PA Mason Dixon Trail: Apollo County Park Lollipop

I'm so fortunate to have access to this National Recreation Trail, the 200-mile-long Mason Dixon Trail, just a few minutes from home. Sometimes its so easy to just run out the door, drive a few miles, and hit the trail. But sometimes my excitement with that can get me in trouble. Confession later. With the longer, warmer afternoon of late, I decided to get a good hour of hiking in while there was still good light after work. I grabbed my daypack and some snacks and took off. Starting in Apollo County Park at the Shenks Ferry Road parking area I followed both an older, "dis-blazed' section of the MDT to connect to the current trailway to make a 1.75 mile strenuous loop. The creek ravines here are steep and rocky and the uphills can be real lung-busters. 

Dis-blazed MDT section

The MDT is often rerouted due to a number of reasons: hiking permissions are lost storm damaged trails are closed, or trail is moved off roadways as permissions are gained. The work of long distance trail clubs with regard to boundary work and rights-of-way is never ending. Trail crews create new sections and close old ones, blazing, re-blazing, un/dis-blazing as they go. Its a lot of legal and physical work go into the MDT.  

Storm damaged section

Within the county park, the old route is still passable but just barely as it steeply tumbles into a ravine that has suffered heavy storm damage. It was hard to navigate a jumble of downed, big trees  and at one point it was just easier to climb up on a fat horizontal trunk and travel twenty feet down its length to avoid the literal log jam of trees under it. I had to resort to my GPS to find where the current MDT intersected this old stretch of gnarly trail but soon enough we were bushwacking across up a small stream valley to find fresh blue blazes on the opposite hill. 

Last ice?

The little stream still wore its winter's blanket of ice in places and I wondered if this is the last of it here, but knowing we still have some cold days to come, it may hang on a while longer. We had a little fun slipping and sliding on ice patches as we navigated the stream towards where the bright blue blazes shone through the trees in the low afternoon light. A flock of snow geese, one of the largest I've seen all winter covered the sky from horizon to horizon, their barking and squawking filling the forest with noise. 

V-shaped stream valley

The shape of the stream valley tells me a lot about it. With no flood plain to absorb water, the banks climb a steep pitch to form a V and that acts like a funnel to direct heavy rains and snowmelt quickly down to the river. The stream is actively carving its way down and out to the Susquehanna, a typical stream profile for this rugged Susquehanna Riverland topography. Fallen trees act as dams to force heavy water up, around, and gouging down and the rocky substrate, full of sharp schist cobble and broken outcrop boulders along its walls, are signs that this stream floods regularly and with force. This is not a place to pitch a tent or linger with the threat of heavy weather. 

 

We found our way to the current trail by following the V-shaped valley within sight of the nice backpackers shelter high above us on the hillside. We climbed the valley partway up. Here I stopped to check things out, packed out only a few wrappers, and gave the shelter a little spring cleaning by sweeping out leaves from the back corners and tossed branches off the porch. After late lunch of local beef sticks and cheese, a bowl of water for Amos and a some Turkey Hill Iced Tea for me, I signed the shelter log and we were back on trail. 

4 o'clock "tea" stop

Sign the register!

The steep climb up the trail to the rolling field edge above was only made possible by the 90-pound coonhound pulling me via his leash as I'd forgotten my hiking sticks and I am so out of shape from few workouts like this over the winter. I begged him to stop so I could catch my breath and flushed a Pileated Woodpecker from its patch. The tree I leaned against had on its reverse side the best Pileated Woodpecker cavity work - squared off corners on a long rectangular opening and several other access holes drilled into the punky wood where surely beetle and ant larvae were found. 

Pileated Woodpecker 

I apologized to the big woodpecker for flushing it as Amos took this to mean "Pull!" and off we went to top out at the cornfield ahead. I did glimpse that woodpecker on the return to its tree, flying a lazy, swooping circle around the crest of the hill to make sure we were headed away. It's shed season, so we checked every deer trail that crossed the MDT - and there were a lot - but found no antlers today. We'll try again soon. 

A rugged lollipop hike

Now the confession. I was so excited to get out after work for this hike that I neglected to let anyone know where I'd gone. I broke one of my own very very very important rules. Risky forgetfulness for a trail that is known in this part of PA as being not only rugged but risky for the unprepared hiker. A few months back an experienced trail runner died in a fall into one of these steep MDT ravines and others have been seriously hurt trying to navigate this rocky path within a few minutes of where I live. Although my late afternoon hike was adventurous and physically challenging it was luckily uneventful. I didn't realize that I'd forgotten to alert my son and daughter-in-law (who live nearby) until I sat in my truck ready to head home as the sun was setting. I'd actually begun a text to them to let them know I'd finished my hike and suddenly realized I hadn't alerted them in the first place! Idiot. Lucky idiot. 

