trip report: MST: Vistas/Swimming/Jeeps/ Macncheese

“This was an awesome trip and I had a super great time. It was exactly what the doctor ordered and the weather could not have been better.

Friday night, I got to the trailhead in Blackwell, PA on Rt 414 at about 10pm. I noticed both Jackstraw and Lost Soul's vehicles being there. I geared up and made my way across Pine Creek and into the woods on the old Mid State Trail.

I forgot how steep it was right away. That got my heart pounding and I was trying to catch breath the whole way up. I was excited to get into camp, because I knew that beer and campfire awaited and this was to be a sweet campsite.

As I crested the steep hill, with Pine Creek straight below me (don't slip of fall or it's a long way down), I noticed a head lamp approaching me. I called out, "who goes there?" and Lost Soul answered. He was having trouble locating the campsite. He told me how far he got and it didn't seem to me that he didn't go far enough. SO we continued together. He said he saw a campfire down at the bottom of the hill and pointed out an orange glow to our right. It looked like a fire to me too. It didn't seem like we went far enough. We hadn't yet crossed the water fall on Jerry Run and I knew the campsite was after that.

However, it was late and it looked convincing to me, so we bushwhacked down the steep hill, found a drainage and followed that until we reached a cliff above Pine Creek. Looking across, I saw what looked like our fire, it was a house. So we had to climb 350 feet back up to the Mid State Trail.

Huffing and puffing, we made it back up to the trail, took a break on a tree that fell across the trail and then continued. It wasn't long until a shiny long thing caught my attention. As I got with in two feet of it,I realized it was a Timber Rattle Snake.

The snake was about 3 feet long and wasn't all that big, but its colors were as vibrant as I've ever seen them. It was a beautiful speciman and it didn't seem to mind our precense. Only thing was, that it was blocking our progress and we weren't too anxious to step over it. Finally it moved a little bit to the side and we passed by it.

We never found the blue blazed side trail to the campsite, but an old roadbed lead us to the bank of Pine Creek and we followed that a short distance to the campsite, where Jackstaw greeted us with a fire and cold can of Yuengling Lager.

I proceeded to set up my hammock and Lost Soul set up his new MSR tent and then we sat around the fire munching on cheese, sausage and bread curtousy of Jackstraw and beer from Jackstraw and Lost Soul. Lost Soul packed in two 6 packs, so I bet he was pretty tuckered coming into camp, especially after our bushwhack misadventure.

We had to chase away a cute little mouse that we caught munching some of the cheese behind our backs, but all was good.

Jackstraw and I walked down to the banks of Pine Creek where Bohen Run empties into it and it was one of the prettiest night time views I have ever seen. THe sillouettes of the mountains on either side of the gorge with a back drop of the navy blue sky dotted with stars and blotted by occasional clouds and the distant bright light from the moon casting shadows, was astounding. After a few minutes, we returned to the campsite and had some more beer.

At some point we all went to bed and I'm not sure what time it was. I was happily buzzed and drifted fast asleep.

Next morning I awoke to the sound of water and birds in the trees and he sunlight dropping through the fog and reaching the bottom of the gorge. It was glorious. As we were eating breakfast, PAhikes walked into camp and introduced himself.

We then hiked the short mile and a half back to Blackwell where we met up with Jmitch. After a car shuttle up to 287, we were on the trail around 930.

It was a beautiful morning and our first vista was Anna's Mine Haunted Vista. Apparently, miners used to hop a coal cars that were transported by cable across the glen. Sometimes the miners would get stuck up there over night when the cable cars would be shut off and freeze to death. On this day, no ghostly experiences were had, however.

Our next highlight was hiking over rock formations and stepping across most crevasses. From there we hiked in and out of several small glens that looked like primorial forests full old prehistoric ferns and plants. It seemed that at any moment, a dinasoar would turn the corner. Along the way we took a few breaks to snack or refill water. The weather continued to delight.

At one point, we came upon some old ruins that echoed back to Pennsylvania's industrial past. This area was heavily logged and mined, but now it is in the process of returning back to a natural wonderland and even though the destruction was as recent as the early 20th Century, the area was already wild and wonderful.

The last stretch was across the platuea and then a long descent into Stoney Fork Glen. ALong the way, we had to whack through some evil nettles, but we got through fairly unscathed.

We reached Stoney Fork Road and said goodbye to Jackstraw, who parked his car where the road met with Rt 414, a short mile and a half away. We then donned our water footwear and forded Stoney Fork.

PAhikes had a cooler hidden nearby and we hiked it to our prospective campsite a short distance after the ford.

Upon arriving at the campsite, with a popular water/swimming hole on Stoney Fork closeby, we found we were not alone. The place was crowded with people out for a swim in the nice weather. Furthermore, the site had been littered with garbage. The last straw was when 3 jeeps made their way into our campsite after driving up through the woods. The one jeep parked right where I was trying to set up my hammock.

disgusted, we packed up and hiked another half mile up Stoney Fork and found a more secluded campsite. This one, still close to another swimming hole, had some people, but not as many and it wasn't trashed like the last one. Also, I thought it a nicer spot, scenically speaking.

After setting up camp, we went for a swim in Stoney Fork. The water was great. It was nice getting into camp and it only being 2pm in the afternoon.

That night, we sat around the fire while PAhikes cooked us a great dinner of Mac and Cheese (the creamy kind) and ham steaks, and the beer in the cooler, Yuengling Black and Tans were ice cold and really hit the spot.

The next morning, we got up and were on the trail around 8. The first part of the day was along the scenic Stoney Fork. We then ascended steeply to the top of the plateau.

From there the hike was pretty much on the top and the scenery continued to be striking. We crossed the boulder gardens and beautiful forests. Looking up revealed a crystal clear blue sky dotted by fluffy clouds. Towards the end of the hike we had great vistas of Pine Creek Gorge, Blackwell and Babb Creek. Finally we made the long steep descent from Fork Hill into Blackwell and there we had some outstanding food at the Blackwell Hotel.

It was a great hike.

Cudos to Jmitch on the trail. It was everything you said it would be. Kudos to PAhikes for the dinner and Kudos to Lost Soul for carrying the cooler on your head.
Jackstraw, we missed you in camp Saturday night. Thanks for the beer and snacks friday night and thanks to Lost Soul for the beer he trucked in and I mean trucked.

here are my pics:
http://community.webshots.com/album/552997071PAFZAn
last edited: 8/10/06 8:14:36 PM”

“Bushwacks, swimming, coolers of beer and nice vista's. Damm, sounds like a pretty good time to me! Great job guys!!”

“hell yes it was!!!”

“For some reason I kept reading "Macncheese" as "Mancheese", so it took me awhile to open this thread. Great TR!”

“excellent pics, ENS”

“Nice pics and report ENS. With the swimming hole,ruins, and neat old cemetery this trail take the #2 favorite trail on my list. Well done jmitch a very interesting trail.”