PA Appalachian Trail Hikes: #3 AT Loop - Old Forge AT / Swift Run Road / Hermitage Trail

 Hike #3: Old Forge to Swift Run Road to Hermitage Trail, 10 miles

This loop contained all the elements of a state forest hike - remote trail, logging road, cabins and camps. Of note today was the announcement that COVID vaccines will soon be made available to front line health workers, seniors, and first responders - something to mark the significance of today's AT Day Hikes During COVID series as I walk the AT in PA through this pandemic. 

A long steep climb up the AT to start

I parked at the end of Rattlesnake Run Road at the upper end of Old Forge and began the day's hike on the AT, crossing Old Forge Road at the bridge over Tumbling Run and continuing on the AT northbound past the Tumbling Run Shelters and camping area to the steep climb up to the ridge. All the exposed rock is Quartzite, metamorphosed and highly resistant sands, sandstones, and beach cobble formed 500 million years ago. This is the predominate ridgetop rock type through Michaux State Forest.

Coarse-grained cobble Quartzite 

At the Chimney Rocks overlook

At Chimney Rocks you can really study the way quartzite fractures and weathers and this gives some hint as to the very cool columnar and rock city formations at the center of today's hike at the Shaffers Rocks climbing area.  Amos scrambled and sniffed under all the ledges. The Waynesboro Reservoir was visible in the vast forested landscape below. 

Amos enjoying rock scrambling on Chimney Rocks, 1900'

We continued following the AT northbound along the ridge of the South Mountain range which extends southward into Maryland. This is young forest as forest age goes, replanted by foresters in the early 1900s and later by CCC men who lived and worked in the first state tree nursery and numerous camps throughout Michaux in the 1930s. I was really impressed by the miles of young forest understory growing beneath the mature trees as the next generation of forest gains hold on the mountain. Disease and fire has impacted these woods, however, as standing dead, dying, and fallen trees are everywhere and the windy ridgetops seem to have a concentration of tumbled gypsy-moth killed oaks rotting away to soil. 

Looking back at the South Mountain range

We came upon a drag where a hunter pulled his harvested Whitetail Deer along the AT to a road crossing ahead. The gut pile was still fresh but it had already been well scavenged. We came upon a fresh, shimmering  twist of Weasel scat left prominently on a rock to mark its territory. Amos was less impressed with the scat than he was with following the hair and blood trail.  He never has shown an interest in predators or scavengers, always alerting to prey animals like rabbit, groundhog, deer, and bear. The coonhound hunting tradition includes  those big coonies who can tree Black Bears and Amos seems to come from that line.  Whenever we come  to a "bear-in-the-air" I keep him on short lead.  As we followed the drag along the AT, a flock of American Crows descended on the gut pile behind us as well as a lone Turkey Vulture. 

A hunter dragged out his harvested deer while...

...a hungry Weasel loved the gut pile he left behind (2" across)

We came down off the ridge and turned west on to Swift Run Road for a few miles. There are a few active logging access roads that feed on to this gravel road, so beware of the logging trucks during harvest time. We passed a hunting camp decorated for Christmas.. It was a nice leisurely walk until a horse and rider came on to the road from a log landing which made Amos loose his mind. So he pulled me all the way to the busy trailhead at the Hermitage Trail.  Lots of climbers and hikers here but horse not allowed on those trails! Too bad, Amos.

Swift Run Road at the trailhead parking. 

Shaffers and Monument Rocks

The Hermitage cabin, managed by PATC

We spent a bit of time just wandering around the rock city where fracturing and erosion has formed tall "monuments," columns, pillars, and narrow passages between. Then lunch on the little bridge that crosses Tumbling Run on to the Hermitage Trail until it connected with the AT. I'm really enjoying these loops as ways to hike the AT and explore the areas near the trail. As an AT hiker so focused on hiking just the AT in the past, I missed so much else that the old roads and blue-blaze trails reveal. These loops have been really fun ways to explore the wider landscapes of our beloved AT corridor. 

