October 2010 Monthly Hike

14 of the 16 hikers for the day.

The Clarion County Chapter of the North Country Trail Association held it’s October 2010 monthly hike on Sunday, October 24, 2010.  Our monthly hikes are usually on Saturdays but we decided to move them to Sunday's through deer season.  From the attendance we got this month, perhaps Sundays are a better day for people to be able to attend.

We decided to hike the 4.7 mile section of the North Country Trail from Gravel Lick Road to Highland Drive.  16 hikers left from Gravel Lick Road at about 11:00AM.  It was a very comfortable end of October day with temperatures in the 70's and the sun shining brightly.

In attendance were: (from left to right in the back row of the picture) Devin Callihan, Jan Berg, Dave Galbreath, Bill Wesner, Dan Ochs, Gene Stiglitz, Donna Clements, Layne Giering, Susan Giering & Robbie Porter.  The junior hikers (From left to right in the front row of the picture) were Collin Callihan, Mason Bauer, Harrison Porter & Josh Homan (not in picture, we'll get you guys next time) Tom Tefft & Kay Thompson.

The hike started up Thompson Hill from Gravel Lick Road and the junior hikers made fast work of this pretty steep hillside.  On the way to the bench near the top of Thompson Road, 2 stops were made so the kids and the 5 adult geocachers in the crew could grab geocaches hidden along the trail.  Once reaching the bench, a short break was in order and soon after, the group found themselves completing the climb to the parking lot at the top of Thompson Hill (with the junior hikers leaving us in the dust of course).

After reaching the parking lot, the trail follows a gas company/DCNR service road down the other side of Thompson Hill to the Clarion River.  Once at the Clarion River, the group once again took a break at a picnic table at one of the 3 brand new campsites set up by DCNR.  This property just recently changed hands from the Pennsylvania Game Commission to DCNR.  It looks like this was a good switch.  Camping was illegal along this section before and it is now being encouraged.  The gps coordinates for the campsites are N41* 18.403'  W079* 15.143'.  A few people in the group are already planning a return trip in the spring to do an overnight trip down by the Wild & Scenic Clarion River.

The group left the campsites and continued along the Clarion River.  We didn't catch the junior hikers until just about where the trail leaves the Clarion River.  At this point the hikers stopped and had a snack along the Clarion River.

After eating, the group pushed on to where the trail follows the remnants of Kline Road to the hilltop above the river.  This hillside of the NCT in Clarion County features a very diverse section of Pennsylvania woods.  It goes from a very dense patch of small trees and bushes to mature hardwoods and then to a mixture of mature hardwoods mixed in with lots of mountain laurel before heading back down from the hillside to a valley full of mature conifers along an intermittent stream that dumps into the Clarion River across from Maxwell Run.

The hike continued along an old logging road up this valley.  The trail left this road and follows a switchback up the last hillside to climb before reaching the hilltop where the Highland Drive trail head is located.  The junior hikers showed their first signs of fatigue on the ascent of this hillside.  The group stopped for another geocache, took a break, and the poor little weary souls looked as though they regretted sprinting the first 3 and a half miles of the hike.  They were troopers and pushed onward up over the hillside and were very content to lean on Devin's van when they arrived at the trail head at Highland Drive.

The large group of hikers posed for a picture and all took the car ride back to Gravel Lick Road.  It was another beautiful day on the North Country Trail in Clarion County Pennsylvania.