Mid State Trail- Arnot Rd to 287 (TR)

“Met up with kioeh and the group from NE Ohio. It was great to see everyone again. We met at the Blackwell hotel had a few beers and rode to the trailhead at around 1 am, saw a few shooting stars. Blackwell is a nice little town.

Sand Run Falls, Nickel Run Falls, and Babb Creek are the highlights of the Arnot to 287 stretch with beautiful waterfalls, deep pools, cascades and mini-gorges. Some fascinating history from the mining days, we hiked through the abandoned town of Landrus along wide railroad grades. Some areas had carpets of moss and spaghnum moss. Landrus was apparently the first mine in the world to use electricity. The entire area has returned to wilderness.

The remainder stretch was brushy as it crossed over the top of the plateau, though there were some nice meadows with wildflowers.

I had to leave Saturday, I wish I could've joined the group on the awesome 287 - Blackwell stretch.

Pics:

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/560820588PStbUk?vhost=outdoors”

“Nice pictures, Jmitch. Babb creek looks very low. I noticed on TV, that Williamsport is almost 6 inches below normal rainfall.”

“Here's more pics of Landrus, courtesy of the local trail maintainer: http://landrus.blogspot.com/

The streams in there were the lowest I'd seen in several years of tramping around those woods. The highest waterfall was a damp cliff.”

“I was wondering how water levels were in that area. I know it's been dry. I'll be on the west rim trail in 2 weeks. I guess water availability could be an issue.”