Sunday, June 17th 2001

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Saturday, June 2nd 2001
Mid State Trail
From Penn Roosevelt State Park to Detweiler Natural Area

Woah . . . this is probably the toughest 5 miles I've hiked. I intended to hike from Penn Roosevelt State Park to Bear Meadows and back (I couldn't arrange a shuttle) but I only made it 2/3 of the way. The hike starts steeply uphill, since Penn Roosevelt is in a hollow. There were no vistas at all, so I was glad to see the Mountain Laurel in bloom. The footing was good, albeit steep.

After getting to the top of what I believe is Thickhead Mountain, and crossing over a grassy road (Thickhead Mountain Road), the familiar rocks of the Tuscarora soon took over the trail. I'm confused about what mountain it was, because it is labeled as both Thickhead and Fifth Mountain on my maps. This whole area is a mish-mosh of mountains, valleys and ridges.

Oddly though, the trail runs right over an abandoned rail bed---the Reichley Brothers Tram Road--which has deteriorated quite a bit. There are a few large trees growing out of it in spots, so I assume it's been a long time since it was used. It is absolutely the rockiest, hardest trail I've hiked with the exception of a short section of the Appalachian Trail eat of PA309. It easily 'out-rocks' the Jackson Trail--which I thought wasn't possible. The rail bed follows Detweiler Run, which had a really good flow for this time of year, since Tropical Storm Allison had just blown through the day before.

After a little more than a mile, the trail opens up to a grassy swath cleared for a gas pipeline. Since you are in a saddle at this point, you can't really see much.

Here's where the going got really tough.

While the trail before was rocky, and hard on the feet, the going wasn't *too* tough, and I made decent time. The trail to the west of the pipeline, however, turned into a jungle. I wouldn't have believed all the living things that were out, and the air was terribly humid. I couldn't go more than a few feet without some green thing hitting me in the face--I would be tempted to bring a machete if I ever hike this area again. I felt like I would see dinosaurs peeking out behind the rhododendrons. I did see a copperhead snake and some babies as well, which didn't exactly set my mind at ease.

The few campsites that were around seemed nice enough, but it was far too wet to sit down for lunch, so I ate standing up. I think that camping is not allowed in this area, anyway, and I wouldn't think it would be a very good spot due to all the creepy-crawlies.

Just when the trail headed away from Detweiler Run and started to get a bit drier, I decided that I was too far from my destination to make it back without being worn out, so I turned back. Luckily, the trail data from my hike of Bear Meadows was still in my eTrek GPS, so I knew exactly how far it was. Otherwise, I might have been tempted to go a bit further. As it was, I was about a mile and a half from the intersection of the MST with the Gettis Trail. I think I'll complete that leg at some point, but I'll hike it from the Bear Meadows side.

Here's a GPS map of the hike . . .

Click for full size

Click here for my photos, taken with an old Apple QuickTake 150 . . . hey, it's lightweight :-)