Hemlock Hikes   

Hemlock 1.1 (March 2008): Lick Run: The Best Hike 10 Minutes From Campus

Lick Run is a great short hike (4 miles out & back/2 hours round trip) that is close to campus.  To get there from LHU, go east on Water Street to the Jay Street Bridge (across from the courthouse).  Turn left onto the bridge, and then left onto the Farrandsville Road.  Follow the road for 6.6 miles.  At 3.3 miles (Queens Run) you need to turn left to stay on Farrandsville Rd.  At 5.2 miles, the road will bear right and cross the railroad tracks, entering the town of Farrandsville.  Note the Farrandsville iron furnace at 5.5 miles.  The last 100 yards of the road are gravel, as you enter State Game Land 89.  At 6.6 miles you'll reach the stream (the road continues but is usually gated at the bridge)  Park your vehicle in the parking lot to the right.

The gated trail is to the left of the road and follows the stream for two miles through thickets of rhododendron and forests of old hemlocks and tulip poplars.  Just a few yards up the trail on the left is a stone fireplace that was probably used by the Farrandsville Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) camp that was in this area from 1933-41.  At 1/2 mile (10 minutes), the Donut Hole Trail (orange blazes) leaves the Lick Run trail on the left and continues for about 80 miles to Jericho, PA (keep following the trail to the right).  Lick Run is classified as a Wilderness Trout Water, and on any given day, you might see turkeys, grouse, or deer.  At the end of the trail there is a rock chair (probably built by the CCC).  Before you head back to campus, relax by the stream, which has been designated a Pennsylvania Wild & Scenic River. Although the trail is flat and not especially difficult, it is often muddy, so you might want to wear hiking boots.  Also, since this is state game land, you should pay attention to hunting seasons and wear bright orange when appropriate.

Hemlock 1.2 (April 2008): Where Your Water Comes From
Leonard Charles, Jim Dodge, Lynn Milliman and Victoria Stockley have developed a quiz to evaluate your sense of place.  Titled "Where You At? A Bioregional Quiz," it asks a series of questions about the environment in which you live.  The first question is: "Trace the water you drink from precipitation to tap."  To help you get started answering this question, you might take the following hike.

From the Clinton County Courthouse (Water & Jay streets), turn right onto Jay Street.    Go .7 miles and turn left onto 220 North (Williamsport).  Go 4.5 miles to the next exit (McElhattan), and at the bottom of the ramp turn right.  Continue 1.2 miles on Reservoir Road, which becomes a fairly rough gravel road after the first half mile.  When your reach a red gate, park your car.  Go through the gate (it's legal) and follow the gravel road. 

You'll pass a second red gate, and, after about .4 miles (8 minutes), you'll see some white buildings to the left.  This is Zindel Park, a true oddity.  In the late 1920s, the City of Lock Haven constructed the small reservoir and the house, which was occupied by water officials.  Next to the reservoir is a shrine, which contains lava from the Mount Etna volcano.  After you've explored Zindel Park, return to the gravel road and continue up it for five minutes until you reach the dam of Keller Reservoir.  Lock Haven's water supply is stored in this reservoir and in McElhattan Reservoir, which is 3.5 miles up McElhattan Creek.  If you continue to follow the road to the left, it crosses the creek (depending on water level you might get your feet wet), and then runs beside the reservoir, offering great views. When you've reached the end of the reservoir, you've hiked about 1.25 miles--you can return to your vehicle or continue to explore the trails upstream from the reservoir. 

Hemlock 1.3 (May 2008): Paddling Fishing Creek
    

--D. J. Scott (LHU Secondary Education Science Major)

For a great local canoe and kayak run, check out Fishing Creek.  The creek itself runs through Mill Hall, Lock Haven, and Castanea, but you spend the majority of this two-hour trip in peaceful wilderness seclusion.  You will most definitely enjoy yourself as you see this area from a perspective that most people never get to experience.

The put-in spot is the Ax Factory Dam at the Mill Hall Fishing Creek Access Port off Route 64 (from Walmart, turn right onto 150 South/Hogan Blvd.  Go .3 miles and, after crossing the bridge, turn left onto 64 South.  Go 1.4 miles and turn left onto Nittany Valley Drive).  The take-out (where you'll want to leave your other vehicle) is the PA Fish and Boat Launch Ramp in Castanea (Take the Castanea/LHU exit from 220 North; at the bottom of the ramp turn right towards Castanea; take the first right, and then the first right onto the gravel road that leads to the ramp).

