PA-AT Hike #12: Whiskey Springs to Little Dogwood Run

PA-AT Hike #12: Whiskey Springs to Little Dogwood Run O&B 4.5 miles

Rocky Ridge connects to White Rocks like this

This is a tough section of my local AT walk sections and one I've been putting off just because as a day hike, it can be exhausting. But I needed to get away from work and school and take a day, so why not? I plotted a lollipop route using the adjoining PA Game Lands trail system to make it more interesting. Never mind that weird little stabbing headache I drove up with, by the time Amos and I set up the hill, it had faded thanks to a triple dose of Tylenol. 

Push-Pops

Long ago when I was thru-hiking PA with a cousin, this section earned the name The Push Pops that reminded him of the fun summer ice cream treat that emerges from a smooth cardboard tube with a little pressure from the bottom. The whole of Rocky Ridge to its connection with the popular White Rocks Ridge a few miles northeast seems pushed up and out of a slot in the ridge making these angular, almost eruptive formations. Normally I would have walked up to the biggest ones and explored but for some reason I was winded, out of breath, and decided to just sit and admire them. 

Seed capsules erupting on Burnweed

I was feeling a little light-headed, even dizzy, but still wasn't connecting how I was feeling with the latest spike in Covid cases happening at the college where I teach night classes. I had four students out with Covid last week and never thought I'd be next - until this hike. By the time the AT intersected with the old charcoal wagon road for the nearby Boiling Springs (Carlisle) Iron Furnace (1760) I was two miles in and feeling rough. I took the old wagon road up into the rugged woods of the Game Lands and followed it across a knob of quartzite and sandstone. Here we met a gorgeous Black Rat Snake who seemed just as curious about us as we were of him. A real beauty! 

Black Rat Snake

I had planned a short bushwack to connect the two trails and was checking an app that uses LiDAR to identify old industrial sites nearby when a stunning Red Tailed Hawk flew past at eye level at twenty yards. As I  looked up from the phone, the hawk angled its bright iron-red tail with its single black band towards me and swooped around in a half circle.  It's that time of year when hawks are spilling out of the northern woods along the Appalachians to ride the mountain ridge currents south. This beautiful hawk arced upwards into the light breeze and pivoted above the trees towards the south. Safe travels, hawk!  

AT along top of Rocky Ridge

AT near bottom at Little Dogwood Run

Old charcoal wagon road (PA Game Lands) 

Charcoal pit! 

As we hiked off-trail between the old road and the AT we encountered two charcoal pits worth exploring. These broad flat areas were used to stack and burn oak and chestnut logs to make charcoal fuel for the furnace nearby and were often connected by faint traces of roads that fed into main haul roads. They show up clearly on LiDAR as pock-marks along sides of hills. I explored one of the pits and found a fine patch of Burnweed growing there, thriving even in this sudden onset drought at the end of summer when not much else is growing. Burnweed has its tough little cylindrical flowers held tight with no flashy petals to observe but it is a nectar haven for late season butterflies and beetles who can probe deeply for a rich reward. They grow in places where fire (like charcoal burning) has made soils poor for most other plants, but they thrive here,fixing nitrogen and stabilizing ash and char with their deep tap roots.  

CalTopo LiDAR layer 

We stopped for a break at the intersection of the AT and the old charcoal wagon road to complete the lollipop section of this hike. I studied the Lidar app some more and realized just how many charcoal pits were in this area - dozens and dozens. At one time this entire forest was reduced to charcoal to feed the hungry iron furnace at Boiling Springs, which is still in good form at a small park in town (minus its wood outbuildings and sheds). The forest we hiked through today was the second or third version of woodland after the furnace ceased operations in the early 1800s. 

 Virginia Pine

When I stood up from our break, Amos was eager to get going but my head was spinning. He nearly pulled me over (but not on purpose) as I tried to steady myself upright, knowing  now that I was coming down with something unpleasant. Trying to steady my steps with hiking pole and tree holding, I made my way back up and over the Rocky Ridge section of the AT until we came to the long steep way back down to Whiskey Springs. I hated that I felt so bad and wanted to get off the trail as quickly as I could. It was a beautiful day with lots going on, but my body was not having it. 

Heading home

Notes:

CalTopo App - well worth having on your phone if you love exploring landscape history and getting off the beaten trail. 

The Boiling Springs Furnace (Carlisle Furnace) is not far from this section of the AT and later the AT will pass right by it. 

PA - AT Hike #11: Hunters Run to Whiskey Springs x 2 Out-and-Backs

 PA - AT Hike #11: Hunters Run to Whiskey Springs, 10 miles Out-and-Back

Amos and I continued our PA-AT hiking project with a camp-over at Pine Grove Furnace State Park and two back-to-back days starting at the Hunters Run Trailhead parking area on Rt. 34 heading northbound (NOBO) for 10 miles out-and-back (5 miles straight through). Out-and-backs are a little boring  for me which is why to create (safe) loops, but there are so many very busy highways and shoulder-less roads in this area that it means doubling back. 

Eastern Box Turtle

The weather was cool but a little humid so I packed an extra water bottle for Amos. It was terribly dry, though. We need rain. Up we went across an unnamed knob, crumbling quartzite under our feet. We came across some recently dug out yellow jacket nests pretty early on but these were not on the trail. I venture to say that ole' bear we saw clawing out the hillside a few weeks ago on another nearby slope must have a cousin here. Quite the excavation! I didn't stay to take pictures, but there's a real difference in the way an Eastern Skunk does her neat little dig compared to the crater holes left by a Black Bear!  

Here comes Autumn!

