Trail Work Weekend November 5-7

The Clarion Chapter will be holding a work weekend November 5-7 in conjunction with the Keystone Trails Association and DCNR.  We will be working on an approximately 100 yard long wet section of trail in the Maple Creek area.

We will be creating turnpike using materials supplied by DCNR.  The wetness in this area can get very bad and this is some much needed work.  All help in this project would be appreciated.

We will have a cabin in Cook Forest for the weekend. We will be at River Cabin #1 Friday night and Saturday night.

We will be working on the project all day Saturday and part of the day on Sunday.

For more information on this work weekend or to reserve a bunk for the weekend, contact Ed Scurry at (814) 437-1168, Dave Galbreath at (814) 226-5574,  or Devin Callihan at (814) 319-5058.

August Chapter Hike Scheduled

The Clarion County Chapter of the North Country Trail Association will be having it's monthly hike on Saturday August 14th at 10:00 A.M.  We will hike from the trail head on Route 66 (N41* 25.164'  W079*12.622 ') to the Environmental Center in Cook Forest (41* 20.783' W079* 13.101').  This hike will take us through the Maple Creek area and part of Cook Forest.

This will be an approximately 8 mile hike over moderate terrain.  Transportation can be made available for anyone interested in only doing the first 4 mile section of this hike.

We will meet at the Environmental Center in Cook Forest at 10:00 A.M.  The chapter will provide transportation from here to where our hike will begin at the trail head on Route 66.

If you are interested in attending, or have any questions, please reply to this e-mail or contact Dave Galbreath at (814) 226-5574, Ed Scurry at (814) 437-1168 or Devin Callihan at (814) 319-5058.

July 2010 Hike

The Clarion County Chapter of the North Country Trail Association held a monthly hike on Saturday, July 17, 2010.

Seven hikers headed off from the trail head at White Oak Drive at about 10:20 in the morning on what turned out to be about a 7.6 mile hike.  The original seven hikers were Dave Galbreath, Ed Scurry, Devin Callihan, Gene Stiglitz, Katie Callihan, Brian Pidgeon and Dan Ochs.

It was a beautiful, but hot and humid day in Northwestern Pennsylvania.  This section of the trail follows a path that has been thoughtfully placed on beautiful hillsides and old logging roads as it winds through relaxing conifer and hardwood forests.  Everyone reveled at the sight of the occasional interesting plant, flower, or fungi found in a forest basking in the sunlight of a mid-summers day.

After reaching Breniman Road, the band proceeded on a .7 mile road walk down the road and across the bridge over Toby Creek.  We entered the forest again on the other side of Toby Creek and began the second half of our journey.

For the first part of this section, the trail follows the hillside above Toby Creek.  Along this part of the hike, the group stopped to several times to find some geocaches located along the trail.  The trail descends again to Toby Creek and meets up with it, but does not cross it, at Game Lands Lane (a gated game commission road bisecting Game Lands 72).  The group found another geocache at this location, and took the opportunity to take a rest and a picture at the nice bridge that the Game Commission has across Toby Creek.

After this short break came the most challenging part of the hike.  The trail follows Game Lands Lane at this point, which ascends pretty rapidly from Toby Creek.  The group slowly broke apart into 2 slightly spaced out groups for this part of the walk, and the first group got a little bit of a break in the shade where the trail leaves Game Lands Lane, while waiting for the second group.

Once the hikers were all back together again and standing around talking, we were joined by another hiker, Frank Ochs, traveling towards us on the trail.  Frank joined our group as we hiked across the wide open mountaintop on Game Lands 72.  This area offered some pretty spectacular views even though it was very hot and the sun was not letting up in the cloudless sky.

At the “Duck Ponds”, the group briefly stopped to hide a geocache and then continued along the trail towards the boar farm and Rapp Run.  As we entered the forest again from the wide open hilltop, the trail follows briefly along a boar farm and the hikers kept looking to the right, through the fences, trying to catch a glimpse of a boar.  No boars today.

On the last mile or so of the hike, the group found a few more geocaches and stopped briefly to sign the trail log book located beside Rapp Run.

Our band reached the trail head at approximately 2:30 PM.  It was another great day along the North Country Trail in Clarion County Pennsylvania.

July Chapter Hike Scheduled

The Clarion County Chapter of the North Country Trail Association will be having it's monthly hike on Saturday July 17, 2010 at 10:00 A.M.  We will hike from the trail head at White Oak Drive (N41* 17.148'  W079* 20.598') to Kiser-Wagner Road (41* 14.392' W079* 23.863').  This will be an approximately 5 mile hike over moderate terrain.

We will meet at the trail head on White Oak Drive at 10:00 A.M.  The chapter will provide transportation back to White Oak Drive from Kiser-Wagner Road.

If you are interested in attending, or have any questions, please reply to this e-mail or contact Dave Galbreath at (814) 226-5574 or Ed Scurry at (814) 437-1168.

Clarion NCT Maps

This past semester, a Clarion University student, Mitch McAdoo undertook a project of mapping part of the North Country Trail in Clarion County for his GIS class.  Mitch successfully mapped the trail in Clarion County from Route 36 in Cook Forest the whole way to the fiberboard plant on river hill.  Many thanks to Mitch for taking on this project.

Click on the maps below for a larger version

State Route 36 in Cook Forest to Gravel Lick.

Gravel Lick to Highland Drive

  Highland Drive to Sarvey Mill Road

Sarvey Mill Road to Breniman Road

Breniman Road to Kiser-Wagner Road

Kiser-Wagner Road to Fiberboard Plant and Fiberboard Plant Loop.

Clarion Chapter June Hike

The Clarion County Chapter of the North Country Trail Association held a monthly hike to celebrate National Trails Day on June 5, 2010.

It was decided to walk from the fire tower in Cook Forest to the Highland Drive Trail Head. The threat of severe thunderstorms and the first hot and humid day of summer kept attendance low but it was a fun day on the trail in Clarion County.

The hike began about 10:15 in the morning. Along the route, many elements of Northwestern PA's scenery were taken in.

In the Cook Forest area, the hikers were treated to hillsides full of blooming mountain laurel, beautiful views of the Clarion River and Hemlock Island, a waterfall at the mouth of Henry Run which is the only remnant of an old Clarion River logging era sawmill and old foundations also from the logging era that the trail was recently rerouted to allow hikers to experience. After hiking the hillside away from Henry Run, before descending to Gravel Lick Road, a short break was taken at Scurry Overlook. After the DCNR removes 2 trees from the area, this overlook will give hikers a birds-eye view of the Gravel Lick area of the Clarion River.

At Gravel Lick road, the band of hikers was whittled down to five and they pushed onward up and over Thomson Hill. After descending from Thompson Hill, the hikers were again greeted by the Clarion River and hiked alongside it for just over a mile. This section of the hike was mostly level and included crossings of 2 small streams. Canoers and kayakers were seen along this section of the river that is to be labeled as a National Wild & Scenic River. The band stopped for lunch along the Clarion River just before heading up the remnants of Kline Road to the hilltop above the river.

The hike continued along this hilltop with a brief stop at another future overlook called Galbreath Overlook and down to another stream crossing and a quick glance of the Clarion River and the mouth of the Maxwell Run before heading up over another hill towards the Highland Drive Trail Head.

The hikers reached the trail head at approximately 3:20 PM. A map of the route taken is found below. The route taken is in solid red on the map.