PA Forest Cathedral Natural Area, Cook Forest State Park

Note: None of these pictures comes anywhere close to doing this old growth forest experience justice. That said, here's our hike through the Forest Cathedral Natural Area in Cook Forest State Park in NWPA for a circuit hike of three miles. 

Laura among giants

Our definition of what is considered to be old growth forest have been shifting as more scientific and cultural history of these ancient places emerges. This tract of 400 acres embedded within Cook Forest State Park is an easily accessible (multiple trailheads and parking areas) designated natural area where we can see how and why those definitions have changed over time. Sure, there are BIG trees, but there is also an abundance of downed trunks that decompose into rich soils, huge standing snags that harbor multitudes of species, and a rich understory that has grown from nurse logs and nursery stands around parent trees. Add to that, some of the biggest live trees we saw (including all of the trees smaller than them) were growing from ancient rootstock, stumps that may have been several hundred years older than the centuries-old trees that grow from them now. 

Trailhead at the CCC "Log Cabin" access

White Pines, each 350 (l)  and 250 (r) years old

We spent a solid day exploring the Forest Cathedral Natural Area and throughout the week we dipped into it from several access points. We initially entered on a loop trail that began with a steep climb from the Indian Cabins area, but later found accessible entry points at the Log Cabin EE Center (CCC) parking area, the Sawmill Center for the Arts, and even our campground trail system which bordered the natural area. Our campsite at the park's Ridge Campground was surrounded by old growth Hemlock and White Pine. For our first experience of this forest we chose to do a loop that connected several different trails to bring us back to the Indian Cabins area. 

North Country Trail

Joyce Kilmer Trail

All the trails were wonderful as we wandered along well-maintained paths. We met up with a few other hikers who were just as in awe as we were. My favorite section was walking a mile of the blue/yellow blazed North Country Trail - the longest long distance trail in the U.S. at 4,000 miles! The forest was massive and it took our breath away more than once, leaving us uncharacteristically unable to speak. There was so much going on from craning our necks to see the tops of the ancient Hemlocks and White Pine, to crawling around on the needle-soft floor to look at mushrooms and massive trunks of old giants, that I needed a break to adjust to the constant state of overwhelm I was experiencing. 

Xylaria sp. 

Pleated Pliteus

Ghost Pipe

Coral Fungus

Pennsylvania was one of the most heavily logged over states in the U.S. when, by the outbreak of WWI so little remained of its once dominant old growth forest that Governor Gifford Pinchot who served earlier under President Teddy Roosevelt as the first director of the U.S. Forest Service, deemed the restoration of PA's forests a priority under his administration in the 1920s. It was during this period of intense tree planting with community-based conservation programs that the template for a national Civilian Conservation Corps was formed. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (cousin to TR) elevated the CCC to national service and many of the trails we hiked on this day were created both by the earlier PA and New Deal National CCC service boys. But the fight to save the Cook Forest began a decade before when Gifford Pinchot served as Forestry Director under Governor Sproul in 1919. 

Sandstone block island forest

Sky openings and young trees

Private landowners, especially those who owned large tracts of forest for logging interests, became aware of the danger to undisturbed forests in their holdings as demands for lumber sky-rocketed during WWI. At the same time, conservation interests began to raise the alarm for the protection of what was left of the old growth landscape in Pennsylvania. The Cook Family who originally owned the vast forests that now make up Cook Forest State Park entered into a project with several Pennsylvania conservationists to preserve their old growth tract, a project that would take 16 long years to complete. The process was rife with politics and big industry interests where "sinister interests were at work there." (McCreight 1936)  The arduous campaign to save Cook Forest resulted in the creation of the Cook Forest Association in 1927, now the Cook Forest Conservancy and is very active today. 

Indian Trail 

As we climbed the steep-sided valley on the Indian Trail we sunk into a forest tapestry of young, old, and very old trees while the ground cushioned our steps with layers of short needles of Eastern Hemlock and soft long needles of White Pine. We talked about our we interpret time among the old trees where a human life span was inconceivably short when compared to the multi-generational stump nurseries that spanned a thousand years or more of forest growth. The intelligence of trees, as some scientists and artists suggest, is imposed over a timescale so vast that to our minds, it is near unimaginable to think of what kinds of wisdom they hold and transmit. Even the new definitions of what is old growth seemed inadequate, even trivial.

