Roaming The Black Forest Trail, A Trip R eport

“My Tr starts at the Williamsport Airport. I arrived to find that my bags had been lost and all I had was what was in my carry on!! “ We can have them delivered to ya”, “What out on the Black forest trail???” I tried to get all upset, but I knew it wasn’t anybody there’s fault, so I waited until the next flight came in and there were my bags. Whew, dodged the first bullet already!! I got my rental car and headed out to Gander Mountain to pick up some supplies and a replacement fleece jacket for the one I left behind! (Turned out I didn’t need it!!)

Surrounded by the Allegany Mountains, Williamsport, Pennsylvania is an old logging town as well as a canal town. Williamsport sits at the confluence of the Susquehanna River and Loyalsock Creek and is known for great trout fishing!! I had no time for that now, too bad! I felt right at home there. The age of the buildings being very close to that of my home town! Additionally, two institutions of higher learning call Williamsport home. The Pennsylvania College of Technology (Part of Penn State) and Lycoming College (1812) both have campuses within a couple miles of each other right in town. College students were everywhere along with the requisite bars and small shops that make a residential college town a cool place to be.

Yax Trax And Broken Backs!!

I drove out to the trailhead aided by directions from some locals in a small roadside tavern. I can’t remember the name. I stopped by and bought some whiskey at a state store in Jersey Shores and some gasoline antifreeze for stove fuel. Crash Bang had told me that it was easier to find and worked great!! Well, that wasn’t the case with the stuff I bought!! It would cause me some concern later on!! I got to the trailhead at about 4:00 PM local time and there were two cars there, one from Canada and one with Navy tags on it. I was glad to see both as I knew that I was at the right place. I began to suit up and when I was just about done, here came Russ down the trail. He had fallen and hurt his back!! We talked about the trail conditions and I did not get the confidence boost that I needed. Russ was heading home to work on his back and gave me his Yax Trax to use. I was sorry to see him go, but determined to hit the trail and maybe catch up with Helinka and her little dog Trixie. The trail had close to 5 inches of wet, slushy snow and some real ice in many spots. The weather was not helping me either. Light Rain and fog!! Oh well, lets get going!! I can build a big fire and that always makes things better! I made good time at first, but was not overly impressed with the amount of snow still on the trail, some spots had close to 10 inches. The Black Forest Trail is very well blazed though; so getting lost was not a big concern for me. I started down hill and kept that up for close to an hour!! Man, how far down am I going??? What goes down has got to come back up. I continued to follow Helen and Trixies tracks and was very glad for the Yax Trax. Some place, I lost the right one! Damm, Well, one is better than none!! About this time, I noticed that my feet were getting wet! Hey!! I got those high dollar Seal Skin things on!! My feet can’t be wet!! Well, they were and they stayed that way the entire trip!! I decided that I was not gonna catch Helen and Trixie before dark and made camp at a small waterfall that ENS had described as “Sweet”.

The Sweet Spot And The Water Sprits

I set up in mud and slush!! Thank god I had everything in dry bags!! I started a fire using paper and my fire steel, but it turned out to be too much work to maintain. I got out my stove and put in the new fuel, first time for this, Stupid!!!! It worked but at about 1/3 the efficiency of alcohol!! I did get some boiling water and made my dinner, had some whiskey, them went to bed. I was just falling a sleep when I heard something outside the tent. What was that??? A bear???, A cougar??? Do they have cougar here?? I yelled and it went away!! Back to sleep or at least try too!! I got out my ear plugs and put em in. That only made things worse!! I kept hearing voices in the water and had to take em out to listen more closely!! They talked all freakin night!! I finally fell asleep and dreamed that I was in a flood!!, lol
I woke up at first light and boiled some water, ate my breakfast and broke camp!! Strange tracks all over my camp!! Looks like a small wolverine was here last nite. Wolverine?? Do they have those over here too?? Great!!! I made sure my trekking poles were set to kill!! Back on the trail, Yeee haw!!!

Where The Hell Are They!!!