Tumbling Run along the Hermitage Trail

Snow is on the way and the next loop may well be in the white stuff. Time to dig out the ice spikes, crampons, tall gaiters, snow shoes and two hiking poles instead of one. My favorite time of year to hike! Thinking of all my first responder friends and family. Light at the end of this dark tunnel and hoping that my next hike marks another milestone in emerging from this pandemic.

 

Old Forge AT /Swift Run Rd/ Hermitage Trail Loop

Notes:

The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club maintains 42 historic cabins along the AT from Virginia to Pennsylvania. COVID has had an impact on rentals and use, however.  But reading about their history and knowing how to rent one in future makes a nice winter afternoon's reading/planning/dreaming.  https://www.patc.net/PATC/Cabins/Cabins.aspx

PA: Appalachian Trail Hikes #1 and #2, Michaux State Forest

The surge in COVID infections this autumn continues to climb in Pennsylvania and one restriction is for out-of-state travel with the exception of commuting to a job. Even though vaccines have been announced and immunization plans are starting to roll out, we have many months to go before we will see a drop in the stats. I figured PA is a big state and my NJ, DE, MD, VA, and WV hikes can easily wait so I decided to make my winter hikes a series of day and overnight hikes along the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania. We'll see how far I get get from the southern border with Maryland at the Mason Dixon Line to border with New Jersey at Delaware Water Gap National Park. 

Hike #1: Mason Dixon Line to Rt. 16, Out-and-Back (5 miles) 11-28-2020 

I had to cheat the restrictions a tiny bit and park just across the MD state line at Pen Mar Park. Within a half mile I had hiked into Pennsylvania. I met a total of four people all morning - everyone masked up on approach. The trail and camping site was clean and it was  wonderful not to find piles of trash and vandalism that has plagued some of my local trails on the Susquehanna.  

Pen Mar Park in MD, just below the Mason Dixon Line.

Looking west across the Hagerstown Valley

In half a mile, hop the tracks and you are in ...

.Welcome to Pennsylvania!

Once in Pennsylvania, the AT begins its way through Michaux State Forest.  During the late 1800s and early 1900s state conservationists and foresters were very worried that this area had been so badly exploited for lumber that trees would never grow back. Joseph Rothrock, our state's first Commissioner of the Department of Forests and Water led a campaign to push legislation to create funding for purchasing heavily degraded land and place it into the protection and management of the state. Michaux became one of the first units of the vast state forest system. 

Footbridge and a mature Chestnut Oak.

Quartzite and quartz banding.

Before land acquisitions, this land was heavily exploited by the iron industry that began in the late 1700s and operated until after the Civil War. Forests were a major commodity, needed to fuel the many iron furnaces and forges throughout these mountains. What had once been old growth Oak, Chestnut, White Pine, Hemlock, and Hickory forests had been reduced to stubble and stumps by 1880 and from the ridge where I stood to look back into Maryland, there would have been no trees in sight for miles. 

Looking south towards South Mountain in Maryland

One of Rothrock's priorities was to establish the first tree nursery nearby at Mount Alto in 1902 and from there, a forest was regrown from seed and saplings planted throughout the Michaux State Forest unit along Pennsylvania's South Mountain range to restore the forests. What I saw today as I hiked was the legacy of that work as there was forest as far as I could see. It was a refreshing and hopeful hike through a second growth, maturing woodland that had once been so decimated that foresters doubted Rothrock's plans would work. 

Trail magic station for hikers. 

Michaux State Forest contains 37 miles of the Appalachian Trail in south-central Pennsylvania and while we muddle along as best we can through this pandemic, the shelters and pit toilets at the backpacker campsites have been closed until further notice. Dispersed tent camping is allowed however. Leave No Trace!  When I reached my endpoint at Rt 16 I had a nice lunch, flipped rocks over in the stream (of course!), then headed back in a nice slow stroll to Pen Mar. 

