Hike #849; Shamokin Dam to Aaronsburg Backpack

Hike #849; Shamokin Dam to Aaronsburg Backpack

5/10-5/17/15 Shamokin Dam to Aaronsburg with Jillane Becker

Lunch break in Forest Hills

DAY 1

This hike would be our usual Spring backpack; we covered the least mileage we ever have on such a trip, but it was absolutely a beautiful setting that leaves me yearning to go back for a lot more.
It was strange how this trip took shape. In the past, we've changed plans rather last minute, and this was no different in that regard.
Jillane had wanted to see the town of Altoona, and so we were going to do a trip from there to the larger trail systems of Central PA, which have a good inter connective network (Mid State Trail connects with West Rim Trail, Lower Trail, Standing Stone Trail, Great Eastern Trail, and connections can be made to Tuscarora Trail). I purchased the guides to the Mid State Trail in anticipation and got all of the info on lodging. At sort of last minute, Jillane decided we shouldn't go to Altoona this time, and rather we should try to do the planned hike backwards. I had looked at something similar, and was able to figure something out, with a two day stretch of interesting things leading to the State Forest Lands, after which the trip would be mostly in a natural setting. I secured permission from the Econo Lodge in Shamokin Dam to allow us to park there for a week.
I was hoping to get out Saturday night, but we didn't end up leaving until late Sunday. We did a little local exploring including an old Kirkbride designed state hospital building before turning in and getting ready for the next day.
This trip was also different in that we did not get started till well into the afternoon every day of the trip but one, and on that day it was 11 am. Usually I'm very restless, but to a degree I needed the extra sleep because of all of the stress I'd been going through. I just couldn't wait to get started on our way. It was driving me nuts. Until we actually began walking it still feels to me like it might not happen. It was a wonderful relief when Jillane finished getting the supplies she needed from local stores and we headed out of the Econo Lodge lot.
The town we started in was Shamokin Dam, just north of Sellingrove PA, on the Susquehanna River, just south of the confluence where it breaks off into east and west branches. The Econo Lodge was a good hotel, and probably the best of that particular brand of store we'd stayed in. When I woke up in the morning, I headed down stairs to get the continental breakfast. Unfortunately, there was no one around to help with anything, waffles could be toasted but there was no syrup. The entire area where this was served was left unattended. I was rather annoyed for a bit, and just ate some cereal and pastries until I realized that I was sitting alone in a bar, AT the bar, completely unattended. I held my mug out under one of the taps to find it had not been kicked, and had a couple of cups of Youngling. I brought Jillane some food, came back, and then has some Dos Equis. This more than made up for my lack of help with breakfast!

We got moving and headed out of the hotel and down 8th Avenue over the highway, then went left on North Old Trail. This led us up past a small park and to a ramp up to cross the Susquehanna, on the Veterans Memorial Bridge. We got some great views down stream of the Shamokin Dam itself, and some sort of old factory on the west side. We could see stonework along the edge of the other side, and access points with steps.

Shamokin Dam

Once on the other side of the Susquehanna, there was a nice paved path we could see heading up stream. There were some masonry walls along the east side of the river that I assumed might have been a part of the old Pennsylvania Canal along the river, but it turned out it wasn't. I would later find out that the canal was on the other side, the one we had just come from. I should have remembered that because I knew it had crossed the river at the Clark's Ferry Bridge where the Appalachian Trail crosses near Duncannon.
We looped around off of the bridge, then headed along the river to the north a bit. We crossed over the tall flood protection wall via some metal stairs and reached the paved pathway along the river. There were great views along the entire path to the north and south, and particularly of the rocky cliffs on the opposite side. As we continued on this route, there were viewing areas and an amphitheater built into the walls. We walked on along the path with other access points along the way, and a hippy looking older fellow was eyeing us up. He walked closer and wanted to help give us directions. He seemed a little creepy, but not menacing. We continued on along the path and he kept back.

Along the Susquehanna in Sunbury

When the path came to it's end, we were able to cross over the flood wall again on another flood wall. We then had to walk the parallel roads through the town of Sunbury. There were some nice old houses along the riverfront. It would have been nice to actually walk through the town to get the experience, but I really wanted to just get moving and get to some woods. It was really hot out the first couple of days of this trip and especially so while walking along the Susquehanna.

We walked along the streets for a while, closely parallel to the river but out of it's sight because the flood retention wall was too high. We had to move a little further inland after a bit because the road didn't have a sidewalk closest to the river.

Soon, we came to I think it was a Turkey Hill Store. We decided to stop for a break and get some refreshments. Jillane sat down on the porch of a vacant old house while I headed over to get us some stuff. I forget what I purchased, but I met a guy working the counter and chatted with him about where we were going. He was a real nice guy, and offered us some insight on where we were going. My plan was to try to follow some of the former Pennsylvania Canal heading up the West Branch of the Susquehanna, but he told me that a lot of the old towpath, which he used to ride on ATVs, was now owned by a quarry property and had be shut off. I thought we might still get in. He also told me that the old Pennsylvania Railroad bridge over the West Branch had been burned and was now impassable. This was somewhat disheartening, but he made up with it when he told me that he was familiar with the Mid State Trail and told me that we were in for a treat. He said it was a really nice trail and that there were really nice places to camp. I was actually skeptical about it, but accepted the positive aspects of his assessment.

From this point, the two of us headed onto a parallel street to the Susquehanna to head to the north. We walked through a neighborhood that looked to have some rough characters, but was nice enough. It was somewhat awkward to be walking with a full pack on through this neighborhood in Sunbury where certainly no one ever backpacks. I'd have liked to see the hotel that was the first to have built in electric, which is in the town, but we had to bypass that to get moving.

We got back to the street closest to the Susquehanna and crossed, then found another bit of paved path heading up to cross the active railroad tracks next to where they crossed the Susquehanna. The bridge had old stone piers next to the currently used concrete ones. This is usually because they'd replace the old bridge while building the new one as not to have an interruption of service. Just after the bridge, we turned left to cross the East Branch of the Susquehanna on the road bridge. The confluence of East and West branches was just downstream of where we stood.

View toward the Susquehanna confluence

There were some nice views up and down the river, and we soon got to Packers Island, where there is Shikellemy State Park just to the south. We didn't bother going to this point and rather continued along the road across the island. We passed an old house to the right and then an ice cream shop next to a camp ground. While going by, a lady came running out to talk to us. I was ahead of Jillane, but the lady intercepted her to find out where we were going. She was elated to see backpackers, and told us she loved doing such herself. It was an interesting little unexpected meeting.

We crossed the other side of the East Branch of the Susquehanna after the section on Packers Island with more good views to enter the town of Northumberland. There was a sign welcoming us that also said "Visit Pineknotter Park". This was exactly my plan, as the old Pennsylvania Canal used to pass through this park. In fact, there were two branches of the historic canal from this point, following each branch. There were railroad tracks, only single track, crossing the road as we entered town, and I figured this little line would be nice and easy to walk, and a shortcut to Pineknotter Park. We started walking down, and there was a path going down hill to the left next to a nice big tree. A guy had pulled up to the tracks as we were walking by, and while we followed the path down to along the river, he walked up to us and told us we couldn't be there. The guy worked for the railroad and he lectured us about trespassing on it, citing that he wasn't going to bother us, but we had to get off the property, and all the land along the river to the north was either railroad or water authority property and we'd certainly be arrested if we followed it.

This was disheartening. We had to walk a long section of road if we couldn't get along the river. At least the guy did give us the information that the path we had descended to was the former site of the Pennsylvania Canal heading up river. There was really nowhere to go on it from down there anyway.

We headed into town and turned left, then went to a former railroad station that is now serving as a restaurant. It was really hot out and depressing, and we took a break next to a probably vacant ugly building along a busy street. I tried not to let it get me down, and we walked to the north on the road heading through town, known as Susquehanna Trail.

