Trip Report- Mid State and West Rim Trai ls

“this weekend i hiked parts the WRT and MST along the pince creek gorge. the weather was excellent. i hiked up the MST into the gorge from blackwell, very scenic trail, with sidehill along steep embankments. the trees were beginning to bloom and lots of ducks, eagles, and vultures in the gorge. lots of beautiful hemlock, pine, and laurel. the trail is often bordered in moss. because the gorge is a natural area, there is no logging and some of the trees were impressive in size.

there were scenic falls along jerry and bohen run. bohen run falls is about 80 feet high, and both had plenty of water. the terrain was precipitous, but very scenic. bohen run is very beautiful with lots of waterfalls and cascades. it joins pine creek with campsites so awesome you'd dream of them- right next to pine creek in a pine and spruce grove, in the heart of the gorge.

i was really suprised by how nice the trail was, just great hiking through glens and gorges. for those of you hiking the WRT, consider beginning along the MST from blackwell.”

“Neat report jmitch. I've gotta head up that way someday soon.”

“Cool beans! The WRT is definately on my list for this summer. I was in that neck of the woods myself Sat and Sun. While on the Black Forest Trail, I saw a sign saying 7 miles to the WRT which reminded me to put it on my must hike list.”

“That's a good tip. I hiked the WRT before, but never from the MST in Blackwell. I'll have to try it that way next time.”

“The MST from Blackwell to Little Pine is also a really nice weekend hike. Not a loop, but not that difficult to shuttle. There are a couple of nice waterfalls there too.”

“thanks ginny, i've heard a lot of great things about the MST through the pine creek region. i plan to check it out.”

“We cleared out our section of the trail weekend before last (Big Run Road to Trout Run). Some blowdowns, but not as many as were on the Link Trail - thank heavens. How is the cleanup on your section going? Have you been back yet?”

“Nice report jmitch. The last time I was on the WRT, it was really crowded.”

“Last time I was on the WRT, we didn't see another person for like a day and a half. That was November '01, I think.

My pics from that trip were very disappointing but I did get two or three decent shots...here's one.”

“Nice pic Fritz. Someone should buy Jmitch a camera so we can view all his adventures. ;o)

Did you see many people on the trail? The weather was perfect but I didn't see a human being the entire weekend on the BFT. Lots of deer and a few porcupines though. oh, and a few black flies.”

“We had a porcupine try to chew on our truck when we were up there last. We were sleeping in the back out on a back road in the middle of nowhere. Heard what sounded like someone knocking on a door. "What the >>>?" Then I remembered a previous trip on the Susquehannock when a porcupine kept us up all night chewing on a cabin and it sounded like someone was locked inside and knocking to try to get out. So, we leaped up, grabbed a flashlight, and there was a huge porkie up by the front tire. Our lights scared him off. We found the container of moth balls we keep in the truck and scattered them under the truck and he never came back. We have done the moth ball trick in the past on long backpacking weekends, didn't even think about it when we were sleeping inside on a trail care weekend. Live and learn. (And yes, we picked up the mothballs the next day.)”

“Thanks for the reminder about the mothballs. To the market tomorrow! The first time I heard of mothballs and porcupines was on a TT BFT trip last year. I saw these guys spreading mothballs around their tires and thought "what kind of cult freaks am I hiking with?"”

“i'd accept anyone's offer to buy me a camera.”