Hike #1319; Thunder Swamp/Pennel Run Loop
4/19/20 Thunder Swamp and Pennel Run Loop with Jillane Becker, Justin Gurbisz, Michael Krejsa, Jack Lowry, Sarah Jones, Professor John DiFiore, and Craig Craig
This next hike would be a loop in mostly Delaware State Forest in Pike County PA.
Saw Creek
The covid19 scare continues to get worse every week. More people die from it, and amazingly there’s no one I don’t believe that I know personally, but quite a lot of friends know many people who have had it.
As before, I had been worked about family members and such, but I also feel strongly that the culture of fear has gotten too strong in the country and it is severely detracting form the “human element” we need so badly.
I try to consider all opinions as relevant, and yet I continue to find myself attacked, not only for my own opinions on things, but because I count among my friends people who have controversial and sometimes out of this world views about the state of things.
Interesting moss stuff
Treating everyone’s opinion as valid has turned into quite an ordeal, where even friends I consider to be intelligent and usually caring, have become callous and short tempered. It’s been the most disappointed I’ve been in human nature in quite some time.
People are constantly questioning or second guessing undeniable truths I offer, even though I’m the one that witnesses such things personally. I’m told I watch too much CNN, but the other side will say I watch too much Fox News.
Very strange moss stuff
People have gotten so caught in their own bias that they refuse to accept something that is undeniably fact, because it does not fit the narrative they already decided on.
Saw Creek on the yellow trail
Just through my every day job, and personally engaging with police, I know that crime rate is up and going up more. The numbers reflected online are showing that they are way down, but the police are hardly reporting anything smaller than a felony.
In that past week alone, I had friend who grew up in the same neighborhood as me turn up dead, and there was a girl shot on an exit from Rt 78 right in Phillipsburg. There have been countless break ins, and people are wrecking things in the parks where I work. I had just finished cleaning out a building the day before with co workers, which was forced upon us because someone had busted into it earlier in the week.
Saw Creek along Yellow Trail
This was feeling nearly up to par with the situation I faced a few years ago when sewage pits were overflowing at Spruce Run. I had a supervisor viewing human waste on a fence where overflow had occurred, complete with tampon applicators strewn on the ground all around it, and yet they were questioning whether it actually came from the pit or not.
"porcster"
The notion that reality wasn’t exactly as I described it to be was as ridiculous as trying to say the sky was green, or water is dry.
At some point along the way, even my friends had lost faith in my ability to recognize reality.
The frustration had really begun to get to me.
Everyone is sharing opposite side articles on whatever their beliefs are, and neither side wants to consider anything the other is saying. Part of the problem is we have the outlandish extremes of both sides undermining the integrity of everyone on the side of the argument they are trying to make.
Hiding porcupine
Even now, there is still far too much we simply don’t know about this virus pandemic. Unfortunately, there is far more than enough information to support whatever conclusion we decided to make about it on the internet.
At Thunder Swamp
The internet is a hungry monster that doesn’t care what it consumes. Any information will do.
As such, we basically have at our fingertips any of the bias we want at any time. It’s like pornography, pick your kink, and they have it. You can find anything to support Elvis is alive, Kennedy worked with aliens, or whatever. But now, the kink is fear, and people just keep eating it up more and more.
It didn’t start with the virus thing. It goes back to the weather forecasts, and the most apocalyptic one getting the most media shares, thus making their advertising more valuable.
Beaver dam
These times have become far more personally difficult than I care to project. Part of me feels a responsibility to society to have strength and set an example.
An old homestead site
At times I feel like I’m ready to lose my mind completely. Still, I continue to push through.
With the help of great friends with whom I’m able to gather safely and discuss matters maturely, the situation becomes that much more palatable.
The previous two weeks we had been up in the mountains between the Lehigh and Susquehanna Rivers tracing the routes of historic rail lines that connected the two. We were opportunistic with holidays and with the seclusion of these places for what we were doing.
Ruins at homestead site
At the start of this one, I felt it necessary to move on to a different location that would be even more secluded. The world started sounding even crazier, and I wanted to be in a place where we would barely cross over a road.
I had come up with several hikes where this would be possible, and this time that hike would bring us back to the Delaware State Forest and the Thunder Swamp Trail system.