Notes:

Mason Dixon Trail website:  https://masondixontrail.wixsite.com/mdts

PA - York Heritage Rail Trail 2025 Spring Hikes - Northern Extension: Segments 1 & 2

Let's walk with spring on the York County Heritage Rail Trail over the next month or two and see what the Codorus Creek Valley holds in store. This is the best time of year to see ruins and old industrial relicts while the woods are bare. Geology (my favorite hiking hobby) is easy to appreciate and I'm always on the lookout for old quarries and mines. Lots of great birding, too. Amos the Minor Prophet, is my hiking partner. 

Codorus Creek 

Segment #1: John Rudy County Park to Emig Road Bridge (Feb 10, 2025) [Yellow on Map]

This was a 4-mile out-and-back starting and ending at the northern terminus of the York Heritage Rail Trail Extension in John Rudy Park. Once we walked out of John Rudy County Park  we came almost immediately to a beautiful winter vista of the creek, extra full with snow and ice meltwater, and a very broad flood plain. Cattle and horses grazed on a portion of the plain while another large section is farmed for crops. During large flooding events this landscape is underwater. 

Ruins of a smokehouse

The paved trail dips down along a cut-bank of the Codorus, past the present-day park administrative and maintenance buildings that were once the farmhouse, barns, and outbuildings of the Bixler Farmstead. The farm's smokehouse ruins are found right on the trail and contain a mix of red sandstone, limestone, quartz, and dolostone ( higher in magnesium than limestone). When these old farmsteads were built, stone was always sourced from fields or from pits nearby, so I kept my eye open for small quarries and waste rock piles. It wasn't long before I saw both. 

Limestone boulder

Amos was his usual 90-pound LOUD self as we turned a bend to cross over a small bridge to surprise a herd of Whitetail Deer. The gods were awakened! The deer vanished! A flock of Hooded Mergansers sprung from the main creek and Mallards dashed upstream to escape the commotion! I hung on for life as the coonhound sleigh ride dragged me along the trail to where he last saw the flashing white rumps enter the low woods. I grabbed a trailside bench to end the ride. There was a nice huge hunk of burrow-filled limestone to admire as I caught my breath. This section of the landscape along the Codorus is underlain by thick, massive beds of limestone that formed when warm, shallow seas existed here. This particular boulder is part of a large outcrop that has been quarried since the 1800s nearby at the Codorus Stone Company banks. 

Mundis Mill (1841) 

 

Two Kingfishers rattle-called up and down a big bend in the creek. These two may be resident, non-migratory birds enjoying the hunting opportunities on the now ice-free Codorus. We've had a more typical Mid-Atlantic winter with frequent ice-overs and freeze/thaw cycles this year so the cold water fishing has probably been very good for the Kingfishers and Herons. A gang of Turkey Vultures launched off the chimney of the 250-year old Mundis Mill/ Brillinger Mill as we came through a patch of invasive bamboo to leave us to gawk at the huge brick four-story structure. Though a tad neglected, it is still sporting its covered truck shed porch and arched millrace entrance, and a good roof.  

Grain/feed mill (left) with rubble ruin of Dam #5

It was here in this bend of the creek that the long-gone Codorus Navigation Canal had its mid-point Dam No. 5, where the mill's headrace received its water. The race flowed to the mill into the wheel pit to power the basement level turbines then flowed out to the tailrace and returned to the creek. I was able to find the tailrace by following a line of very old Red Maples that are growing along the slight rise of  race wall. Codorus Creek once had gads of mill sites from its headwaters to the mouth on the Susquehanna and this old grain/feed mill is the first one we encountered on the Heritage Trail Northern Extension heading south towards York City where there are many more. 

Massive Sycamore

Old Red Maples along a trace of the tailrace wall.

When we reached the modern green pedestrian bridge over the Codorus we looked downstream (north) across the wide floodplain. The rubble remains of Dam #5 were just visible near the beautiful old Yorktowne Farms hay barn. Not so beautiful was modern trucking warehouse on the rise above the creek, part of a large industrial center where truck traffic and interstate noise permeates the cold, crisp air all around. Here we made our turn-around for the 4 mile out-and-back to return the same way we came to John Rudy County Park. It was a short walk but it fit neatly into a busy day. 

