MidState Trail
My main backpacking trip of 2016 was on a northern section of the MidState Trail in Pennsylvania. For logistical reasons I picked the section closest to my Mom's and that could be supported by the shuttle from Pine Creek Outfitters in Ansonia, PA. The furthest south their shuttle reaches for the MidState trail is Ramsey, PA on State Route 44, south of Little Pine State Park (see previous blog entries on day-hikes starting from there). A note, I used the Pine Creek Outfitters shuttle for my West Rim Trail backpack trip in May 2005 so I knew they were reliable and reasonable - they did not disappoint this time either; please use them if you are in that area for hiking, biking or rafting (no, they are not paying me for this!).
Anyway, I started this trip at the intersection of the trail at Route 44 where the Rail Trail (which the MidState Trail follows here a bit) is next to the road. When I got off the shuttle, the trail headed south from the drop-off point (not intuitive for a north bound hiker, but a serendipitous meeting with a woman at the drop off point clarified it, BTW she said her husband had done the MidState Trail and that it was hard). From this point the trail went south along the road (I think the shuttle driver was a little nervous about my hiking along the road, but it was no big deal). The trail went maybe a tenth of a mile before heading left (east) into the woods and up the first climb of the day. The immediateness of the climb and its degree of difficulty reminded me of the Loyalsock Trail a couple of years earlier (see that post for details). It was just before 11 am when I started hiking (the shuttle ride was longish due to the distance between Ansonia and Ramsey). So there wasn't too much hiking before I took a break for lunch.
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| A panoramic view |
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| Note sign indicating view (seen in photo above) |
After this break I was headed towards the point I had turned around at during my previous years day-hike from Little Pine State Park. With the trail in the woods the little spritzes of rain made the rock slippery, but did not make the air any cooler (it was hot and humid during the entire trip). On one section I stepped on a large wet flat rock and slipped and fell, scraping my left arm where I tried to break my fall. This was not my only slip, but the only injury (fortunately). Eventually I reached the same stream and bridge I had photographed the previous year (and shown below). I stopped for water here in an attempt to stay hydrated. A note - hydration on summer backpack trips has always been difficult for me, I sweat a lot and after the first day, drinking lukewarm water, even if flavored becomes unpleasant.
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| Stop for water (just downhill from above photo) |
After this stop I pushed on toward Little Pine State Park. It seemed to take a long time, but I got there in the late afternoon and managed to get a good drink of water from one of the park water fountains.The trail goes through the park campground so I did see other people, but they ignored me. At the park entrance (the trail crosses Route 414 here) , there is a small restaurant and a store. The shuttle driver had suggested eating at the restaurant, but (a) I was sweaty and smelly and (b) I thought it would take too much time [I had come to the same conclusion at Cross Fork 5 years earlier when I last backpacked the STS]. But, I did go in the store to buy ice cream (chocolate of course) that I ate while sitting down across the road. It was nice to have a treat like that even if it was before dinner. Anyway, after the ice cream, I resumed the hike which took me uphill again (I had also walked on this part of the trail on an earlier day-hike). Around the time I reached the summit of the hill I met a family out for walk (obviously camped at the state park). They were looking for another trail to take them back to the road/campground (I forget the name of the trail). Since I did not know of it and they declined my offer to look at my map (they had there own state forest map which typically shows any usable trail) I went on without another word. Eventually (maybe 10 minutes later) I passed the trail they were looking for, but suspect they decided to turn around and go the way they came. Soon after that I stopped for dinner. Even though I was near the summit, actually a little past, there was no view due to the dense woods. Of course, I wasn't very hungry due to the earlier ice cream, but I did eat. After this break I hiked a bit more then stopped for the night at a likely looking spot and realized right away that others had thought so too as there was two fire rings already in place (bonus in my book as it kept me from needing to make one for my own campfire). I set up camp reasonably quickly and got my campfire going.
When I turned in about an hour later there was a lack of the woodland noise that sometimes make me wonder about animals lurking about near my camp. I attribute this reduction to the proximity to the summit which would make it difficult for large animals to be wondering around (and no sources of water).
The next morning I set off after breaking camp, and soon started steeply downhill (I knew before hand about the steepness from my previous day-hike). It took about 30 minutes to reach the bottom due to having to be very careful taking each step. At the bottom I soon went by a trail sign (see photo below) and then went by a hunting camp.
From here the trail climbed gradually and then more steeply to a view, seen below.