Mileage marker back at Pen Mar Park. 

Hike #2: Old Forge Picnic Grounds/ Rattlesnake Run Loop (9.5 miles) 12-6-2020

For the second hike the following weekend I started at Old Forge Picnic Grounds and hiked a loop south towards the Rt 16 parking area then back on Rattlesnake Run Road, a dirt track that leads back to the picnic area. This time I had Amos the Minor Prophet with me and he helped me make quick work of this loop. He pulled and sniffed and tracked and trotted the whole time! 

The Old Forge Picnic Grounds were once part of the CCC camp just across the road. Many of its original buildings are still in use as part of a church summer camp. The lay out of the present camp, minus the barracks buildings, give an idea of how well built these 1930-1944 era camps were. I'm a huge CCC fan and I had to tear myself away from gazing across the road in order to start my hike. 

Leave car here for AT-RRR Loop

With Amos along it didn't take but three minutes to be flying down the AT. Man, that boy can really move! He's wonderful for uphill slogs, just hold on to his lead and he'll pull me right up. There was plenty of deer sign (and poop) to investigate though, so it wasn't all clear sailing. There might have been a bear crossing at one point because he really stopped short and spent a full five minutes trying to catch scent and hollered when he had a trail. I had to hold him back and redirect his attention to the trail. Amos loooooooves bears...

This way, Amos!

Almost hidden white blaze

Haul road for charcoal wagons

Evidence of the charcoal industry is everywhere on this stretch of AT. The large flat round "pits" (not really pits at all) that mark the sites of charcoal-making were everywhere. I counted nine in a two miles stretch and the path of AT follows a haul road that connected them. Charcoal was transported down the mountain to the ironworks at Caledonia and Pine Grove where for over a century the furnaces were in blast until loss of resources and changes in iron-making technologies put them out of business in the 1880s. 

Intersection of AT with Rattlesnake Run Road and "Bear in the Air." 

Grey Birch

Our dirt road walk back to Old Forge went through a beautiful blend of tumbling creek valley and rock rimmed talus slopes. Grey Birch, a cool climate tree, began to appear in a transition of woodland from southern deciduous to northern mixed conifer and oak. A Red Fox screamed its weird call from a rocky overhang and Amos, ever on the alert for a reason to yell, bayed at it and sent it running. Only one truck came by and the driver, a friendly deer hunter scouting for next weekend's hunt, loved visiting with Amos. "No better dog," he said. 

Along Rattlesnake Run Road

Rattlesnake Run

Knaub Memorial Chapel

Back at Old Forge Picnic Grounds I took a walk over the to chapel and sat on the steps for a quick lunch break. This beloved little church, managed now by the Methodist Camp Penn church camp, is an iconic little chapel in the woods built in the 1940s after the CCC camp had closed. Though no longer a Sunday-service church, weddings and other special family occasions are still celebrated here.  A nice place to end a beautiful loop hike on the AT in the forest. 

Notes:

Purple Lizard Trail Map for Michaux. I really love these maps put out by Purple Lizard. They make it easy to plot routes that use combinations of dozens of trails including the AT with miles of snowmobile and dirt roads, old wagon and haul roads, and bridle paths. Purple Lizard really does PA hiking maps well and I have many of them.   https://www.purplelizard.com/products/michaux-map

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

PA: Peregrine Landscapes of October

Being stuck in-state with strict travel restrictions due to COVID, it's a good thing Pennsylvania is big. I've been going here and there for hikes, research, staying outside as much as possible, and masked up when close to other people not inside my small family bubble. It's been a little inconvenient and sometimes claustrophobic working two jobs from home, but better safe than sorry. On weekends I am out, out, out! In October - the month when we see many falcons moving south along the Atlantic Flyway, I've had the thrill of seeing Kestrels, Merlins, and Peregrines almost every weekend. 

The Susquehanna River is an important arm of the Atlantic Flyway.

