Hiking PA Mid State Trail (4 of 9) [TR]

“It was a nice August day, so I decided to take a stroll on the Mid-State Trail. I was looking for something that was not all that strenuous and decided on the hike from Little Flat to Big Flat. After a recent visit to the fire tower on Little Flat I had noticed that the Mid-State Trail from Laurel Run Road to Little Flat had been relocated, so I decided to add this additional mile of the Mid-State onto my hike this afternoon. This was my first hike from Little Flat to Big Flat and the views were as amazing as everyone had said they would be.

The Mid-State Trail is over 160 miles in length and runs from Blackwell in northern Pennsylvania to Water Street, located between Huntingdon and Hollidaysburg in central Pennsylvania. Attempts are being made to secure right aways across private land to extend the Mid-State Trail from New York to Maryland.

The trailhead for this portion of the Mid-State Trail is located on Laurel Run Road that ascends Tussey Mountain. Access is via route US322. Heading west on US322, about 1/2 mile before Boalsburg, turn left onto Bear Meadows Road and head towards the Tussey Mountain Ski Resort. Heading east on US322, go 1/2 mile past Boalsburg and turn right onto Bear Meadows Road. Bear Meadows road is directly across from the Elks Country Club. Travel on Bear Meadows road for about 1.5 miles and turn right onto Laurel Run Road. Travel for 1.8 miles until you reach the top of the mountain. This is where the Mid-State Trail crosses Laurel Run Road and the trailhead for this hike.

The mileage of this hike was going to be close to 5 miles. Since I wasn't going to have enough daylight to do an out-and-back hike, I decided to take my bike to the end of the trail so I could ride it back on forest roads to my car. By doing this, I only had to travel 3 miles by bike and was able to do it in about 45 minutes.

The first part of this hike followed an old railroad grade. After about 0.25 miles I could see where the trail headed back to the forest road that goes up to the fire tower on Little Flat. However, a reroute was done recently and I followed the trail along the ridge top. This new part of the trail was very nice. It still had a number of roots that you had to becareful not to trip over, but the trail was well blazed and very wide. At 0.5 miles the trail crossed the dirt road, and on this part of the trail there was some downed trees that made it difficult to navigate the trail in places.

After 1.25 miles I reached Little Flat and the firetower. I continued on past the fire tower and paused at 1.5 miles to admire the newly erected monument dedicated to Tom Thwaites.

In another 0.2 miles I came across the trail register. I made an entry and looked through some of the earlier entries. I came across an entry made by a friend, Rob Hillard, back in May of 2003. He was hiking from Jo Hays Vista to Hairy Johns and was just about ready to call it a day. It was nice to read his entry and I could picture him standing there with his dog Katie smoking a cigarette as he scribed his entry.

There were many vistas along the trail, but the best was that at Indian Wells. Indian Wells is a large rock outcropping made of Tuscarora sand stone. The stones are very white, and there were many of them. It was fun making my way across the rock field as the trail followed the upper part of the outcropping. From here you have a beautiful view down on the Bear Meadows Natural Area, as well as many of the mountains that make up the Seven Mountains area.

From Indian Wells, I hiked another mile to the end of this hike. It was here that I had previously stashed my bike, and I was soon on my way down the dirt road peddling back to my car.

I would like to hike back in from the end of this hike as I saw a very nice camping area about 0.75 miles from the end. At this campsite you can easily hike to Keith Spring for water and it's a short 5 minute hike to Indian Wells. I would like to sit on top of Indian Wells as the sun sets, maybe even in the fall when the leaves are changing, and really enjoy a magnificent view.

My next hike on the Mid-State Trail will start where this hike ended, and hike to Penn Roosevelt State Park. Penn Roosevelt was where I got my first taste of the Mid-State Trail, and I'd like to hike the entire trail someday. However, I may have to arrange for a car shuttle this time as it is a little to far from Big Flat to Penn Roosevelt to ride the forest roads on a bike.

Maps, pictures, and hike statistics available at PAHikes.com - http://www.pahikes.com/trails/midstate02.asp”