The trail is a long loop with a few side trails off of it, which can be backpacked in two days. The full system is about forty five miles.
Saw Creek wetlands
The trail didn’t become part of my regular hikes until Spring of 2008 when I figured out a way of connecting the system from Bushkill Falls on a good hike.
At that time, we did the southern section of the trail, and I organized several other hikes after that, and finished most of the trail system by Fall of 2009.
Still, there were bits and pieces of the side trails I never got around to doing. Delaware State Forest has a lot, and the last significant spots in the area included the Pennel Run Natural Area.
Saw Creek crossing
It was just one of those less significant trails that I’d never gotten around to completing because there didn’t seem to be as much of interest there at the time.
I suppose holding off on completing some of these closer to home little places paid off, because it provided us with some safe places to go under these circumstances.
I arranged for a long loop hike that would incorporate the entire Pennel Run Natural Area, as well as Thunder Swamp Spur trails, and a little of what we had already done.
Saw Creek crossing
We would do a little over four miles of the main Thunder Swamp Trail I’d alread done years ago, a little of the Burnt Mills Swamp Trail, and the Pine Flats Fireline Trail, but we’d add that new stuff as well as a long stretch of the often obscure old Hay Road.
I chose to meet at the less used lot north of the Thunder Swamp lot on Rt 402 near the intersection of Bushkill Falls Road, and we would start by following the Burnt Mills Swamp Trail.
Saw Creek wetlands
We had a good size group for this one, eight of us out despite the fear in the world.
We started walking from the lot directly down hill on Burnt Mills Swamp Trail.
Old Ludleyville Road
The trail is a wide and easy gravel road, used most often by ATV riders and snowmobilers. There was a sign at the start of the trail reading “trail closed to public use”, but that must have only been for riders, because it’s the only way to reach some of the sections of the regular hiking trails anyway.
We headed down to where the Saw Creek passed beneath the road at a pretty little area with wetlands to the north.
Thunder Swamp Trail
There, a yellow blazed trail was shown on the Thunder Swamp Trail map leading into the woods to the south, parallel with Saw Creek.
I looked around a bit, and it was hard to see, but the yellow blazes did indeed turn off here along the creek.
We started following these to the south along the creek, into the area actually known as Thunder Swamp. That place name actually did not exist until I think the 1970s when the youth conservation group came in and cleared the trail.
Thunder Swamp Trail
As I recall, they came up with the name after camping one night in the thunder through the plentiful swamps of this part of the Pocono Mountains.
The area is an eroded plateau similar to the Catskills, but not eroded nearly as deep, which makes it looks like simply small hills.
The yellow trail was barely traveled. The blazes had not been done over in probably well over a decade. It was a challenge to see them at all. Some of the time we just made assumptions where it went.
Rock pile on Thunder Swamp Trail
It was stunningly beautiful and peaceful back there.
The first interesting spot I came across was in the impound water from a downstream beaver dam, an interesting area of floating mosses that had an almost brain-like texture about them.
We continued on along the creek, and the trail at times went right into where water now flooded over. The beaver activity had continued quite a lot since this trail was last marked. In this area, Jillane was in the back and called us back when she saw something interesting.
A pretty stream called Spruce Run
She had spotted a good sized porcupine just along the trail, and several of us walked right by it. The animal turned to the edge of a tree and buried its head in a corner.
Nice camp site
It was still fully visible, but if anything decided to try to attack it, it could put its quills out and the aggressor would be quite unhappy with its decision.
Little camp site
We soon passed by the very substantial beaver dam, and the woods around it were full of sharp little sticks that had been chewed off.
We continued along the creek for a bit, and soon came to the intersection of the main Thunder Swamp Trail, blazed orange, and there was a plastic post with arrows pointing to the side trail.
My plan here was to only briefly go left on Thunder Swamp Trail, and then turn right on the Thunder Swamp Spur Trail, which the map showed as yellow, but it was blazed red.
Spruce Run Swamp
I told everyone to sit tight while I went off to look for the junction with the spur trail. If it were anything like the previous one, it would be rather obscure to find.