I started up and was walking in ankle deep running water!! What kinda trial is this??? Why are we hiking in the middle of a stream??? The blazes were very clear and left no doubt as to the route!! This was to be repeated many times during the trip!! I can hear it now!! “Just paint them trees right up the creek, those stupid Hoosiers ‘ll follow anything” Oh man!! Helen had gone this way and so will I!! Finally, the trail started to head out of the running water!! Yeah, A real path for a change!! The snow had melted off a lot during the night and the skies were beginning to clear. That’s a good feeling!! Up I went and things continued to improve. I felt good and was making good time. Time to check the map. Hemlock Mountain was just up the way. I think I’ll stop there and have lunch, maybe that’s were Helen and Trixie are! I got to the top at 11:30 and no one was there. Great views and a really cool camping spot with benches and everything, sure beats camping in the mudslushy!! I built a small fire and made lunch. I waited there for an hour and a half. Surely they’re not that far behind me! No one showed!! Not even a shout. Was I the only one stupid enough to be out?? Had the rest bailed???? Ok!!! I’m here and I’m going on.

To Naval Run And All The Fun (Mostly uphill)

I started down the side of Hemlock Mountain and the going turned out to be very steep and icy. The trail winds quite a bit and was mostly covered with snow!! I was still on one Yax Trax and that seemed to be working it’s way off every tenth step or so. I made the bottom and lost the trail!! I had missed a small turn off and had to hike up a road for about a quarter mile to the stream crossing. Two new sets of tracks had joined Helens and they had come in from the road. I crossed Naval Run on a log jam and about that time I saw someone sliding down the side of the hill on their butt. Turned out to be ENS and the vanguard of the group! I told them where to cross and headed up the big climb! Not as bad as I was expecting, I stopped three times and ate a Zone bar! I could not see or here anyone coming up. At the top, the vistas were impressive and I could see rain coming on. On with the rain gear. I waited until the group caught up and made introductions. Back to the hike and down again, hopefully, to camp.

The Staircase Of Death!!!

Down and down we went!! Through running streams and over icy boulders, very slow going at best. Crash was with me now and he had a rough time, falling at least twice and cussing the whole time. I could hear additional exclamations of joy coming from the other hikers behind me, man this was kinda tricky!! Let em go by Crash!! It’ll be fun to watch!!!
Dhutch started yelling about something and right there in the middle of the trail was a bunch of beers, Kieths from Canada!! We loaded them up with me putting two in my jacket!! ”I can see the bottom Crash, were gonna make it!!!” Then the trail went back up again! Crash started yelling about sadistic bastards and I felt the same way. Turned out to be a short climb and I drank the first beer at the top!! Oh man that was good!!! Just what I needed. Now down again through rain and slush, the trail was steep and rocky, as a matter of fact, it was that way most of the trail!! OK, is this the spot??? ENS was back with the main group and we decided that this was where he wanted to stay. Lets make camp!!

Wet Socks And Exploding Rocks!

We set up and gathered some firewood. People started coming in by twos and threes with the fog and light rain right on the tails. We got fire going and it felt good. I cannot tell you all the folks that were there I just remember a few names and was speaking to headlamps most of the evening. I spent the evening eating, drinking my whisky and beer. I was working with the fire when, BAMM!!! The fire exploded sending red hot embers everywhere!!! Warnings were issued about uncapping bottles before burning!! A small pop again and them a huge blast, BOOMM!!! The fire was almost destroyed!! Embers scattered everywhere and Crash took a hit to the foot that burnt his sock off!! My jacket caught a big one and No Granola knocked it off, Thanks John, but too late. My favorite Columbia jacket had a new ventilation hole in the back!!! Man, that was not trash!! I was thinking there might be live ammo in the fire pit. Turned out it was the rock that I used to get the fire off the snow and mud!! It blew into several pieces, MENTAL NOTE: Pennsylvania rocks blow up when heated!! Everyone was backed away from the fire except Dhutch and Jackstraw!! Diane was fortified by her espresso and Jackstaw was just too stoic to care. No more explosions and we spent the night talking and all the usual stuff. I hit the sack and slept real well, No water spooks tonight!! Guess they couldn’t brave the blasts.


Pine Creek Crossing….Maybe Not!!!

Woke up early and broke my camp. Had my breakfast and me and crash hit the trial, Hoosiers in the lead!! Great thing that, got to walk in ankle deep slush for about a mile!! Up another stream!!! Ah the water was fine!! Could never say that the BFT was boring!! Got to the top easy enough and time for lunch by a pond and cabin, lots of cabins on this trial. After lunch, me and Crash headed down hill again and to one of the most panoramic vistas of them all. The trail was getting better and the day was turning on the sunny side!! We felt good and were heading for the Pine Creek crossing. Dhutch and some of the others had opted to hike out and do some type of a shuttle. They met us at the road and Diane said she was bringing a case of beer to the next campsite, Cool!!! More beer!! Man ya gotta like Pennsylvania. We Still had not found Helinka or her dog yet! On through the pines and along Pine creek itself, nice part of the trail here!! We got to a trial register, signed off and there in the dirt was a sign in the dirt made of twigs! It pointed to the road and also pointed to the Creek, the thing that caught my attention was the name, “Helen” She was waiting at the creek crossing with her dog! So, we finally meet! The others caught up with us soon enough and we discussed the creek crossing. It looked deep and no one wanted wet bags, so Helen offered to drive us to a feeder trail on the other side. Thanks Helen!!! I gave her an antler shed that I had found on the trail as a thank you gift! We had to do it twice to make it work and on the way ENS bought some Rugged Trail Ale!! We somehow managed to lose some of the others; see the ENS trail report for more info on that. We would see them again though.