As we were reaching the north part of town, I decided it might be a good idea to head down to the tracks and try to walk them. We were far enough away from the guy we'd met earlier by now, and I figured he was probably just an overly paranoid and controlling railroad guy. After all, we walk tracks all over the place with no problems. How could we be in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania and have a problem? We bushwhacked for a bit and descended to some tracks. This set was lower than the rest of the railroad yard, which was sort of a big deal as per the aerial images on my phone. I just figured this one was in a deeper cut and we'd be alright. We walked them for a while, then all of a sudden I heard some sounds. It was a train idling just above us, and people working. We quickly headed into the woods, as the train was heading toward us. I think the people saw us and were looking up. I thought I saw someone come down after we were in the woods back on the slope. Perhaps I was just paranoid after our earlier meeting and expulsion from the tracks.

We got back to the highway, Susquehanna Trail, and started heading north. Briefly, there was a path along the west side of the road we could walk, but that seemed to end and we were back on the road again. There was a narrow shoulder and the road was too busy to be in the least bit enjoyable. The only thing that caught my interest was what appeared to be a level right of way parallel with the road to the left. I believe there was a water line under it, but I thought maybe it was a former rail line or trolley. I'm still not sure, and couldn't find any info on it. The highway led us up hill, and we got a bit of a view from a power line right of way. It looked like the former Pennsyvlania Canal would have been passable along the river on the other side of the tracks, which were coming together closer. There were maybe three or four tracks at the most remaining of the rail yard.

Ahead, we reached a liquor store to the right. We needed something to drink pretty badly. Because the first couple of days would be easy, we didn't load up on water. I knew the first two nights would likely be hotel or motel stays, and that we wouldn't have to worry about fluids. However, the unexpected and necessary walk on the road in the beating sun was taking it's toll on us. Jillane went ahead and I went into the place to get something to drink. I was tempted to get a beer, but instead just had some water. The guys inside were good enough to fill up our bottles for us again, and I purchased some Pepsi because there was little else Jillane would be interested in (I ended up drinking it).

We made our way further along the road until a collection of buildings line the road. At these homes and businesses, there was a spot of a plowed field where we could walk over to pick up the tracks once more. We opted to get back to them and try again here.

We didn't see anyone nearby. Just after getting on the tracks the last two branches from the rail yard came back together. We walked for a little bit on these tracks until I spotted an ATV trail going off to the left. I was very happy to see that it closely paralleled the tracks. Not only that, it turned inland a bit, and rather obviously followed the prism of the former Pennsylvania Canal. It didn't last nearly long enough. We followed the paths over the towpath or berm and then I spotted a white ATV sitting in a gully with someone nearby. We were quiet enough and not detected, so we headed back toward the tracks. We had to walk them again heading north.

The tracks moved further and further away from the roads, so it felt safer anyway. We crossed a driveway access, and then passed through one more open area before getting to some woods. Along the way I saw one more spot on the left that appeared to be a watered piece of the Pennsylvania Canal. The canal eventually moved off to the left more, and at the most open farm area I could see the obvious prism and towpath through the fields beyond a scenic farm house. Another lovely farm house was on our right. Someone was sitting on the porch, but no one paid us any mind.

Ahead was a nice and comfortable section of woods where I felt safer. We occasionally had signals along the tracks with red lights. This was how I knew that the next train would be coming from the direction we were heading.

Soon, we reached the crossing of the Chillisquaque Creek.

Chillesquaque Creek Aqueduct site of Pennsylvania Canal

The railroad crossed the creek on a double stone arch bridge, and we opted to take a break here. It was so hot and sweaty out that I knew I wanted to stop and take a dip. Jillane sat on top of the bridge while I tried to descend to the left. To my great surprise, I found more than I bargained for with the remnants of a former Pennsylvania Canal aqueduct.

There were masonry ruins of abutments on both sides of the creek parallel with the rail bridge, and some remnants of a pier in the center. The south abutment was really just some stone up against the railroad bridge, but on the north side it was an obvious canal structure because it bore the shape of the trough that would have carried the water within the structure. It was quite a treat for me to find something so obviously canal related that probably very view canal enthusiasts visit or even know about.

I crossed back over the tracks and went down to the other side to go in. The water was pretty cold, but very comfortable. I found a nice spot directly beneath the bridge to sit on a rock and get myself fully immersed in the water. I then went all the way through to get a better view of the aqueduct site from river level. I also had a look at an interesting rock outcropping just up stream from the bridge.

Once I climbed back up to the top of the bridge, while relaxing a bit more, we started hearing a train. We hurried out of sight as best we could, but our packs were still pretty visible. The engineer certainly saw us as we went by. Again, I ended up a bit more paranoid. If the engineer called for anyone, we'd be found rather easily. We got moving rather quickly from here to the north.

We passed by probably a hunter's shanty on the left, and then a former bridge over the creek where it briefly paralleled us to the right. We then passed beneath Rt 405 I think it was.

We kept walking from here, but then after a bit I started seeing a light ahead. It was another train, but moving very slowly, heading toward us. We kept walking for a little while until I saw that it was just waiting. I figured it might be waiting to intercept us or something. Eventually, we opted to go off into the weeds to the right, and slide down into a muddy ditch out of sight from the tracks to the right. I peered out around the corners of weeds a couple of times to see them coming closer.

I was probably just being too paranoid again, but we waited for quite a long time in that ditch for that very slow moving train to go by us. Just as it got closer to where we were, we heard it speed up. We couldn't see the top of the train down where we were, nor could they see us. As it sped up, the entire railroad fill vibrated very hard. When it had passed, I climbed up to see if any other rail cars or speeders were around, and when it was clear we continued on.

The Pennsylvania Canal that I'd wanted to try to follow turned off to the left at about where the last road bridge was. Aerial images showed it as looking somewhat walkable, but unfortunately we had no access to it from the tracks here. I could see about where it would be as we started to parallel fields, but it was getting far too dark to try to follow something that might be so obscure.

Another road, Housels Run Road to the right came close to the tracks and then turned away again. The quickest route into the next town, Montandon, would be heading further north on the tracks. We did just that, and eventually ended up at a lodge building, I think it was a VFW. The land on either side of the tracks became nice and mowed, and it was much more comfortable to walk it into the town area.

We reached where the line crossed Route 45. Here, we turned off the tracks to the left to head into East Lewisburg. I had wanted to follow the former Pennsylvania Railroad brach from this point west through Lewisburg, but it was too dark to try to scout it. The next day the plan would be to hike the Buffalo Valley Rail Trail, which follows that line anyway, but we'd have to settle for starting on it there.

We followed the road, and I found where the Pennsylvania Canal would have come out to the road. The path that we'd have followed was terribly overgrown now. There was a "no trespassing" sign on where the path should be, and we could see the disturbance in the ground where countless ATVs had once accessed, but it was now such a mess of weeds it made me all the more thankful we stuck to the tracks for as long as we did.

Soon, we reached the bridge over the West Branch of the Susquehanna. It was totally dark by this time, but we could just barely make out the profile of the through style trusses of the former Pennsylvania Railroad bridge over the river just to the north of the road bridge. We walked to the other side, then checked out a little park to the right that had some round stone things. There were no historic markers to say what these things were anywhere.

We headed into town, with no preconceived ideas of what we'd find. Lewisburg ended up being very very nice. A college town, it was very well manicured with lovely store fronts, and nicely lit sidewalks. It was really nice to walk down these streets in the dark.

We had a few different choices of places we could stay, and I got quotes from a few different places. The one that sounded best was the Lewisburg Hotel, an historic hotel right in the middle of town.

The hotel was opened in 1834, and has hosted generations of travelers. It was probably first used when the Pennsylvania Canal made it's connection to town, and then later when the railroads passed through served passengers and workers there as well.

When we saw the place, Jillane loved it and decided we should stay there. The part we stayed in was a "motel section" that was stuck to the back of the historic structure, but done in such a way as not to insult the historic look of the rest of the building. There was a courtyard area that was very pretty, and the rooms were cozy.