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| Panorama shot |
Notice the fog on the left, it was still morning and the fog was still in the valley, but I had a nice view. I had my breakfast here during my morning break, but eventually made myself get up to keep moving. From here the trail does not climb, but follows a mellow path for a number of miles. I began seeing MST signs for the 'Bark Cabin Natural Area'. Where the trail crossed the natural area there was only more woods, but that was to be expected. I continued on, stopping for lunch and then pushing on until I reached the 'Browns Fork 1916 Cabin'. The cabin, which sits by a stream where I got some water, is still being used (as a hunting camp I think). Although it has a modern addition it certainly has a certain character to it. I briefly thought about camping here for the night as there was a wide area, but as I needed to get further up the trail for the day I pushed on.
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| Browns Fork 1916 Cabin |
I pushed on for awhile, but due to my low energy level decided to make camp off to the side of the trail. There was no fire ring already in place like the previous night so I made a small one out of the meager number of stones I could find (you would think in a place nicknamed by the hiker community as 'rocksylvania' there would be no problem finding enough stones for a fire ring but I did have a hard time). Its just as well as so to reduce my impact on the area. It was a decent place to camp.
The next morning, knowing I was 1/2 day away from the town of Blackwell, I started thinking about what I wanted to do once I reached Blackwell. The morning hiking went okay, but the terrain got a bit tougher, i.e., uphill, as I approached Gillespie Point (aka the Matterhorn of Pennsylvania). I had hiked through that area a few years ago on another day-hike so I knew it was no picnic. I took my breakfast break around the same location that I had turned around on during my previous day-hike. And soon after that I passed a fisherman that did not seem very friendly (maybe he thought I was disturbing the fish?). From that point the trail went steadily uphill and at some point I felt a sharp twinge in my Achilles tendon. The pain gradually subsided, but it did figure into my thinking later in the day. When I finally reached Gillespie Point I stopped long enough to take some photos (although I had some from the day-hike already).
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| View from Gillespie Point |
If you blow up the photo a bit you might notice the town of Blackwell just right of center. The trail goes down fairly steeply from here and eventually reaches a road that then soon hits route 414. From here it is road walking into town (after crossing an open grate bridge). Then the big treat of the day was reaching Miller's Store. I went in to (the sign advertised ice cream and it was lunch time) get myself something to eat. I ordered ice cream (chocolate again) and a sandwich (I asked about pizza, but it was going to take longer than I wanted to wait). If you are ever in the town of Blackwell I suggest stopping there for food. Anyway, I carried my treats down the road (the trail was still following the road) and to the Pine Creek rail trail which the MST follows for a bit. After getting just out of town I sat down by the side of the rail trail (it was very hot and I wanted some shade) and had my lunch. I skipped my usual trail lunch and ate the sandwich and ice cream, plus drinking the electrolyte drink I bought at the store too.
It was during lunch that I thought more about whether I would stay out another night on the trail or try to make it back to Ansonia that day. Three things influenced my thinking, the fact that I would only go in a few miles on the MST after it left the rail trail at most anyway, I was hot and getting more dehydrated and the Achilles tendon (the trail climbs steeply away from the rail trail and I thought that might make the tendon worse). So, even though it meant another 17 miles of walking, I decided against another night on the trail and stayed on the rail trail after the MST split off from it. - Side note: a day-hike four weeks later showed me that it was a good decision as the campsite I would have stopped at had no water due to the drought conditions - see related blog entry). So, I continued on the rail trail and because I had walked it before, knew there was nice area for a break at Tiadaghton about midway. When I reached it I was hot and thirsty so I stopped at the little picnic area. There were other people there, mostly bike riders having there own break. I tried to nap a little, but without success. After my break I went on, trying to stay in shade, but with only moderate success.
Some time after that I spotted a bear cub along the rail trail. I made some noise and it skedaddled back into the woods, its mother not to be seen. About midway between Tiadaghton and Darling Run there was a piped spring along the rail trail. Instead of trying to purify it I decided to drink it straight from the pipe as there were no signs warning about its purity like there was at the water pump in Tiadaghton. This was good and revived me a bit; the water I was carrying, because of the heat was actually fairly hot and undrinkable. This bit of water kept me going to Darling Run. Let me say here, that although the rail trail is fairly flat and smooth and I could keep a decent pace, it still took me a number of hours to make it all the way to Darling Run. And even then I had to walk another mile to get to Marsh Creek where I could get off the rail trail and get to Route 6.
It was around 6 o'clock when I got to Marsh Creek and was able to finally leave the rail trail and head toward Pine Creek Outfitters (about another mile away to the west on Route 6). As I was walking along the road that connected Route 6 with the Marsh Creek area on the rail trail, a car slowly approached me from the back. The woman driving decided she had to warn me about a bear she had seen minutes ago in the woods nearby. I thanked her for the warning, but did not tell her that I had seen a bear cub earlier in the day and I had much closer encounters with bears than the one she was worried about. I did look around, but saw no bear and did not worry about it. I walked along the Route 6 highway and reached Pine Creek Outfitters and my vehicle about 6:30 pm.