I soon found it, blazed red, but very faint. I knew it would likely be a challenge to get through, but it was something I was ready for.
I had already warned everyone that there might be a couple of bridge-less crossings. I alerted them we would be turning that way, and they all followed to the intersection.
Spruce Run Swamp
At this intersection between the two trails, there was an old homestead ruin. That was probably accessed from the old Ludleyville Road to the west of this point.
Spruce Run bridge
The foundation was hard to make out around the leaves, and very easy to miss. The chimney for the house was now just a larger heap of stones near the back of the square foundation.
Where we turned right on the red blazed trail to head south, there was another bit of foundation, and something dug out into the hillside to the let of Saw Creek, which must have once been part of an old barn or other building of some sort.
Pennel Run Connector Trail
We continued down this “trail” which was barely even a herd path at times. There were times there was nothing left at all. Many of the trees that were blazed for this route had long since fallen down. Other much smaller ones had grown so large that the blazes grew out and looked even more obscure.
At times, there was a bit of a dug in path we were able to follow with no blazes, and the trail route was pretty obvious. Fortunately, there wasn’t a lot of undergrowth and invasive species growing through here.
A stream crossing of Pennel Run
Justin and I took to the front of the pack trying to figure out where this trail had gone. We pretty much found it for a long while until we came to a rough stream crossing.
This wasn’t just a stream; this was a seasonal wash that is probably no more than a spring trickle. Recent rains had running as a volume of current that would be hard to cross without getting wet. I found a good spot and made a successful attempt to hop over. Justin did just as well, and we waited for the others to catch up here.
Forest fire slash area on Pennel Run Trail
John made th enext attempt to jump over, but he pushed off too hard, which left him sliding when he got to the other side. He fell down into water and got pretty badly soaked. He immediately moved his wallet to another pocket and I helped him up.
He was the second to fall of the day. Jillane had her shoes get stuck together and she fell on the gravel early on, then ended up with some pretty nasty bruises and bleeding hands.
The others all managed the jump pretty well, getting only a small degree of wet.
Pennel Run Trail mess
Once on the other side, the trail became very obscure again. At times, we fanned out and Mike took up the lead with me. He and I would switch off finding the blazes in these areas. The trail eventually became a little more obvious as it passed through a very young forest of I think birch.
It got to be extremely obscure yet again as we reached where it turned hard to the right to head back toward the rest of the main Thunder Swamp Trail.
Pennel Run Trail mess
We weaved through the woods, and then Jillane took up the lead with me, and she found the blazes leading toward the water where the trail crosses over the Saw Creek.
This is at a point just barely below the main drainage of the Thunder Swamp, where the creek begins to lose more elevation. There is a series of little islands of trees and root systems the trail uses to get over the wide creek area, and a series of stones in lines had been put in place where in normal conditions crossing is probably possible dry.
Pennel Run Trail end
At this time, it was quite wet out and no crossing could be done without getting wet.
The blazes were too obscure. I couldn’t see anything left of any, but closer examination showed where the intended crossing was supposed to be, and there were more blazes on the other side in line with that.
I helped Jillane across first, and then we took a break on the other side to dry out feet off. My shoes were the water proof Merrells Dan Trump had just given me, so they had to be removed and drained a bit.
Hay Road
The others started carefully making their way across. Some removed their shoes to come over, and some looked for a better way across before finally giving in and realizing there was no good option.
Jack was the next to take a spill into the water. Guitar and all, he splashed down. I hurried over to help out, but he was back up more quickly than I could even get to him. He had unfortunately lost most of his guitar picks that he’d put inside the guitar into the water. It’s amazing how much abuse he’s taken this guitar through without destroying it. The carbon fiber guitar has to have gone hundreds of miles.
Hay Road, ravaged by fire
Despite not having picks, he did still have finger picks, and continued to play throughout the day. I remember singing along with the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” around here.
Ford site of Bushkill Creek
The trail beyond the creek immediately became pretty dry. We headed uphill, and soon kind of lost the blazes. I found one more in a sort of eroded route that we determined to be it, metal and hammered into a tree with a hiker logo.
This took us uphill to the abandoned section of old Ludleyville Road which runs parallel with Rt 402. We turned right on that, and it led us downhill toward a parking area along the Thunder Swamp Trail main route, just slightly off of 402.
