Hike #1455; Cove Valley to Cowans Gap

Hike #1455; 11/20/21 Tuscarora Trail; Yellow Trail/Cove Valley to Cowans Gap with Professor John DiFiore, Jennifer Tull, Diane Reider, David Adams, Mike Krejsa, and Neil Washington

This next hike would be the next point to point in our Tuscarora Trail series, the sixth.

We had finished the last hike in the series in Cowan's Gap State Park, right at the parking lot for Cowan's Lake. This time, we would do the next section to the south of there.

I really didn't know what to expect other than the fact that this just might be extremely difficult. It also might be easier.

This section was the first that was also part of the Great Eastern Trail, so I figured it might have a greater degree of maintenance than previous sections of the Tuscarora. The Standing Stone Trail is part of the Great Eastern Trail and it ends on the Tuscarora Trail in Cowans Gap, so I figured the surprisingly pleasant level of management we encountered on that trail might pass on with this one.

There was also the very real possibility that this could be extremely difficult, with rough terrain and heavy brush everywhere.

These and other questions meant I had to consider the details of this hike differently.
The southern end of this section was to be a yellow blazed trail that ascends from the Cove Valley through State Game Lands #124 to the Tuscarora Trail. I was uncertain about the condition of the road to the parking area, or if I could even find it. I didn't want to post that as the meeting point because there might be very limited parking. Instead, this hike would be the first in the Tuscarora Trail series to go from south to north instead of north to south.

 Cowan's Gap Beach would be a far better place to meet, that most of the group interested in this hike knew how to get to.

Also, once up the ridge, it seemed that we would remain on ridge top for a long while, and the majority of downhill walking would be at the very end. I wanted to try to make it as easy as we could because the days were getting shorter.
I also wanted to try to have some time set aside to stop for lunch at the Tuscarora Summit.

It seemed like this would be the best plan, and we would be able to deal with things appropriately from the start if we went about it this way.

We shuttled with as few cars as possible to the starting point, just two of them.

This brought us south on Route 456, Little Cove Road, in Cove Valley north of the little settlement of Sylvan.
There was supposed to be a dirt road that went part way up the Tuscarora Mountain, but it was not very obvious. I had to look ahead of time for it on the maps to know where I was going.

When we arrived at the road, I pulled in and began trying to drive my Honda Element up it. At first it was okay, but then it started getting really very bad. I wasn't going to be able to make it, or if I did, I might wreck the oil pan under my car. I ended up trying to back back down.

There was some room to pull off park along the west side of the road at the very sharp turn, barely enough for our two vehicles, but that's what we had to do. We couldn't chance trying to get up there.

There were some blue blazes down at the road to show that there is a trail that comes down here, so we took the chance that we would be okay to leave the cars there.
I was a bit concerned because this added a full mile to our hike. We would have to walk a mile on the woods road just to get to the parking area before even beginning the ascent to the main trail. I was just glad to get moving though as we started.

Neil and I got up in the front to move on. It had been a while since he and I had seen each other, and he was living down closer to Washington DC for a job he had just taken.
I had been getting more out of shape from lack of exercise, and I really needed this major climb at the start of the hike, but Neil smoked me on it. 

I had been home from work for over three months for child bonding time, a sort of paid paternity leave I got through the state. It was great, but the lack of exercise was weighing on me pretty badly. At least I was still able to get my son out on hikes with the jogger stroller during the week for exercise.

The woods road got worse and worse as we took on the slight ascent from Cove Valley. I couldn't believe anyone would bother going up there. Still, as we made our way up, there was in fact a couple of trucks in the parking area (if you want to call it that) when we got there.

From the parking spot, the blue blaed trail followed a more beat woods road into the woods to the west. 

We moved uphill very gradually just a bit more into the state game lands, and then came to the intersection where the yellow trail contineud ahead as a foot path, and the blue trail continued to the left following the old woods road. 

The blue would certainly be easier, but it was about a mile and a half to the top on that one, and the shorter yellow trail reached the top in only about a mile. I decided that would be what we would do this time.

I started out pretty strong with the climb, which took us across a little wetland, and then over the top of a little false ridge. Once over that, we had a short shelf, and then super steep.

The yellow trail just ascended the mountain with barely an angle at first, and was really rough .
It started to get a bit more gradual as we got closer to the top. The ascent was still kind of rough until we were right there.