The start of a Horses Hoof Fungus

Dog Pelt Fungus

I considered the idea of regeneration as we walked, passing rotting carcasses of ancient trees draped in moss, lichens, and fungal forms. Indigenous mythologies are full of stories of rebirth arising from ancient landscapes and this forest seemed full of stories. The Seneca People who once lived, fished, and hunted throughout this region (and who maintain an active presence in local conservation efforts) held in high regard the transformative, restorative powers of Storm Wind, Dàgawanoeient, and the Ga-Ha, the Zephyr - great winds that could level giant trees thus starting the process of rebuilding real and spiritual relationships with the land. 

Allegheny Dusky Salamander

We passed an old tornado path (1970s)  and later studied the effects of a more recent microburst. New forest was evident everywhere. Change and regrowth was the constant. Even in a small circle of sun where a single giant had died and its canopy no longer shaded the forest floor, young vigorous Hemlock and Pine were pushing to the sky. Storm Wind and Zephyr sure had a time of it in this old woods. I gave a little shudder imagining what this place would sound like during a major storm! 

Sister trees on a long sit-down

Nearing the bottom of the steep valley path that combined the North Country Trail with the local Baker Trail, we came across some wonderful seeps and springs flowing out of the big hill above. I flipped a few rocks and discovered a few Allegheny Dusky Salamanders. The almost level ground invited straying off the path to find tree and rock formations that made us smile. Two bridges, a truss and suspension, carried across and back over Tom's Run that we followed to our starting point at the Indian Cabins circle. 

Truss bridge over Tom's Run

Suspension Bridge over Tom's Run

We drove up the hill to return to our campsite on the edge of the great woods, ready to make our supper and settle in for the night. Two enormous White Pines and a crowd of mature Hemlocks surrounded our little site perched on the edge of a ravine, where waters flowing quietly to Tom's Run began a steep downhill run. That night, snuggled into my truck with a very tired Amos the Coonhound and my open journal, I made a note to find the full text of Mary Oliver's "Sleeping In the Forest" because I could only remember one line "I had vanished at least a dozen times into something better..."

Our nearby Ridge Campground (left) and Forest Cathedral Natural Area

Sleeping in the Forest

I thought the earth

remembered me, she

took me back so tenderly, arranging

her dark skirts, her pockets

full of lichens and seeds. I slept

as never before, a stone

on the riverbed, nothing

between me and the white fire of the stars

but my thoughts, and they floated

light as moths among the branches

of the perfect trees. All night

I heard the small kingdoms breathing

around me, the insects, and the birds

who do their work in the darkness. All night

I rose and fell, as if in water, grappling

with a luminous doom. By morning

I had vanished at least a dozen times

into something better.

- Mary Oliver, from the anthology Poems to Live By in Uncertain Times (2001)

Journal page July 7, 2024

Night sounds included a sleepy but hungry Raven fledgling, raiding raccoons, and a big Black Bear who seemed to enjoy bumping into the truck and Laura's car as a matter of nightly routine. Amos snored on, unfazed by Sir Bumps-A-Lot. Our doors were locked and all our food stored out of sniff range safe inside so no bear encounters over meals happened to us though our uphill neighbor was paid a very loud cooler-left-outside visit at 3am. Such is life on the edge of the Big Woods.

Site #30, Ridge Campground, Cook Forest State Park

Notes:

Old Growth Forest Network description for the  Forest Cathedral Natural Area 

M.I. McCreight (1936) Cook Forest Park: Story of the Sixteen Year Battle to Save the Last Stand of Historic Penn's Woods - the when, why, and how of it. Archived in the online collection at Penn State Universities Library https://digital.libraries.psu.edu/digital/collection/digitalbks2/id/9472

Cook Forest Conservancy  

Mary Oliver, Poems to Live By in Uncertain Times  

PA Beartown Rocks, Clear Creek State Forest

Beartown Rocks, Clear Creek State Forest, NWPA (2 mile loop hike)

Each enormous block of resistant Pottsville Formation Sandstone was like an island to itself. My sister and I wandered around for over an hour in this rock city located on a ridge in Clear Creek State Forest atop the Allegheny Plateau in Jefferson County, PA. Some blocks contained curtains of ferns, other had small forests growing on top. Rock cities are cool to explore wherever  you find them, but Beartown Rocks seems especially magical. 

