it, but nothing ever came to fruition.

We made our way out, past the building and to the main South Mountain Road route. There were "no trespassing" signs on the property all over where we exited from, but not where we walked in, so I decided not to wander back in when we turned around. We walked a little further up the road, into the rest of the town of South Mountain to find food or drinks. There was one bar there, and I went in to have a look around. We considered eating here, but there was no regular seating that I could see, and rather than sit at a bar, we decided to move on and try to get done before dark. There was still a good distance to go anyway.

Jillane walked back closer to the building while I remained on the road, and we got back together near the main entrance road. We then walked the road further on to where we first entered the property earlier, then continued on down hill to the Rocky Mountain Creek, which flowed out of a small pond to the south side of South Mountain Road. The Raccoon Run Trail crossed the road here as well. It's blue blazes were easy to spot, and so we got on the trail following just into the woods from the Rocky Mountain Road on it's west side. I also checked out an old bridge made of old railroad roads crossing Rocky Mountain Creek on the other side. All the decking was gone, but the rails were still there.

I thought it was interesting that they would put a trail just barely into the woods when it was rather insignificant, but then I remembered it was the former AT route, and I understood it better. The trail remained just barely into the woods, and crossed several short little road spurs going into the woods. I thought they might have been mine prospects or timber felling access points.

The trail continued parallel with the road for a while, then turned off to the right, to cross the road. We crossed and headed down hill, which was yet another old road route.

Old road followed by Raccoon Run Trail

On this section of road, which was turnpiked up a bit over otherwise wet lands with springs, I found a small piece of slag. This led me to believe that the road had something to do with the former iron industry of the area. I suppose it's possible that the slag was simply used as a fill material for the road, but if it predated the used of hot blast furnaces, it could have been an access to reach charcoal hearths. The road continued on to cross the Rocky Mountain Creek on a foot bridge.

Foot bridge at an older bridge site

The foot bridge was placed on the abutments of a former road bridge. The laid stone was without mortar but holding up well enough to hold this log and plank bridge that was probably put in when this was part of the Appalachian Trail. We climbed up a bit above the creek, and followed the trail as a foot path for a while heading north, a ways above the creek.

Sunset on Raccoon Run Trail

The trail reached a greater height on the land, and followed sections of old woods roads. Sometimes it was rocky sometimes not. On occasion, we would see a faded white blaze. I thought that maybe it was blue but that it had faded, but then realized these were older Appalachian Trail blazes they had failed to paint over. There were even more of them after we crossed over Corls Ridge Road. The dirt section of road was not open to traffic. Further back, there were some houses off of that road which we could see from the trail, but it grew much more secluded. We had seasonal views across the valley toward the Rocky Mountain we had been on earlier. The sun was setting sort of behind us and casting a nice light on the forest in the direction we were walking.

We descended and crossed District Road, and the trail followed the dirt road over the bridge across Raccoon Run, then turned left. We continued high above the creek for the most part again and then crossed Corls Road, and the trail became a very nice foot path among Hemlocks. It was too bad it was getting too dark to take photos. I had regrettably forgotten my good camera, and so I was forced to take photos with my phone only.

The trail switched back and forth as it lost elevation, then came out to Perry Drive. We turned right on the road briefly, then left into more forest with Rhododendrons around us. There were some very nice little cabins along this road. We then passed a sign denoting this site as a place where a storm took down hundreds of trees in 1980. Jillane commented on how big a deal it must have been for them to have erected a sign on it.

We continued along this section of trail, which now very closely followed Raccoon Run. There were more nice cabins along the creek on both sides. Across from us, and then we walked right in front of another  on the near side. The trail emerged from the woods onto a clearing for a gas line we had crossed very early in the day (though it offered no view from the AT) and continued through a last section of woods out to Golf Course Road. There was a routed wooden sign there that said "Old AT". We turned left on the road, with blue blazes still on poles and guide rails, and crossed Carbaugh Run. The parking lot we had started in was directly across the street here. It was just after 8 pm but we had just enough leftover daylight to get us back without the need for any flashlights.

This was a really nice hike, and it had some good diversity for someplace situated in the middle of the South Mountain formation, which in the past I thought was rather boring. I'm certainly going to have to do some more exploring in this area in the near future, and my connecting hike between Mean's Hollow where we last left off and Caledonia State Park is all ready to go.