I was ready to settle in for the night, but Jillane wanted to have a look around. After showering, we headed out packless to walk through the town a bit more. We walked through to stop at a pizza place where I think we each had a slice.

It was a very weird place. The guy that was in charge seemed only half with it, talking about how he didn't have enough change and he'd have to give me quarters. His pace was slow and he seemed confused. The conversations between him and the college kid he was talking to seemed slow paced and somewhat off too. I wondered if this was just something to do with the area we were in, the laid back atmosphere.

We headed further on down the road to another main road, then turned to the right toward Taco Bell. I hurried in, but they were closing down. We were refused service, which was sad. I actually don't remember where we went to eat from here. I recall stopping somewhere, and one place I think was just a convenience store. I was pretty tired, so this part is all a bit of a blur. It was somewhere off North Derr Street.

Ticket booth wax dude in Lewisburg

We started heading back, this time following some back streets. Along the way we passed through a covered footbridge, the Stoltzfus Memorial Covered Bridge, then walked through a pleasant alley. We headed back to the main street next to an old theater with a creepy looking wax figure in the ticket booth before heading to the west on the main street again. This took us back to the room again, and I thought we'd settle in for the night, but Jillane headed back out again, so I joined her to wander a bit more. It really was beautiful in that town with all of the lights on the main street.
We eventually settled in for the night after a long first day.

Lewisburg Hotel

Our first day out was just about what I'd planned on in distance, but we'd covered 15.75 miles after the exploring around town after settling into our room.

DAY 2

I slept in a bit the first day, probably until 9 which is late for me. The room was supposed to come with breakfast, but they really didn't have anything rather than some junk stuff I could bring back up to the room. I forget exactly what it was, but I was able to bring some up for Jillane.
I decided to go for a walk on my own in the morning because I knew she wouldn't be up until about checkout time. I toured through the historic hotel building taking pictures, then walked further into town to the CVS to get some drinks and such. I was quite happy to find that the only Arizona Iced Tea drink they offered was my favorite, the RX Energy, so I got some and merrily went on my way wandering further.
I was heading back to the hotel when I realized I really wanted to get a better look at the old bridge over the West Branch of the Susquehanna. I passed the hotel and returned to where we were the night before for a closer look at the round stone things we'd seen. Daytime inspection revealed northing more of this site except for the fact that the Pennsylvania Canal once had a spur to about this site.
The canal was called the Lewisburg Cross Cut Canal. It was short and had three lift locks as well as a dam to provide slack water to get boats across to Lewisburg. I thought maybe the round things had something to do with a ferry to get the boats across the river, but I just can't be sure. There were some old people wandering around, but they seemed to be talking about art, not history.

Susquehanna bridge

I headed from the round things just north to the former Pennsylvania Railroad. The approach to the bridge had orange fencing around it, but I was able to get past that with no problem and walked the grade to the bridge, which was blocked only by some metal gates. I could easily have crossed the entire bridge. Not that many ties were missing from what I saw, with only a few here and there, but the metal beams from beneath could be walked on without any problem. I got to get a good picture of the road bridge from the rail one and opted to go back before I got into any trouble. I didn't want to put an end to our trip too early anyway.

I decided that I'd try to trace the old railroad route west from here toward where it becomes a rail trail. There were houses and such built on it for the first part, so I had to walk parallel roads and then turned back to the hotel to get Jillane. I covered a couple of miles I'm sure.

When we got up, she wanted to go to CVS too, so we went back into town for a bit, then headed down the side streets closer to the old rail bed again, and then took a break at a large barn building that is now an antique depot. Jillane didn't go in, knowing that she'd be there for hours if she went in. So I went on in and had a look around. There was a lot to see, and I too could have spent a lot of time in there. Most impressive to me were the giant old wooden beams holding the building up. I headed back out and we continued on our way, following a brief section of active tracks to a junction site with the line that becomes Buffalo Valley Rail Trail. We passed a building with an old rail car garage, and then a berm on the rail bed. There was an old coal trestle site to the left, probably a coal trestle, a signal tower, followed by an undecked tie bridge over Bull Run. There were some workers ahead on the right of way, but we went by them to cross 7th Street.

Old coal trestle?

At the main highway crossings, 8th Street and North Derr Street, we continued on the rail bed next to a newly developed commercial site, probably a Home Depot or something going in, past the Taco Bell we'd tried to stop at the night before. We both really wanted Taco Bell, so I went on in to get us some food. We sat out behind one of the buildings that offered us a good amount of shade and pigged out on the terrific food. This particular Taco Bell put more stuff into their product than typical ones we go to, and it tasted extra good. We had quite a nice break here.

Just ahead of the Taco Bell and a crummy secton of the rail bed that was obliterated somewhat by the new development (As per aerial images, the section here was once home to a large industrial complex), we reached the parking area and formal start of Buffalo Valley Rail Trail.

This rail line, later part of the Pennsylvania Railroad, started in the 1850s, and was completed in 1869. The line headed west through the mountains (and we'd walk more of it later in this trip) connecting through to Montandon. West of Mifflinburg it was abandoned in 1982, and the remainder was used for excursion trains until 1997 after which it was converted to trail.

The name "Buffalo Valley" and "Buffalo Creek" is in dispute where it comes from. Archeologists claim there is no evidence that such creatures ever lived in the valley, but folk lore is littered with stories of great buffalo hunts and claims of who killed the last one.

We started walking the trail which began as paved and then crossed over a bridge over a small creek called Limestone Run.

The trail led past the fairground site to the right. It was apparently once a huge fair, but most of the buildings on the grounds burned down around 1960. It looked like some sort of fair is still held at the point.

As we walked away from town, the character switched from houses in close proximity to the trail to some little businesses and some newer developments. To the left of the trail was an outfitter building where we saw a sign about going out of business and some epic sales going on. We had to make a stop and see what kind of stuff they had.

We went in to find a rather posh looking store with high end items for biking and hiking, guide books, and clothing. We were both very glad we'd gone in. I was able to purchase a cheap copy of the West Rim Trail Guide for forty percent off, cheaper than I'd get it anywhere else. I also got a FREE Buffalo Valley Farms tee shirt from a bin in the middle. Jillane got a great tee shirt of an old car with a tree growing through the hood that she really loved.

The proprietor of the store was moving up to New England with is wife who got a dream job, so he decided to go with her, and was selling off his assets.

We headed our from here along the trail, which quickly switched from pavement to a crushed stone surface.

Signs along the trail here were such a liability fear induced display it was rather hilarious. It warned of projectiles coming from industrial areas along the way (farms), said not to tease the cattle, photograph residents, feed animals, etc. The trail was very wide, but it was nice enough. The character changed rather quickly from the suburban area with the stores and homes to just farmland.

We passed our first Amish buggy crossing Bull Run Crossing Road in this stretch. I knew this backpack would be very diverse, and I loved the fact that already it was a completely different experience than the previous day. I didn't mind getting such a late start on this day because I kept busy earlier, and I needed a relaxing time as well.

It was again really hot on this day, but we got some relief in the open field areas because we were hit by some really hard winds that were just so relaxing. In these open areas I could also see the dips in the mountains in the distance, all part of Bald Eagle State Forest. I wasn't sure at the time, but one of these gaps would be our approach to the mountains the next day.

There was a lot of dust in the open areas, and I tried to hold my breath going through it. Work had recently been really hard to deal with for me because I'd breathed in so much horrible leaf little dust while mowing.

Buffalo Valley Rail Trail

We walked on and reached the little village of Vicksburg next.

This was by no means a big town. It really owed it's existence to the railroad as a mid point between Lewisburg and Mifflinburg to haul farm products. Jillane noted that the old station was still standing, but that it had been moved across the street and turned into a private residence. It sadly looked abandoned on this occasion.