Rugged Trails, Ales And Water On The Mountain!

While we waited for the others to make the shuttle, ENS made us drink the Rugged Trial Ales that he had bought. Very, Very good stuff. Perhaps too good, I only drank one and that was too many!! It was turning out to be a beautiful day and the ale made it seem just that more special! Ok, off we go and up another big hill and this time full of Ale!! I did not do well and Crash had to ask if I was all right several times!! Oh crap, the ale made this big climb seem that much harder!! Crash and I met some other hikers coming down and warned them about the Pine Creek crossing!! We continued up the mountain and I thought it would never end!! Beer before a climb, not a good idea!! We stopped at a 200 degree plus vista and took a small break!! Time to go to shorts!!! I fully believe that we had now experienced the entire temperature range that the BFT could throw at us!! I was actually getting hot. Had to be near 70 degrees F. Up and up and up!! Crash kept promising it was the last rise. Oh thank god!! the top at last, flat trails the rest of the way!! Yee haw!!!! A small breather and back to the work. One more surprise, the top of this mountain was flooded!! Yep, standing water, running water and bogs at every turn! Mountain Laurel tried to give us tender legs, so I put my gaiters back on. Two miles of this stuff, I was told that this was not normal, so what is normal??? Pennsylvanians must like wet trials!! Keeps the boots soft and supple!



The Beer (Or Bear??) Camp.

Another vista and a small break, outta the water at last, but back on the rocks!! We needed to head down again and this time it wasn’t as bad because all the snow had melted!! Now was the time for me to fall, when I had no good excuse. I stumbled for what seemed like a whole minute and then gave in to gravity and down I went. I was kinda close to a good drop off and Crash said something about that being a scary moment!! I wasn’t scared at all!! Yeah, that’s right. I got plenty of TP!! We scrambled down some good sized boulders and it was a pretty good descent compared to what we did before, crossed a stream and there was camp!! Well that’s where it was supposed to be. Where is everybody?? Not here anyway. Roam said try the next site and thats where we found them. We set up close to dark, ate and drank Dhutch’s beer, Thanks Diane! Everybody that was supposed to be there was and we had a good time around the fire. I sang some songs and told some jokes. We hit the sack kinda late, Sorry about the singing Michelle! Time for bed and I was out like a light! Sometime around 3:00 PM. Crash had a bad dream and started screaming about bears or something like that. I told him to go back to sleep and he did!! LOL

Hell or High Water!!

Back up at dawn and time for breakfast. Turned out that all did not overly appreciate the evening’s festivities and some people suffered loss of sleep. Sincere apologies to all affected. I packed up and made the trial early, just ahead of the main group. Another hill to climb, hmmmm!! Something strange about this one, why are the trails winding about the mountain like that, Oh yeah these are switchbacks. Been so long sine I had seen em, I forgot what they looked like. I think these are the only ones that I encountered during the entire BFT trail, at least going up anyway. A brief rest at the top and on our way. “Man, check out the woodpecker damage on this tree” Roam informed me that was bear sign. Yep, that what it was and there was a lot of it!! I decided to stick with the group rather than hang out in front and get ate up by a bear. ENS gave me a big morale boost by stating that Pennsylvania was tops in the nation in the number and size of black bears harvested! We didn’t see any bears, but for a long stretch, every other tree was busted open and there were all kinds of suspicious tracks in the snow!! Time for another group decision, take the high water route or try and cross the stream (21 times!!)
Lets take the high water route and keep our boots dry! So we did and we still had wet boots! Stopped for lunch at a campsite that some one had cleared of the deep snow! The high water route turned out to be very snowy at first and the temps were at least 10 degrees cooler in the pines than the hard woods, more of the BFT extremes. Crash and I took the lead and the trail dried up some. We hiked through a forested area that was very much like the hardwoods of Indiana. ENS had talked about stopping at the Black Forest Inn for dinner and we were all looking forward to that! We took another break to check the map and it turned out we were within a mile or so of the Inn!! Time to make camp!!
We had just passed a killer campsite in the white pines and we headed back and set up there. A really great spot and that’s where those cool bog pics were taken! We set up, kicked back for a while then hiked out to the Black Forest Inn for dinner.


