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AegisIII 
Group: Members
Posts: 510
Joined: Jan. 2010
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Posted on: Jan. 07 2013, 10:57 pm |
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Photos
For my pre-Christmas hike, I decided to hike some trails in southern Michaux State Forest that I've not done before. The question was which ones, and I narrowed it down to three options. After vacillating between the options for a bit, I decided to head to Glatfelter Tree Farm #1, a recent addition to the State Forest. Trails are not blazed, signed, or mapped, and are generally old woods and logging roads. There are occasional signs that you are trespassing on the private property of the Glatfelter Co, but these can be ignored as that is the land which became the Forest addition. This hiked started at the Strawberry Hill Preserve, but parking areas have been added in the forest along Mt Hope Rd, and likely others.
I started on Strawberry Hill's Middle Creek Trail, crossing the eponymous stream on a good bridge. I then decided to hike its western loop. This wanders among the lowlands of the creek, with some streamside views and some unexpectedly rocky terrain. Back at the beginning of the loop, I leave the preserve and immediately enter Michaux, ascending on an obvious woods road. The woods road is moderately maintained, and sees light travel. It ends at a clearing, where it merges with two old logging roads.
I continue south, on a logging road through a long narrow cleaning on the side slope of a hollow. I pass a couple of trails. Near the top I enter a pine grove area, and a fourway trail junction at a saddle point. I head west, still ascending, but now just barely, pine on one side, young trees on the other. At the next trail junction, I turn south, same mixed woods, but now descending. I pass a couple of side trails and enter a clearing. On the north end is on abandoned barn; on the south is a partially frozen pond, hills rising behind it. The trail heads west, through an area that some seeps drain into.
I soon reach a trail junction, turning south, crossing a creek on a culvert. After passing a trail junction, I begin a sharp ascent in mixed woods, which near the top open up into a small clearing. I head west, descending down to Mount Hope Road. There is no parking at this crossing. I scan for he trail on the other side. I see a patted down path on the other shoulder, and figure that's the trail.
This immediately enters a dense spruce plantation, a narrow trail winding its way west, before straightening out. A different world then the rest of the hike, it's own little place which I thought would have been great after it had gotten snow. The trail is somewhat faint, but can be followed by looking where the ground is most patted down. Further west it widens, heads past a trail junction, and ends at another trail junction at the end of the spruce plantation.
I head north, then west, ascending into more typical South Mountain foothill terrain. The trail then descends, passing some blowdowns and some wet areas caused by seeps, springs, and small streams. I soon enter a meadow, with a nice thawing pond. Across it is an old house in good shape, probably back from when this was the Tree Farm. There is also an old red barn south of the house. As reaching them would have required a ford of the ponds outflow, I decide not to approach on this cold day. Instead, I continue south through the meadow, with some soggy areas, entering back into the woods, sometimes next to old logged areas, past a stone wall, and soon reach an old gated gravel road next to a complex of wooded areas bound in by stone walls.
I head east and downhill on the gravel road, passing a stone entrance way on the side, then crossing a creek on a culvert. Pat there, I head north on an old woods road in extremely poor shape. It is also soggy, briar ridden, and with badly decaying fallen trees, making my passage very slow. I eventually emerge out onto a telephone line clearing. (In retrospect, I should have taken the gravel road to the telephone line, and picked it up there.) I continue north, and then leave the telephone line on a rough woods road or trail, ascending back to Mount Hope Road. There is perhaps parking for one or two vehicles on the east side here.
On the east side, I make an ascent of a moderately sized ridge, which I shall call Cleared Ridge. At the top I turn south, rocky woods on the east and a logged area on the west. This allows for good views on this side, looking out at the "main" part of Southern Michaux, especially the areas around Virginia and Wildcat Rocks. Further south the view is towards a large quarry. The views continue as I wind my way down the ridge.
The trail then sharply drops off the ridge, leaving the views behind. I descend on a few different woods road, passing through a mixed forest with a smattering of pines, and a small and old quarry. I then try to figure out my map, as it states I should follow a steep trail further downhill, and it may not be that obvious. I thus head down on what may have been an old r-o-w clearing, basically on a game path that runs on or next to it. This drops me off onto a lower woods road. (I wonder if there is a better connection south?) I turn north, ending the descent at a crossing of Copper Run, near some old stone work, perhaps an old mill was here or something.
The crossing is a ford, and I don't want to get my feet wet given the weather. Looking around I spot a way to rock hop over it, but one which is likely mono-directional and thus would not work the other way. I make it across dry, and continue on the woods road until it reaches one in better shape. I continue north, soon reaching Copper Run again. And of course, the crossing is a ford. I know I cannot go back the way I came and do a short bushwhack. (Obviously, I never should have crossed the first time, and instead bushwhacked my way upstream until I reached the good woods road.) There looks like there could be some rock hopping opportunities a bit upstream, but as I work my way up it soon turns out that steep slopes and briars prevent any chance of reaching those crossings. So I head back to the ford, remove shoes and socks, roll up pants, and cross as quickly as possible. Thankfully, it wasn't as cold as I expected, and after drying my feet and getting my footwear back on, I continue.
I head uphill, past a couple of short soggy areas and trail junctions, before it crosses Copper Run for the third time, on a washed out but dry culvert. A bit later I find a good rock for lunch. After lunch, I continue on, past some good stream views, before leaving it to head uphill. At the next trail junction, I turn southeast, now ascending steeply for a bit, with a short dip past a seep area, and reach the top of Culp Ridge.
I now head north, along the broad ridge top, alternating between old logged areas, young woods, and mature ones. I briefly drop off the west side, where there is a partial view, before continuing north and reascending, taking a break at a fallen tree in just the right configuration to make a recliner chair. After my break, I continue ascending back to the ridge top, heading over the open top, and then descending to the north on the east side. There is an over-the-trees view into the Gettysburg Valley and Dover Hills. Ski Liberty can be seen, but only through the dense young growth in an old logged area. I reenter the woods on a logging road, which soon turns west, continuing its descent. I eventually make it to the long clearing near the start of my hike.
I just have to head north on the woods road, and re-enter Strawberry Hill. This turned out to be a good hike, better than expecting given that it was mainly on old woods and logging roads. I'll have to go back and explore more of the area, and find the third pond. It's not that far away for me.
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EJS
(Ed. S)
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| Post Number: 2
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MRHyker
Group: Members
Posts: 3546
Joined: Dec. 2005
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Posted on: Jan. 08 2013, 12:21 pm |
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Nice! About how many miles did you put in? Since this is part of the forest might I assume there are no backpacking/camping restrictions? Got a map?
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"Red is the color of the sun with my eyes closed." - Dave Matthews
Midatlantichikes.com
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| Post Number: 3
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AegisIII
Group: Members
Posts: 510
Joined: Jan. 2010
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Posted on: Jan. 12 2013, 10:03 pm |
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I suppose camping is allowed pretty much anywhere. I'll email you my latest southern Michaux file in a second. A map of my route is shown below.
There are supposedly a couple of trails which connect to the rest of the Michaux trail system, but I've not checked them out, and it doesn't seem like they get highly used. Plus, I think the Glatfleter area would be better for day hikes, and there'd be plenty of backpacking loops in the main mass of the Forest instead.
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EJS
(Ed. S)
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