On a recent research trip to Chester for work on air quality activism, I discovered some strange but engaging sites that I had to investigate a little more. The enormous, and I mean behemoth, Chester Waterfront Station power plant is right on the Delaware River, another arm of the Atlantic Flyway. As I was walking the Riverfront Path I stopped a while to watch a Peregrine Falcon hunt from and return to the steel arm of the coal boom as she pursued ducks, gulls, and pigeons.  After several attempts to punch a few gulls out of the air she finally snagged and killed a duck. She landed on a bridge pier,  plucked it, consumed it, and moved back to the coal boom to watch for her next opportunity.

Peregrine perched on the outside corner of the coal boom.

This colossal structure was built in the Beaux-Arts style of the early 20th century which incorporated monumental architectural features including Roman-like columns and massive edifices that, according to historians, was supposed to elicit a grand permanence and strength. The plant supplied electricity to Chester and its massive industrial shorefront as wartime industry was at its peak. The housing boom intensified the need for electricity and at one time this plant was a star in the crown of Pennsylvania Electric Company's network of generation stations.  I learned from a local fishermen that Peregrines may have nested on the Commodore Barry Bridge last summer. Cool beans! He really knew his birds and fish and offered that the duck the Peregrine had killed had been one of Mallards that frequent the old wharf area.  

Chester Waterfront Station and the Commodore Barry Bridge on the Delaware.

I took a mid-month trip to the Quehanna Wilderness Area in Central Pennsylvania to look for elk, and though I heard plenty (boy, do I love that bugling!) I never saw one. But all was not lost because I did see two Peregrines and a Merlin hunting over Beaver Run Pond while hiking the Marion Run and Beaver Pond Loop.  Just after I left the area to continue my hike, I met two other hikers who had observed a few hours earlier, a large bull elk and a harem of seven cows bedded down in the woods where I had been just been. When I told them about the falcons they were so excited and hurried on to the pond, hoping to get a life bird sighting with the Peregrines. I hope they saw them!

Peregrines overhead (but not visible in my cell phone picture)

My October Peregrine sightings continued when a friend and I visited the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. We stood in a wicked cold wind as the bird went into a stoop over the restored wetlands to catch a dove or duck - it was too far to tell what he was hunting. I love this park because of its thousand-acre restored grassland and wetlands, reclaimed from a disused strip mine. The birding here is fantastic any time of year and you don't have to go in through the Visitor Center to access these vast grasslands. There are trails and walkable roads throughout the park. 

Restored Eastern grasslands at the Flight 93 Memorial (Visitor's Center on hill)

My favorite sighting of October happened at Gettysburg National Battlefield, another excellent birding park whether you go for the history or not. I was with family exploring the wide-open valley where Pickett's Charge happened when standing at the edge of the Confederate woods looking towards the Union ridge. I caught sight of a Peregrine wheeling over the field when *poof* there was an explosion of feathers as the falcon made her kill in mid-air. 

Looking towards the Round Tops from Seminary Ridge when *poof*

The thing that all these sightings had in common was wide open sky. The vastness of the autumn landscape includes what is over our heads, spectacular cloud formations, dawns, and sunsets - and - with a little practice - you can spot, hear, and watch those high-up and lightening fast raptors that claim sky as their domain.  Put down the camera and binocs for an hour or so and just watch the stretch of sky for the lone dark silhouette of our fastest hunter or follow a murmuration of starlings or grackles and see if you can't spot the falcon as he whips in and out of the flock.  

Notes: 

Peregrine Falcons in Pennsylvania https://www.pgc.pa.gov/Wildlife/WildlifeSpecies/PeregrineFalcon/Documents/Peregrine%20Falcon%20Management%20Plan.pdf

History of the Chester Waterfront Station  :http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/pa/pa3600/pa3680/data/pa3680data.pdf

Flight 93 Memorial    https://www.post-gazette.com/news/environment/2020/07/01/Flight-93-National-Memorial-bees-wildflowers-regrowth-Charles-Guadagno/stories/202006260064