The NCT in Pennsylvania is a world apart from the AT segment in the state. To start with the terrain in Northwest PA is far different that the southern part of the state the AT goes through. The AT follows dry ridges for much of its length. The NCT is a deep forest walk through the gentle Allegheny Plateau. The first section of the NCT roughly parallels the Allegheny Reservoir created by Kinzua Dam. I had been on a short section of the NCT here before so I decided to start further south. The stretch of the trail from US 6 to Cooks forest was almost exactly 70 miles, making a good 5 day trip. We started the last Saturday of April.
Day 1, 10 miles
My father graciously agreed to shuttle us from Cooks Forest to US 6 saving us time at the end of the hike. We registered the car at Cooks forest and headed up to US 6. We on were on the trail at 12:30. Our goal for the first day was to go about 11 to where the NCT crosses PA 948.We were treated to great weather and the walk was a gentle ascent up to a plateau we followed for a couple miles. Our first major landmark was the crossing of the east branch of Tionesta Creek.
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| Hemlock lined bank of the East Branch of Tionesta Creek |
This was a wide body of water with hemlock lined banks. After crossing we had a our first walk through a large hemlock forest. One thing that struck me was how many more hemlock trees were still here compared to further south. There would be many more on the rest of the trip. We followed the creek for a while before veering off to follow one of its small tributaries for a couple miles. Eventually we veered west and reached the start of the Tionesta scenic area. We had read that this was an area of virgin hemlock that was never logged. Unfortunately in 1985 a tornado came through and devastated the area and must have destroyed much of it as we didn't see any. Instead the forest was thick decaying trees with small trees that had grown up after the tornado and was not a particularly scenic area.
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| The Tionesta "scenic" area |
We also learned that the maps we were using, both the official NCT map and the Trails Illustrated map of the national forest were slightly lacking. They indicated we would cross a couple roads and there would be another interpretive trail we would pass, neither of which we ever saw. Indeed we had no idea how far we were when all of a sudden we came to the junction with the Twin Lakes Trail at the end of the scenic area. Ironically the scenic area we just went through was the least scenic part of the entire trip. The rest of the day was an uneventful walk down to and along cherry run. We saw quite a few active wells which was a theme for the rest of the trip.
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| One of the many oil wells we saw in this section |
Close to the end of the day near our destination we found a several established sites, none too far from roads. These were the first we had seen all day. Where the NCT crossed a forest road before PA 948 we found my father and a great campsite near some trailhead parking that didn't appear to be heavily used. He ended up camping with us. We had a nice fire and were asleep about 10 pm.
Day 2, 15 miles
Day two we were up early again were treated to beautiful weather again. The first leg of the day involved a 3 mile walk crossing PA 948, then a climb up to another plateau before heading down to PA 666 and Tionesta creek. Once again the hemlocks were very prominent through this stretch. Unfortunately at the top of the plateau there were a large number of oil wells and roads that were rather ugly. The maps had not been updated in a while as there is a major reroute of the trail down to PA 666. The climb down to PA 666 was quite nice as it followed sidehill down a steep hemlock lines slope. We arrived at PA 666 took a break and began the next leg of the day.
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| Tionesta Creek |
We had about 12 miles to get to the intersection with the Minister Creek trail where we planned to camp. Like earlier in the day we had a climb to get back up to the plateau. The trail switchbacked up the side of the hill and followed an old rail grade to the top of the plateau. On the way up to our right was a hollow that had some of the most open forest I have ever seen. You could see a couple hundred feet down to the stream.
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| The climb away from Tionesta Creek |
Once at the top we generally stayed on the plateau through open forest and large tracts of hemlock. We saw other backpackers, the only other hikers we saw the entire trip. About 5 or 6 miles from PA 666 we arrived at the Hunters Run shelter. The NCT has 5 shelters from here to south of Cooks Forest. The shelter was really nice and was in great shape as it didn't appear to be heavily used.
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| Hunter Creek Shelter |
There was a picnic table and lots of nice looking tentsites around. We had lunch and I tried to take care of a blister that had developed. From here we had another 5 miles to the Minister Creek trail. The trail went up and down several times as we passed upper and lower Sheriff Run. At each crossing of Sheriff run was a nice campsite. Once again in this section we crossed multiple roads that didn't correspond to what was on the map. We arrived at Minister Creek at about 4:00. At this point several tributaries of Minister Creek meet in a small valley with multiple established campsites. There was nobody else there so we took the largest which had a huge fire ring and stone seats. The valley was gorgeous and this was by far the nicest campsite we saw on the entire trip.
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| Minister Creek Campsite |
Day 3, 21 miles
The third day brought another early start and we were on the trail at 6:45 am. Our plan was to get to the town of Kelletsville where there was a restaurant, Cougar Bob's. The initial climb away from Minister creek was a gentle rail grade along a stream and by 8 we were back up on the plateau.
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| Trail West of Minister Creek |
After 3 miles we arrived at the junction of the Tanbark Trail. This heads off towards Hearts Content but the NCT makes a sharp southern turn here. We followed a grassy forest road for a mile and arrived at Queen creek where the second shelter we would was located. The shelter was beautiful and was only a year or two old. It would make a great spot to camp.
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| Queen Creek Shelter |
We still had about 10 or 11 miles to get to Kelletville so we didn't hang around too long. The terrain to Kelletville was gentle with minor ups and downs as we stayed on the plateau. The forest was once again very open with large numbers of hemocks in places. There was little evidence of trail use as we only passed one established campsite in this stretch, although the forest was so open finding a spot to camp would not be any trouble at all.
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| Typical scene on the stretch of trail between the Tanbark trail junction and Kellettsville |
As we got near Kelletsville we got another surprise as there was a reroute that was not on either of the maps we had. The maps indicated we would end up on PA 666 and have walk a mile along it to Kelletville. Instead we ended up on a dirt forest road that went straight down to Kelletville. At this point we had gone almost 17 miles and the thought of real food had kept us going. So you can imagine how disappointed we were when we got to Cougar Bobs only find they were closed on Mondays! From here the trail crosses Tionesta creek again. On the other side is an Army Corp of Engineer campground we intended to stay at. We sat there about 20 minutes deciding what to do. It was not even 4 so we had plenty of daylight and good weather still. We had a 1.5 mile road walk with camping indicated on the map where the trail went back into the woods. With so much time we decided to do the road walk, eat dinner and decided what to do. We quickly finished the road walk and found several sites near a large tributary of Tionesta creek. I had a dinner mashed potatoes and we looked at the maps. From here it was a climb and we decided to get it out of the way as it looked flat at the top and we figured we could find somewhere to camp. So up we went with the biggest climb we had all day. Just as we started up we could feel a little rain so we raced up the hill as fast as our tired legs would go. On the way we passed some giant boulders the size of houses but with being tired and the threat of rain we didn't stop to take pictures. At 6:30 we made it to the top and looked for a spot to set up. It was ironic that the entire day we had been walking through relatively open forest where setting up a tent would not be a problem but now when we had to set up were no good spots for two tents. We ended up having to pitch our tents in the middle of the trail just in time as it started raining steadier. I was exhausted after a 21 mile day, the longest I have ever hiked in one day. We both went to bed early. It rained hard at times in the night and the wind picked up considerably.
More continued in part 2 . . .
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