The depot was built in 1871, and the town owes it's existence to the railroad because farmers allowed for the line to go through their lands because it was a way for them to get their product to market. It was a welcome asset to the area. An historic marker told the story of the town, and also mentioned that a "Doodlebug", a bus type machine, ran on these tracks for passengers at one time. It then went on to ask how many people we saw on the trail today, enough to fill a bus? More? We certainly didn't see THAT many people, but I thought that was an interesting thing. We walked the entire rail trail in a day and there were barely enough people to fill up a bus that we saw. It make me think of other rail trails and how they try to justify them over active rail. 

View on Buffalo Valley Rail Trail

We continued out through more open field areas as we headed to the west. There were a couple of fellows to the left working on some sort of farm deal, and I greeted them as we walked by. Neither of them said hello at all, and I assumed they must have been some of the residents who hated the trail coming through.

As we got closer to the town of Mifflinburg, the grade up hill became more obvious. There were lovely farm views in all directions at every opening, with one particular barn and swamp to the right that looked amazing. We passed a group of probably Mennenite children playing baseball in their field, probably between the ages of six and eleven. It was cute how the youngest ones were somewhat discheveled, with the shirts screwed up how they were tucked in, but with the older boys obviously more aware of their appearance, all proper. I can hardly imagine how hard it must be to have to wear such formal clothing on such a hot day, with suspenders, long sleeves, etc.

The trail passed the last regular farm and soon became paved again, then headed into an area of more residence and retail stores. I could see the Weis Market ahead on the left and we cut across large lawns to reach the store. I figured this would possibly be the last place to get supplies for the remainder of our trip. We took a break at the edge of the store and took turns going in and getting stuff we'd need. I already had plenty of Clif Bars and Metrix Bars for breakfast, so all I needed was some lunch for now. Jillane had to decide what she wanted for dinner or whatever each night for at least three nights.

I went in and got a big sandwich, which was okay. I felt stuffed after leaving. We made our way back onto the rail trail heading into Mifflingburg from here, and after stopping by one more gas station store for drinks.

The trail passed through more residential areas and remained paved for the rest of the way. We continued on it to a more town like setting and to the former railroad station. It was nice to see it was still standing, but it was covered over with new siding, apparently used by a local business now. It was nice to see it was still there at least.

We turned off of the rail trail at the station to head north.

The road crossed the Buffalo Creek at the claimed oldest existing covered bridge in the United States, the Hassenplug Covered Bridge built in 1825 (this distinction is also claimed by the Hyde Hall Covered Bridge in NY, not sure which one is more accurate. That structure is reportedly 1823). The bridge is a Burr Arch Truss like so many we've seen, and it was quite lovely.

Hassenplug Covered Bridge

Next to the bridge was a small parking area and "Koons Trail" along the Buffalo Creek. Jillane put her pack down, but I kept mine on to follow the loop trail in the preserve. We kept to the right, which went through some lovely grassy and well mowed pathways, all the way out to 3rd Street.

From here, we turned back, this time closer to the creek heading back toward the covered bridge. As we reached the parking area, there was a Mifflinburg Police car parked and idling in the lot. We figured someone might have seen us go in the preserve and called police, thinking we were camping. Jillane's pack was where she left it, and so she grabbed it up and we went on through the covered bridge heading north. There was some really interesting old "graffiti" carved into the wood from the mid nineteenth century.

Looking out of Hassenplug Covered Bridge

As we passed through and continued to the north, the police officer returned to his car, apparently from the other side of the road, and left. We continued walking the road, which went ot a residential area and climbed steeply up a minor ridge on the north side of town.

Hassenplug Covered Bridge

Hassenplug "Graffiti"

The covered bridge was still in view for a long time as we walked on. I saw the police car pass by on the next parallel road. I wondered if he'd taken an interest in what we were doing or where we were going. I had already called a campground in Forest Hills and we'd be able to show up there after hours without a problem and use their tent sites. There was no real hurry to get there at this point.

At the top, we reached Green Ridge Road and turned right. There were some limited views north through trees aside from back toward Mifflinburg on the road.

We turned left from the top on Hill Road which descended rather steeply to an intersection with Johnstown Road where it crosses Coal Creek. We turned left here to follow that road north. On this road, there was a "Sale Barn" on the right side with writing on the door that read "Chubb's Auction". Another sign in front advertised household auction, homecooked meal, and hay sale. The letters were of different sizes, and we really felt like we were in the middle of a hicksville area from this. We crossed Dietrich Road, which was closed to the right, then continued through a mobile home area on Johnstown Road. The sun was starting to go down to the west, our left, and was quite pretty. We also passed a campground that we had not anticipated passing or I'd have arranged to stop there. We passed by some guy getting his car towed by a company with the name like "You did it, we didn't" or something to that effect that I can't quite remember. A lady also pulled over and offered us a ride, but we were now so close to the camp area that we didn't need it, and I'm against taking rides when I plan to hike anyway.

The road crossed the North Branch of the Buffalo Creek where we took a little break, then we continued north to a right turn on Red Bank Road. This area was known as Red Bank, for reasons unknown. We crossed North Branch of Buffalo Creek again, then continued to Forest Hill Road and turned left.

Farmlands

This was the busiest road we'd walk for the entire hike, and it had a rather narrow section over hills that made for sometimes dangerous walking, but we managed it okay. There were some lovely farm views as we continued on. We went up and down and eventually got to where another small creek went under the road, after which the Hidden Valley Camping Resort was on the left. We were supposed to go to Rt 192, Buffalo Road, then enter on the left, but I got to where we could see the campground across a small swath of grass to the left, so we just cut on through. It was such a relief to get to the campgrounds. We didn't know what was there, but we knew we could find it.

The grounds had several roads, and at this point there were empty spots with electric hookups immediately. I was inclined to just drop our stuff and set up any old place that was the first free, but fortunately Jillane had more sense to look around for something better. I have a tendency to just want to get a spot and set up. For me, it's always about the practicality of just getting set up so we can go on the morning, but for her it's more about the joy of camping and enjoying it, which is something I need to work on appreciating more.

We walked the road out to an intersection, and we noted the main bathroom on a hill to the left, where we could get showers. Just past there was the main lodge building on the right. The people at the grounds had left a map for us attached to their bulletin board, which we used to try to figure out where we could go. It was slightly cheaper to go and use the tent sites back in the woods, just further off. After some scouting around at their little pond area, near their cabins, we opted to go look for the site.

It was rather difficult to navigate through at night. The roads shown didn't all appear to go through, and the corners were at weird angles. We still managed to get to the site, turning right, then left, then left, then right, then left again. The tent sites didn't really even to appear to be a road. We scouted them out for a while for one that would be private and secluded. It was too late when we arrived to really have  fire or enjoy having one. We just wanted to get showers and get some sleep. After finding a good spot, we set up and headed back down to the first shower house, near their pool.

When we got there, the hot water was not working! We tried both men's and women's rooms and neither worked. I looked through the closets to see if there were any issues, and found their breaker panels. I tried flipping ones for the hot water, all labeled, but they appeared to be on. What a pain this was.

We headed out of this building, frustrated, and found our way to the other shower building, further back and on the hill past the main building at the entrance. It was a bit further walk, but we dealt with it. We were both up late getting cleaned up and charging our phones.

When we got to the tent and laid down for the night, we were met with all sorts of sounds of animals only a short distance into the woods. We were now on the cusp of Bald Eagle State Forest, one of the largest tracts of undeveloped land we'd ever visited, and there are all sorts of animals in there, including bears and coyotes. It was a little unnerving being there, but we got over it quick, or at least I did, and slept pretty well. This was our longest day of the trip; we covered a total of 17.3 miles.

DAY 3

I woke up early as usual, and started bumming around the campgrounds. I took a walk down to the shower house, which still wasn't working, and then continued to the main lodge to chat with the people working there. I just sort of wandered around for a lot of the morning and when Jillane woke up I asked if she wanted me to go to the nearest store for some food, for our supposed last store stop of the trip. She wanted stuff, so I headed out again, back past the main building and up the long driveway out to Buffalo Road where I turned right. I forgot my camera and really kicked myself because there was a nice view from the front of the Forest Hills General Store.

