Summer 2011 The somewhat regular publication of the Mid SUMMER 2011 State Trail Association. www.hike-mst.org Brushwhacker the winter a few extra miles were added 1974 routes the Mid State Trail from R.B. A History of to the extension plan, now looking to con- Winter State Park to Ravensburg State the Mid State nect Ravensburg as well as R.B. Winter Park. The MST would follow Bake Oven State Park. Over the course of five days ridge east to Sand Mountain Fire Tower, Trail - The Trail the trail was scouted along Betterton Trail then turning north and crossing Spruce on White Deer Ridge, over Interstate I80 Run Valley and Chestnut Flat. Climbing Continues East on the Tea Spring bridge, across Naked up and over Naked Mountain, the trail by Scott Adams Mountain and through the Hook Natural crossed White Deer Creek and Nittany The year was 1973. The Mid State Area. Maps were poured over and plans Valley before confronting its first Inter- Trail now extended from the Colerain began to take shape for continuing the state highway. Serendipitously there was Picnic Area near Spruce Creek to Poe MST east. a bridge here, avoiding a dangerous high- Paddy State Park, just south of Coburn, From Poe Paddy State Park, the Mid way crossing or extended reroute. on the banks of State Trail headed east, following the North of interstate I80 the MST Penns Creek. abandoned Conrail railroad grade. The continued across the grain of the land- Since its inception tunnel under Paddy Mountain was closed scape. The trail climbed over Tea Knob, in 1969, the trail when the railroad was abandoned, but Last Ridge, and Brushy Ridge before de- had a number of it had just been reopened. This allowed scending to White Deer Hole. Westward reroutes along the trail to go through Paddy Mountain and a climb over Big Mountain, the trail the way. These instead of over it. The Mid State Trail be- crossed Sand Spring Flat and then ended reroutes were at- came the first, and so far only, hiking trail at Ravensburg State Park. tempts to move in Pennsylvania to tunnel under a moun- With the addition of this section, the the trail into the tain rather than climb over it. Mid State Trail extended from Colerain to woods, off forest roads, helping to em- The trail followed the railroad grade Ravensburg State Park. As the trail grew phasize the "wildness" of the trail. to Cherry Run, where it turned north, it began to feel growing pains. As a result Also during this time a number of passing through a gap in Paddy Moun- a monumental event was about to hap- side trails had been blazed. These side tain. It would continue up Lyman Run and pen to the MST. The year was 1982. trails connected the Mid State Trail to over Thick Mountain on a trail that was state parks, making it more accessible. cut with assistance from the Susquehan- Short side trails connected the Mid State na University Outing Club. Descending Trail to Poe Valley and Penn Roosevelt, off Thick Mountain, the MST proceeded with a much larger undertaking produc- through Sand Hollow and cut across ing the Greenwood Spur. This side trail Sand Mountain to Hairy Johns Picnic connect Greenwood State Park via Broad Area on PA45. This was completed and Mountain to the Mid State Trail, along opened in 1976. the way introducing hikers to the large Beyond route PA 45, the Mid State hemlocks of Alan Seeger. Trail followed Hairy Johns Trail to the top It was during the fall of 1973 that of Winkelblech Mountain and then head- the Bureau of Forestry contacted the ed east on Sheesley and Kessler Trails. Penn State Outings Club, the builders Trail clearing in this area was assisted and maintainers of the MST at this point by the Bucknell Outing Club. From Pine in time, expressing interest in seeing the Ridge, the trail climbed Buck Ridge and trail extended beyond Poe Paddy State then rejoined with Hairy Johns Trail atop Park. The Bureau of Forestry asked the Shriner Mountain. Connecting up with Outing Club to explore a route from Poe Brush Hollow Trail, the MST continued Paddy to R.B. Winter State Park. the rest of the way to R.B. Winter State In March of 1974, Tom Thwaites Park. This part of the trail was opened in and four others set off for Ravensburg 1978. State Park to explore a route back to Poe The final section of the extension The Mid State Trail became the first, and Paddy. Somewhere during the course of that was first scouted back in March of so far only, hiking trail in Pennsylvania to tunnel under a mountain rather than climb over it. 2 BRUSHWHACKER Summer 2011 - The somewhat regular publication of the Mid State Trail Association. Memories to Last a Lifetime – My Through-Hike of Pennsylvania’s Mid State Trail by Dan Styer unusual ferns that I had sought for de- We sat around the campfire talking about What do I remember about hiking cades. hiking, physics, and life. the Mid State Trail from Maryland to New I remember a black-throated blue I remember a father and son team York? warbler approaching and examining me that set out to dayhike the entire Mid I remember standing at a rocky view out of curiosity while I rested. State Trail in sections when the son was point in clear air, with a solid cloud bank I remember a carpet of pink wild 12 years old. Health issues interrupted in the sky above and a solid cloud bank basil, and covering it another quivering their plans, but they were resuming now, in the valleys below. Only the summits carpet of white butterflies. with the son 27 years old. and ridge lines of nearby mountains were I remember surprisingly few mosqui- I remember industrial fracking in visible, hanging between two bands of toes, but surprisingly numerous black Tiadaghton State Forest: coils of wire white. flies and surprisingly voracious deer flies. scattered through the forest; narrow I remember a rushy, songfull stream I remember pulling blowdowns out of woods roads converted into 50-yard-wide full of rocks and pools and waterfalls, the section of trail, south of Everett, that passages; a gas-company ATV parked decorated with ferns and wildflowers and I oversee. astride the MST; a noisy, glaring derrick mosses. After a (soapless) splash bath I I remember walking through a virgin set a few yards from the trail. The con- sat quietly on a rock to dry, and two deer forest of white pine and hemlock, hushed trast between the natural and the indus- walked by calmly. but for bird and stream song. trial would have befit the movie Avatar I remember pulling on my long pants I remember meeting a cluster of five – at the second fork of Ramsey Run, a for protection while walking through yet Amish boys, followed two hundred yards forest of silvery-gray tree trunks ran from another trail section overgrown with bri- later by a cluster of seven Amish girls. silvery-gray rocks to a silvery-green cano- ars. I remember a group of four youth py, and all of this was enveloped in noise I remember falling asleep in a ferny from inner-city Harrisburg, and their from the highway below, from excavation forest full of flashing fireflies, while a leader who was trying to teach them both on all sides, and from helicopters above. whip-poor-will and a barred owl called that there was a life outside of the inner- I do not know what has been gained alternately. city, and that places of beauty existed through fracking, but what has been lost I remember finding purple-stemmed not only in remote Yosemite and Grand is beyond valuation. cliffbreak and blunt-lobed woodsia, two Canyon, but also in central Pennsylvania. I remember starting on the Mason- Dixon line at Pennsylvania Route 326 on June 18, 2011, and finishing on the New York/Pennsylvania border at Heffner Hol- low Road on July 12th. I don’t think I made the first through- hike of the MST: My analysis of trail registers suggests that Bill Shaffer of Groton, Connecticut accomplished this in October 2008, that Douglas Ryan of Al- toona, Pennsylvania did it in September 2009, and that Joe Fennelly (along with his beagle Ms. Jenny) of Cheshire, Con- necticut, did it in May 2010. In addition, I suspect that Tom Thwaites had hiked every centimeter of the MST the instant it was completed in June 2008. Equipment notes: (1) The Mid State Trail is rocky. I was glad that I carried a hammock, and I often slept suspended Dan Styer, Mid State Trail through-hiker (left) and Dan above rocks or brush that would have from Harrisburg at Libby Run. BRUSHWHACKER Summer 2011 - The somewhat regular publication of the Mid State Trail Association. 3 prevented any other form of camping. I thank the visionaries who had the (2) The Mid State Trail is rocky. To save audacity to dream up the Mid State Trail BRUSHWHACKER Summer 2011, Pub- weight on my feet, I wore running shoes. and then the guts to put it on the ground. lished by Mid State Trail Association, PO Box 885, Huntingdon, PA 16652. Free Bad idea. Wear hiking shoes or hiking I thank the volunteers who haul rock, to all members and friends of the MSTA. boots. clip brush, blaze, locate, and map the POSTMASTER: Send address changes to In about the year 750, the poet Li trail, who contact landowners, fill out pa- Mid State Trail Association, PO Box 885, Bai wrote “We sit together, the mountain perwork, and who in general do whatever Huntingdon, PA 16652.