(STILL) CAN’T GET THERE FROM HERE
We
spent the last full week of our trip lounging around with Christy’s parents in
Clearfield, PA. Our visit coincided with
the legendary Clearfield County Fair.
It’s actually a pretty big deal, and initially I wanted to go. After all, where else can you see a fair
queen start a tractor pull? Plus, the
final night of the fair featured a concert by Cinderella. Cinderella was on the second or third tier of
my favorite bands when I was 13 years old.
I
lost enthusiasm when I discovered that the concert alone was $35, and that
didn’t include admission to the fair or parking. I actually saw Cinderella once when I was a teenager, and the cost had been around $15. Needless to say, my perception of the value
of a Cinderella concert hadn’t gone up that much in 25 years or so. We decided to skip it. Instead, we went to our favorite sports bar
in Clearfield, Legends. We had dinner
there and hung out with the owners, Jackie and Nerd. Jackie was Christy’s high school swim coach,
and I’m pretty sure Nerd won’t mind me calling him Nerd in this trip report. At least I hope not. I’m confident Nerd could hurt me quite badly
if he wanted to.
We
slept in on Sunday and followed that up with some napping. After a long cross-country drive, we weren’t
feeling very motivated. We did make it
over to the Clearfield to Grampian Rail Trail for a run that afternoon. It’s a scenic place for running, and it was
good to get Boone and ourselves some exercise.
On
Monday Boone and I hiked a section of the Quehanna
Trail. The plan was to have Christy drop
us off where the trail crosses Knobs Road, a dirt road that is accessible from
Trout Run Road out of Shawville. She would pick us up later that afternoon at
Parker Dam State Park. Unfortunately, we
had some trouble getting to the trailhead.
We were a couple of miles away when we encountered “road closed”
signs. The road was under construction,
and driving around from the other direction would’ve taken an hour or
more. Luckily the construction crew
eventually waived us through. Those last
few miles were tedious though, as we followed a dump
truck down a muddy, one lane “road”.
I
finally started my hike at 11:30. If
nothing else, that should indicate just how lazy I was feeling. Even with the construction, the drive to the
trailhead had only taken a little over an hour.
The
hike started with a stretch of pretty forest that led me to the top of a
mountain. There used to be a fire tower
here, but there isn’t much left of it.
There wasn’t much of a view, but trailside blackberries provided an
adequate reward for my efforts.
I
hiked on to a marshy pond for lunch.
That afternoon, I got pummeled by a huge thunderstorm. It didn’t last long, but I got drenched in 20
minutes.
My
map shows a number of additional vistas along this stretch of the Quehanna Trail, but all of them were insignificant or
imaginary. Still, it was a nice
walk. There was quite a bit of bear
scat, and we did see one deer near the end of the hike. As usual, I didn’t see any other hikers. I did enjoy the hike, but the 12 miles to
Parker Dam State Park didn’t really measure up to some of the better parts of
the Quehanna Trail.
Later
in the week I did another, shorter hike on the Quehanna
plateau. Christy dropped me off at the Wykoff Run Natural Area before taking Boone down to her
parent’s fishing camp on the First Fork of Sinnemahoning
Creek.
I
enjoyed a pleasant walk through the natural area. I then picked up the Old Log Trail, which
took me back to the road. I crossed the
road and wandered through a lovely area surrounding the headwaters of Wykoff Run. This
area features a lovely forest including hardwoods and hemlocks as well as a
thick understory of ferns. Eventually I looped back to my starting point, where Christy was waiting
for me.
This
hike was a short one, but it was lovely.
The weather was cool, dry, and breezy, and the forest was peaceful. I’ll plan to include that area on a future
hike.
That
afternoon we drove up to Emporium, PA for a picnic and pool party hosted by
Christy’s aunt and uncle, Nan and Larry.
I enjoyed talking with Larry, as he had recently returned from a trip to
the Rockies, too. His trip hadn’t gone exactly
according to plan, either. He had set
out in late June to thru-hike the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) southbound from
the border Glacier National Park in Montana.
The CDT runs the length of the Rockies, from the Canadian border to
Mexico. The heavy snowfall had thwarted
him, too. Several days into the hike he
fell through a hole in the snow and injured his leg. He hiked on it for several days before
bailing out. It wasn’t until he returned
home that he discovered that it was broken.
We
had a good time hanging out with them and other members of Christy’s
family. We indulged in lots of good food
and took full advantage of the pool before heading back to Clearfield.
Continue reading about our trip as we finish up with a bike ride on the Little Toby Creek Rail Trail, a short hike in Cooks Forest State Park, and a visit to Presque Isle State Park.
Back to Pennsylvania
Back to Hiking and Backpacking Trip Reports
Please remember to Leave No Trace!