The people inside were not all that friendly at all. I sort of felt like they were begrudgingly doing the job of making sandwiches and such. The food was just okay as I recall. I got an italian sandwich and I forget what Jillane wanted. They had very little selection for being the only game in town. I got a bunch of stuff and then headed back toward the campgrounds. There was another entrance to it, which is what the owners wanted us to use because their main entrance had just been re paved. Because of this, attendance at the camp was surprisingly light, which I suppose was in our favor for seclusion.

I walked down the access road and noted a mowed pathway to the right. I decided to follow this rather than the roads we'd followed the night before. The path led to a little pond they had, and there was a fire ring and a hidden campsite in along the shore. If only we'd found that the night before it would have been the most perfect spot. No one would have even known we were there. I wandered through this site, then around the south side of the lake to the nearest roadways back to the main camp building.

We both got up and headed to the showers to clean up and get ready to go. The people at the main building apologized for the showers not working closest to our site, and they let me have my phone plugged in to charge up at their office for a while.

We got ourselves in order and got ready to head out. We walked the main entrance back out of the camp grounds and turned left on Buffalo Road heading further into the hills. There was a little bit of up hill but it wasn't too bad. There were some guys doing road work we had to go by, and the road sometimes closely paralleled a creek known as Rapid Run.

While we walked the road section, with only less than a mile before we'd enter the woods, a guy pulled over and asked Jillane if we wanted a ride. She said she did, but to talk to me. The guys said they had just been on the Mid State Trail, but and they'd drive us there. The thing was I had planned on a route to get there which was mostly off road. There was no way I wanted to take a ride from where we were. It was a good thing we didn't, because there was plenty of good stuff between these points.

Just after crossing over the road bridge of Rapid Run, the Forest House Hotel was on the right. They both had lodging and food and drinks. I hadn't anticipated that a bar would be open on the way, just before our last turn off into the woods, and so we took advantage by stopping for a nice relaxing lunch. I went in through the bar first and asked a couple of questions about where we were going. No one seemed to know where the woods road was that I planned to go up the mountains with, but I knew about where it should be. Jillane came in and we ordered some food. I got some cheese friends and she got mozzarella sticks. I also had two beers while there. It was really a nice relaxing stop.

Forest House Hotel today

The bar was an historic stage stop, probably started by the people who did the logging over a century ago. There were some historic photos on the walls inside, which showed the place was quite old, but had been altered somewhat.

Forest House Hotel historic view

We found out from a ranger later that this was notorious for being a very rough bar, and rough area in general, but that since current owners took over it was better.

A young couple showed up and chatted with us a bit about what we were doing. We sat out back on the deck of the place, with a nice view of a little pond they had there. When we headed out, we followed Buffalo Road west for a little ways, and I nearly missed the turn we needed to make. I believe the road is actually part of Sand Mountain Road, which we'd follow for quite some time, but this section was barely used.

The road went right past someone's house, and from the main paved road did not look like it would even go through. It turned right past the house and began to ascend somewhat steeply. There were a couple of cabins along the way, one of which was labeled "Belly Acres". After these cabins, the road became much rougher and turned left to parallel a small tributary of Rapid Run.

The roadway crossed over the stream and began to level out for a little bit, very close to the stream heading generally north. In this level section, we came across an amazing stone amphitheater with steps going up the middle from a fire pit, then switch back trails going in two directions. I climbed up a part to admire the wonderful work. A foot bridge over the creek in front had asphalt shingles on it for protection. Someone had obviously put a lot of care into the place...but who?

Amphitheater

We found out later that this was apparently the work of college kids at one point, which we found quite amazing. This was literally a TON of work to put together. Very impressive. Also, I thought we were in Bald Eagle State Forest, but we apparently had not reached that yet.

We headed further along the road from here, which split, and the more obvious route, and correct on on google maps, was to go up hill ascending high above the creek valley. The woods road remained rocky and nearly impassable by most vehicles. When we neared the top, several side roads broke off in informal fashions into woods around. We kept to the main route and followed it to the height of the land. Eventually, an official trail broke off to the right of the road, I think Stony Gap Trail. We continued on the old roadway heading west until we got to Cooper Mill Road.

The trail map I had with me showed there was a view point a short distance down the road, so while Jillane took a break I took a walk, but then it looked like it'd be a lot longer so I gave up. There were also signs on trees that were full of water in the plastic that made them look like they had IV bags on them.

We headed directly across Cooper Mill Road on top of the ridge to stay on Sand Mountain Road, this part very much open to vehicles and easily drivable, but still dirt so it was pleasant. We followed it slightly up hill and eventually came to where the Mid State Trail crossed. It was sort of a thrill for me to see the sign for it, we'd be starting out on another one of those long distance trails, this one longer than some of the others we'd done, at about 325 miles.

To the right was the Sand Mountain Fire Tower. The guide book read that it was closed, but we'd visited closed fire towers before with no problem. We headed over to it, and found that the top of the fences were lined with razor wire! Further, cuts in the fence were all very well secured again with better fence pieces. There was a spot where people  had dug out underneath it, and I tried to get through but there was tons of broken glass in the pit. I decided not to bother with it this time. We had a long way to go to reach Raymond B. Winter State Park, our destination for the night.

We had the choice of following Mid State Trail or following the Sand Mountain Road toward the park. It looked as though Mid State Trail might be a rough route for us, so we went with the easier option of just following the dirt road from here. We'd begin our Mid State Trail journey the next day. We continued along the road heading to the west, with some nice little views of the woods and hills ahead, then through some deeper and darker woods and the site of a forest fire. There was an old tram trail to the right I thought to take, but it was getting late too fast. This followed an old logging railroad route that might have been good, but it would just be faster to stay on Sand Mountain Road.

We eventually got to Boiling Springs Cabin, just before where we'd go into the state park. I had a look at the building, and the only thing that resembled a spring was an old bathtub out in the yard with the water continuously flowing out of a spigot over it. Very strange. Just past this point, Old Boundary Trail broke off to the left side of the road. This was our route. The park no longer has it's boundary there, as it has annexed the Halfway Run  Natural Area. The trail was very  nice and surfaced well. It was really going to get dark, but it wasn't far from the park. We wandered through the woods on the trail, and kept to the right which, after crossing small bridges and through swampy areas of the Halfway Run, we got to the cul de sac at the end of the campgrounds. Our plan was to stealth camp in the woods, so we spent a while wandering around looking for a place to set up. I was frustrated with it because it didn't look like anywhere was good, there were lots of dead trees everywhere. We finally went out to check for tent sites, and we found some really nice ones. We didn't have any reservations, but there was nothing set up this late in the night, so off we went into the woods and took the furthest one from the road, out of sight around a corner.

We put our stuff down and headed into the park further to check out the restrooms. We were very happy to see some new modern facilities with great showers. There were two sides; one for women and one for men, and in the very middle a special family restroom! When I went into the men's room, there were a group of young boys dressed in black laughing around the automatic hand dryer. I didn't realize at first that they were Amish or Mennonite. This would explain their amusement with such things. They all had bowl hair cuts and wore black buttoned shirts. I figure they must have been Mennonite because they didn't seem too strict. There were a whole group of them I realized, camping at the closest site to the restrooms. All of the men had beards, the women wearing dresses and bonnet things. The apparent patriarch of the family was out and walking back to their site when the kids headed back. I greeted him good evening, and he stopped and bid the same. We struck up conversation about how nice it was in RB Winter State Park, and he asked about our backpacking trip. He told me he was in the lumber business, and I commented that it was the heritage of where we were. He went on to tell me that at one time they clear cut absolutely everything in those woods, which was hard to imagine. We talked for a little while about the lumber trade history there, and so on.

I recall we came to the restrooms first, then returned to the site where Jillane prepared us dinner over our lovely fire pit, then returned to the showers again to clean up.

