This past spring, I finally had the opportunity to hike a longer trail that I've been eyeing for a while: The Loyalsock Trail in PA's Loyalsock State Forest. Back in 2014, a couple of friends and I hiked a shorter loop incorporating the eastern-most stretch of this trail, and I've been pining to return to hike the full trail ever since. At 60 miles, the Loyalsock Trail is no simple weekend undertaking, and hiking the entire thing in one go would demand the better part of a week at least. I was lucky enough to be joined by 3 human friends (Danie, Tony, and Bryan) and one canine companion (Owen). We elected to give ourselves 5 full days and change to hike the trail, which allow us to traverse the rocky and rugged Allegheny plateau at a fairly casual pace (~12 miles per day) that would also afford plenty of time spent hanging out in camp and enjoying each other's company.
And so Sunday afternoon saw several of us meeting at the western terminus of the trail on PA 87 to spot a car and make the drive to the eastern terminus to begin our hike on Mead Rd just off of US 220. It would be dark by the time we started hiking, but fortunately our planned destination for the night was a campsite not far in on the Loyalsock Creek, near the Haystacks rapids.
We stumbled across a nice site well before the Haystacks even, and elected to set up there for the night. As it was spring, DCNR's seasonal fire ban was in full force so we'd be forgoing campfires for the duration of our hike. No matter, we'd carried a number of solar lanterns for ambience, and had plenty of fuel for warm dinners and hot drinks to ward us against the chilly early season nights.
Morning dawned cold but sunny, and before long we were breaking down camp and setting out to embrace the day.
Despite roughly paralleling the eponymous creek for which the trail itself is named, the Loyalsock Trail for the most part is rarely near the Loyalsock Creek. Only the western-most mile or so of the trail actually follows the banks of the creek, and along this stretch we were treated to nice views of the river.
It wasn't long before we reached the Haystacks area itself. This is a neat area where rock outcrops, each resembling a haystack, arise out of the river bed to form a series of interconnected cascades and rapids. It's a neat, beautiful, and popular area- and we saw a number of nice established campsites in the vicinity. Because of high levels of use (and abuse), DCNR has permanently banned campfires at any campsites near the Haystacks. It would be a neat spot to camp nonetheless.
From the Haystacks we had a short but rocky climb up and away from the river, up to where the trail joins and follows an old railroad grade for the next mile or two. This stretch provided us with easy hiking and we made good time up to the Rock Run Rd bridge, where the trail crosses the Loyalsock Creek on a single-lane road bridge before beginning a hefty climb up and out of the Loyalsock gorge to Sones Pond.
The climb to Sones Pond was rugged, rocky, and steep. We'd stopped to take off bits and pieces of warm weather gear already along the way, but the climb itself dispensed with any last-remaining early morning chills. By the time the trail leveled off, sweat was streaming down our faces.
Sones Pond has a number of nice campsites set in a pleasant hemlock stand on the northeast side of the pond, adjacent to where the LT passes the shoreline. As we approached the pond and the campsites there, memories of a rather cold and frigid night spent camped there during our previous backpacking trip 7 years prior quickly flooded into my mind. Our return visit to Sones Pond was much more pleasant, and we elected to take an early break for lunch in one of the sites.
As with the Haystacks, DCNR has enacted additional restrictions for the Sones Pond area due to the area's popularity. Fires are permitted there (outside of the spring fire ban), but car camping is not. The only groups allowed to use the area for overnight camping are backpackers hiking in on the LT.
After an hour or so of relaxing on Sones Pond, it was time to set off again. The next few miles of hiking were across the level top of the Allegheny Plateau, and we made good time over the level terrain with only a few sections of rocky outcrops along the way. At Tamarack Run, we passed a sign pointing out Ann's Bridge, a bridge that was long gone but for which the sign remained.
Soon we were dropping down into the deep gulf that is the Big Run drainage. This was a bit of a steep and rocky descent that gave our ankles a good workout. Not far from the bottom of the gulf, we passed a nice campsite on the bed of an old, now-defunct logging road.
Tom's Run, a tributary that we arrived at above Big Run, also had some really nice waterfalls and cascades, including Alpine Falls.
Along Tom's Run, the trail passed through some moderately rugged terrain. One stretch of rugged hillside was traversed on switchbacks- the great thing about switchbacks is that even if you're hiking companions are some ways ahead of or behind you, you still get to say hi to them on the trail.
We also passed by a somewhat nice looking campsite on Tom's Run, not far from where that stream empties into Big Run.
Between Tom's and Big Runs, the trail climbs up and over a low bug rugged ridge. At the top of the ridge the trail passed by a spot known as Ken's Window. There was once a nice view hear out and over the narrow valley, but in recent years the view has grown in. Even without leaves on the branches there really wasn't much to see.
From here the trail turned to climb up along Big Run for about a mile. Not far from Ken's Window, we passed a small but otherwise seemingly nice campsite below along Big Run, with room perhaps for 1 or 2 small tents.
It wasn't too long before we were rock hopping across the headwaters of Big Run, then climbing to and crossing Loyalsock Road.
At this point we were starting to think about making camp for the night. It was early still, and we'd only traversed about 10 miles for the day, but we were also approaching the stretch of the Loyalsock Trail that passes through World's End State Park. Once we entered the state park, primitive/dispersed camping would no longer be permitted for several miles, and indeed the next realistic camping option as indicated by the guidebook was some 6-7 miles further on. A 16-17 mile day was more than we were looking for with packs filled with food and provision for the rest of the week.
Near the swamp that forms the headwaters of High Rock Run, we encountered a nice site set in a stand of hemlocks, well-shaded from the brilliant spring sun that was relentlessly burning down on us in the absence of leaves. We briefly considered stopping there for the night, but the Loyalsock Trail guidebook promised us one more site a bit further down on High Rock Run, just before the trail passed into the state park, so we continued onward.
A bit more hiking plus a short stretch of road walking back on Loyalsock Road brought us into High Rock Run drainage, which we descended partway into. The campsite was not quite located on the Loyalsock Trail itself, but perhaps a few hundred feet down the Flynn Trail, at the bridge where that trail crosses High Rock Run. It was an alright site- really two very small sites on opposites of the creek, both located a bit too close to the water to really be in complete accordance with LNT. None in the group were particularly keen on backtracking up to the site we'd passed further up along High Rock Run, however, so we settled in and made ourselves at home for the afternoon and evening.
Continued in next post...
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