PA - AT Loop #10: Pole Steeple/Chestnut Ridge Tr/Hunters Run Lot (15 miles)
My goal is to hike every mile of the Appalachian Trail in PA using circuit loops and out-and-backs only when necessary. I started this hiking project with my hound dog during the pandemic in 2021. It was during one of those longer circuits that I noticed Amos having trouble with steep uphill sections and limping on our return. Later I noticed several small pea-sized, hard bumps on all four legs embedded within ligaments and muscles. He was diagnosed with Mast Cell Tumor Cancer in 2023 and it took almost a full year after surgery to recover his trail legs. I was afraid he'd never be able to do long hikes again, but this past weekend he hit his famous coonhound stride after months of shorter day hikes to rebuild his strength. Big AROO for the Hiking Hound!
AROOOO! for Pole Steeple
So with all that behind us, having completed 50 AT miles and as many miles making loops on roads, fire roads, and connecting trails we finished all of Michaux State Forest yesterday. I broke section #10 into two hikes here, an out-and-back (Part I) of 6 miles and the main loop (Part II) of 9 miles.
Part I - 6 miles O&B
Heading south
We started Part 1 for an out-and-back from the Hunters Run AT parking lot (six cars max) to see how Amos did on the rocky, steady slope up heading the mountain going south along the AT into Michaux SF towards Pole Steeple. Thankfully it wasn't as hard as the Mid-State Trail section we did a few weeks ago. It surprised me that on Labor Day Monday we only met two section hikers and no day hikers at all. But we did see a bear both going up and coming down (the same bear) browsing heavily from a slope. The bears are hungry this time of year so he really could have cared less about us.
Thank you MCM!
Beautiful new bridge over Tagg Run
Rock steps
Woah! Nice!
With the goal of making it to a forest road/ fire road intersection on the AT at 3.2 miles for a turn-around, we completed six roundtrip miles in under three hours. With plenty of stops and a nice snack break, Amos wasn't as slow or hesitant as he has been these past six months. I felt pretty good about planning to complete the loop the following weekend but I was still a little worried about having to potentially assist him coming off the mountain if he got hurt or was to sore to continue. I shouldn't have worried because he did great, but I did pack his handle carry harness to place him in if he needed "a lift."
Part II - 9 miles loop
Fire and logging roads made for easier hiking
Colors are starting to pop on the ridge
Pole Steeple overlook is 4 miles up the Chestnut Ridge logging road
Pole Steeple Overlook 1250'
Fossil time - marine worm burrows in Antietam quartzite
After spending some time admiring the views from the top of the cliffs and driving away a few people who were trying to meditate in the clear, cool morning light with his hollering, we headed down slope off trail a little bit to check out a part of the talus slope that I knew had excellent marine fossils. We dawdled around some more looking at some really nice specimens (photos only, no collecting) we continued on to the northbound section of the AT across bluffs and blocks of rock to the intersection where we left off last weekend.
Back on the AT for the return
A sidewalk of blocky boulders for the next three miles
I made two full-body face-plants as I tripped on tree roots and fell not with much grace into the leafy, heathy shoulder of the trail. Both times Amos (who is attached by his 15 foot leash to my backpack) came back and offered his 80 pound self for a support to help me get upright again. No harm done but I continue to maintain my trail name "Bones" with these spectacular trips and falls I've become somewhat known for with my hiking friends. It just surprises me how I can be vertical one second and horizontal the next. Thankfully no crashes on the rocks today!
Completing our loop
We met one day hiker near the intersection where we left off last time and I explained our little loop hike project. "Max Packer" explained that he can never get the time off to do a longer section or LASH hike and so he was pleased to write down the name of my blog for ideas to complete his goal of the AT in Pennsylvania as well. I get it, Max. I do. We said our goodbyes and turned down an old forest road. Checking our time and pace I discovered that Amos had regained his famous hiking hound pace and I was so proud of him. Now I can start to plan some more hikes to continue this project!
A climb up to Pole Steeple overlook in Pine Grove Furnace State Park seemed like a great way to ring in the New Year for First Day Hike (which was actually delayed a week due to heavy rain on the 1st) so the day after our first snowstorm, my niece Amy and I ventured out. We combined the Appalachian Trail with Pole Steeple Trail and the old Trolley Line bike trail for a seven mile loop. Adding this loop to my hiking project to day hike the AT through PA, this sweet little circuit makes for hike #9 and #1 for the 2022/52-Hike Challenge.