Just before the very top, the blue trail came back in from the left. We continued the remainder of the distance on the blue trail to the Tuscarora Trail at the top, and turned right.

Immediately, it was not the rough mess we had been through before. Previous sections had been badly overgrown and full of briars, or full of loose rocks, or both, with vegetation so thick that we could not tell if we were planting our feet on solid rock or into a crack.
It was kind of rocky at first, but the treadway looked immediately almost as if it had been recently weed whacked. On it we were able to make some really good time.

We continued along and passed by the terminus of the Hells Hill Trail, a very steep one also up from the Cove Valley. I had initially planned on using this as the start of the hike, but noted that the further down yellow and blue connections would put us at the right spot to do our final hike in the Tuscarora north half.

A little past this trail, we passed over some rock outcroppings that jutted to the west a bit. There were some views to the west, but the best ones were from the upper level of the rocks looking back to the Cove Valley to the east.

The trail ahead got a bit more rugged, but it was never at all overgrown. I was able to move along pretty quickly still, and we went up and over several very nice rock outcroppings, but none of it was that bad.

After a series of outcroppings, I noted while I was walking ahead of everyone else that there was a hunter below us in the woods to the left, below a rock. I was really surprised to see anyone else out there. I just kept moving ahead and pretended like I didn't see him at all.

Just ahead, we reached the intersection with the Reece Hollow Trail, where there was a trail register in a mail box. I stopped and signed in on the register, and then waited for the rest of the group to catch up to me. 

As we were reconvening, the hunter and his son came walking up the trail from the direction we had just come from. I was thinking he was going to be the angry type, because we walked by the spot where he was hunting and might have scared away the deer he was looking for. 

He was surprisingly friendly and told us about how the deer come right up and over the right where he was sitting, and that he often has to tell hikers coming through that they should be wearing something bright. Most of the group had some orange on, and I was wearing an off white blazer with green pants and a bright orange seventies butterfly collar shirt, so I think we were probably okay in his book.

We continued along the ridge with more views, plenty more seasonal views, rock outcroppings, and even a few balanced rocks.

Through the later segment of ridge top, the trail got super wide, but not because it was an old road. It looked like there had been some fireline training or professional trail clearing going on. The foot path was widened to super wide, well more than it ever needed to be, and the treadway was very easy.

After a great series of rock outcroppings and splendid views, we began descending from the ridge rather steeply to the east side. After a bit, we came to a woods road. We followed this briefly and then turned sharply downhill on some sood bracing steps to reach Route 16, known as the Buchanan Trail because the former President James Buchanan was born just at the base of it nearby.

I had thought the trail would follow an easy woods road from this road to Tuscarora Summit, but it actually was mostly downhill from it to the east. We had to descend a bit, and some of the trail was old woods road, while other bits were foot path. 

We crossed a power line and meandered through the woods for a bit, reached a woods road, and followed it uphill to the a wider woods road in private property. The trail passed through some of this private land on their woods roads, some of which were logged around. The woods looked of a different quality since it was privately owned and timbered as the owners saw fit.

There was also a very nice little bench and seating area.

My guide book said the trail followed a woods road past a private home, but I think it must have been slightly rerouted and maybe lengthened through this area.
After the woods road bit, when the road started to turn to the right a bit, there was a large sign reading "trail" that put us over closer to the western side of the ridge on a foot path. I think this must have been cleared in order to keep hikers a bit further away from the private home. 

The trail meandered a bit, and we did come within sight of the house, but didn't go very close to it like my out of date guide book described.

We continued ot the north, and soon came to a small overlook and a plaque on a rock that must have been to the former land owner who allowed the trail to pass through his land.

It read:

"This plaque is placed in memory of John Castellar Simonson (1915 - 1998)
He loved these woods and this land, which his family has shared with the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club to carry out his dream that this viewpoint and environment will be preserved for future generations to enjoy."

We continued just barely beyond this point to the Hang Glider View. 

This was probably the best view of the entire hike, which is kind of off putting that it is within sight of and easily accessible from the Lincoln Highway just to the north. Still, there was no one there besides us taking in this awesome scenery.

I think the blazes came in further back behind this, but we got closer to take in all of the scenery. 
McConnellsburg was well within view as well as all of the beautiful farm lands to the west.

Before we reached this point, I called ahead to The Mountain House, just ahead, so that we could stop for a lunch break and have some burgers. I ordered two for myself I was so hungry.

Once were were done at the overlook, we headed out an informal side path into the back of the establishment, which was originally the famous Tuscarora Summit Inn.

