PA Horse-Shoe Trail: Brecknock Loop East

 #36 2022 52-Hike Challenge:  Brecknock Township Bldg/ HST/ Alleghenyville Rd Loop - 5.5mi

While Northwestern Pennsylvania was hammered with yesterday's lake effect snowstorm, the Iron Hills of Berks and Lancaster County received a fairy dusting of snow. It was windy and cold atop the ridge as I walked along the yellow-blazed Horse Shoe Trail east from the Brecknock Township Building where I left my truck in its own designated HST parking space.

Ridgetop cornfield

The HST exists along this ridgetop because private landowners allow it to and we hikers are reminded of this with frequent warnings via "Stay on Trail" signs, "No Trespassing" signs, boundary-marked spray-painted trees, game cameras and even a CCTV (all with "You are Being Watched" notices). This close to firearms season it is very wise to wear blaze orange, which I did. Tree stands are all up ready for the start of next week's deer hunting season. So, I moved pretty quickly through the few miles of trail before intersecting with the narrow road that would loop  me back to the truck.

Snow dust

Bracket Fungus

This ridge is laid open with the occasional cornfield planted now in winter wheat. Field stone piles of red sandstone nearly as tall as me were the work of settler farmers and the generations of farmers who followed them. Stone fences line much of the trail and in a few places cut through them. It is hard to imagine this windy ridge clear of its forests, but from the 1700s onwards much of the Iron Hills region was deforested for farming and logged for building and the iron furnace charcoal industry. These mature forests are less than a century old. 

Virgin's Bower, Clematis virginiana

Miles of stone fence

Leaf-covered trail

I had to pay close attention to the blazes and my map. With all the leaves on the ground now, the path is almost invisible. I was following an old road covered in leaves at one point, pretty easy going, when I  met up with a group of three hikers who warned me about the section I was about to enter. "The landowner is not friendly to hikers," one hiker said. "Don't stop for any reason." 

Stone fence crossing

The old road soon became festooned with "No Trespassing" signs and warnings "You Are Being Watched." Really a shame, I thought, as this section was one of the prettiest sections of my hike today. Of course, a clump of snow dusted Bracket Fungi caught me eye right on the path. I pulled out my phone to take a picture and "CRACK-BAM!" a rifle went off just at the top of the hill where a house stood. I think that shot was my warning to keep going. 

Can you see the next blaze?

I decided to cut my loop hike a little short and took the next road to take me back to Alleghenyville Road and the walk back to the township building. I'll finish this loop another time, hopefully sooner than later. I am really itching to finish this years' long section hike of the Horse Shoe Trail.