White blaze on white snow
From my last loop hike that started and ended at the Camp Michaux parking area, this hike picks up where I left off after completing the short leg of AT that continues a mile down to Pine Grove Furnace. We parked at Fuller Lake and got right back on the AT literally in the parking lot and hiked north from there. The snow was fluffy and not quite half a foot deep and we were among a small group of outdoorsfolk who had ventured down some icy roads to explore the park the day after the storm. Everyone was chatty. Dogs were friendly. The bathroom was open! Off we went following the white blazes along Mountain Creek and up the mountain at the gated forest road a mile upstream.
My niece Amy on the AT as it runs along Mountain Creek
AT cuts straight through Pine Grove Furnace State Park and offers AT hikers a few opportunities to take a break here. The hiker's hostel - the old iron master's mansion (see video below) now managed by the AT Museum at Pine Grove offers simple bunkbed accommodations, hot showers, and a shared kitchen. This time of year, though, the AT Museum and General Store which is the site of the famous AT hiker's half gallon challenge ice cream challenge are closed. Tom's Run Shelter is south of us while northbound hikers look forward to the great little trail town of Boiling Springs that offers food and lodging options for winter AT hikers.
Happy new sign!
Up and up we went through the sparkling snowy forest. Blue cloudless skies overhead and not a hint of wind, the woods were bathed in the golden light of January sun. It was on this section of the AT many years ago that I encountered my first Hognose Snake and I remember sitting right down next to him in the middle of the trail to sketch his phenomenal patterns while he had a hard time deciding whether to flip over on his back to play dead or continue lay still for a ten minute sketch session. I have always loved snakes and some of my best encounters have been on the AT sitting alongside them sketching. Timber rattlers, copperheads, black rat snakes, hognose, ring-necked, garter, racers, northern water snakes - all have had their portraits done on the AT.
Amy navigates the snowy stone steps to the summit.
I wanted to take a minute and that thank the trail crews that maintain the trails in Pine Grove Furnace State Park - I've met a few of the great Friends of Pine Grove Furnace and staff - they are amazing. The new trail signage, well-kept kiosks and well-stocked map/brochure boxes, crisp blue blazes on the Pole Steeple Trail, and the incredible work on the heavy stone steps on the knob and trail show so much dedication. Thank you!
Double ledge summit of the knob
So much for a snowball toss - too dry!
View from Pole Steeple
Our views included several lakes which are all flooded ore and limestone quarries that supplied the iron furnace operations at Pine Grove. Looking across the low mountains was spectacular and the winter sun warmed us nicely on exposed ledges of quartzite. The knob of tilted ledge tilted skywards, its slanting stone blocks the result of the mountain-building crunch of continental collision that grew the Appalachians. The knob, a familiar geological erosional feature of the Appalachian range, stood proud against the blue sky. As we discovered, the promontory was claimed by a pair of ravens who made their presence known as we hiked down the approach trail to the road below. We wondered if they were near a nesting ledge that will hold raven chicks come spring?
Needle ice from a charcoal pit
We explored several large charcoal hearths, flat areas known as "pits" (but they are not pits). We descended the winding Pole Steeple Trail and they were easy to find as great white disks of snow- covered flats on the steep slope. We used our poles to pry just under the snow and leaves to find needle ice extruded from the black soil below. Needle ice forms when the soil temperature is above freezing while the air above soil is well below freezing. The soil moisture is pulled upwards in delicate columns through capillary action making beautiful curls and ribbons of ice. Needle ice here was black with charcoal dust.
An easy-to-spot charcoal "pit" or hearth on the slope (two tents had been here in the snowstorm)
The underlying geology of the Pole Steeple knob is quartzite, a resistant rock common along the AT and through the southern PA landscape. Knobs form when less resistant rock types are eroded out of place leaving quartzite ridges and boulder fields. Frost action was the main erosional process following the retreat of glaciers north of here, when the region was both wet and frigid. Frost shatter caused rocks to split apart as trapped water froze inside crevices and cavities. Frost shatter leaves a unique jagged appearance on quartzite that stands above the landscape in columns, dagger-like fins, or "teeth," often visible for miles atop the ridges in winter.
