SINNEMAHONING
Christy
and I finished out our trip at her parent’s camp in Sinnemahoning. Sinnemahoning is a tiny, remote community in
the mountains of north-central Pennsylvania.
Christy has been going to her family’s camp, on the banks of the First
Fork of Sinnemahoning Creek, all of her life.
The place has a lot of sentimental value for her, and it was a great
place to relax after a week or traveling.
We
got off to a slow start on Friday.
Christy and I left Clearfield after a late breakfast and drove
north. We took the scenic route to Sinnemahoning,
making a few stops along the way. First we stopped at the Elk State Forest office and picked
up a new, free trail map. Then we headed
over to the Marion Brooks Natural Area on the Quehanna
Plateau. The natural area features a
large stand of paper birch trees. Fall
color was nice here, but not spectacular.
That was true throughout most of our trip. The Fall of 2017 was unusual, as early
September was cool, causing the leaves to change color early at the higher
elevations and among certain species of trees.
The weather then warmed, delaying the rest of the color change. As a result, there was no true peak color
this year. Interestingly, this seemed to
be true in the northeast and back home in North Carolina.
That
afternoon we took a scenic drive through elk country. We stopped at the Winslow Hill Elk Viewing
area, which was busy with tourists.
There were a few elk visible in the distance, but I didn’t have my zoom
lens, so photos weren’t really possible.
Later we passed an elk close to the road, but there wasn’t a safe place
to pull off for a closer look.
Afterwards, we drove up to Sinnemahoning State Park to check out the
fall foliage. There was a little color
here, but it wasn’t particularly vibrant.
From there we drove back down the road to camp. We spent the evening with family, relaxing
around the campfire. I slept in my
hammock that night, relaxing to the peaceful murmur of the creek flowing by
just a few feet away. Occasionally a
leaf would fall and land gently on me, but even that didn’t disturb my rest.
The
next morning Christy, Christy’s mom Carolyn, the dogs, and I hiked the Fred Woods
Trail (http://www.pahikes.com/trails/quehanna-trail/720-fred-woods-trail-a-rock-city-and-awe-inspiring-vistas). Christy and I had hiked this one many years
earlier, and it was one that I was eager to repeat. The biggest challenge was the drive to the
trailhead. The road was a little rough,
and the Prius scrapped bottom a couple of times. We made it, but found the trailhead parking
area overrun with hunters. We pulled off
on the shoulder a short distance beyond the parking area. Fortunately, the hunters were on the opposite
side of the road from the trail.
The
Fred Woods Trail is an easy 4 ½ mile loop.
It passes through a classic Pennsylvania forest and features a couple of
nice views of the Quehanna Plateau and Bennett Branch
of Sinnemahoning Creek, deep in the valley below. It was an overcast day, so the views were
only marginal. The real highlight of
this trail though is a rock city that the trail passes through. It features a cool maze of boulders and
sandstone tunnels. Unfortunately, the
neatest tunnel had a rotting elk carcass right at its mouth. There was no convincing Christy or Carolyn to
hike through there (though the dogs were certainly interested). I climbed through the mess, as that tunnel
was my favorite part of the whole hike.
We
returned to camp in time for lunch. That
afternoon I explored the Kettle Creek valley.
I drove downstream along Sinnemahoning Creek to where it joins the West
Fork of the Susquehana River. Then I drove up the Kettle Creek Valley. Incredibly, the fall color was beautiful in
this isolated valley. The hillside above
Kettle Creek was a brilliant gold. I
found a spot to park and bushwhacked down to the creek to get photos. Afterwards I drove up to Kettle Creek Lake in
Kettle Creek State Park. I then drove up
the mountain to the west. My goal was a
short hike to Kettle Creek Vista. It
turns out that the trail to the vista is actually a road, so I ended up driving
the whole way there. The view is
fantastic, as it looks northeast out over Kettle Creek Lake to waves of
mountains in the distance.
It
was getting late, so I drove over the mountain and down Cooks Run Road to
return to the highway. I picked up
firewood before returning to camp at dusk.
We spent another relaxing evening there with the family. We got up early the next morning for the long
drive back to North Carolina. We hit the
road after a quick breakfast. Despite
the long drive ahead, we decided to take the scenic route. We drove down the West Fork of the Susquehana River to Renovo, where we turned south on PA144. This took us over a high plateau. We stopped at a couple of viewpoints along
the way. The nicest looked out over the
Burns Run Wild Area. There is an access
point for the Donut Hole Trail here.
That has to be one of the best names for a trail that I’ve heard. The trail is a 90 mile
figure eight loop in Sproul State Forest.
I haven’t hiked it, but it’s on the list for a future adventure. From there we worked our way down through the
town of Moshannon and eventually made it to
I-99. After that, it was all highway for
the rest of the drive home.
Our
fall trip was really nice, though the fall foliage was largely
disappointing. We enjoyed some great
hikes, but Christy and I both felt like we spent too much time in popular,
touristy areas. Hopefully the next time
we go to Upstate New York we can spend most of our time in the wilderness of
the Adirondack Mountains.
Back to Pennsylvania
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Please remember to Leave No Trace!