Camp fire

We used the family restroom for privacy, and it was very nice. We had plenty of room and were able to charge our electronics for a bit again. We then headed back to our camp site and said goodnight to the fellow I was talking to earlier and his family. We got a pretty good night's rest, partially because it was so cold. It was supposed to get into the 30s!

We covered a total of about 10.5 miles only on this day.

Mid State Trail at RB Winter State Park

DAY 4

I woke up first as usual and bummed around a little bit. I didn't want to leave the camp site so much since we hadn't reserved it. It was only Wednesday so it wouldn't be weekend busy yet, but in the morning other people would be checking in, and if it's anything like the state parks in NJ I knew seasonal employees would be by to turn over the sites and check them for newcomers.
I finally took a walk toward the restroom and found them locked. The employees were cleaning them, and a lady was disgruntled that she couldn't get in outside. I hurried past the occupied sites, then broke into a run to tell Jillane to get up. She hurried up and we put the tent away very quickly. As we headed down out of the site, an employee or host was out at a car on the cul de sac. He didn't head up there, and so we walked on to the restrooms to shower up and head out again.
I chatted with a guy inside that was using a camper, probably the only person in the grounds rather than the campground host that was not Amish or Mennonite. Once outside, I chatted more with the Mennonite man I talked to the night before. He and his children were all headed off to do some fishing at this time. Once Jillane was out we headed out of the campgrounds and over to Halfway Lake via a crushed stone surface trail to the beach. We sat on a bench by the beach for a while and admired the nice view.

RB Winter State Park

While hanging out there, two hosts came up and chatted with us. A Ranger was walking around the site, and they said "There's that dome headed ranger", as if they didn't care for him, but when we asked questions they said "Well, let's ask the ranger!". We asked about the amphitheater we'd seen the day before, and he was the one who told us it was students. He also told us about the Forest Hill area. It was refreshing to have someone present who actually knows the site.

The ranger told us we could possibly get drinks at the concession stand that wasn't quite open yet, but that they might have some stuff. I hurried up there, and they did have some drinks so we were in luck.

While sitting on the bench, the park was overrun by Amish and Mennonite. Never have I seen so many in one location, not even Lancaster. The host people told us this was one of their high holy days, a day they couldn't work, so they all come out there. They said at six PM the night before they were dropped off by bus.

We hung out and watched everyone wander around for a while, then we were on our way too.

RB Winter SP Halfway Dam

We followed the trail along the edge of the lake heading to the south, and soon the Mid State Trail descended from the left to join that path. It's orange blazes were easy to follow along the lake and then past the scenic dam of Halfway Lake. The trail came out to Rt 192 and crossed over Rapid Run on the road bridge, then cut into the woods on the other side. The trail made a very gradual ascent high above the Rapid Run, then slightly descended to Brush Hollow, where it turned right to gradually ascend on co aligned Brush Hollow Trail, which also went left.

This section of trail was very secluded and went relatively level after an ascent out of Brush Hollow for a long way.

Former logging railroad, Brush Hollow portion of Mid State Trail

I'm not sure from which point to which point, but most of this section of trail was formerly an old logging railroad. The route was obviously rather flat, and in some areas it was on a raised right of way with stone base. It was certainly a long unused railroad. I found it very interesting though.

We passed the junction with West Boundary Trail where there was a register. We sifted through it before signing in and continuing. There had been someone else on the trail earlier on the same day, probably doing a loop, but no one else for like a month prior. That was pretty interesting.

We continued on and crossed Long Trail, then Crocodile Spring. The guide book said the spring takes it's name due to the absence of sharks that were presumably eaten by the crocodiles. This oddity in the book was beyond my understanding. The trail through the area passed lots and lots of lovely vernal pools on both sides.

Former railroad tie site?

As we neared the farther end of this section, I could see in the moss and dirt signs of where the railroad ties might have been. We crossed Yankee Run Trail, Oley Camp Trail, and Douty Mill Trail heading west. We passed through some lovely evergreen forest, then mixed deciduous forest before heading gradually up to Stover Gap Road at a switchback. I got ahead here and didn't realize Jillane stopped for a break, so I went back to check. At the last woods road crossing she had taken a break, so we continued ahead from there to Stover Gap Road.

All of the roads and trail junctions were surprisingly very well signed. At the road, it looked as though the railroad probably continued on the road gradually up hill, but it's hard to say. The trail followed the road here.

We climbed slowly, and pass the only person we'd see all day on this section of trail, since leaving RB Winter, a Pennsylvania State Forests employee driving a truck. Near to the top and next switch back, the trail turned left into woods, co aligned with Hairy John's Trail. We didn't ascend for long, and then intersected with Fallen Timbers Trail.

We reached the top of Shriner Mountain and then continued to the left. The area ahead was described as being called Buck Ridge. There were a few outcroppings and there would be seasonal views through the trees, but we didn't see much. The trail turned right down hill, on what was called "Wise Trail" in the guide, but no trail was visible leaving Mid State Trail. Many of the other side trails were obscure or even completely grown in as we continued on.

We crossed Pine Creek Road and continued on co aligned Kessler Trail for a bit, and soon reached a lovely area bordering Hook Natural Area. The "Hook" is a sharp bend in the North Branch of the Buffalo Creek further to the east, which used to have a railway tram in it. I'd love to explore that one day. To the right of the trail in this area was a nice new shelter, with some wood in place to construct probably a privy. Jillane wanted to just stay there because she didn't think we'd find anyplace better, but we had to continue on. We had barely come far so far for the day. We took a nice break at the shelter though.

Shelter along Pine Creek

We crossed Pine Creek on a wooden foot bridge ahead. The creek flowed to the west of us, and was really neat because a section of it went underground just ahead. We could hear it but not see it. The trail then began to climb Sharpback Mountain to reach Negro Hollow Road. I thought it was interesting they'd put such a name on an official name, but it's better than what it used to be. I looked up the historic maps, and they read "Nigger Hollow Road". We continued ahead and soon began to climb Branch Mountain. In this area we crossed the Buffalo Creek, tiny at this point. It was neat to think we had walked along this creek so far down stream where it was much bigger.

The trail made it's way along the top of the mountain, then cut off to the right to follow a very old logging skid road down hill. Some sections were so steep that Jillane found sticks to use like hiking poles to help out. There was a limited view through the trees of Winkelbech Mountain area.

Elephant?

Along the trail, we passed a dead tree branch stub that looked like an elephant's head. Jillane made a joke about it roaring because we were having a discussion the day before about what animals other than lions might "roar".

At the bottom of the hill, the trail turned right on the gravel Stony Run Road. Just ahead we reached a lovely break spot at Cinder Pile Spring. The spring was cased in a nice old stone building, probably quite historic, and there was a convenient bench right next to it. I refilled some of our water here, and it was delicious. I didn't treat it and had no problems.

Cinder Pile Spring

 We continued on the trail down Stony Run Road, then turned left onto foot path called BOC Trail, made by Bucknell Outing Club. Mid State Trail followed this to Sheesly Hollow Trail, then took that up Winkelblech Mountain steeply. At the top, Mid State turned onto Winkelblech Trail which follows the crest of the ridge. There was supposedly an airway beacon up there but I think I saw one base for it, not even considering looking for remnants going by. The trail led to a point where it turned to descend, and there was an outstanding view to the south through the trees of the gap in between Stitzer and Bear Mountains, with Paddy Mountain behind.

View of the gap between Stitzer and Bear Mountains, with Paddy Mountain behind

I felt amazing at this point. I looked at all of these ridges ahead and thought of how all I can see is preserved land, completely undeveloped. I felt elated. We headed down hill from here on the steepest descent of the entire trip, then it leveled out as we neared the Hairy John's Picnic Area. We passed an old metal "Mid State Trail" post along the way. I thought this probably dates back to the first days of the MST back in the 1980s. It was founded by Tom Thwaites, who only passed away in 2014. I never got the opportunity to meet the man, but I own several books he's written. He organized the trail and the organization that maintains it.

