Yet Another Day-Hike in the Quehanna Wild Area
I found time to get in a day hike over the Memorial Day weekend. And again it was in the Quehanna Wild Area of PA. I like this area due to the reasonable access and the various trails that can be linked together for an interesting day-hike. This hike started on the northern side of the Wild area at the Forest HQ seen below.
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| Forestry HQ |
Across from this gate was the small parking area and kiosk seen here.
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| Kiosk at parking area |
Did you notice the phone? This was the only trail parking that I have seen with a phone. Presumably its function is to make an emergency call. It is not a pay phone and when I picked up the receiver there was no dial tone, not sure what that means. Although it was a Saturday on a holiday weekend, I was the only one parked there (someone drove in to the parking area, but quickly left). Anyway, from the parking area I crossed the Quehanna Highway to the unimproved road that I knew from the map intersected the trail I was hiking, the Mosquito Creek Trail.
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| Unimproved road |
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| Start of Mosquito Creek Trail |
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| Cut field |
As you can see in the bottom photo the tractor was left behind, I assume to finish the job later. After crossing the field the trail followed a woods road. Soon the trail crossed a wooden bridge large enough to drive across (below).
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| Wooden Bridge |
After a few more minutes the trail entered the woods again, but still on the woods road. I was looking for a turn to the left off of the woods road, but missed it. I realized I had missed it when I could see a parked car ahead. Consulting the map told me I had come too far and was approaching the terminus of the trail at the next dirt road. So, I back tracked about 5-20 minutes, looking for where I missed the turn. I finally saw the blaze, covered by leaves from a branch, indicating the turn.
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| Trail-post indicating trail going into woods |
From here the trail heads towards Mosquito Creek. Its is level for awhile but then starts going slightly downhill. Closer to the creek the footing gets rougher and I could hear the stream (rather full of water) rushing close by. After some more walking along the creek and wondering when I would get to the bridge (for the Bridge Trail) I finally did reach the bridge (last seen in a previous day-hike last year). The bridge is shown below.
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| Bridge over Mosquito Creek |
I stopped here to have my lunch and decide whether I would return the way I came or come up with a different route back. With the many trails in the area this was not too difficult to imagine. I had not intended to doing anything other than return the way I came, but from looking at the map I decided it was possible to make a loop out of my hike, even though it meant hiking on some trail I had hiked last year or earlier. So, after lunch I headed out on the Bridge Trail towards the east cross connector trail (it connects the northern stretch of the Quehanna Trail to the southern stretch). This was familiar walking to me from last year's hike. For awhile it seemed I was heading in the wrong direction, but I re-checked my course and I was going the right way. I reached the junction with the Cross Connector and turned left (or north). I had been on the Cross Connector at least three times before (twice when backpacking the Quehanna Trail). So, there was no novelty to hiking on it (so no pictures, sorry). After some more pleasant hiking I reached the Beaver Run Shallow Water Impoundment. This is a pleasant pond, as seen below.
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| Beaver Run Shallow Water Impoundment |
The trail here is a bit confusing and it should not surprise you that on my first Quehanna Trail backpack was the scene of some anxiety producing mis-steps where I lost the trail for a number of minutes. Being alert to this I was careful and stayed on the trail. On the pond there was a flock of geese honking away and avoiding me.After leaving the pond I soon reached the junction with the Marion Brooks Loop trail (below).
After signing the trail register (in the black mailbox). I headed north on the Marion Brooks Loop trail towards the Quehanna Highway. It did not take long to reach the road and across the road was a car parked with people outside of it at the Marion Brooks Natural Area parking lot. They ignored me and I took to walking along the side of the road for about a mile and a half. Eventually, I reached the Forestry Headquarters and my vehicle. This turned out to be a nice hike, even if the last bit was along the road.
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