The Donut Hole Trail- Part 1
After much worrying about getting time off from work and getting a handle on the logistics, I finally did a thru-hike of the Donut Hole Trail in north central PA the week of August 18th. For those of you not familiar with the Donut Hole Trail it is a 90 mile trail in north central, very roughly paralleling the West Branch of the Susquehanna river between the towns of Jericho (near Sinnemahoning) and Farrandsville (near Lock Haven) {basically its an upside down U}. The KTA has this to say about it: " It is one of the most remote and challenging of the state’s backpacking trails and is for seasoned hikers only, with numerous steep climbs and unbridged stream crossings."...and..."At Jericho, the backpacker can walk about a mile west into Sinnemahoning to reach Bucktail Path, or walk over the river bridge and to a side street in the village of Wyside to access the Quehanna Trail, via the Old Sinnemahoning Road Trail." In other words it is an important part of the system of backpacking trails in that part of the state and at 90 miles the longest (outside of the long distance trails such as the MidState Trail or the AT).
I started out on the 18th at roughly noon at the east end in Jericho. I was dropped off by a grandson of a friend of my Mom's (I paid him a little more than the now defunct Lock Haven outfitters charged for their shuttle {his drive was further} - many thanks Ethan you earned every dollar!). As all the trail descriptions note there is no trail sign posts just a single orange paint blaze (as a side note the other end is not much better in that regard, in fact there are no trails registers at all unlike many other trails in the north central PA). It took a little while to discern where the trail went into the woods as it left Jericho because the next blaze after the last house in Jericho was not visible from the previous blaze, Anyway I was on my way and after a while had lunch, concerned about the amount of miles I needed to hike to finish the trail in a reasonable amount of time. Shortly after I was on the trail again after lunch I realized I had lost my photocopied pages of the KTA guide for the trail (I still had my pages from Jeff Mitchell's 'Backpacking Pennsylvania'). This was disconcerting as the KTA pages had a more detailed mileage description that I could use to keep track of my progress. Unfortunately, this would not be the last issue I would face on this trip. Anyway, after hiking the whole afternoon and getting near dinner time I was approaching Kettle Creek State Park where I reached a vista. I took the video below (it can also be reached via a dirt road for those that do not like to walk),
From here the trail descended towards the park. At the point I reached the junction with Alice's Trail (now blazed in yellow rather than blue as in some guide books) I left the Donut Hole trail to take Alice's Trail (this trail goes north a short distance to cross Kettle Creek on a highway bridge rather than fording the creek as the Donut Hole Trails does - although this adds distance to the hike, DCNR in fact prefers hikers to not ford the creek). Alice's Trail rejoins the Donut Hole trail at the Lower Campground in Kettle Creek State Park. Anyway, as it was getting late I camped on Alice's Trail before it reached the road going through the park. After I got a campfire going I spent some time melting the ice I still had in my hydration pack (I froze my water overnight before the hike to have cold water on the trail, it succeeded too well this time). This was the only night I heard any wildlife (probably a deer) in the night wandering near my food bag hang. That is always disconcerting. So my sleep that night wasn't the best.
The next morning there was some rain (light). I crossed the creek on the road bridge and noticed my one foot was feeling like a blister was forming in the bottom of it. I stopped to look but my ministrations were not very fruitful (skin was too thick I think). I went on (I was to regret later not doing more at that point). At the campground I rejoined the Donut Hole trail and filled my water containers at the water spigot (I also saw two campers walking - my only human contact that day). I drank as much then as I could to try to rehydrate. From this point I was on a portion of the trail I had day hiked the previous year and my previously entered GPS waypoints were a help in calibrating my progress.After hiking up Summerson Run and then some time through the woods on the plateau I saw a vista towards the Tamarack fire tower (I could only see the communications tower from there though). This vista let me know that I had a good climb ahead of me. This ended up being very true, but the view from the fire-tower was worth it. I got there about lunch time and had a nice lunch on the porch of 'Mary's Camp' that was next to the fire tower. It was probably the cabin for the personnel using the fire tower when it was actually in service.
After lunch and getting some water from the well (it was a little discolored though) I pushed on. When I reached the road (PA route 44) there was a piped spring that I got more water from. It was good to get water from a nice source for springs like this (where I do not need to treat my water) relatively quickly. After crossing the road and another 1/2 hour or so I almost literally ran into three bear cubs. They were more scared of me than I was of them and two of them climbed a nearby tree. Although it would have made a nice photo I was more concerned with where mama bear night be and getting away down the trail in case she was nearby. I did not see another bear and while walking down the trail I kept looking back to make sure there wasn't one. I finally made camp about a mile from the junction with the Susquehannock Trail. This completed day two of the hike.