Hay Road ford site
The first two people we had seen all day were two fishermen in this parking lot. One was getting stuff out while the other was sitting in the truck.
We had to go close to the truck because it was blocking the Thunder Swamp Trail route, which we were following in the counter clockwise direction.
We followed the orange blazes out and across Rt 402, then downhill and across the headwaters of the Spruce Run just north of what is known as Big Swamp. We then crossed a utility clearing and side trail.
The trail was pretty easy from here for quite a while. I think we did pass the Spruce Run Trail to the right, but I don’t particularly remember it. The entire section was much wider and easy, and the time just flew by very quickly.
There was a point where we climbed over a height of land away from the first Spruce Run valley, and then toward the another branch of the same creek. There was a bit of a view through the trees to the east of the next ridge over. It was just eerily quiet throughout this area.
Hay Road ford
We reached one of those stream inlets and crossed it in a very pretty area with sections of stacked stones. As we came to a good flat area, there was a nice camp site.
Fording the stream
We decided to pause at the site for a good lunch break, where there were some nice stone seats arond a fire ring.
As we all sat down, I saw a figure walking through the woods with high visibility clothing. He appeared to have a beard. I thought this could be Craig, because I had told him we were going to be out that way and gave him directions on how he would be able to catch up with us. I called out to him and figured it was him, but the figure started moving away. He soon came back though, it was him!
Fording the Bushkill Creek, photo by Jillane
I guess he didn’t realize it was us at first.
We all sat around and chatted for a while, which was really nice.
We talked about the state of the world, and if we knew anyone who actually had the virus. It’s surprising how few of us knew of anyone at the time. It was not at all to detract from the severity, but just to get an idea of it. Jack was the only one among us that admitted to having known someone who had died form it so far.
We went on to discuss the media, and Craig admitted to watching Fox News, for which he was given criticism by other friends. He explained that if you don’t watch the other side, you’d never know what they were talking about, which is such a valid point.
At the Bushkill Ford site
This reminded me very much of the flack I got on facebook for “liking” the Donald Trump page, simply so I could follow what he was saying during the initial debates.
Rock outcrop off of Hay Road
At that time, there was not a “follow” option, just the “like” option, and I felt the “follow” option was added specifically because of such interactions I had been describing. It just goes to show how judgmental people can be, with no consideration or willingness for any explanation.
After nice discussion, we moved on along the trail heading to the south. In a very short distance, we were on a lovely slope above the Spruce Run Swamp, which is a beautiful wide wetland area with a very nice view afforded from the trail.
Rock overhang near Bushkill Creek
Pretty soon after, we came to the crossing of the Spruce Run. I remember there being an old mill ruin in this area, but it must have been a little further down, unless the crossing point was changed because of beaver activity or something.
The foot bridge had only one hand rail in the middle, over a very lovely little section of the stream.
The trail continued along Spruce Run to the south for a bit, and we soon reached the Pennel Run Connector Trail to the right.
The trail, which I think was yellow blazed, went up hill away from the main Thunder Swamp Trail. I had never followed this section before.
The trail was pretty good and easy to follow the half mile up and over the little ridge, past a small rock outcrop, and then to the abandoned section of Hay Road on top.
We took a break near the top, and I described where we were going. Mike and John got tired of waiting and started to move ahead a bit.
Hay Road
We were having such enjoyable discussions about not only the current events, but also music, that we lost some track of time. Jack and I were really getting into some music talk as we tend to do, and next thing you know another hour had gone by.
We continued to the Hay Road, where we turned left, to the south.
In this direction, Hay Road terminates at Snow Hill Road. The route used to be a very long through road at one time, parallel with the present route of 402, and joins it again at some point far to the north. We had covered a little of this on a previous hike where I connected the Delaware State Forest Thunder Swamp section with Promised Land State Park.
Ruins along old Hay Road
I explained to everyone that this entire area was known as “The Promised Land”, to make it sound more valuable and desirable. It was a horrible place to grow any crops and there were no mineral values, so it was about the most worthless land you could find.
Hay Road
Access to the lands was also very hard because of difficult rocky terrain and the many swamp lands. Even lumber removal through this area would prove to be difficult.
