PA Mason-Dixon Trail and Otter Creek Loop

 2022 52-Hike Challenge #18 - 7.5 miles (counter-clockwise from Urey Overlook parking)

The Otter Creek ravine is one of my favorite local places to explore but sadly I haven't been here to hike since the terrible 2018 flash flood which destroyed much of the lower creek including its fishery along with people's cabins, cars, boats, and household belongings. Thankfully no lives were lost. My last foray into the ravine was in 2019 with the Mason Dixon Trail Club  help to haul out flood debris. Still, even with the dogged efforts of the MDT and Lancaster Conservancy, there is still much to be removed. Yet despite the occasional pile of trash and twisted, mashed metal, Otter Creek seems to be making a full and beautiful recovery. It was good to be back.

Otter Creek Preserve is a new member!

Amos and I started this loop on a cool cloudy afternoon from the Urey Overlook parking area. We ended in a light, cool rain, back at the car seven-plus-miles and four hours later. This loop uses a combination of existing blue-blazed Mason Dixon Trail, a short section of road walking and Game Commission roads to complete. Thankfully the latest heat wave ended so my dear coonhound, Amos, who has been housebound since our last camping trip to the mountains was super ready for a cool day in the woods. 

The Otter Creek Preserve, managed by the Lancaster Conservancy in York County, has been recently added to the Old Growth Forest Network, a national organization, in  April 2022.  It's a nice designation that hopefully points to other deep ravine creeks in our region as holding large tracts of old growth/ mature forest. Eastern hardwoods and giant hemlocks predominate on the steep hillsides while the plateau above and especially on the climb to the Urey Overlook some incredibly impressive Tulip Poplar tower above the trail.  

Steep forested slopes!

The creek may be clear of log jams, but along the banks they are still huge!

This was a two-pole hike, though I admittedly only brought one. I found, however, that with Amos' ten-foot lead buckled into my backpack waist belt I could use  my free hand on the line as a rope assist when needed. He seemed to know when I need a bit of a pull up the hills! We walked up and down for a few miles until we came to a beautiful camp site and took our first break. From the corner of my eye I saw a flash of white and, just in time to hold on to Amos' line to keep him from chasing, saw a Striped Skunk skedaddle into the brush. No spray (this time) but the sight of the skunk running away was a fun surprise for both of us.

Rockhounding the creek.

The geology here is the heavily foliated schists made of metamorphosed slates and micas interrupted by intrusions of white quartz. The rock weathers into plates in the creek and on outcrops it forms shelves and stacks. The creek has carved a classic Susquehanna Riverlands ravine and the walls of the canyon are lined with stacked layers of rock, some tumbled and some in resistant formations. This is great bedrock that forms deep pools in the creek where further upstream, including and beyond the game lands, Otter Creek is designated a cold water fishery. I wonder how the flood affected the trout fishery and if have they returned to upstream pools and holes?  I'll have to cast a few flies this fall and see what I can catch to answer that question. 

One of several large debris piles yet to be removed from 2018.

Rock Polypody, Polypodium virginianum

Spore-producing sori on the underside of a frond

I was happy to find a few Rock Polypody fern gardens growing atop tables of schist. These ferns seem to thrive on the thinnest smattering of soil and even when everything else on the forest floor is dry, Rock Polypody is green and soft and happy. They make me happy, plus, I just like saying their name ten times fast.  We climbed up and up out of the ravine and on to Kline Road. Warning: To do this loop, DO NOT cross the Kline Road to continue following the MDT! Turn left instead and road walk up to the "tarp house" with a bunch of chickens roaming around and turn left again on to a gated fire road that leads into the game lands. 

Meadow blossoms!

These are some of the game lands I love to hunt and fish, so I won't give away my favorite places to explore except to say just follow this gravel road, past the place where I normally park and on into the restored glade and meadows. I had to stop for a full serenade gifted to me by a Field Sparrow. A Scarlet Tanager sang from the woods edge. The meadows are now fully mature and a riot of blossoms attracts so many butterflies. I stopped counting Tiger Swallowtails and Monarchs. There were just so many! Among them were Zebra Swallowtails, a Buckeye, several Red Admirals, and a smattering of Tailed-Blues and some Whites. Then from a distant meadow corner there was a Bobwhite Quail calling! I did a silent fist pump for that. Yessss!

A Mink bound across the road a minute after this shot was taken.