I'd imagine this point would have been an even more refreshing spot if we'd have been coming from the north. It is a rare opportunity for food and drink for the famished hiker as far as Tuscarora Trail goes.

This inn was first opened in the 1920s when Leslie "Doc" Saylor, a pharmacist by trade, opened up the lunch stand at the point. The Lincoln Highway, the first major transatlantic automobile highway, opened in 1925, and with more traffic came more business. Back then, people's cars would overheat, and so the peak of the summit was a perfect place for people to stop for more water and take a break, as well as take in the view.

Also, because the ridge straddled by the inn is between Fulton and Franklin Counties, drinks could be served in Fulton while Franklin was a dry county back in the day.

The place basically was like a biker bar that happened to be on a popular trail. They were clearly used to hikers passing through, but it was apparently not the favored clientele based on the reaction of the one guy working. The lady who took our order after we were turned over to her was very nice. She also served us when we got to the establishment, and service was much better.

Just before we had gotten there, a large group of other southbound hikers, a much larger group, had stopped there on their way through. Maybe the guy who initially answered was annoyed because such a big group had already come through.

Either way, the food was great. My two burgers were awesome, and I also had a bottle of Troeg's Field Study IPA, which was quite tasty.

Once we were done, I figured the route would be super easy the rest of the way back, because I thought the trail just went straight across the Lincoln Highway and onto the road walk we had done at the end of our Standing Stone series. Such was not the case.

I figured it would just be a short formality to follow where the trail went, but it took us from the hang glider takeoff spot down over rocks, beneath a power line, and then onto a long abandoned old road that closely parallels the Lincoln Highway, only just barely downhill from it. It was probably a predecessor logging road or something.

We followed this road a good long while and lost considerable elevation before the trail turned hard right away from it, up a slope and then up some wooden steps that were kind of broken. The steps led to the edge of the Lincoln Highway, and we crossed directly and climbed steps immediately on the other side up a slope.

The trail continued as a foot path for a time, turned uphill slightly, and then reached the end of an old woods road that skirts the edge of the ridge. It turned left there and climbed gradually to the north.

Eventually, the trail turned hard right from the woods road onto foot path heading steeply uphill again. I was sweating up a storm trying to get up this, because it had some loose rock lots of dead leaves.

The land leveled off and we soon crossed over Aughwick Road. I had expected that the trail was going to follow the unpaved Tower Road directly from this point to Big Mountain Overlook. It just seemed on the maps that this was what the trail did, but of course it did not.

The trail went directly into the woods and meandered more. We came out to a nice grass area where people were camping, having entered Buchanan State Forest at this point. The trail then turned left and followed a grassy woods road to the north for a bit.

When the woods road ended, we continued straight into the woods ahead on good foot path. It was the illusion of deep woods, but we could often see to the left the clearings from recent logging.

To my surprise, the clearings to both the right and the left from recent logging were the next thing we saw. The trail followed an untouched swath of trees where all of the stuff to the right and to the left had all been heavily logged. It was quite impressive that the trail lands were protected from that.

We eventually emerged at Big Mountain Overlook, an amazing rock outcrop to the right which can almost be driven to. There is a road that goes just about to the site, and lots of people come and go to have a look around. There was a sign that reads "no graffiti", and it apparently works because there was none on the rocks, and the area is under surveillance in case anyone did. In fact, a ranger vehicle went by while we were admiring the view.

The spot kind of reminded me of the Indian Wells Vista on the Mid State Trail, and it was just about as good. We enjoyed the view for a bit, then continued on our way into the woods, on a foot path past some abandoned concrete ruins of some sort, which might have been some sort of comfort station.

The trail took us gradually down hill, and the sun was sinking in the sky fast. It was not much uphill left for the entire hike, but at this point I was already aware that we were probably going to be out just until after dark.

We took on a few switchbacks left and right when we hit woods roads, and then came to an intersection with a prominent woods road at the bottom. We turned right there, and then for a brief time we had another footpath section in woods parallel with one of these roads. We passed a couple of hunters walking on their way in at this time, and they were friendly with us.

The trail passed through a somewhat recently logged area through scrubby young trees, and then we came out to another prominent woods road. We continued straight to follow that woods road to the north.

We entered a very recently logged area next, with some logs still stacked along the old woods road. We went slightly uphill and then a gradual down hill for a while. Near the next height of land, the sun was setting to our left with brilliant pinks and oranges on the horizon.