After the put-in at Mill Hall, you go through a small boulder garden, which is a great place to work on catching eddies.  Then you pass through the heart of Mill Hall.  You almost always gets some raised eyebrows from passing cars.  As you continue, be aware of two trouble spots.  The area directly after the country club has a tree on river left which isn’t very friendly.  To avoid it, go under the right bridge abutment.  The other area of concern comes after the confluence of Fishing Creek with Bald Eagle Creek-- a series of small islands that are little more then patches of driftwood and small trees.  They look really nice, but they end up making a maze with plenty of strainer-filled dead-ends.  From personal experience, be safe and stay towards the middle of the creek.

Spring is best time to go, or right after a hard rain, because Fishing Creek is fairly shallow.  For a quick reference, check the water level at the old bridge pier across from the car dealership on Rt 64.  The water should be at either covering the pier or just under it.  Also, as the name suggests, the creek is a very popular trout stream, so remember to share the waters and respect other users.

Hemlock 2.1 (September 2008): State Game Land 295
To see the hemlocks described in Professor Overton's article, try the following 10 mile hike (4-5 hours).  First, download the map of SGL 295.  Go to LHU's Sieg Conference Center, which is 14 miles from campus (directions).  Do not turn into Sieg; instead continue on Narrows Road for two tenths of a mile until you reach the bridge over Cherry Run.  Park in the lot on the left and follow the red blazes to the main trail--you will cross two (slippery!) wooden bridges before reaching the trail, where you turn left (note the red arrow sign) and begin following Cherry Run northeast.  After 4.5 miles (about 2 hours), you will reach a gravel road (Cherry Run Road).  Turn right and follow the gravel road south for 1/2 mile.  The road continues southwest along Bear Run for 4.5 miles, gradually becoming a trail, before it connects again to Narrows Road.  Turn right on Narrows Road and a half mile later, you will be back at your car.

This is a beautiful hike that is not terribly difficult.  Most of it is level, and, with the exception of a few muddy and rocky areas, the trail is smooth.  The hemlocks on the return leg down Bear Run seem to be the most damaged by the wooly adelgid.  You can see trout in the small pools of Bear Run. (My thanks to my hiking partners who helped me investigate this trail--Mark, Lisette, John, Sue, Elizabeth, and Max.)

Hemlock 2.2 (Oct 2008): The Eagleton Mine Camp Trail
     ----Robert G. Zakula

If you're interested in hiking the EMCT, first download the maps of the Sproul State Forest and Eagleton Mine Camp Trail.  To get to the EMCT trailhead, take Route 120 west from Lock Haven for about 7 miles.  Look for a large wooden sign displaying Eagleton Mine Camp Trail and turn left onto Eagleton Road.  Follow this unpaved logging road for a little over 2 miles to the eastern trailhead; there is a large gravel parking lot on the right near a set of power lines.  Little Buckhorn Trail, .4 miles west of the parking area on Eagleton Road, is highly recommended for its challenging climbs, unparalleled ridgelines, and multiple stream crossings.  To reach the western trailhead, follow Eagleton Road west for roughly 3 miles—the gravel parking lot will be on the left.

Hemlock 2.3 (November 2008): Bald Eagle Mountain
This hike is a strenuous climb (1000 feet in a little less than a mile), but the view at the top is well worth it.  The hike follows a powerline straight up the mountain, and the path is badly eroded and covered with rocks, so hiking boots are strongly recommended.

From campus, go east on Water Street to Jay Street (the courthouse) and turn right.  Follow Jay Street/PA-120 for 1 mile, crossing over Bald Eagle Creek into Castanea (Latin for "chestnut," presumably because of the many chestnut trees in the area).  The road becomes Jarrett Avenue; continue to the end (yellow arrow sign) and turn right.  The gravel road leading to the powerline is on the right--you can park there or along Jarrett Avenue.

The climb is steep with several false peaks.  Depending upon your speed and the number of breaks you take, it should take you about 30 minutes to get up.  Once you reach the top of the powerline, stop and enjoy the view.  To the north is Castanea and the city of Lock Haven (the university is visible to the far left).  This is an excellent vantage point to appreciate the remarkable geology of this area.  You are standing on the westernmost ridge of the Appalachian Ridge and Valley Province that runs from Georgia to Maine.  Stretching away to the north, you can see the rolling hills and narrow valleys of the Appalachian Plateau, a completely different mountain formation.  The Susquehanna River curves toward Renova (northwest), and Jersey Shore/Williamsport (east).  Behind you, to the south, is the second fold of Bald Eagle Mountain.  In the valley below is Harveys Run; just beyond the second fold is the Lock Haven exit of Interstate 80, which cuts south through a gap in Nittany Mountain (the next ridge of the Appalachians).  To the east Bald Eagle Mountain continues past the gap cut by Harvey's Run.  These mountains were formed 250 million years ago when Africa collided with North America (imagine pushing on a carpet--the folds are the Appalachian mountains).  As bizarre as it seems, my colleagues in geology tell me that the top of Bald Eagle Mountain is actually the base of the Nittany Anticline, a now-eroded mountain that rose an additional 10,000 feet above where you are standing.   

