Hike #445 9/23-9/24/9
9/23-9/24/9 St. Anthony's Wilderness; Swatara Gap, Rausch Gap, Yellow Springs, Cold Springs area with Jillane Becker
Love
Since Jillane came home, I couldn't wait to get out and do a backpacking trip with her. There were so many easily accessible places near enough to us I've always wanted to explore, and so we decided on St. Anthony's Wilderness. It was only a short distance west of the furthest western connecting hike I'd done and I'd connect it soon enough, and it was a place steeped in history and mystery as well as being incredibly secluded.
Jillane wasn't too excited to be out backpacking again since she'd spent her entire Summer doing it, but I really wanted to have that experience with her.
I think we were both glad we went because the places we saw were really pretty interesting. We joked about being followed by a Ninja, speculated about historical aspects of the area, goofed off knocking out little dams of sticks and leaves, and then spent an evening in a motel before to finish our little trip exploring nearby towns. It was a good time for the two of us to really enjoy each other's company and have some romantic alone time. I'd missed her so much.
Cold Spring Village area at Stony Creek
My next hike would be just Jillane and I on a backpack in St. Anthony's Wilderness in PA. While this hike was unconnected with my previous hikes, it was only twenty miles west of what I'd already done and would be connected easily. We began in Swatara Gap at a small parking area adjacent to Swatara State Park where the Appalachian Trail had been rerouted recently. We followed the trail along a nice path (1) beneath a road underpass (2) and then across the creek and into woods and fields (3-9).
Crossing a stream in Swatara State Park
We soon were into the woods and we made an ascent up Second Mountain. The Appalachian Trail left Blue Mountain at this point because Blue Mountain was part of Indiantown Gap Military Reservation (it used to go through it). There was only one other hiker on the trail behind us, an older woman, who passed us when we got to the crossing of Stony Creek in the valley (10). On the opposite side of the creek was the village of Rausch Gap, long disappeared former coal mining town. The town cemetary was just a short distance off the AT, so we visited it (11-16).
Old Cemetary along the AT in St. Anthony's Wilderness below Second Mountain
We then continued along the AT with a couple side trips where we could see buildings and wells used to be (17-19). We soon reached the former Susquehanna and Schuykill Branch of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad at an old culvert over Rausch Creek. The culvert was undermined so for the trail a truss bridge was erected on top of it (20). On the opposite side was what was believed to be the oldest water purification system through lime ever used, and also historic markers on Rausch Gap (21-24). The rail bed was very wide and used as a state game lands service road. Boring as a rail trail though. We continued on the AT down the rail bed, then up hill along an old carriage road passing by some camp sites and a shelter trail that was once a former railroad spur I think. The AT followed an old carriage road for quite a while gradually up Sharp Mountain, and when it was starting to drizzle and get dark we opted to set up camp. I tried to get a fire going and made a nice wood pile, but it wouldn't start. Jillane made us some Rohman noodles which were good, and we went to sleep. We ended up finding a snail and a salamander in our tent by the time we woke up (26-29).
Our camp site on Stony Mountain
In the morning, we continued on the AT heading southbound until we reached Cold Spring Trail I think it was (30,31). We also passed a mine pit along the way (32,33). We turned right on Cold Spring Trail and took a side trip to a giant long abandoned earth mover, probably from the 1920s called "The General" (34-41).
The General between Stony Mountain and Third Mountain
Jillane turned back to the AT while I went up to the top of Stony Mountain to a nice overlook (42,43). On the way back down I saw the third person we'd see on the entire trip (second was a cyclist on the abandoned rail line). We continued on the AT (44) until we reached the ruins of Yellow Springs Village, which consisted of messed up foundations and the sites of chimneys, each with a tree growing through it's center point (45-47).
Former Yellow Springs Village site
We took a side trip up Stone Tower Trail to the famous Stone Tower that was supposed to be a ventilation system for a coal mine (48-51), then we headed back down to Yellow Springs (52). We decided to shorten our planned three day trip to two, and take the Yellow Springs Trail south. I did not know it, but the Yellow Springs Trail was actually a tramway, a mine railroad for bringing ore cars down to the main rail line below. There were bad washouts up there which obscured much of it over the past couple years. The line looked like a stone wall with a flat top. The flooding had destroyed the majority of it sadly. The Yellow Springs themselves actually flowed more of an orange color, which we could not figure out at first. Jillane fount out later it was because of the sulfer coming from the coal mines (53-59).
The Yellow Springs were actually more orange. Ewww sulfer dirt.
We spent a while trying tear out sticks that had backed the water up. As we walked down, there were certain spots we could see the old tramway wall, but most places were very badly washed out (60-68).
Old railroad tram way that used to go to the mines, now Yellow Springs Trail
When we reached the bottom, we turned left on the old Susquehanna and Schuykill Branch and headed east (69). We turned off when we got to the site of former Cold Springs Village where we saw some ruins (70-72). We continued down this road until we came to a parking area, then descended to cross Stony Creek on a little bridge. I took a dip in the freezing cold water which was great. Jillane and I goofed around here for a bit (73-84) and then started ascending Second Mountain on the road. I made it to the crest of the rise when I saw that a truck was coming up behind me. It was the third person we saw during out trip, and he's picked Jillane up on his way up! He offered us a ride back, but first took us to a hawk watch area with a great view of Indiantown Gap (85-92) where we were planning on going anyway! We were happy to end our trip a little early.
View into Fort Indiantown Gap from Second Mountain
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