When I looked back at the others trying to catch up to me, I could see Big Mountain Summit in the distance as we walked away from it, which would have looked very intimidating if we had been walking the other way.

I kept waiting for the others to catch up in this easy straight ahead section. We went slightly up again and then gradually down. The trail route we had to take was obvious. When the woods road came to an end, the Tuscarora Trail continued directly into the woods straight, where Geyer Trail went to the left.

I wanted to at least get some photos of the views and trail on the ridge top, and the others weren't in sight. I decided that I would just push ahead. Everyone with me was very experienced and knew how to follow trail markers, had flashlights, and and understood where we were going.

When I got into this woods section, I came across the most difficult section of trail of the entire hike. It was extremely rocky, often loose footing, and much of the rocks were just small enough to be easy to trip over.

There was a nice view at a talus slope to the right into the Path Valley. The footing switched from tiny rocks to very big rocks, and required a lot of attention to get over. There was one major outcropping along the ridge before the trail started dipping downhill on the final descent.

I reached that spot before the last bit of sunlight disappeared over the horizon, but it only afforded me the view of the crazy looking rocks I would have to contend with going down the Tuscarora Ridge.

The rocks became little again as I lost some elevation, which made tripping much more of a reality. I think this area was the site of another very major reroute because my old maps and guide seem to show the trail steeply climbing/descending here. Although it was steep at times, it got easier part of the way down.

The slope of the hill shifted from a bit of a slant to very steep, but at that point the trail was built as a side hill, going left and right with little bits of steps and such in between the turns. I was able to head down these switchbacks very quickly. I still had a tiny bit of ambient light left from the sunset to see the first of these, but then it was gone. I would occasionally turn my phone away from me, not with the flashlight on, but with the little bit of light emitted from turning the screen on. That was enough to guide me through most of that.

I could see steeply down below the headlights of cars going slowly down Richmond Road, navigation the bends up to the park or down to the valley.

The trail eventually reached a much lower level, very close to Richmond Road, and turned to the left on what was basically another old woods road. I followed it and weaved back into woods away from the road,

The trail soon led me out to cleared wooded areas of Cowans Gap State Park. I had to look around more closely for the trail blazes on the trees because I could no longer count on the route being delineated by treadway. I hit the unlock button on my phone and held it up to trees to determine which had the blazes on them and found my way out to Aughwick Road. I crossed and followed the trail route through picnic grounds, then out to the concrete walkway toward the beach complex there.

From that point, the cars were only a very short distance ahead, past the buildings in the lot. I didn't need to walk over there yet. I did pace back and forth from there and back a bit, but I wanted to stay on the trail to the southwest of the buildings to remain in the dark a bit more, and to watch for when the others were coming down the mountain.

The light on Cowan's Gap Lake was really nice, a deep dark blue in the dark with the silhouettes of evergreens around. The park was laid out by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, and I had already walked all the way around the lake, and all along the ridges in the other direction I could see.

I really feel a greater love for a place once I get to learn it so intimately. Aside from a slight concern that I might be approached by a bear, I was not at all worried and actually felt a bit at home standing alone there in the dark.

I'm certain the bottle of Dogfishhead Palo Santo Marron I had just finished probably helped me to relax some as well.

I could hear some slight noises that I thought were voices, and in the distance on the ridge, I started seeing flashes of light along the top. I stood and watched them, back and forth. The lights were flashing toward me, then would stop, then would start again as they took on the switchbacks on the way down. I watched the group make every turn until they disappeared into the foliage of the trees at about the same level as the lake. From then, it wasn't all that long before they all came out of the woods to me.

This ended up being a really hard hike, not because the bulk of it was so hard, but because the distance ended up being over twenty miles because of reroutes and unexpected circumstances. The elevation gain, because of all of the ups and downs between these points, was over three thousand feet.

That last section with the rocks and the descent put us right to the edge of exhaustion, but overall it was great. I got a ride back to mine and Diane's car with John, or Diane drove John and I back. Whichever the case, my car wouldn't start when I got there, and John had to jump me. I later found out that there is a problem with the car that when it won't start in park, I simply have to try again to start it in neutral.

This put me behind on getting home at reasonable hour, but it was still a worthwhile trip and great to knock out that last really big section. I only had one more of the "north half" segments of Tuscarora Trail remaining to do to get to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and that segment would according to the maps be the easiest section yet.