Golden Eagle Trail TR

“Despite being regarded as one of PA’s finest dayhikes, I never hiked the entire Golden Eagle Trail. I did a short section a few years ago. Today was warm and sunny and I decided to tackle this rugged 9 mile loop, which I completed in 4 hours. The hike began with a steep climb up to the ridge with incredible view of Wolf Run gorge and Pine Creek Gorge. A steep descent followed passing some rock outcrops that were honeycombed.

The trail follows beautiful Wolf Run upstream in a deep gorge. This creek features countless cascades and small waterfalls with pools and chutes. Boulders and ledges were adorned with moss. Violets carpeted the forest floor as butterflies danced through the canopy; I half expected Bambi to come running down the trail. The upper part of the gorge featured an incredible old growth forest of white pine and hemlock.

I reached the top of the plateau with more views. I really liked the one to the east with a great pastoral panorama. A descent followed into the gorge of Bonnell Run with several stream crossings. This gorge didn’t have as many cascades as Wolf Run, but it was scenic with hemlock forests. I completed the loop and returned to my car.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/563599792lYHlEM?vhost=outdoors”

“Cool...thanks for sharing!”

“The Golden Eagle Trail is one that I'm afraid to go back to - for fear of tarnishing the memory!

We went years ago when my wife and I were first dating, clockwise (the opposite way from jm's TR), also a picture perfect day, saw bears and rattlesnakes (both firsts for me at the time), finished up by wading barefoot in Pine Creek on perfectly shaped cobbles.

Perhaps the quality of the impressions are conditioned on being the first big hike in the high plateau - some of all the usual ecozones one expects to see in the Wilds, but not the premier example of each, maybe?

So Golden Eagle Trail might be the answer to "If you could only do one hike in this region, which would it be?"”

“Very NICE!!!!!....thanks for sharing!!!!!!”

“A favorite dayhike. Thanks jmitch.”

“Nice pictures, we hiked the trail a few years ago and took a side trail that was off to the right of the main trail near the bottom. It's a long climb and it ends at a nice vista at the top of the mountain, but I can't remember the name of it.”

“Bob Webber Trail? I hiked that several years ago.”

“Might be, when we got to the top we bushwhacked across and got back on the main trail of the Golden Eagle.”

“Pete,

I hear there's a big article on the MST in the AMC Outdoors magazine.”

“Is the article online?

I bet they missed what I saw this past weekend - after initiating my sixth season of mowing through the Nelson ghost town at Cowanesque Lake, and replacing a vandalized Carsonite post with two more, we went out canoeing nearby to see spawning fish, what might have been a baby bald eagle looking for food, seeing perhaps PA's newest natural waterfall from below rather than the trail beside, and generally enjoying the fine weather and changed perspective. (While ruing that we had left the camera in the truck...)

Whatever else you can say about the Cowanesque Lake section of MST, it's not like the rest of MST. Whether that's good or not, is up to the beholder!”

“keep an eye here, it'll be in the June issue.

http://www.outdoors.org/publications/outdoors/index.cfm”