Young understory Hickories, Sassafras, and Spicebush were turning yellow and red beneath the still green - but thinning - canopy of oak. I made note of some small quarry pits and many large charcoal hearths, some stacked up the hill like stair steps. This knob and its surrounding forests must have been cut over several times before the need for charcoal as fuel for the iron furnaces at Pine Grove and Boiling Springs subsided. These aren't old woods, but they aren't all that young either. There were many small stump-sprouted American Chestnuts. I can only imagine what this woods looked like before the blight killed the mature trees. 

Wrinkle-leafed Goldenrod

Flat-topped Goldenrod

Amos tracked his eleventh Eastern Box Turtle of the season - fitting since this is PA-AT Hike #11 and as I documented this gnawed on, grizzled old turtle with a few portraits, my turtle-tracking hound let out a tremendous bay. Something big thrashed downslope so fast that by the time I stood up to see what it was, the big something was gone. A southbound (SOBO) hiker passed us and stopped briefly to pet Amos, though he was in a hurry to make it to Pine Grove Furnace State Park for a campsite and a hot shower. His trail name was Breezy coming from Maine, heading to Georgia. Happy trails, Breezy.

No swamp today

We dropped down off the mountain and into the low vales where our turn-around point would be at a bridge over a stream. We'd come almost three miles with another half mile to go when there was a low, deep rumbling boom that rattled the forest so much so that birds scattered and a rainfall of yellow leaves poured over us. Amos looked bewildered. I'm sure he heard it differently than I did. Is there a quarry blasting on a Sunday? Was there an earthquake? 

No water!

We had a nice late lunch of apple slices, cheese, and crackers sitting on the bridge over the now dry creek that only a few weeks ago, according to hikers leaving notes on the Far Out app, had been roaringly high. This is the same bridge I took Amos' puppy picture on seven years ago. Now he's getting that frosted look around his face and it makes me a little sad. But he's having a great day, good pace, drinking all his water. A very happy hiking hound.

Puppy Amos ...

...and seven years later!

We turned back around and retraced our steps and in the low light of late afternoon stopped in a powerline right of way to admire the yellow Goldenrod and Wing-Stem, purple New York Aster, and clouds of Wood Aster. It was enough of a break in the forest scenery that I stood a long time and watched Skippers and Buckeye butterflies float from patch to patch. Back to Hunters Run, then on to camp, we had a gloriously cool night camping out under a bright moon. Barred Owls called to each other in the deepest night and Amos snored, wrapped up in his sleeping bag, next to me in the truck.

Two out-and-backs for a nice weekend camping trip

The next morning we got up early and did a walk-about in the campground where we met Breezy again, enjoying a hot cup of coffee. Amos was excited to see him so of course he let out an huge AROO at 7am and, well, it was Monday morning so who cares. Breezy was on his way as I was packing up the truck while Amos hid in the woods because he thought we were going home, which he doesn't like to do when camping, but as soon as I said "let's go for another hike" he popped out and jumped in the truck. Today's hike would be hard for him, as it involves the Rock Maze just south of the AT Trailhead at Whiskey Springs Road, so I figured I'd let him tell me when he's had enough.

Entering the Rock Maze

Now, whoever originally planned the route through the Rock Maze did not plan an alternative route so we had to navigate the steep, boulder ridge carefully together and made it just over a mile in when we were faced with a huge five foot drop that brought Amos to a full stop. I remember when he was a puppy seven years ago. I was able to lift  him down and carry him around the really sketchy bits but here he is at 75 pounds and there was no way. 

A mile into the Maze

We wandered in and out of the Maze trying to find an alternative way around the big drop but instead climbed all the way down off the ridge to a smaller boulder field below where hikers had made their own walk arounds. Much better. We descended steeply down a set of switch backs and wandered slowly through the woods to where we turned around yesterday. Another lunch at the bridge and a slow return.

The Drop - Amos Shall Not Pass

I love this section and have hiked up here often just to explore around the boulder field. The massive spires and blocks of quartzite here serve as an established bouldering site for local rock climbing, but the several times I've been here it's never been crowded (like Pole Steeple can be).  The rock type is quartzite but it is pebbly and unconsolidated, the kind of formation that signals its origins as a river delta.  I am never not amazed by how time is represented in the rocks of PA, how I can imagine that there were once shallow inland seas, mighty rivers, and mountains as high as the Rockies where I wander through these beautiful hardwood forested ridges. 

The AT Trailhead on Whiskey Springs Road marks the Western Terminus of the Mason Dixon Trail that runs 200 miles from Chadds Ford PA. My hiking buddy Kim and I completed the MDT in 2016 after three years of section hiking. Across the road is the NOBO trailhead to White Rocks which will be our next section. 

Notes:

South Central Pennsylvania Climbers for the Rocky Ridge Whiskey Springs Boulder Field

Hiking vlogger Wandering Woodsman's  "Rocky Ridge Rock Maze" 

PA - AT Hike #10: Chestnut Ridge Trail and AT Loop/ Pine Grove State Forest

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! 

AT Hike #9: PA - Pine Grove Furnace State Park: Pole Steeple/AT Loop

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. 

Notes:

Pine Grove Furnace State Park  https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/StateParks/FindAPark/PineGroveFurnaceStatePark/Pages/default.aspx

Info for AT hikers in the Pine Grove Furnace area https://www.atmuseum.org/directions-lodging-and-shuttles.html that includes shuttles, hostel, and area lodgings near Boiling Springs and Carlisle, PA

YouTube! Iron and Charcoal Industrial History at Pine Grove Furnace State Park: