Trip Report: West Rim Trail

“present: buddur, his dog, buddur, jerbear, roach, and pennsy

where: west rim trail, pine creek gorge

i met pennsy fri morning at the northern trailhead, and we drove to the southern trailhead at blackwell to shuttle cars. it was a sunny day, with temps expected to rise into the 90s. we hiked up the MST, passing scenic jerry run and bohen run falls. we climbed to the top of the gorge and met the WRT.

we hiked the WRT for a few miles and finally caught up to jerbear, roach and buddur as they had stopped in front of a timber rattlesnake, a black, 3-4 foot long beauty. roach almost got bit by it. we passed introductions and continued on the trail.

the day was getting hot and it was taking it's toll with numerous rest stops and water breaks. we stopped and ate lunch at a vista when a 75 yr old man came walking down the trail. every year he hikes the entire trail in sections. very impressive. we talked for a while and warned him about the snake.

the trail wasn't crowded, but we met a family of four on the trail, and 2 father-son groups.

we reached bradley wales picnic area when we noticed buddur was missing, he had raced ahead of us on the trail. we proceeded a little further to an awesome campsite underneath hemlocks overlooking the gorge. incredible view. pennsy raced ahead to retrieve buddur. we had been warned about bear activity, but we didn't see any at camp. we had a blazing fire and jerbear's illustrious stories, who had his little ballet slippers on.

the next morning, roach and jerbear decided to bail and meet us near a campsite at the northern trailhead. jerbear was complaining something about his "boys." the northern half was more scenic, and crowded, with scenic glens, and many awesome views of the gorge. little slate run was particularly nice with nice campsites and waterfalls downstream.

pennsy and i needed to get back home sat night, so we took a shortcut on the siemans trail, while buddur followed the WRT.
we reached the last overlooks at awesome barbour rock, with views of cliffs and whitewater. we met back up w/ jerbear and roach at their campsite, talked for a while, said our goodbyes, and completed the trail. jerbear and roach hitched a ride to the northern trailhead, went to a restaurant, ordered steak and cheesecake, then had the waitress take a polaroid of them so they could tempt pennsy and i with the pic.

great trail, great trip, great company. it was a pleasure to meet jerbear and buddur. hope to see everyone again soon.

good luck roach on your adventure race next week.”

“wow sounds like a blast...cept for the rattlesnake.”

“How's the spring water there?”

“plenty of good water sources along the trail.”

“.....and neither man nor beast whizzin' in it?”

“J- thanks for the report. And was a pleasure meeting you. NOW wheres my book? LOL”

“I didn't get the part about the ballet slippers. Were jerbear's "boys" wearing ballet slippers?”

“Hey Pep, NO I got my nutz galded? And my camp shoes were shower shoes of the netty type! How you feelin?”

“we also saw red tanagers, songbirds which have are brilliant red, with black wings.

the snake was very cool.”

“jerbear- amazon.com has a book waiting for you!”

“oh, and so does latta outdoors, look to your right.”

“Good report jmitch, you pretty much covered it, not much to add. On the way out we also saw another gentlemen (70+) with his pack on going toward the trail, pretty cool.

I'm glad I cut some of that trail out, my legs are fresh and I'll be leaving Thursday, back later next week and I'll let you know how we fared in the race.

Great hiking with you all again, and some for the first time. I came away from that hike with quite a few ideas on ways to lighten my pack, thanks all.

Aside from the close encounter with the snake it was a good trip. If I hadn't heard the rattles he would have got me for sure, only missed by less than a foot.”

“jerbear - you are sounding more like Sarabelle every day. Nutz galded?? What is that?? Some guy thing?

I'm feeling pretty good, thanks for asking. Just totally bummed everytime I think about the small crowd in the Sierra this week!

How are you? Still avoiding honest employment?”

“Great trip report Jeff. It was great meeting up with this crew again and I had a super weekend.

The WRT is a gem of a trail. There were not that many scenic views on the southern section but the north made up for it. WOW!! Unfortunately I dropped my camera and it failed completely when we arrived at the best vistas late Sunday. Off to Nikon Service it goes with a hefty repair bill I suspect. Drat.

While the weather was quite hot, we were in the shade most of the time which made the hike bearable. There was plenty of water sources along the trail so hydrating was not a problem. Buddur dog took full advantage of these streams and I think he had more fun than all of us.

The timber rattlersnake we encountered was gorgeous. I LOVE snakes and I'm glad he didn't nip Roach. We left a note on the trail announcing it's presence but fortunately it slithered off the trail after we left.

I thought it was very cool that a family of four was backpacking the entire trail. They all really seemed to be enjoying it. Lucky family. Seeing 2 father and son groups backpacking was also quite nice.

Our campsite was very nice with a fantastic view a few feet away from the tents. We got a good fire going and enjoyed each other's company, especially Jerbear's tales and Buddur's campfire tribal dance.

Everytime I looked down in the gorge, I could not help but notice the bike path that hugs Pine Creek all the way down. I gotta come back and ride this path.

Great trip with great people (and dog of course).

Here's some pics but keep in mind the best views for missed.”

“best views FOR missed? What the heck is that? It's 'the best views WERE missed. Also, my camera broke late Saturday, not Sunday. I gotta start proofreading before I turn into Ice Tea.”

“Pennsy, that's one beautiful snake!”

“Would it be possible for you guys to tell where it is you hiked? What state? What area? Etc.

Not everyone is as familiar with all of this as the particpants. Thanks.”

“Sounds like a nice trip. Cool pictures too, especially the snake. That area is excellent for bike touring too. I did a lot of tours out there with overnight packs on my bike and rode down that RR grade on the canyon floor on one trip. That was 15 years ago before it was paved. It was a gravel surface and with a loaded bike it was a brutal ride. There's killer climb from the canyon floor at Tiadaughton to some farms on the East rim that was wicked.”

“I wouldn't mind light packing and doing an overnighter on the bike path Rich.

mountainmaster - this is in north central Pennsylvania, near Wellsboro. I forgot that this is a separate thread from the West Rim trip thread where location was discussed. Woops.”

“Thanks, Pennsy.

All my mother's relatives are from Ashland.”

“That sounds good. I used to carry too much, but I took off the front rack on my touring bike because I know I'll never carry as much as I used to. Not much it needed on a bike trip if it's warm out.”

“sounds like a great trip!! lucky the snake never struck.

and pennsy...it seems as if your communication skills are faltering. ;-) typical man!! heehee”

“Awwww come on... it's Monday. No one communicates well on Mondays. :o(”

“Great photos!! Love the snake. I bet that got your hearts beating! I will have to come east for a hike one of these days. It looks so different from what I am used to.”

“Very nice trip report.


8)”

“Where is WRT?

Cool Pictures!
I dig the Rattlesnake shot!”

“He did strike yam, just as I heard the rattle and jumped back. He missed me by about 8 inches. It was cool seeing his mouth wide open like that though. When I started breathing again I appreciated him much better from about 20 feet back!”

“2 years ago on the Quehanna trail, I almost stepped on a timber rattlesnake near Gifford Run. I was hiking fairly fast along a trail with overgrown laurels and he was right in the trail spread out, but not coiled. I never saw him until my boot was ready to come down on top of his head. As my boot was ready to strike him, he rattled for a few seconds and stopped while he pulled his head away to avoid being stepped on. Then he just froze motionless. That was the closest I ever came to one. I never saw a rattlesnake move away when you approach. Every one I ever saw held its ground, but didn't aways rattle.”

“Communication skills?
Yeah well, be nice to Pennsy, he's gettin' kinda old.

Cool snake!
I stepped right over one that size in West Virginia many years ago.
It was sleeping, I guess, in a coil in the middle of the trail in the sun.
The sun was in my eyes and I just happened to look down as I was stepping over it.
I did a little dance and spun around and gasped, "snake!!!", just before I ran over the poor bastard who was truckin' along behind me.
He probably would have stepped on it if I hadn't used him for a tackling dummy.”

“awesome pics, pennsy. a very beautiful place.

the pine creek gorge is located in northcentral PA, near wellsboro.”