The guide to the Mid State Trail is wonderfully obscure in some ways, such as the passing through Hairy John's Picnic Area. It simply said it skirted a pond, but this was more than just some pond. It was a beautiful stone lined pool with springs feeding into it from at least three different directions. It was crystal clear and free of algae and growth of any kind. This was the perfect spot. I'd wanted to make it further but we could find a good place to camp here. We split up and looked around for the perfect spot. There was a pavilion and a crappy restroom up the hill, and huge parking lots that appear never to be used. We found the remnants of a fire pit back from the spring in a perfect location. I found a few more rocks and we were able to build the thing up better and started a fire. It was too dry out because the thing got a bit out of control.

Camp fire

 I twice had to drop water on it and it still didn't go out. Eventually we got it to die down. This was possibly the coldest night of the entire trip, so it was good to have it. I didn't want to go without having a fire because I was warned that we'd need one to keep the wildlife away.

 This was a great spot because we had great tasting water to drink, from the piped Hairy John's Spring at the front of the pool, and a nice picnic table to put our stuff on to get ready. Jillane made us some dinner and we relaxed at the site.

We covered 12.25 miles on this day.

DAY 5

I actually slept in a bit longer this time. The cold helps with that. It was easy to sleep partially because of this, and despite the fact that cars on nearby Rt 45 were audible. This was the only paved road we'd reached since RB Winter, and even though it's one of the few across the mountains, it got surprisingly light traffic. During the night, an Amish buggy went by with it's dim light on, and the sound of the clopping hoofs and it's silhouette was rather creepy.

Hairy John's Spring

Jillane got up and took her time getting ready. We got another late start, in the afternoon, and headed out across Rt 45, then onto a logging road on the other side. The trail turned left onto another logging road at an intersection, then turned right on a footpath ascending Sand Mountain on stone steps. There was a bit of a view to the south toward Paddy Mountain from the crest of the rise. The trail then turned right on another woods road, Sand Hollow Trail, heading southwest. We followed this to Bear Gap Trail where Jillane wanted to take a side trip to a spring for a break. It seemed like quite a long ways out of the way, but it was a really nice spot in a hollow. After passing and signing another trail register, we continued on Mid State Trail heading further along the old roadway. There were some young growth areas along the way that were Gypsy Moth controlled clearings.

After vehicle gate, we turned left on a foot path to ascend Thick Mountain and crossed Woodward Road, another gravel road. At the top, the trail joined Rock Knob Trail, which was completely overgrown in the direction away from the Mason Dixon Trail. We came to another intersection with Bear Gap Trail I think it was, and we continued along the ridge for a bit, and the guide spoke of a "view tree" where in order to get the view you had to climb into the lower branches. I did so, but didn't really see anything. It was a nice spot with talus rock. I waited in the tree for Jillane to catch up, and then we continued along the ridge for a bit more. It rained a little bit in this area, but not for long. We then passed another view to the south where we could see some of Paddy Mountain. It was another area of talus slope, and someone had made stone chairs into the spot. We continued from here down hill from the talus and along the ridge. There was another limited view through the trees to the north of the farms of Penn's Valley which were nice. I went ahead of Jillane at this point, and soon began to head down the ridge to the south on an old log skid type of trail. I went off the trail and let Jillane catch up and pass me at some point, sitting out of sight. We crossed Rupp Hollow Road, gravel, and then a side road broke off of it which the trail followed. I turned off if it to explore a small cabin to the right.

The trail then continued onto co aligned Libby Trail from the driveway. It led down hill into Lick Hollow, and junction with a trail of the same name next to lovely Lick Creek. The trail followed an old woods road through the valley, then crossed the creek on a foot bridge at a pretty little campsite. On the other side it ascended a bit and flanked Sawmill Mountain and First Green Knob. I caught up with Jillane here, and we could hear the sound of the Cherry Run below.

The trail descended and then reached Old Mingle Road, a lovely dirt road, which it followed down hill to the left, to Cherry Run. It then turned right on gravel Cherry Run Road. This was a nice section, where I felt dwarfed by the mountains around us. The trail continued on the road, and there was a beautiful stone cabin on the right accessible only by foot bridge. I went over and checked it out.

The trail continued on the road route past more cabins, with steep slopes and sometimes talus through this gorge. Soon, we turned right on a foot bridge over the Cherry Run, the longest foot bridge on the Mid State Trail.

Stony Run Bridge

The bridge was constructed with old utility poles and decking on either side, and a railing on the middle. One of the poles had busted off and so the bridge was hanging at an angle. Who knows when the other poor condition pole will snap. We both made it across without a problem, and then continued on a narrow footpath along Stony Run down stream. This was the narrowest and most disused portion of Mid State Trail we followed. It reached the boundary with private land, then went up a piece of Paddy Mountain following it.

View of Paddy Mountain from MST

It really wasn't even a trail, but rather just a paint marked route through the woods here. Near the end of the ascent, we had a rather nice view toward the gap in the Paddy Mountain to the west. The trail descended from here with some limited views, and passed a little pit that the guide said was a former iron mine. I didn't know anything of that sort was in the area, and I have doubts about it.

Soon, we reached the former Pennsylvania Railroad bed, where the trail turned right. It was plowed up pretty badly, probably to get construction vehicles to the nearby Poe Paddy Tunnel, which the trail goes through but is currently closed for repairs. The trail was widened, and in some places had tons of new ballast put on it. I feared that they'll probably put down some crushed stone surface like they want to do in NJ.

I chatted with a fisherman who was in the packed parking lot by the rail bed. He said it's always busy, and that fishermen head down stream miles to fish. The area was indeed pristine, and no roads make their way into the gorge of the Penn's Creek here, only the railroad bed.

We began following the rail bed to the west, and when a woods road broke off after maybe a mile heading out, we took it to stay closer to the creek for camping opportunities.

Penn's Creek

The gorge was beautiful. There were a lot of young fishermen out there, and some were already camping when we went by. We kept on as the creek moved further away from the railroad bed in a wider flood plain. We wandered for a bit and found a former fire pit with only a couple of rocks left in place, so I reconstructed it easily using rocks from along the river.

Never had we found a camp site so easy to start a fire with. This one had dry wood everywhere, much of it washed down and sitting around from past floods. Dead branches and stuff still stuck in the ground after being killed during inundating floods were also there for the taking. There was no problem starting this fire.
Jillane wandered around for a while, still looking for potentially better camp sites when she hollered out at some point; she had found a snaked and called me to identify it. She'd nearly stepped on a Timber Rattlesnake. As I approached, it quickly put itself into the coiled position. It wasn't big, which makes it even more dangerous because the younger ones inject a larger dose of venom. I asked her to stop wandering around in the dark because if there's one rattler, there's bound to be many more.

Campfire

We got our stuff set up, and I took a dip in the Penn's Creek, which felt very refreshing. It was again cold though, and the fire was perfect for warming up again. Jillane made us some more food and we had a nice night by the fire. Most of the fishermen had gone by dark, and the others camping were much further down stream. We had found a great spot.

We covered 12.5 miles on this day.

DAY 6

I woke up early as usual and took a walk around the entire area. The site we'd found had a low area behind us that fills with water during flood conditions. The fishermen were coming in early, and they walked right by our tent from the moment I woke up. This site had a lot of insects, probably more than most anywhere we'd camped before, because it was so close to the river.

Insect on my stuff

I took another dip in the river to feel clean to start the day, and some of the fishermen had seen me. One of them came up and asked if I had left a camouflage jacket down stream a bit. He was totally happy to hear it wasn't mine because that meant he had gotten a new jacket!

Jillane got up and we were soon ready to go. We started walking at 11 am, which was the earliest we'd started any of the days.

Campsite along Penn's Creek

We headed from the site off trail and back up to the former Pennsylvania Railroad right of way up hill. We turned left to follow this, the Mid State Trail route heading along Penn's Creek up stream. It wasn't too long before we came to the mouth of the Poe Paddy Tunnel, now closed to public. The Mid State Trail was temporarily routed around the tunnel, but there was no one around on site. We could easily get through.

