John P. Saylor Trail Trip Report

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Decided to head down to the Southern Alleghenies this weekend. First stop was Blue Knob State Park, PA’s second highest mountain. Several nice views; the park was reminiscent of Shenandoah with the mountain meadows, pastoral views of forested ridges, and old homesteads within the park. I hung out at the Chappell’s Field Vista until night and watched bats do loops over the meadow as the distant ridges sunk into darkness.

My goal was to hike the 17 mile double loop of the John P. Saylor Trail; I’ve hiked parts of it before. The trail is easy and I thought I’d dayhike it. I thought it would be a boring trail, but I was pleasantly surprised by how nice it was. Peaceful woodlands with meadows, hemlock groves, a spruce meadow, and streams with jungles of rhododendrons. Wolf Rocks was cool, but it had graffiti. Clear Shade Creek was very beautiful with great camping. There was an old trail shelter in a meadow of ferns. Lots of wildflowers. I had a headache and wasn’t feeling my best, but I finished the trail in 7 hours. This is a trail worth hiking.

Next up was Trough Creek State Park, one of PA’s nicest parks with cool cliffs, great views, Trough Creek and its gorge, Balanced Rock and the Ice Mine. Lots of history here with old cemeteries and iron furnace. Trough Creek is very scenic as it winds through the gorge. As I was at Balanced Rock, a hummingbird buzzed me. The Ice Mine forms ice in early summer; no ice this time, but it was chilly.

Had a great time and enjoyed taking the back roads through beautiful countryside.”

“Nice report and cool pictures. That scream tree is different as is that leaning rock at the vista.”

“Very nice jmitch.”

“Thanks.

Rich, you'd enjoy Trough Creek. Trout there, too.”

“It looks like a nice size stream to fish. The streams are still a bit too low to fish around here, but in August that's normally how it is.”