RALPH’S RATHER OK HIKE
Christy and I made our
annual Christmas trip to visit her parents in north-central Pennsylvania last
weekend. It was a pleasant trip, with
lots of time for relaxation. However, I
can only be lazy for so long. On
Christmas Eve, Saucony and I braved sub-freezing temperatures for a hike on the
Allegheny Front Trail in Black Moshannon State Park.
Christy was kind enough to
drive us to the trailhead on Friday, after we slept in and enjoyed a decadent
breakfast. One of the advantages to
central Pennsylvania is that there are always a lot of trailheads only a short
distance away. The drive from
Clearfield only took us 30 minutes.
I got out of the car and
immediately had second thoughts. The
thermometer in Christy’s car showed the temperature at 18 degrees. A light dusting of snow blew across the
pavement and cold pricked the exposed skin of my face as Christy’s car pulled
away. There was no turning back now.
I left route 504 behind and
hiked south on the Allegheny Front Trail.
The trail is well-marked, and I followed the orange blazes through the
gray forest. The trail started out
downhill, which didn’t help me warm up.
The route was very rocky, and there was just enough snow to make the
hiking slippery. This slowed my pace,
which didn’t help me generate any heat, either. I hiked a mile before reaching the first overlook, which provided
a nice view across the valley to the next line of mountains to the east. From the overlook, the trail switchbacked
down to a stream, and then traversed along the side of the plateau. It wasn’t until I crossed another stream and
climbed back up to my original elevation that I began to warm up.
Once I regained the plateau,
the hiking was much easier. I followed
the trail to a series of overlooks, each providing views to the east. I reached the final overlook, which my map
labeled “Ralph’s Magnificent Vista”. A
sign on a tree there named it the more realistic “Ralph’s Pretty Good
View”. I found this rather amusing,
until I hiked a few minutes farther, and arrived at the actual “Ralph’s
Magnificent Vista”. Oddly, Ralph’s
Magnificent Vista and Ralph’s Pretty Good View were roughly equal. Go figure.
I hiked another ½ mile
through the woods to reach Underwood Road.
According to the information I found on the internet, the next road,
Julian Pike, was another 1.3 miles away.
However, the trail sign claimed that I still had 2.4 miles to go. This was a problem, as Christy was picking
me up there in 45 minutes.
I hustled through the last
stretch of trail. It followed old roads
and good footpath, and remained relatively level. Thanks to the aggressive pace, I finished the last 2 ½ miles in
less than an hour. Christy was waiting
there for me, and welcomed me with a hot mug of Cappuccino. It was nice reward, after hiking 6 miles in
3 hours. Black Moshannon State Park
offers a number of other trail options, so I’m sure I’ll hike there again on a
future trip to Pennsylvania.
Back to Pennsylvania
Back to Hiking and Backpacking Trip Reports
Please remember to Leave No Trace!