Paddy Mountain Tunnel

We had to take our packs off in order to get around the chain link fences blocking the mouth of the tunnel, but then it was easy to pass through the 80 meter bore without a problem. it apparently used to have a simple walking route through it, but that was removed to reveal the more original tunnel facade. The other side didn't have the gates like the east side. There really was no noticeable problem with the tunnel.

Paddy Mountain Tunnel

We came out the other side and immediately reached a bridge over Penn's Creek. It too was closed, and re-decked with a wider deck than originally, which was shown in the guide book. I liked the narrower walkway better. We crossed and continued on the rail bed out to Poe Valley. Here, I gave the option to Jillane which way we'd go.

We could either continue on the southwest bound Mid State Trail toward Poe Valley State Park, take the Reed's Gap Spur Trail for another day to the state park of the same name over a couple of ridges, or we could follow the railroad bed through the gaps to the west. She chose the railroad bed; I'd have been happy with any of the options.

Poe Paddy bridge

The rail bed is now a road heading through the gorge to the west. We continued to follow it, and while walking a guy in a cabin to the right asked us if we'd like some water. He was a friendly fellow and he invited us to join him on his porch. We sat and chatted with him in this beautiful surrounding about how he bought the cabin from his son, and how it was a great deal because eventually he'd get it back. He used to own a cabin further up the river, next to the railroad bed, and he told us save for one missing bridge that we'd have no problem following the railroad bed all the way to the town of Coburn. This was our plan.

We thanked him and headed on our way; the road ended and we continued through the woods on shelf and fill beside the Penn's Creek. There were still a lot of fishermen in this area, but they were respectful of each other in that they didn't fish where any others were.

Former Pennsylvania RR bridge site over Penn's Creek

Soon, we reached the former site of a bridge that carried the railroad over Penn's Creek again. The bridge was now long missing, and we'd have to wade across. I brought our packs across first, then went down to help Jillane over. We chatted with a fisherman who was there, and who had been fishing the area he said for about forty years. He said they used to stock it, but not any more. It's still great fishing though he said.

Once on the other side, we got back on the railroad bed and continued along the Penn's Creek. There was a cut of some sort to the left that looked like a sort of canal, but I know of none that went up that far. Maybe raceways to mills?

Former Pennsylvania RR

The right of way remained clear and easy to follow for a while. I stopped to get something from my pack and Jillane went ahead. We soon reached the little village of Ingleby, which doesn't continue with roads along the creek, it's just a short stretch of road with only one access point. I continued on the rail bed and came to a spot with a missing bridge over High Valley Run I think it was, and had to go down to the road to the left. I continued on the road to where the railroad used to cross it, and then got back on the rail bed ahead. I didn't know where Jillane got off to, and figured I should have caught up to her by now. I waited near a gate on the path reading "No ATVs", and she appeared behind me. We continued from here with some cleared farmland on the right, then into another deeper gorge area. the rail bed remained clear, and there were 'no trespassing' signs on both sides. We saw some fishermen in the creek, but passed no one on the path. We eventually came to an area with a little building and a nice view to the west, to Slide Mountain. The right of way then continued to cross the Penn's Creek once more on an old rail bridge, this time with only a single walkway decked over the center. It had a lot of character.

Pennsylvania RR bridge

There were good views from the bridge. To the up stream side we could see the bend in the river, but the down stream side had a mountain with a lovely rock outcropping on it.

On the other side, we crossed a paved road, and then entered a bit of a cut. Immediately on the other side was another abandoned railroad tunnel, called Coburn Tunnel. It led through Tunnel Mountain.

Coburn Tunnel

We stopped to take a break at the mouth of the tunnel, where it was nice and cool. This was a much hotter day, like the first two days we were out. We sat down and enjoyed the site, and I walked back out to check out the bridge again. By the road, there was a group of old timers with classic cars that had pulled up. One of them was from 1929! I took some photos of them and made my way back to the tunnel. Eventually, the group started heading to the tunnel to look around, so we headed on through. It was a short tunnel without many fallen rocks. We headed out the other side, and the railroad soon picked up part of Tunnel Road. We followed this a bit, and then the right of way cut off to the right to keep closer to the creek. We followed it here, though it got more overgrown than any of the other sections we'd followed.

Coburn Tunnel

We managed to follow it through until it came out in seemingly someone's yard, then followed an access driveway. There were no 'no trespassing' signs, so we kept on it all the way back to Tunnel Road without a problem. Then, where the next road turned left, the rail bed crossed the road with a missing bridge abutment set, over a brook next to it, and continued through woods.

The rail bed got more overgrown, parallel with the road. It was the only section with ties still in place. We walked it as far as we could, hugging a steep slope to the left, then had to head back out to the road. We headed to Ridge Hollow Road, and left the railroad bed as it turned onto private land and made it's way along the upstream Penn's Creek. We cut across a lawn and onto Main Street in Coburn. It was a cute little town, but we wanted to get where we were going, which I thought would be Woodward Cave, a nice tour cave site with a campground on premises. I thought it'd be a good way to end the trip, going to the cave and touring it, and resting at the campground area. The google maps were showing it as being in the middle of the town of Millheim. I spoke to a kid on the phone who worked there, and he seemed to sound like it was there too. So, we headed toward Millheim, along back roads to the north.

Elk Creek

Coburn Road took us north along the Elk Creek. The sun beat down on us but we pushed on. By the time we got a little ways north of town, we realized that the Woodward Cave was in the wrong direction and we'd already gone out of the way. It was NOT in the middle of Millheim. We had to change plans, and it really made me lose a lot of steam for pushing forward. We tried to find a bed and breakfast or hotel, but there wasn't much, or places were booked, or they were crummy like one with a shared bathroom.

We finally found found Schafer's Country Cottages on the west side of Aaronsburg, a couple of miles east of Millheim and decided that's where we could go and get a ride back to Jillane's car from there.

We hiked north into Millheim, and looked around to see if we could find somewhere for some food. There was stuff in the opposite direction of Aaronsburg, and someplace that looked sort of upscale, so we just kept going to the east once we got to town.

Millheim PA

The town was partially run down, partially nicely kept. There were a lot of vacant buildings, and apparently little opportunity. There was a nice mural on the wall in the town center. We headed to the right out of town, and into some farm lands headed gradually up hill on Main Street, which becomes Aaron Square in Aaronsburg. Just as we entered Aaronsburg, the cottages were on the left. I had to go to the house of the owners to pick up the keys, and we settled in.

I wasn't ready for the trip to be over yet at all. I went out on my own to walk the entire length of Aaronsburg and back, and found no stores or anything. We decided to order some pizza and such from the place in the opposite direction through Millheim, and they delivered it for us.

I don't remember too much more; I hated the television with the constant Kardashians stuff, and the fact that I still had two days off but the trip was over.

Our last camp site

I went to sleep and felt like my body was just shutting down. Responsibility was coming back to me, as was the thought of returning to work and getting blame dumped on me for everything that went wrong over the course of the week. I first had to make the calls to figure out taxi service back to Shamokin Dam.

The next morning I woke up and worked out some transportation. I almost had an Amish buggy ride all the way back to Shamokin Dam, which would have been awesome, but Jillane didn't want to do it. Rather than pursue it any further I just settled for the taxi service. We ended up having an awesome driver named Keith who knew a lot about government conspiracy, and we had a nice discussion on the way back.

A great depression came over me in the end, knowing the trip was over, and not wanting it to be. Of all the places we had visited on backpacking trips, this was some of the most amazing in it's own way, and the trip was very diverse. I was trying not to be too disappointed that we'd covered the least distance the two of us had ever covered in a backpack, and that it was over far too early for me.

I'd need to do some damage control for the sake of my own peace of mind to snap out of it.

Day 1: 15.75

Day 2: 17.3

Day 3: 10.5

DAY 4: 12.25

Day 5: 12.50

Day 6: 9.88

78.18

Me: about 86