The opposite of mountain terrain, this is incised, heavily eroded landscape is caused by downcutting streams and freeze-and-thaw cycles over 300 million years. We were just south of the ice line that marks the extent of the last glacial period, so this topography has not been polished, moved, or dumped on. The formations here are weathered but edgey, pitted and pocked by moving water not ice, and pried by tree roots.

Caprock sandstone 

Flowing water created pockets in softer layers

Passageways are old water courses

Pottsville Formation Sandstone is found from Western New York and Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia and all the way to Northern Alabama. The Allegheny Plateau contains many popular parks where this predominate rock type creates similar rock cities found at World's End State Park in PA or form high waterfalls like Blackwater Falls in West Virginia. Nearly horizontal layers of sandstone are interspersed with beds of limestone, siltstone and heavy shales (which contain oil, coal, and gas). From the overlook platform, the horizon is flat to gently rolling hills. All the deep valley topography happens downslope from where we were and the trails leading from the plateau to the valley bottoms can be quite steep and rocky.  

Beartown Rocks Platform  

Coarse-bedding of highly resistant sandstone

Trace fossils of sea creature burrows 

The island-effect was really captivating. Each large block contained its own arrangement of plant life including trees, ferns, mosses, and lichens. No two were the same. As we wove in and out of the narrow passageways, we discovered that each island also weathered differently too. Some blocks stood upright, level on top, allowing trees to grow as little groves. Others were tumbled sideways or slipped downslope a little. Caves and ledges were everywhere.

A forested island of stone

Dry liverwort adorns a ledge

The latest heat wave and drought was beginning to take its toll on the dry forest along the ridge. Many trees were shedding leaves and these crackled and crunch under our feet. Mosses, liverwort, and fern that lined the walls and ledges of the great blocks of stone were looking a little distressed. We decided to try one of two loops on the Beartown Rocks Trail and see if we could find a few seeps and cooler temperatures. 

Crumbled blocks

Dry mosses await rain in scour pockets

Trail intersection for two loops

As we descended into the valley we noticed right away the vast fern fields - a sign of abundant deer herds. They eat the understory right to the ground leaving a post-logging woods bare of succession. Nearby a very large deer exclosure wrapped around an old farm field that once belongs to the family who farmed this broad slope. It looked to be working as sapling hardwoods were bursting skyward behind the protective fence. Downslope from the exclosure we crossed several springy seeps.

Eastern Teaberry

Fern fields and no understory

We opted for the shorter loop of 1.8 miles around due to the heat - remembering that for every step down we'd have to step back up! The exclosure to our left and walking on a gas company road we noticed how lush the edges were, full of wet meadow plants blooming in the sun. Spotty shade and frequent breaks helped Amos manage the heat. 

Meadowsweet

Within the hour we were back at the truck in the main parking area, which had filled up with visitors. And, predictably, there were herds of deer nearby! 

Entrance off of a forest road - Corbett Road. 

Notes: 

Beartown Rocks is found in the state forest with the Clear Creek State Park very nearby. In this region there are many state forests and state parks embedded within the larger landscape of the Allegheny National Forest. 

PA Michaux State Forest - AROOO for the Hosack Run Trail Loop

Michaux State Forest, Hosack Run Trail Loop - 6 miles 

Time again for another "sneaky break" close to home with three days off in a row. One day for chores - mowing the grass mostly - then headed back to Michaux State Forest with an overnight at Caledonia State Park again. We arrived too early for check-in so I parked outside the campground on Quarry Gap Road in a small parking area, figuring by the time we'd come down off the mountain it would be mid-afternoon and time to check in to the site.  It was early in the morning and still cool, perfect for the mile-long walk up to the dead end and the start of the Locust Gap Trail where we'd begin our loop up and around the mountain.

On the way up the road Jim Stauk passed by in his blue pick-up. Jim was one of the first people Amos met when still a pup learning to hike years ago. "How's my old friend?" he asked. I told Jim about Amos' journey with MCT cancer and how it's been a wait and see affair, especially with one tumor near his hip that I think has started to grow. Back to the vet soon for ultrasound scans. "Well, I'll see you on top," said Jim as Amos happily hollered and hooted and yelled at his old friend. 