Dinner was good and we all ate, drank and talked about things. I had my first Black and Tans there and I have to admit that Pennsylvania has lots of good beer!!
Back to camp, build the fire and we spent the rest of the evening telling stories. Started to rain and that sent everyone to their tents.

Up And Out, The Last Day!!

Up early again, Gem and Jackstraw were going out the road to get and early start!
We all said goodbye and they left. Crash went with them to try and find Helen. The remainder of the group hiked the last leg of the trip with sunny skies and good attitudes. We met Gus, he had come in from the trailhead to guide us in. Up the last hill and there are the cars. The whole area looked much improved from when I started out on Friday. We went to eat and had some trouble finding a place that was open. We finally did and we all had lunch and, yep, you guessed it, more beer!! After that we said goodbye and I went to Williamsport, a hotel and a good bath. No problems getting home from there. Thanks to ENS for the Trip set up and the guide service. It was good to meet everyone and I hope to see ya again. That’s it, the end!!!
Took almost as long to write it as it did to hike it!! lol
See ya later.
Randall”

“a little short, but ok”

“btw, randall, the stuff you wanna use is HEET, if you dont have denatured alcohol. in the little yellow bottles”

“Nice report!”

“Was the guy at the counter in the state store in Jersey Shore over 6' tall, with glasses?”

“I swear it wasn't me!!

I never even stopped in Jersey Shore.”

“i would love to take another shot at this trail sometime when i dont have to brave class 5 rapids to do it!”

“Make it a week long trip. You can do the West Rim Trail and hook it in to the BFT. That's a nice 70 mile hike with additional options for side trails.”

“i'd like to take a late spring weekend and do it in 3 days (i like to hurt myself)”

“Well done TR,Randall, storyteller extraordinaire!

Your singing still doesn't suck. ;-)

I owe you a moisturizer link dearie...”

“very good report, made feel if I was actually there, excuse me I have to go change my wet boots now.”

“crash--

We can do it in two days. Pennsy did it and he's an old fat bastard.

But seriously, can you define late spring? I'm interested, but me and spindle are planning 150 mile week on the AT starting Memorial Day weekend. So if you plan it two weekends in either direction (May 12th or June 16th) I might be able to swing it. That is if you don't mind hiking with a 'ground pounder.'”

“"I owe you a moisturizer link dearie..."
spindlette

Got another convert, I see. That stuff is great. :)”

“Yep. Roam too. Addictive stuff.

Ok Randall, no email in your profile so here:
http://www.healmyhands.com/home2.html
last edited: 4/01/07 6:47:59 PM”

“no way i could do it in 2 days. 3 days would be fastest”

“SP!!
I ordered it today!! Bought my mom and wife some as well.
Kioeh,
Yeah the guy at the state shop was tall and had glasses.....hmmmmm
See yua later.
Randall”

“Pennsy did it and he's an old fat bastard

Hey! I might be old and a bastard, but I ain't fat. Dang kid.

Great trip reports and pics (from viewing both threads) y'all. Looks like a great time was had by all and I'm bummed that work took me away from this one.”

“Spindle should be paid commission for marketing Heal My Hands. :)”

“That tall guy from the state store has done the BFT in one night and does either loop of the CKT as day hikes. On his day off he will go and measure new sections of MST including side trails heading in 15 km from a single point. Weekends find him with KTA Trail Care and he's a regular with week-long KTA Trail Crews too. Did you talk backpacking with him?”

“In fact, when I couldn't find you guys at the CORRECT trailhead I next tried the Waterville Hotel (no luck there as others had mentioned) and would have stopped there to harass him but it was closed already by the time I hit the big city of J.S.”

““Spindle should be paid commission for marketing Heal My Hands. :)” MsDoolittle

Yeah! When I see them at the next Fiber Fest I'm going to ask them about all those orders coming in from all over the country. ;-)

That's gotta be good for a free lip balm at least. :>”

“It's true. Pennsy is not fat.”

“great report Randall!”

“Randall, that was the darnest tootinest trip report ever!!! Great to read. You are the story teller! Hope to trip with you again sometime!”