Mason-Dixon Trail - Upper Otter Creek to Apollo Park Shelter

Today was a jewel of a day!  While we had winds of over 20 mph, the sun was out, the clouds were light and the temperature was a balmy mid-60's.  What better time to get out on a hike?

We picked another part of the Mason Dixon Trail, upstream on Otter Creek from our prior hike on April 14.

Otter Creek’s steep terrain has served to protect a mature forest of hemlock and mixed-hardwoods including remnants of the American chestnut that once dominated Pennsylvania forests, nearly wiped out from the invasive Asian chestnut blight. Rock outcrops jut from the hillsides of the deep glen. The creek meanders for three, undisturbed miles. Adjacent land to the south encompass State Game Lands #83 but no trails provide passage across the wide, shallow creek. Adjacent land to the north and west is part of the Susquehannock State Park System.

For this hike, we headed west on the Mason Dixon Trail, and our trailhead boasted this attractive little sign:

Just in on the trail, we found a sign telling us that we should select the "AP Shelter," or the Apollo Park Shelter along the Mason Dixon Trail, as our destination.  Three miles out and three miles back sounded about right.

In the last couple weeks, the trees have leafed out and the trail was much greener today than it had been 3 weeks ago:

About a mile into our hike, we reached Otter Creek, which is running high from recent rains, but looks pretty clear.  In fact, the water was a gorgeous clear green color for the whole length we hiked it:

In August 2018, a massive storm-cell hovered over Otter Creek. Extreme flash-flooding destroyed homes and carried their remnants down the creek and well into the Preserve. Efforts to remove the debris from the Preserve started immediately after the flood, but are still ongoing two years later.  As we hiked upstream, we found an old boat swamped in the creek.  Historic research showed a similar photo of this boat on the creek immediately after the flood!

Yet, despite the debris littering the stream valley, Otter Creek itself is beautiful and bucolic:

Further upstream, David found this remnant section of railroad rails and ties, along with other detritus on which it sits:

We eventually moved beyond the heaviest debris, but still saw some unique sights streamside:

While it looked as if most of the Preserve had been logged off perhaps 50 years ago, we still discovered some huge "old growth" trees, including some fallen giants wrapped in velvet moss:

Turning up from Otter Creek, back to the ridge between it and the Susquehanna River, we climbed a number of rock ledges -- first this one with a small blazed tree growing from it --

-- and then this larger one that Kathy checked out as we climbed:

We slowly climbed back up to the top of the ridge, where we had a beautiful Spring view across the Otter Creek valley:

On the top of the ridge, after we crossed back across the highway, we encountered this beautiful little pine forest, which Kathy basks in, in this photo:

We worked our way out to a huge powerline easement, running down a valley that has been plowed in farmfields, and headed down into Sussquehannock State Park:

After 3 miles, we reached the Apollo Park Hiker Shelter, built on the Mason Dixon Trail for through-hikers and backpackers using the trail.  Kathy paused to rest on the bench at the shelter before we at our lunch here:

Having refreshed ourselves, we returned back to Otter Creek, where we encountered this instance of impulsive art by one of the Lancaster Conservancy trail workers who mark the Mason Dixon Trail with its bright blue blazes:

As we reached the point where the trail turned uphill for our return to the trailhead, we looked back up Otter Creek and took one last opportunity to appreciate its beauty:

The stream is quite lively.  If you're interested in seeing it in action, take a look at this video of the upper portion of Otter Creek.

We have a day of chores and a few more days of poor weather thereafter, so it might be as much as a week before we have another outing to blog about.  In the meantime, stay safe, my friends!