Quartzite exposed on the ledges showing the angular erosion patterns of frost action
Looking up at the knob from Pole Steeple Trail
Our descent to the paved road below was graced with the croaking ravens and the company of a very few fellow hikers, all pleasant and happy to see each other. This is one of the best parts of hiking for me - reconnecting to people as fellow explorers, nature nerds, and positive souls. Maybe this is one of the reasons I am devoted to hiking. I am always restored by the kindness. Everyone takes a few minutes to talk, share their stories (and their dogs!), and happy regards. Hiking connects us in deep ways to each other and the land and I always come home feeling uplifted by those I've met on the trail and by the places I've walked.
Forested swamps.
The road ended at the gated forest road and we completed our loop. We rejoined the trolley rail-trail and wandered past a forested swamp where the ponds looked like they were about to ice over. We stopped to pet some wonderful dogs and chat with their owners, all hikers. We had a great visit with a Boiling Springs High School teacher and her bouncy pup Buddy. She looked tired from teaching (virtually and in-person in this crazy second covid year) but she was positively glowing with happiness that she managed to get a few hours hiking in on this day. "Man, anytime I can get out here - especially in the snow - it's just the best therapy for me. There is nothing better for heart and soul." Truth.
This next ten mile loop hike on the AT started within Pine Grove Furnace State Park which is inside the beautiful Michaux State Forest. Amos and I hiked a half AT/ half forest road loop that started at the parking area for Camp Michaux. I've done a post on this historic site before so won't revisit it here but we did cruise through the old CCC camp and military intelligence camp site before setting out on the AT. We met two Friends of Michaux State Forest volunteers who were busy hacking away at the substantial undergrowth.
The AT crosses Michaux Road just west of Camp Michaux
Symbolic half-way point (the actual halfway point is south of here)
Since the AT changes a little each year, so does the half-way point. We came across the more permanent halfway marker knowing that the actual halfway for this year is about nine miles south. Due to rerouting, closures, new trail sections opening, and other modifications, the AT can vary in length from year to year by a few miles.
American Toad
This is Timber Rattlesnake country and I kept Amos on a shorter leash until we made it to the forest road, although I nearly had a heart attack when walking through some thick understory of blueberry he jumped up and screamed and tore ahead by a few feet while looking back to where I stood. "OH NO!" I said - waiting to hear the buzzy-buzz next to me. Instead the fattest American Toad I have ever seen hopped out into the sunny trail. WHEW!
Lunch lay-down among the pine needles and dead cicadas
On the trail every hiker we met stopped for a few minutes to pet Amos and chat. Section hikers Amtrack and Iron Fly were hiking all of PA this summer. Baltimore Jack and Scooch (two old friends) were on the AT for the third time this year doing a few hundred miles of "old men stumbling." And then we met poor Cricket who was having second breakfast at Tom's Run shelter and nearly lost it to always-starving Amos.
The new shelter and a small pavilion behind it have replaced the old CCC-built shelter.
All that remains of the CCC-built 1935 Tom's Run shelter
The springs at Tom's Run were deliciously cool and Amos spent a long time wading and lapping the water while Cricket told me about her thru-hike so far. "The trail community is amazing," she said. "I can be alone when I need or want to be or walk with people who care about each other and the trail whether day hikers or section hikers or thru-hikers, but I have really loved the trail towns. My gosh. What if all of America was like the AT community?" Well said. Maybe that is why I love it so much, too. Cricket is just out of the military and she's headed to a new job on the West Coast come October. I wished her well and we exchanged FB contacts. Meanwhile Amos was snuffling through her pack having detected turkey jerky...
Steep climb out of Tom's Run to the ridgeline
We hiked another five miles until we came to where we left off last time near the Mitchner cabin haul road and purple gate where we had lunch in the soft pine needles. Extra padding was provided by hundreds of dead cicadas. From here we jumped out on the shady forest road and walked five miles along the breezy ridge to the car. We took our time and enjoyed the ravens calling and all the small birds making feasts out of cicadas dying in the road.
