Don't Eat Yellow Snow
Hyner Run Lodge
The Big Snow
New Years Weekend 2013
Beware the hazards of mis-colored snow.
Pine Creek Rail Trail - Cedar Run
Some things just never get old.
Pine Creek Rail Trail
Annual New Years Eve ski trip to northcentral Pennsylvania.
Pine Creek Rail Trail - Blackwell
Pine Creek Rail Trail - Blackwell
Hyner Run State Park
Hyner Run Lodge
The Donut Hole Trail is one of the most remote and challenging long distance backpacking trails in Pennsylvania. It's also another one of those trails that has eluded me over the years for whatever reasons, mainly because it's not a loop trip and requires a car shuttle, I suppose. Staying at the Hyner Run Cabin in Hyner Run State park over the long New Years Weekend gave me a chance to right that wrong by skiing a couple of untracked sections of the trail in the Sproul State Forest around the park. The Hyner Run State Park was formerly the eastern terminus of the trail before it was extended further east to Farrandsville outside of Lock Haven back in the mid nineties. I like fried pickles.
Donut Hole Trail - Log Hollow Run
New Years Day, 2013: (0900 hrs) If you strap on your skis/snowshoes and pick up this section of the trail (photo above) that runs right behind the lodge you start a long, gentle climb to the top of the Allegheny Plateau. The trail runs right along the right bank of the stream. Down here in the valley the snow isn't too deep yet but, as we'll see, that'll change as we climb higher and higher...
Donut Hole Trail
...along Log Hollow Run on a good trail with a nice protracted grade. If everything goes right the total round trip, up and back, should be just a little over 4 miles. Perfect for a New Years Day morning ski...
Donut Hole Trail
...and here's something I didn't plan on coming across; elk tracks. When I made a brief pit stop here to adjust my bindings I spotted a bunch of them crossing the trail and stream bottom all over the place just a 1/2 mile or so up the trail from the cabin. I tried to convince myself they were deer trax but no way, these were just way too big to be from a deer and it's been at least a few years since any albino moose have been see around here. Unless they were the cloven tracks of the Prince of Darkness himself?
Donut Hole Trail
For the experienced backpacker (or skier) The Donut Hole Trail offers expansive isolation and deep woods solitude on a scale that few other places in Pennsylvania can.
Donut Hole Trail
A couple of recently constructed and well placed bridges never hurt anyone either.
Donut Hole Trail
Still climbing and breaking rail along Log Hollow Run we now start to enter a large stand of very healthy eastern hemlocks, some of them appear to be quite large and old. There are even a few matriarchs here and there. Unlike other eastern hemlocks, this stand appears to be holding up quite well against the current woolly aldelgid infestation.
Donut Hole Trail
The higher you go the deeper it gets, but the trail through the hemlocks on what appears to be a old log skid trail is in excellent condition.
Donut Hole Trail
Log Hollow Run is now below us as we make the final push to the top through more hemlocks and rhododendrons where.....
Sproul State Forest - New Years Day 2013
....you eventually come out to some place like this, a classic Big Woods view of the surrounding Sproul State Forest. There's even a brief bit of blue sky for a change.
Allegheny Plateau - Sproul State Forest
Snow depth on top of the mountain was about 14"-16". After enjoying the lovely view and snapping a few pix it was time for the best part of the whole trip; the 2 mile long, all downhill, ski along the same grade back to the lodge in time for a lunch of 2 large pizzas with sausage and a big bowl of steaming hot home-made ham and bean soup. Just kidding about the 2 pizzas. Life is flippin' good!
Hyner Lodge
Hyner Run
That advice is as true now as it was 40 years ago when this patch first came out.
All hail the music of Frank Zappa.
The Palladium, New York City - Halloween 1977
One of the Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time
Happy New Year Everyone
5 comments:
I love fried pickles too.
In that case, try 'em with a scoop of your favorite ice cream on top. You can thank me later.
You're showing your Philly roots, dude.
Hi Wade,
I enjoyed your last couple posts. We settled in Ansonia last year and it's cool seeing some spots we know in your photos. And a vetted to-do-list for adventures to come! I'm curious about your ski setup, nnn-bc or 75mm?
DJ Jackson
Hey DJ,
Nice to hear from you again and congratulations on the new digs in the Big Meadows. I'm green with envy.
I ski a lot of untracked trails East and West. My present ski setup is starting to get a little old school though. I use a pair of Trax Bushwacker XT's backcountry waxless skis that I purchased back in 1996. They are a little wider and a little shorter than classic in-track touring skis because they're specifically designed for off trail exploring in soft snow. They have an 85-70-80 cm side cut profile and metal edges for easy turning. They float well over untracked snow because of their width and they climb well but don't expect an effortless kick n' glide from them like you would get from regular longer xc skis. I think Trak merged with Karhu a few years back and dropped the Trak name.
My boots and bindings are old school too. Solomon SNS-BC type which are, once again, light backcountry touring boots and binding. They have never failed me and they provide enough support to do telemark turn on low angled slopes.
This setup has performed absolutely flawlessly for me over the past 16 years, both here in good old Pee-Aye and in the Yellowstone backcountry out West.
Ideally I would like to own 2 sets of skis. One pair of longer classic in-track skis to use on the Pine Creek Rail Trail when they groom it and my present backcountry skis for breaking trail up on the Tiadaghton plateau around PA44 and the Black Forest. If you plan on skiing mostly on groomed trails go with the former style. They give a much better kick and glide. I miss that sometimes with my present skis.
There ya go. Best of luck and thanks for asking a great question. Free your heel and free your mind. See ya in the Canyon.
The valley looked like a big muddy pond yesterday with Marsh and Pine Creeks way out of their banks. Looks like a big ice rink this morning thanks to 20° and a dusting of snow.
Thanks for the rundown on your skis. I had been really tempted by a pair of leather Salomon boots on ebay that (naturally) used the sns-bc system, but waited too long. I'm 6'6" 270# so I'm definitely thinking a stiffer boot and wider ski. I guess I'm wondering how well the 75mm does/feels with touring. I like how you can throw on the cable for the downhills. Daydreaming mostly... Kudos to you for getting out there and doing it.
Have a good weekend. Go Eagles! DOH!
DJ
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