If you follow the trail to the right, you will shortly reach the peak (1705 feet above sea level).  There isn't much of a view from here, but you can feel good about having reached the top of one of the highest mountains in this area.  Return the way you came, stopping frequently to enjoy the different views as you come down.  Thanks to Mark Smith for telling me about this hike, to Khaleq for help with the geology, and to my wife, Elizabeth, for accompanying me on a windy Tuesday to take the pictures.

Hemlock 2.5 (February 2008): The Mid State Trail in Woolrich
The Mid State trail is 260 miles long, stretching from the southern Pennsylvania border near Bedford, to the northern border near Lawrenceville.  Part of it jogs through our area as it passes from the ridge-and-valley mountains to the Allegheny Plateau.  This hike introduces you to a two-mile stretch of the trail, beginning at the Woolrich Clothing Outlet #1 in Woolrich, PA.  John Rich began making clothes in this area in the 1830s, and if you haven't been to the factory outlet yet, you're missing one of the better shopping opportunities in this area.  To get to the outlet, take 220 north to the McElhattan exit and then follow the signs.  Park your car in the overflow lot to the left of the building.  The hike is approximately four miles round trip; in the snow, it takes about two hours.

In the park adjacent to the parking lot (an excellent place for a picnic), you'll see several small buildings.  Walk towards the open-fronted lean-to.  This shelter was donated by the Woolrich Company in 2007.  Note the orange blazes on the trees--you'll be following these for the rest of the hike.  Follow the blazes to the southeast (away from the outlet) through the park.  After a few minutes, you'll come to Park Avenue (the road into the outlet); turn right, cross the street and follow the blazes for about a third of a mile until you come to Gravel Hill Road, where the trail turns left.  Cross Chatham Run and a second small stream, and then follow the blazes to the right into the woods.  You'll have to scramble across a small stream (frozen when we were there), and then the trail climbs gradually a few hundred feet through a beautiful hemlock forest.

Once you reach the top, you'll follow several old logging roads southeast, along a ridge that parallels Park Avenue.  We saw turkey, deer, and bobcat tracks.  After about a mile, the trail turns right (southwest), and descends to Route 150, across from the Susque Valley Animal Hospital.  At this point, you've walked almost two miles.  You can either return the way you came, or go to the right (southwest) on Route 150 for about a third of a mile to Harley Drive.  Take a right, and another few minutes will bring you to Park Avenue--take a right and you'll be one and a half miles from the outlet.  When you get back, I recommend breakfast or lunch at the Woolrich Village Cafe (around the right side of the building).

I recently purchased the 11th edition of the guide to the Mid State Trail (available at local outdoor stores for $38).  I hate to complain about anything that is done by the outstanding MST Association (a nonprofit group formed in 1982 to build and maintain the trail), but there is significant room for improvement with this guide.  Included in this edition for the first time are two excellent full-color maps for the second half of the trail.  But the MSTA needs to simplify the Byzantine system they use to number their maps.  Instead of Map #1, #2, #3, etc., the maps are numbered 213-15, then 303 (old map 216), then 217, 311, and so forth.  To add to the confusion, several maps have stickers that say things like "This map is OBSOLETE.  Please see map #304.  Map 303/304 supersedes this map."  The guide itself is little more than a list of the turns the trail takes, as opposed to a compendium of interesting information on the natural and cultural history of places on the trail (the guide to the Black Forest Trail and the Loyalsock Trail are both very good at this).  Finally, I find the MSTA's insistence on using only the metric system preachy and annoying.  I'm still a bit confused about the logic of their claim that "Metrification is a patriotic measure designed to help end our cultural isolation and ease our chronic balance of payments problems" (p. 19).  But provide a good map, and the guide is superfluous anyway.  Alternatives to the guide can be found in Jeff Mitchell's Backpacking Pennsylvania (who thankfully uses miles), and the various state forest maps that cover the trail (this particular hike is on the Tiadaghton State Forest map).  The response of the MSTA to this rant would undoubtedly be, "If you think you can do better why don't you join us instead of complaining." And they'd be right, of course!