We followed the Hay Road south to where the Pennel Run Trail broke off to the right. It was a well signed intersection, and pretty much all intersections had some pretty good routed wooden signs at them, but the trails themselves were absolute crap. I was surprised the maps and signs made these areas look so inviting, but what we found when we were out there was far from that.
Hiking Hay Road
I knew of the Pennel Run Trail for years, and in fact it was in several books as being an absolutely beautiful hike. I had long looked forward to finally doing it.
Despite what I’d read, this trail was nothing like what I was expecting it to be.
The sun dipping down on Hay Road
I figured that this one, because it is closer to Snow Hill Road and therefor more accessible to maintainers, would be in good shape.
Instead, we got a little ways down hill, and came to an area so full of slash wood and blow downs, the trail was almost impossible to find.
A forest fire had ravaged this area. It wasn’t just any forest fire. There must have been a heavy fuel understory, because all of these trees had been burned well up into their trunks. Most of these trees in forest fires are left unscathed, and the understory is all that gets burned.
Middle Branch Bushkill Creek
That was just not the case here. Much of the trees that would have had blazes on them were now all burnt off. Maybe every fourth or fifth blaze could be found out there.
Craig brought up that it was quite a good workout stepping over so many fallen logs, but I doubt anyone else in the group saw it as so endearing.
Maybe Jack did; when I stopped to wait up, there he was stepping over these pain in the ass trees, with high strides necessary on each one, but strumming the guitar happily the entire time. It never ceases to amaze me what he keeps playing through.
Signs
The trail dipped down into woods close to Pennel Run, which was only a very small creek down in this area. We then climbed up to the height of some land. The topography of it is rather confusing. Whenever we started going up somewhere, I figured we were going back up to Hay Road, but I never bothered to look at GPS or a compass through it.
We made our way through a low area where the trail got easier to follow, and then headed back uphill yet again through another area of strewn slash wood left over from the forest fire.
This last ascent took us through another mess, and we soon arrived on Hay Road again with another good prominent hiker sign.
Once everyone was together, we turned to the north to follow Hay Road. I figured the only thing remaining that might be difficult in this section would be the crossing of the Bushkill Creek, which I suspected probably did not have a bridge any more.
Bushkill Creek at Pine Flats
The road made its way through the often burnt woods, and then to a spot where there were some no trespassing signs. The old road leads out of the state forest lands briefly and through a private bit. There was a little evidence of vehicle use, but not much at all.
Pine Flats Fireline Trail
The road widened out quite a lot as we passed through an even more burnt patch of land.
The trees everywhere looked crazily burned.
We made our way back and forth and the road started to lose some elevation as it headed down toward the Bushkill Creek, back on state forest land.
We could hear the creek before we saw it, and Mike thought he could see a bridge before we approached it.
I was not surprised at all when we arrived at the crossing site to find there was no bridge. In fact, there probably has never been a bridge at this site in history.
The crossing was a well-built ford site. There was a line of stones just above the place where vehicles were intended to cross. This time, the water was just too high for anything but a high four wheel drive truck to get through.
Everyone started looking around for some other option to cross, but there was literally nothing.
Just upstream a bit, there was a floating dock thing and a clothes-line like reel across the water apparently made so that people could ride it across, but it did not look very operational or even deep enough for it to work.
I was easily able to walk across this without a problem. I told everyone to just take their shoes off and get across, but most didn’t want to try that either.
Jillane didn’t want to do it with hers on, and she didn’t want me to carry her either, so I let her wear my shoes and I did it barefoot myself, which wasn’t bad. It was just a little more slippery than it would have been otherwise.
The others soon followed. Craig, followed by Jack and Sarah, and then Mike all went over. Justin was still going up and down stream looking for a way to get through. He told me he was probably just going to head out toward Rt 402 because he didn’t want to go through.
Pine Flats Fireline Trail
I strongly urged against that course of action, because there were at this point the two branches of the Spruce Run to get back across if he were to go over there. It would surely not go well, and certainly far worse than a simple crossing of a ford at Bushkill Creek.
I went back over the creek and pulled up a giant stick to help guide across with, and Justin agreed to make his way over.