Codorus Creek at Emig's Road Bridge

Segment #2:  Emig's Road Bridge to Loucks Mill Road Parking (Feb 22, 2025) [Green on Map]

I squeezed this walk into an early morning few hours before work for a 5-mile out-and-back to where we left off two weeks ago at the Emig Road Bridge. This is part of the 8-mile northern extension of the York Heritage Trail above the city of York. The original trail begins in downtown York City and ends in New Freedom, PA, 21 miles long. This 8-mile extension was completed only a few years ago and is still relatively new. 

This section of the trail passes through high bluffs of quartzite ridge and talus slopes where the trace fossil Skolithos are found in abundance. Named new to science in 1840 by our very own Samuel Haldeman, naturalist and geologist from Lancaster County, the appearance of these trace fossils represent a high energy beach front environment - think the Outer Banks and Cape Hatteras. Trace fossil burrows may have been made by marine invertebrates such as worms or arthropods at the edge of the sea along the tidal and surf zones. These bluffs are high above the trail and cast the creek valley into shadow until the sun rises above them. This morning it was frosty through this section! Brrrr!

Skolithos trace fossil burrows (Haldeman, 1840) 

Skolithos. 

Rolling trail.

Ice edged the Codorus below and patches of residual snow were still holding fast to shady banks. But signs of spring were beginning to show - fat red leaf buds of Red Maple, plump yellow flower buds of Witch Hazel, and an early morning chorus of bird song let me know that spring is fast approaching. Common Mergansers patrolled the creek while Red Bellied Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers, and a Pileated Woodpecker represented their clans setting up territorial boundaries and beginning work on nest cavities. Everything was very busy!

Quartzite ridges and Codorus Creek

Black Bridge carries CSX freight to and from York

One of the things I love about the York Heritage Trail is that it follows active rail lines for much of its length. York City is served by Norfolk Southern and CSX both being essential freight lines that carry product and materials to and from the busy industrial fringe and heart of this once powerful manufacturing center. During the late 1800s and early 1900s no less than five rail lines utilized this valley including two trolley lines, two standard gauge railroads, and a narrow gauge railroad. I was hoping a Saturday train might come through but I guess they have weekends off. 

Ardent Flour Mills

The hum of the busy Ardent Flour Mills across the creek reminded me of how important this creek was to the dozens of mills that operated along these banks in the 1800 and 1900s. The bridges that crossed the Codorus out of York were in the crosshairs of Confederate raiders who, in June of 1863, blew up the Black Bridge to disrupt rail traffic and isolate the milling district that contained essential materials the southern army needed. Though the North Central Railway repaired the bridge within days, Black Bridge was placed under armed guard for the duration of the war. The North Central Railway was a prime target for General Early's raiders and the company lost twelve bridges between the Maryland Line and York. All were swiftly rebuilt by railroad workers but the constant threat of further attacks hung heavy along this creek. 

Cascade of Partridge Berry

Frost-curled fern

 

Flood levied and straightened Codorus Creek

Coming into the more industrialized northern edge of York City, the wild creek valley suddenly becomes an engineered flood-prevention project with levies and stripped banks. This is the start of a four-mile section of Army Corps of Engineers projects that began in the 1930s to prevent damaging floods from destroying industries, commerce, and neighborhoods. The project continues its upgrades and improvements to flood walls, a dam, upstream reservoir, and rip-rap diversions/banks in what seems to be a never ending years-long refurbishment of this aging flood control system. 

Urban eagles nest here

An active nest

Just before the parking area on Loucks Mill Road where I left the truck, we passed an active bald eagle's nest where I was able to see a sitting female and an attentive male nearby. Most eagle pairs have by now laid at least one, possibly two eggs, and are awaiting hatching. Their presence in this wild pocket of flood plain forest surrounded by industrial lands and busy roads is a good sign for the recovery of Codorus Creek as a reliable fishery. It wasn't too long ago that this creek was overwhelmed by industrial waste water and sewage. The creek was dead. Fifty years on and it is a success story for the urban wilds. 

The wild side.

I was surprised by how much wildlife Amos and I saw and heard on this little 5-mile O&B. Red Foxes, Red-Tailed Hawks, Mergansers, Mallards, all the Woodpeckers, Killdeer (lots of those on the flood control banks), Robins, White-Tailed Deer, a Meadow Vole, Great Blue Heron x 5, Grey Squirrels, and (my favorite) an American Mink, filled my species list. Never mind that Amos YELLED at the Red Fox (who cared less on the opposite bank) until he went hoarse, this little sanctuary at the edge of the city was full of life ready for spring. 

Notes:

Black Bridge and other North Central Railway bridges suffered damage during General Jubal Early's raids in June 1863 in preparation for General Lee crossing the Confederate Army into Pennsylvania. https://yorkblog.com/cannonball/rebel-destroy-the-codorus-brid/