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Friday, June 19, 2020

A.T. to the West End of the Horse-Shoe Trail

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Hi Blog!

After spending all day Tuesday taking apart, sanding, cleaning and painting all the rusty spots on our Blue Ox hitch receiver, we were looking forward to getting out and exploring. We've hiked several sections of the Horse-Shoe Trail, which runs from Valley Forge Park to Stony Mountain near the town of Dauphin, Pennsylvania. We plan to visit Valley Forge over the July Fourth Weekend. For those who knew us when, we were married in the gazebo at General Duportail Headquarters on July 4, 1998. We plan to revisit the scene of the crime and hike the beginning of the Horse-Shoe Trail. So, we decided to visit the other end of the Horse-Shoe Trail where it connects with the Appalachian Trail at Stony Mountain. We had hoped to hike up the Horse-Shoe to the AT, but the junction is 9 miles from the nearest Horse-Shoe Trail access, so we decided to take the AT t
From it's nearest access, which was only 3.5 miles from the junction of the two trails.

We started our hike at the State Game Parking area just off Clarks Valley Road. The AT crosses the road just past the driveway to the parking area. The double arrowed trailhead sign points the way to Maine and Georgia. The trail follows the driveway and crosses a bridge over Clark Creek.


Clark Creek begins in Tower City, Pennsylvania, a coal town in the Schuylkill Valley. It flows through an area appropriately known as Clark’s Valley in the Blue Mountains, the easternmost range in the Pennsylvania Appalachians. It then runs beneath a highway into the Susquehanna River near Dauphin.


This 31-mile-long tributary of the Susquehanna River is a popular destination for hikers, hunters, cyclists and fly fishermen.


A dam on Clark Creek created the DeHart Reservoir. Located about 25 miles north of Harrisburg in Clarks Valley.  The 6-billion-gallon reservoir provides Harrisburg’s potable water. We hiked past the water pipleline easement.


As the trail meandered along the creek, we were surrounded by a canopy of green.


At the junction with a state game land trail, Kathy points the way to the Horse-Shoe Trail.



Stony Mountain is another member of the ridge and valley province of Pennsylvania. The once mighty Appalachian Mountains were worn down by time and smoothed over by glaciers. The trail builders along this section of trail used large flat stones to create a stone walkway and bridge.


When not boulder hopping, we were treated to small sections of fern lined woods road.


The AT follows what had once been a road just below the summit of the ridge. All along our hike was evidence of the past mining and logging operations.  In 1836, an iron furnace joined two forges in a complex known as Victoria Iron Works along Clark Creek. These ridges are full of iron and coal. The trees that once towered above the road were cut to make charcoal for the forges. Many of the old mine shafts have been filled in, but spring water finds a way in and comes out full of rust.


Despite the prior industrial use, most of the area around Stony Mountain is part of State Game Land 211. The area is now home to deer, bear and trout. 

It is always fun to see the mountain laurel in bloom.


We were hiking on a section of the AT that is about half-way between two AT Shelters. Sometimes thru-hikers like to skip the crowded shelters and camp along the trail.


After almost 3.5 miles, we reached the junction with the Horse-Shoe Trail. The site holds a memorial to Cyrus Sturgis, a prominent member of the Horse-Shoe Trial Club in the 1960s. The rock weighs 900 pounds and was put in place with the help of Boy Scout Troop 46 and an Army Reserve helicopter.


We decided to have lunch in the shadow of the Horse-Shoe Trail Register. We had the place to ourselves. All morning, we had only run into two people: a woman and her dog out for a few days of backpacking, and a trail runner who was using the elevation gain up to the summit of Stony Mountain to keep in shape. Five trips up equals over 5,000 feet of elevation gain, which is the same elevation gain as Mount Washington in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. We never got a chance to tell him that we actually walked up Mountain Washington -- twice!


After lunch, Dave pointed the way back.


We hiked past a number of boulder fields. On the far side of Stony Mountain is a boulder field known as The Devils Race Course. It is a very long and narrow upland boulder field. This feature is a relic of periglacial climate and probably formed in a manner similar to the Hickory Run Boulder Field in Carbon County—exposed blocks of bedrock from nearby ridges slowly moving downslope on thawed ground during the short summers associated with periglacial conditions. The rounded edges and corners of the boulders show evidence for jostling and erosion over their short journey (probably less than 1,000 feet). We have fond memories of family treks across the Hickory Run Boulder Field.


It's not often you get to see the blazes from both directions at the same time.


On our return trip, we ran into our first thru-hiker. Klang-on had just started his northbound hike from Harpers Ferry. Once he gets to Mount Katahdin in Maine, he intends to return to Harpers Ferry and hike south to Springer Mountain, Georgia He's what we call a flip-flop hiker. After talking awhile with Klang-on, we also encountered two other thru-hikers. We wished them luck and safe travels.


Other than those brief encounters, we had the trail to ourselves.


Having a chance to get out and hike has made our confinement bareable. Most of Pennsylvania is now green, so we can begin to move about. We plan to head to the Albany area next week to visit with friends and family. It will just be a short trip. We'll be back in PA by the end of the week. We need to practice being RVers again!

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