Once everyone was over and had drained off their shoes adequately, we headed on our way along Hay Road.
There was an intersection right there, where another road continues onto private land to the west. We continued on the road parallel with the creek to the right briefly, and then uphill turning to the north.
Jillane pointed out a large rock outcrop to the left of the road, which looked to have a rock shelter in it. She told me to go check it out, so I ran over to see. While running, I spotted a very thick old deer antler, probably two years old with the ends chewed off. I grabbed it up and ran over to the rock.
The shelter was pretty cool, and maybe home to some artifacts, but this was too far out there to begin searching at this time. The roads were vehicle accessible, but only through private land. We couldn’t just drive back to this point easily.
We headed up the hill, and I offered Jillane the anter. She didn’t want it, but Sarah was fascinated by it, so I gave it to her. My buddy Bruce makes whistles out of them. Sarah is quite the artist, so I’m sure she’ll find some sort of interesting use for it.
We went by another set of signs that read no trespassing behind us. We had exited Delaware State Forest again, and another road went to the left. Soon, Beaver Run Road broke off to the right back out toward Rt 402.
If we had been running really far behind, I was prepared to go out this way, but we were good.
We turned left on Hay Road to the north, which at this point looked like someone’s private driveway. It goes almost immediately into more state forest land again, just after passing by a rather new looking cabin on the left.
We headed up hill through another very sparse area of forest, probably also burned pretty badly. I had heard that there was a cabin that burned up in this area, and I wondered if it was the one we were walking by, since it appeared to be pretty newish.
The road was all drive-able at this point. We continued to walk it gradually down hill, past another intersection, and the sun was slowly going down in the hazy sky.
Soon, we came upon the Middle Branch of the Bushkill Creek and crossed it on the road bridge. We passed by a couple fishing along the creek on the far side, and continued through woods to yet another intersection, this one with interesting signs pointing to various different leased camps.
Hay Road continued north as High Line Road, and we turned right on Pine Flats Road. We passed two different couples walking this stretch of road.
I wondered how many parties were going on up in these hidden woods over the weekend, because on the drive up, small cabins were loaded with cars parked in the driveways. Everyone knows that there are speakeasies and other illegal businesses working despite the closures, so of course out in the middle of nowhere there must be things going on.
We passed by several houses on this stretch of dirt road.
We continued on the road to where it crossed over the Bushkill Creek, and we turned right on the other side. Another side road here leads to one of the Pine Flats camps, and there are at least three houses in this stretch.
When we reached the power line clearing, which we had just crossed on Pine Flats Road, we turned left, on the route of Pine Flats Fireline Trail. It follows the power line north just a bit and then turns left on the fireline road, which comes our directly across Rt 402 from the parking lot.
I had used this route for a hike not too long ago, maybe three or four years ago, as part of my connecting plan to the Promised Land State Park.
A view toward High Knob
I reminded Justin about that hike, because he was the only one here this time that was actually on that one back then.
We pushed ahead and the trail, downhill and over the Beaver Run, and then back uphill on the other side where there was some recent logging going on.
I looked back and could see the sun sinking in the sky fast. In the distance, I pointed out to Justin where High Knob was, because there is a rather small fire tower on top of it that we’d climbed a few years back with a pretty nice view.
In short order, we crossed Rt 402 and reached the parking lot to end the hike.
I seriously enjoyed this time out so much. It was a very simplistic hike, but we switched from different kinds of roadways and trails so often that it never got boring to me. It was nice to change things up from the rail bed stuff to the rolling natural terrain. The challenge of trying to find the three long unmaintained trails, the two large stream crossings and many lesser smaller ones made for a challenging but overall fun addition.
The added typical silliness of the group added the levity to life that we so badly need. Jack would bellow out randomly and often through out the hike “LIBERATE PENNSYLVANIA”, which somehow just got funnier every time I heard him do it.
In this day in age, it almost feels like we’re not allowed to laugh at all, let alone have fun. Positive congregation in itself can be seen as nothing but negative, and as of this writing I still believe the government is going about it all wrong.
Time will tell, and maybe I’ll be wrong, but I don’t think I will be.
No comments:
Post a Comment