“thanks for the snake warning richb.
I leave Sat for the Quehanna trail.I'll have to tell the boys to keep their eyes and ears open.”

“I almost stepped on a Rattler in Talladega NF in Alabama. He was streached out across the trail I saw him just before I almost stepped on him. I jumped 5 feet up and 5 feet to the right. He never did rattle. I even tried tossing some twigs on his head just to hear him. I couldn't even get him to fully coil up. He was a fat bastad though.”

“Nice reports, gentlemen, especially yours, jmitch.

Pennsy, cool pix ...as usual. Great shots of the waterfall, vistas, and the rattlesnake. Campfire tribal rituals are funny... Buddur brought a little flag ...he's hilarious, ain't he?

So it was hot, eh?. What about the bugs?

Tom T, your rattlesnake experience is nearly identical to two that I had. But for as many times as I've encountered 'em(I've lost count now), I never had one actually strike at me like roach's. Whew doggie!!! How fortunate you were with the quick back-step! I had a rattler wind up on me once into a tight spiral position, head poised to strike, but it stayed put. Hmmm, now lemme see... there's roach, Tom T, Rich B, walkindude, and myself who've had close encounters of the poisonous kind ...anyone else? ...We could start an online "Almost Stepped On One" 12-Step support group. Makes ya hair spike up on the back o' yer neck! I hate that.

Pennsy, sorry about your camera, man. I can relate... I'm going 55 mph down the highway this morning, and I see this little black thing in the rearview mirror fall off the back roof of my car and go bouncing onto the shoulder of the road; instantly I knew exactly what happened. Apparently I left it on the roof last night, and it slid back and got lodged into the spoiler over the back window; then finally came loose on the highway. So my camera's broken too. Misery loves company, eh?.”

“Jerbear drove from OH to my house and carpooled in my van to the trailhead. When we got there Roach was patiently waiting for us.

It wasn't supposed to rain that night, but it started to slobber when we were getting ready to leave. Then when we hit the trail it unleashed a downpour.

We started at the southern trailheadand hiked North. It got dark rather fast since we started hiking just before dusk. Because of the poor conditions, we missed a turnoff and hiked for a while on another trail up until we got to a fenced in area. Looking at the map and comparing it to my GPS we figured out where we were and headed out to a road that took us back to where the WRT trail crossed it.

We hiked for a long time in the dark, and probably missed alot of cool looking surroundings, but oh well.

When we got to the Mid State Trail we looked for the campsites I thought I remembered Jmitch posting about. Well, people were in them. So we hiked down a ways on the MST looking for a campsite, then back up, then back down again to a spot where we decided we might be able to camp. It was about 12midnight when we got to that spot alongside the MST.

(stay tuned for the next day's report coming shortly)”

“Oh sure Buddur, keep us in suspense.

While we're on the topic of snakes, here's a few pics of a timber rattler that I had a close encounter with this past fall.

Yikes Mister M! At least my cam should be repairable but yours must be toast.

Yes, it was hot but it could have been worse if we weren't in the shade of the forest most of the hike. I didn't think the bugs were bad but the last day Jmitch was constantly swatting himself. Maybe I stunk so bad they left me alone?

Hey Tommy T - If I'm old, what the heck does that make you? Hmmmm?”

“roach-- oops!! lucky he MISSED you. it would be interesting to see it, but a bit scary, too.

and tom t--pennsy is soooooo ancient....but from his reply....i take it you're in his bracket?? ;-)”

“Ouch! Vegetable Lady sure can pack a punch. ;o)

Tommy T - He's in a bracket all by himself.”

“wow, great pics. If the best views were missed, then that area must be really spectacular.(still wish I could have made it over for the weekend)”

“Ha ha, Pennsy!
So, is blue my color or what?
Some joker at work asked me if I was dyeing my hair a couple of years ago.
"Yeah, right, I'm dyeing it grey!"

M Silver, you've done the snake dance too, huh?
It kinda gets the blood up and ya never know how fast you can move!
The rattlers I've encountered that were not snoozin' have always made a play and retreated.
What, nobody picked it up by the tail?

Did you guys celebrate "Cinco De Julio"?”

“Wicked!”