#42 2022 52-Hike Challenge: Flat Rock Trail - 5.5 mi.
The Valley and Ridge geological province of Pennsylvania is a feast for the eyes. From an overlook like Flat Rock, the mountains roll away like waves on a vast sea with wind and water gaps breaking the long rolling ridges. When we finally arrived at the summit, the Cumberland Valley sprawled out around us but we didn't stay long. The hike had been rugged and sweaty and in the cold wind I began to get chilled.
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| The Cumberland Valley |
A hiking friend of mine says she learned the hard way to not take long breaks at the top of a mountain in winter where most people would think the view point would offer a nice place to enjoy lunch or a restful stop. Instead take long breaks in the valleys where you are more sheltered from the wind and not as sweaty from the climb. So as we moved off the summit after just a few minutes, I knew just where to take that nice warm break complete with sausages for Amos.
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| Tuscarora Conglomerate Sandstone, marine fossils |
The trail begins at Colonel Denning State Park and traverses the slopes and angles of the "canoe stern" of the Kittatinny Mountain, Endless Mountain, or Blue Mountain - different names for the same long mountain that runs diagonally across the state. I parked at the far end of the park, not in the designated Flat Rock parking area. It added another mile to the trip. Steady up and across slopes and angles of Tuscarora sandstone required patience and not a few stops to catch my breath. I studied the marine fossils and green things living among jumbles of boulders while trying not to gulp air. Signs of a great reef, burrowing invertebrates, corals, and shells stood out in the low shadow a winter's afternoon.
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| Smooth Rock Tripe, Umbilicaria mammulata |
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| Trailing Arbutus, Epigaea repens |
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| A jumbled trail |
At the top of the first ridge (the canoe's port side) the Wagon Wheel of Trails intersection was an unexpected surprise. I spun around in every direction to read the different trail signs leading hikers this way or that. The Tuscarora Trail joined the Flat Rock Trail here. I made note of the nearby backpacker shelter where we would take our snack break on the way back. We followed the yellow and blue blazes down into a high swamp and rock-hopped across boulder paths and a few boardwalks. Then up the starboard side of the canoe and the summit of the ridge where a short, well used path lead to the overlook.
As we trekked over the wetlands at 1400', I thought about the complex folding and warping these mountains have been subjected to. Anticlines and synclines, airborne marine reefs, and the great arc of the Alleghenian Orogeny mountain-building event make this a geologists playground and for us rock hounds, especially folks like me who like to find fossils, it's a smorgasbord. I don't collect, however, and take my fossil samples home by way of pictures instead.
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| High country swampland |
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| Almost to the summit! |
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| Very battered USGS marker at 1,670 feet. |
The hike up took about two hours, moving slowly. Up and over the summit we went and out to the flat rock that is Flat Rock and wowza! Besides the view of the valley, the low afternoon sun was highlighting in shadow the many marine features including very worn fossils, current marks, and flow channels. This rock holds the memory of water.
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| Amos let out a big loud holler - I think they heard him in Carlisle! |
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| Escarpment |
From the valley below looking up at Blue Mountain, the ridge appears to be a solid wall of rock that runs as far as the eye can see SW to NE. This is the famous escarpment that contains many hawk watch sites, including Hawk Mountain and Wagoner's Gap, and as the hawk/eagle/falcon/osprey migration is just ending for the year, the sky seemed empty and vast. I waited as long as I could in hopes of seeing a straggler, a late migrant Golden Eagle or Peregrine. Nothing came. But I did see a Red Shouldered Hawk far below, pinwheeling over the purple-hued forest below. I started to shiver. Amos shuddered. Time to get to that shelter for snack.
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| Lunch stop on the Tuscarora Trail |
We stopped at the backpacker shelter and sat out of the wind in full sun to munch on a P&J sandwich (me) and little sausages (Amos). My hiking companion sprawled out on the warm planks and I was tempted to lie back as well, but with the sun getting lower quickly, it was time to head down the trail for the park. Thanks to the PATC for the upkeep of this beautiful shelter. Maybe I'll get to sleep in it one day.
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| A rocky trail indeed! |
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| Stone work on the trail |
Carefully threading our way down the rocky path I took the time to admire the stone work that trail maintainers and builders have placed along the way, each feature - whether a stone wall, water bar, boulder path or stairs - laid with care. Shout out again to the PATC for all of the excellent work and to the trail stewards of the DCNR/State Parks.
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| Last look back |
Finally we reached flat ground and walked through the park to the truck. Amos let out another holler when he saw it. It was the only vehicle left in the park besides a late season tent camper who introduced himself as we cut through the campground. He was from Montana here to enjoy some Eastern trout fishing. "Man, I have to say, these mountains might not be high but they are tough!" I really wanted to hear more about his fishing in the area but poor Amos wanted the truck so badly all I could say as the dog pulled me away was "Nice to meet you...."
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| Canoe-shaped Endless/Kittatinny/Blue Mountain traverse |
Notes:
Pennsylvania is a geologist's party zone. Too much fun! A good source of information is the Pennsylvania Geology Magazine and is free to browse via PDF. https://elibrary.dcnr.pa.gov/GetDocument?docId=1751958&DocName=Hyperlinks_PaGeoMagazine.pdf
Where you will learn that Colonel William Denning was not really a colonel. https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/StateParks/FindAPark/ColonelDenningStatePark/Pages/History.aspx
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