Quarry Gap Road

The walk up was filled with the sounds of an Appalachian morning. Blue-headed Vireos were everywhere, so were Ovenbirds. A screaming Broad-winged Hawk was matched by a screeching Red-Shouldered Hawk. A Turkey bolted across the road. Veery, Wood Thrush, Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, Goldfinches. A deer snorted. Amos hollered. The sounds of water everywhere in streams tumbling down through the valley. Stress and exhaustion from these past few weeks of non-stop work seemed to just gurgle away with the cold, sweet mountain water the higher we walked. 

County Line

Deptford Pink

My "sneaky breaks" have been lifesavers these past few months. Not full on camping trips, mind you, or long hikes for that matter, but enough time away in the mountains that I somehow seem to reset. By the time we make to the end of the road and find Jim's parked truck we'd walked a mile uphill and Amos needed to rest. I wondered about that hip and if he could make the full six-mile loop. At least the heat hadn't set in yet and wasn't due for another few days. 

Fly Poison

Locust Gap Trail

We were lucky! It seems the trail crew was here the day before and the trails were super neat and clean, no wading through underbrush or high grass. Though the Mountain Laurel bloom is almost through, the Great Rhododendron is starting and we passed through fragrant pink banks of it on the way to the vernal pond and an old bog. We've walked this old road a few times before and Amos certainly knew where he was going but with the trail work it looked entirely new. 

Great Rhododendron

Shrinking vernal pool

I spent a little time looking through my binoculars to spot what was still living in the shrinking vernal pool. There were gads of tadpoles with little legs, with some big enough to do little hops. I saw several gilled salamanders, small and wriggling, but they were too deep in to identify.  Amos plopped his paws in the mud and tested the water. He loves plopping. Back on the trail, headed to the Hosack Run cut-off we met up with a couple hiking down. "Is THAT the coonhound we heard a while back? What a great voice!" Of course, Amos had to holler for them, too. 

Dogbane

Sphagnum bog

At the cut-off we followed the light blue blazes up the hill and into the deep woods, crossing over Hosack (pronounced Hoss-sick) Run several times. Amos had to test the water at each crossing with big sloppy slurps and plopping paws. In no hurry, I waited at each stream crossing until he'd had his fun.  We finally reached the shoulder of the mountain, hiking through a rock garden and on to steeper ground. 

It's uphill from here

A breeze blows through

The mountain breezes were heavenly and we stopped often to feel the wind swirl around us. Amos was testing the air for scents and I admired the old, old trees in this now steep valley where logging never reached. White Pine trees three people-hugs around (over 150 years) and a hundred feet high towered over the trail. There were a few 8-inch diameter American Chestnut as well with no sign of the blight. 

Old White Pine 

Ghost Pipe

In the humid creek valley, the steep slopes were more like rainforests with moss covered logs, thick carpets of moss and fern, and huge trees. As we climbed higher and steeper, a series of switch-backs elevated us (me breathless and still coughing) to a mesic, dry ridge overlooking the Hosack Run valley. The stream seemed so far below. 

Switch-backing up and up

The mountain began to level out and soon we found a campsite near the intersection with the Appalachian Trail and I asked Amos if he was ready for lunch treat. What a fuss he made! Another holler and wagging tail and soon the cheese, crackers, and cold water bowl was out of my pack. He took a little nap, belly full and spread himself long ways on the cool dirt while I worked a page of sketches from our climb. 

Intersection with the AT

Lunch sketches

Another couple of hikers came along and they too asked if this was the coonhound they'd heard about twenty minutes ago. Yes, yes it was. They asked for their picture with Amos and said how wonderful a sound it is to hear in the mountains. I guess I hear it so much that I forget that the coonhound's voice is like a signature sound of the Appalachians for some folks, and hearing it brings back memories of childhood hounds or hunting at night with grandpops and dads. "Hound-song in the mountains," said the hiking husband, "it's just thrilling to hear." 

