Had a small amount of trouble finding the access to the Appalachian Trail at this site. Missed the sign and ended up getting on route 22. After turning around at the next exit and coming back I figured it out. With the stop in Halifax and my 22 detour, the trip down to this area took over two hours so I was ready to hit the trail.
At the start, the noise of the traffic from 22 just pounds against the mountainside, slowly disappointing as I made the accent.
Not often do I come across a Holly tree on a hike. At this location it could possibly be an American Holly, a native species. Pennsylvania is the northernmost range of the American Holly, but it only occurs in a handful of locations.
After coming to a trail junction I had a short and a long option to choose from going up, so I took the Sussquehanna Trail. This was the shorter option and a lot of it was steep. This section of trail however, was extremely clean. This old soda bottle was the only piece I found on the way up.
I was very happy with my trail choice for the way up. It is a harder hike than taking the Appalachian Trail option, but I found out that this way saved the best views for last.
This paper wasp nest caught my attention. It was huge, at least a foot and a half from top to bottom and it was swinging in the wind. Over the years I have seen many of these nests destroyed by people, even off of trails like this in the middle of the woods. Paper wasps really pose no threat to anyone, unless they or their nest is being disturbed. They do not go out and seek confrontations with people and belong in our environment.
This is Clarks Ferry Shelter. It was a slight diversion off of the loop and ended up being the turn around point. My goal was to make it to the top and I accomplished that and then some. This was slightly over the opposite side of the mountain I came up and the shelters are always a good place to check for trash. I would like to point out that these shelters are intended for threw hikers. These are individuals that are doing long trips on the AT.
Some nice individual bagged up most of these cans and threw them underneath the shelter. I really try to do whatever I can to remove plastics and aluminum, so I went for a crawl. There was not much room for me under there and it was not enjoyable in the least, I got them out though and that's what matters. There was also a pile of glass bottles underneath the back of the shelter. Lately I have been taking glass, in this case though I knew I had a longer hike out than in and there was just too much risk of a bottle breaking on the way back. Found a couple of plastic bottles in the brush around the shelter, but other than that, the cans and the glass it was very well maintained.
The trip back the AT was awesome. The Susquehanna bends around this portion of the mountain and can be seen on both the north and the south side from the trail. On the left is the southern view, right the north.
Another view off the southern face. Almost every time I looked out over the river I just imagined paddling it. It was one of my goals this past summer to get on the Susquehanna and I never was able to complete it. Next year I will and it is my intent to get a ton of trash off of its banks!
For the most part this section of AT was fairly clean. My pack was just about full by the time I returned to my car, but I didn't have to get out a garbage bag. I added this to the bag from Halifax, loaded Penny and my pack in the car and set off for the next location. By this time it was getting close to 3pm and I was wondering if I would be able to make it to the top of the other side before dark.
You too can help with taking out the trash! If you get out hiking take a grocery bag with you, give it a second use and fill it with trash while you are out! Every bit helps. You can also help contributing to this project at: gofundme.com/takingoutthetrash
No comments:
Post a Comment