Brown-Eyed Susan growing in the middle of the road

I had just taken a picture of Amos with his nose to the road when a Mink bounded across in front of us. Amos' nose immediately caught scent of this guy and I had to hold on for dear life as he did his classic coonhound zig-zag run back and forth as he tried to pinpoint the Mink's crossing trail. This fun last all the way down to where the road becomes a single wide path so imagine the Mink must have been traveling on the trail coming up from the creek to rejoin it further down the slope. His sharp scent continued to drift in the humid air which kept Amos dancing his zig-zag all the way to the campground. 

Road turns to trail on the decent into Otter Creek Campground.

Bathrooms!

Otter Creek Campground was quiet and still. The clouds got a little lower and darker. A soft drizzle began. We walked along the paved road that leads past the fenced maintenance area and some really interesting summer camps. We visited with some forest gnomes. This old campground and its companion across the river at Pequea, were once part of a vast recreational landscape built by the power company behind Holtwood Dam that created Lake Aldred in the 1940s. Much of this company-owned and operated landscape has passed on to other managers, but Otter Creek Campground still has its 1940s feel. The pit toilets certainly did. 

Hello forest gnomes!

Otter Creek empties into the Susquehanna at the base of the hill. We walked past the camp store and gave a wave to the nice couple that runs it. With the rain starting, I did not stop for my usual ice cream sandwich and we kept on going to the river's edge. Remnants of the old Wrightsville/Tidewater Canal can still be seen. Bald Eagles circled over the closest island and I suspect they may have a nest there. The old boat launch is closed and the fishing dock looks like it has weathered a few additional floods. So we continued on to cross the Rt 425 bridge (careful on weekends as this road gets crazy busy) and rejoined the MDT on the opposite bank of Otter Creek to finish our big loop.

Quartz intrusion near the old canal bed

Two juvenile Bald Eagles circled over the island (left)

Just past the bridge duck under the guard rail to find the MDT

Ups and downs continued as well as meeting various piles of flood debris that still need a lift out. I folded and lashed two pieces of wood and a strange cross-shaped metal thing to my pack and did my part to carry some of it out. Amos' leash rope assist came in handy on the ups as the extra weight slowed me down. Beneath the thick canopy of Hemlock and Oak the light rain didn't make it to the ground, but the sound of the shower hitting the leaves above made the air sizzle with sound. We recrossed Rt. 425 and wove our way through great stands of Tulip Poplar and up the final hill to the Urey Overlook. What a spectacular finish to our hike. 

Edgy business!

I tried to sit on the bench at the overlook and enjoy a small snack before walking the last ten minutes back to the parking area, but with rain touching his back - EEEEK! - Amos wanted to keep going. He seemed to know the car, warm and dry, was not far off. So I zipped up my snack bag, hoisted my flood debris, and let him pull me up the old fire road. But just before we got there a small herd of Whitetail Deer burst from the cornfield that lines one side of the fire road. Amos truly Did. Not. Know. What. To. Do. They bounded down the hill, bellies full of corn, and scattered rug of corn leaves in their wake. So he stood there and let out a huge coonhound bay for good measure. 

Looking north - the Safe Harbor Dam and newly opened trestle rail-trail bridge.

Looking east - the river village of Pequea and the mouth of Pequea Creek

Back at the car 

I was unloading my pack into the back of my Escape when a car pulled in. They were older and worried about a possible long walk (for them) to the overlook in the rain so decided against it and stood to chat. He is a rabbi who tends to a synagogue in New York near Syracuse and they told me they were traveling back roads on their way to attend a grand daughter's summer college graduation in Baltimore. Rabbi watched me untie the flood debris from my pack, first the sections of two-by-four and then the strange cross-shaped metal thing. He made a face. "Rabbi," I said, "What can you tell me about this cross-shaped thing?" He let out a great big laugh and said "I never met anyone until you who hikes with a 1986 Ford truck universal joint!" 

AllTrails Map for Mason Dixon Trail/Otter Creek Loop
AllTrails incorrectly logs this loop at five miles but as many reviewers note on the app, it is in fact seven and a half miles. A good catch by the crowdsource!

Notes:

The 2018 Flash Flood was one for the record books, but the clean up continues six years later. https://www.yorkdispatch.com/picture-gallery/news/local/2019/01/11/photos-volunteers-take-massive-cleanup-effort/2546160002/

Old Growth Forest Network summary of the newly designated section now managed by Lancaster Conservancy https://www.oldgrowthforest.net/pa-otter-creek-nature-preserve  is a very welcome recognition for our older forests in York and Lancaster Counties. https://www.lancasterconservancy.org/news/otter-creek-nature-preserve-joins-the-old-growth-forest-network/