On the AT

Down the AT we went, crumbly rock under our feet. Another stream, some more plopping paws and big sloppy lapping of water. Compared to our hike a few weeks ago on the Rocky Knob Trail, I can tell things have been dry up here. The streams are a lot lower and the vegetation seems crisp and thirsty. But still the green is lush and heavy, almost a solid mass. An AT thru-hiker passes us and says she's from New Mexico and has been overwhelmed with the amount of green. 

Summer stream level

Before we knew it we arrived at the Quarry Gap Shelter and find Jim watering the flowers at the bench. This is the bench where I must have had at least two dozen lunches with three different coonhounds over the years. This was the AT section from Caledonia to Pine Grove (13 miles) where Amos learned to hike - although I carried him for a lot of it! Jim turned and called to Amos "Hey buddy!" and boy-howdy did Amos let out another AROOOOO. 

Amos AROOOOing for Jim 

The Quarry Gap Shelter is regarded as the finest shelter on the AT and Jim has been "innkeeper" here for many years. He often has two seasonal caretakers who help him with every day upkeep and visiting with the hikers. I thanked him for the trail work. He and his trail crew worked until all the equipment, chainsaws, weed whippers, trimmers, all ran out of gas, he said.  Though he will never admit it, he is a legend on the AT. "Hell," he said, "Don't let that go to your head!"

Quarry Gap Shelter

Quarrymen's stairs

We headed down the AT through the quarry gap itself, a place once so heavily mined for iron ore that the mountain was open and raw. Now the forest hides all the signs of industry, "disappearing" all signs of human activity except for the trail itself. These were the ore banks for Thaddeus Stevens' iron furnace at Caledonia and while he served in Congress advocating for the 13th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution, southern troops were marching nearby into Pennsylvania to engage the Union forces at Gettysburg a few miles east of here. 

Mountain streams, cold and clear

Wooly Foxglove

Down, down the mountain we hiked until we came to a faint path through the woods that connected back up with the Locust Gap Trail and the long walk back down Quarry Gap Road. We made lots of stops at streams and Amos tested all of them. Plop plop go the paws. 

Stream plopping

It was almost two o'clock when we got back to the truck and into the campground we drove, Amos with his head out the window announcing his arrival. I set up camp pretty quickly with the truck and Amos, just as quickly had dug out a little shallow nest in the leaves and was soon snoring. Our neighbors, an older couple from Kentucky said what a beautiful sound to hear a hound. Whoa! That made three compliments for the day. "Don't let that go to your head," I said to Amos. They brought my old sleepy boy some steak leftover from the last night's grill and he gifted them (and the whole campground) with a big ARRROOOOO! 

Home on the road.

It must be hiker's midnight! (7pm)

I don't know what the future holds for my seven-year old coonhound. He's living his best life no matter. I massaged his hip and helped him into the truck where he had a nice nest of sleeping bag and cushion. The tumor seemed a little larger and I know we have to head back to the veterinarian soon, but for now, for that day, he had a wonderful hike even though I was a little worried. He spent all six miles smelling all the smells, hollering into the hills, paw-plopping in the muck, water, and mud. A mountain hound he is and I'm glad he brought so many smiles and memories to all the folks we met. I do apologize to anyone who jumped out of their skin, or was annoyed with his grand campground entrance. I'm sure Jim heard that up on the mountain, too. 

Hosack Run Trail Loop

Notes:

Caledonia State Park maintain TWO campgrounds: NO PETS at Chinquapin Hill Campground and PETS WELCOME at Hosack Run Campground. 

 https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/StateParks/FindAPark/CaledoniaStatePark/Pages/default.aspx

Caledonia and Pine Grove State Parks are nestled inside the Michaux State Forest complex. It is a thirteen mile AT hike between the two parks through some beautiful Blue Ridge country, the northern reach of the famous Blue Ridge Mountain Range. 

https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/StateForests/FindAForest/Michaux/Pages/default.aspx

Thaddeus Stevens Iron Works, now Caledonia State Park, was once a large industrial center with iron furnace, forges and smithies, water works, charcoal hearths and colliers. There is a lot of history preserved here even though the surrounding forest has overtaken the ore banks and charcoaling sites. 

 https://gettysburgcompiler.org/2016/06/24/beyond-the-battlefield-the-park-that-once-was-stevenss-furnace/