Hemlock 2.6 (March 2009): Natural Gas Production in the Sproul State Forest
This drive/hike takes you to a site in the Sproul State Forest where you can see first-hand what natural gas production looks like.  Along the way, you'll be exposed to some central Pennsylvania literary history.  The roads are passable in a regular car, especially in a few weeks when the last of the snow melts, but a four-wheel drive vehicle is better.

Begin at Walmart and turn right onto Rt. 150 South.  In about 4 miles, you'll be entering the outskirts of Beech Creek, which is the site of Alison Bechdel's graphic novel, Fun Home.  If you've never read it, Fun Home is the story of a young woman's struggle to come to terms with her father's death, the secrets uncovered in the wake of it, and her own identity.  Most of it takes place in central Pennsylvania and some of the sites mentioned in the novel can be seen on this trip.  At 4.4 miles, on the left, is the place where her father was struck by a truck and killed.  At 6.4 miles, note the pink house on the left--this is the former funeral home that is alluded to in the title.  If you turn left onto Maple Street and go .2 miles, the beige house on the left (169 Maple) is the Victorian house that her father restored.

Return on Maple to Rt. 150 and turn left.  After .2 miles, just before the bridge, turn right onto Water Street/the Monument-Orviston Road (Rt. 364).  The stream to the left is Beech Creek, a sad example of the residual effects of coal mining, an earlier extractive industry in this area.  Although it looks beautiful, the red rocks indicate that the stream is dead, killed by acid mine drainage (AMD).  However, the Beech Creek Watershed Association is working hard to undo the damage.

After 2.3 miles, you'll come to an intersection: the Monument-Orviston Rd. curves to the left and crosses a bridge; Falls Rd. goes sharply to the right--go more or less straight onto Martin's Grove Rd., which becomes the Beech Creek Mountain Road.  After .5 miles you'll need to bear slightly right to stay on it.  The road becomes a moderately rough gravel road as it climbs the mountain.  At about 7 miles, you'll start seeing natural gas wells and their accompanying storage tanks.  At 8.7 miles from Rt. 150, turn right onto the Eagleton Road.    After you go 1.3 miles (10 miles from Rt. 150), turn right into the parking lot of the Eagleton Mine Camp Trail (EMCT, described in the October 2008 Hemlock).  Park your car and notice the green storage tank next to the parking lot.

The hike is 2.8 miles and takes about an hour.  From the parking lot, walk back to Eagleton Road and turn right, following the red blazes of the EMCT.  After about a third of a mile, you will see a well site and a large compressor to the left, but you will hear the engine and smell the diesel fumes before that.  This is well #42, operated by NCL Natural Resources, of The Woodlands, Texas.  DEP received the permit application for this well on March 14, 2008; the permit was issued 27 days later on April 10th.  Drilling began on June 13.  To me, this doesn't seem like a long time to wait, especially since this well is sitting on top of the Baker Run watershed.  Well #42 is located on Tract 653, a one-mile by three-mile rectangle of state forest land that contains about 20 active wells (the Google Earth image above gives a sense of the web of access roads and well pads in this area).

Immediately after you pass the well site, the EMCT turns left and follows the gravel road to the east of the site.  After a quarter of a mile, the trail turns right into the woods.  A few hundred feet later, you'll see another well to the left (you'll still be able to hear the compressor from well #42).  Continue to follow the blazed trail along Smokehouse Run.  This is one of the prettier parts of the EMCT, and it's worth remembering that a hundred years ago this entire area would have been treeless, the result of clear-cut logging, the earliest of Pennsylvania's extractive industries.  About a mile after you've left the compressor, you'll come to a intersection with a trail.  Leave the EMCT, turn right and climb a small hill--after about a quarter mile, you'll reach the Eagleton Road (note the well to the left).  Turn right and return to your car (you'll know you're close when you hear the compressor engine).  This entire hike has taken place in Sproul State Forest--land owned by the citizens of Pennsylvania.

You can either return the way you came, or follow the Eagleton Road 8.8 miles until it ends at Rt. 120 (it was very icy when we went this way).  Turn right and follow Rt. 120 back to Lock Haven.

The Environmental Focus Group
Bob Myers (chair), Md. Khalequzzaman, Lenny Long, Jeff Walsh, Danielle Tolton, John Crossen, Sandra Barney, David White, Tom Ormond.  The committee is charged with promoting and supporting activities, experiences, and structures that encourage students, faculty, and staff to develop a stronger sense of place for Lock Haven University and central Pennsylvania.  Such a sense of place involves a stewardship of natural resources (environmentalism), meaningful outdoor experiences, and appreciation for the heritage of the region.