Eastern Tent Caterpillar
Fly Poison, Amianthium muscitoxicum
Heading off the mountain to where I parked the car Amos and I finished a week of hiking in PA, unplugged and out-of-signal-range. It helped too that for some reason Verizon throttled my data use from last week in Illinois so I could only really use the phone and even then it was spotty. I turned on the news driving home and almost immediately turned it back off. Next week is a conference in Iowa and then back to work. But the mountains are calling me louder and louder each time I leave them. One of these times I'll stay.
Forty miles in the PA mountains this week...time to go home.
Amos and I hiked a figure-8 route that included 3.5 AT miles, several forest road miles, and the Dead Woman Hollow Trail. A large part of the the hike passed through a forest restoration area to bring back Appalachian heathlands that include Pitch Pine and Scrub Oak. The whole route clocked in at just under 8 miles (7.9) and included a beautiful, cool break at the Anne Mitchner Cabin and springs.
Amos in the shade of a Pitch Pine
Two memorial stops were COVID-Bear and the official halfway marker for the AT. COVID-Bear on the Big Flat section of the AT marks the lost year for thru-hikers who had to abandon their hikes in 2020 when the trail, its shelters, and trail towns closed due to the pandemic. The National Park Service administers the AT while the Appalachian Trail Conservancy manages the trail maintenance, section organizations, and land acquisitions or re-routing. When both organizations decided to close the AT in May 2020 thousands of hikers, thru-hikers, day hikers, LASHrs, and others lost their beloved trail until restrictions eased somewhat in the late summer (hike with masks/shelters & toilets closed) to an almost full reopening just a few weeks ago. The trail today was somewhat of a celebration for many as I met several LASH and thru-hikers happily on their way again. (I wish I was with them.)
COVID-Bear Memorial
Official half-way marker on the AT
The half-way marker is rather anti-climatic but because half-way fluctuates from year to year depending on re-routes and new sections, it is moved for accuracy - so it can't really be something massive and immovable.
Heathlands
Three-mile section of forest road
The AT section finished with a walk out to a forest road past a bright purple gate. The restoration area is in full view from the road and it occurred to me how carefully the AT corridor is maintained so that hikers get the feel of being in wilderness. The trail goes right through the large restoration plot and I don't recall seeing any of it from the AT. I'm glad I came this way because since the prescribed burn in 2017 there was beautiful sea of sassafras flowers on their spindly stems as far as the eye could see.
Logging road to the trail head.
I left the forest road and took a turn on to a service road and over the AT, down to find the Dead Woman Hollow Trail. The burn area here has recently undergone a salvage logging operation to remove dead standing timber. It was at once distressing but also encouraging as heath plants like Low Bush Blueberry and Huckleberry were already established and in full bloom. The hillside was a-buzz with bumble bees and other pollinators working the bell-like blossoms.
Hot and dusty hiking - Amos no like.
Dwarf Crested Iris - a native Appalachian woodland iris.
Almost the entire Dead Woman's Trail passes across the logged-out eastern slope of the mountain. It was stark almost too hot for poor Amos. We stopped a few times in the shade of remaining Pitch Pines and he quickly gulped down his water. While he rested, I observed Eastern Towhees, Phoebes, and Bluebirds working the slash piles for insects. I saw my first bear of the year - at a distance - from the log landing looking back down a haul road. Amos caught scent of it eventually but by then we were well on our way to entering the woods where a gushing great spring stopped us in our tracks. Amos waded, drank, and sat in the pools. Happy coonhound!
The Yellow Sea of Sassafras
Sassafras blossoms
The Sea of Lowbush Blueberry.
We came upon the Anna Mitchner Cabin just inside the wooded flank of mountain, beyond the springs. No one was renting it for the weekend so Amos was able to roam around sniffing the various woodpiles while I picked up little bits of wrapper and plastic and then we sat and had a nice lunch. Atop the mountain the AT runs a quarter mile or so up a shale-gravel access road, and along it walk all the hikers oblivious the the restoration areas - the prescribed burns and logged out hillsides to the east and west. The walk back to the Shippensburg Road parking area gave me the chance to admire how well the AT corridor view shed is managed. Coming back into the Big Flat area where the Pitch Pines are old indeed, I could see what the restoration efforts hope to achieve as this area is one of the most beautiful wooded heathlands in Michaux State Forest.
From whence we came.
Anne Mitchner Cabin (PATC)
AT viewshed.
Big Flat, where Scrub Oak and Pitch Pine shade the trail.
