Revised October 27, 2003

Mile 7.96 to 0.00, shuttled pair of cars, hiked October 15, 1999
Mile 7.96 to 9.54, roundtrip, hiked October 16, 1999     We Complete the BFT!
Old Supply Foster Hollow Mile 1.27 to 0.00, circled via Francis Rd, hiked October 13, 2000
Old Supply Foster Hollow Mile 1.27 to 2.38, roundtrip, hiked October 14, 2000

To reach mile 7.96 by car, take PA Route 44 north from the vicinity of Jersey Shore. A few miles past Waterville, PA Route 414 forks to the right. Follow 414 about fourteen miles to the village of Slate Run, and turn left on the Slate Run forestry road, which is the first sideroad bridge across Pine Creek along Route 414. Immediately after crossing Pine Creek, turn right at a T intersection to continue following Slate Run Road. Slate Run Road passes the Hotel Manor, a small restaurant, where it it possible to park a car for a dayhike shuttle at the mile 0.00 end. About 8/10 mile further, the official BFT mile 0.00 is marked to the right along the road. After about 3 1/2 miles, Slate Run Road becomes unpaved and shortly thereafter, Francis Road comes in from the right. There is a parking area on the right which allows access to the Old Supply - Foster Hollow Trail at mile 1.27. If you turn right onto Francis Road, the BFT crosses it about 1 1/2 miles further, just before the second guardrail on the right. Orange circle blazes are visible along the road. There is enough of a pulloff area at the guardrail to park a car; in general, Francis Road is too narrow for parking along the side of the road. On October 15, 1999, we left one car at the Hotel Manor and began hiking east from Francis Road, following the directions in the "old" trail guide. We immediately noticed that aside from the double blaze where the trail turned east off the road down into Slate Run, there were no markers. A closer inspection of some trees showed that this segment had been "unblazed" (orange blazes painted over with black to obscure them) and we concluded the trail had been rerouted to follow the "High Water Route" of the "old" trail guide. Since we'd already begun our descent, and since the "High Water Route" would add about 1/2 mile to an already long hike, we continued on the old route. Without visible blazes to guide us, we were stalled close to ten minutes at the junction of Slate Run and Red Run, making two false starts and backtracks before finally finding the old BFT route. (NOTE: Coming down from Francis Road as we did, you should cross Slate Run but NOT cross Red Run. Instead, when reaching Red Run, turn hard left and begin to ascend the ridge line separating the streams.) Although the "High Water Route" eliminates a stream crossing (Slate Run), the old route includes some interesting scenery and geology. Furthermore, the Slate Run crossing is NOT that difficult except in times of high water. (The crossings near mile 0.32 and at the Hotel Manor are probably worse, as the stream is wider and deeper five miles downstream.) We would suggest that the unblazed segment at least be reblazed with blue markers (normally used to indicate an alternate trail in BFT system). It's our guess that the new trail guide does not even mention the original route, and that's too bad. The Slate Run/Red Run intersection at mile 7.50 is at elevation 960 ft, the low point in this vicinity, about 260 ft below mile 7.96 at Francis Road. The trail then ascends relatively gradually, mainly along Red Run, crossing it once, to the intersection of its left and right forks at mile 6.70, elevation 1220 ft. (NOTE: At mile 7.20, the old "High Water Trail," which is evidently the current BFT route, rejoins the "old" BFT route we took.) From mile 6.70 to 6.26, the trail ascends steeply over boulders as it follows the right fork of Red Run upstream, eventually reaching an elevation approximately 1800 ft on the flat mountaintop. There are two consecutive vistas approximately mile 6.20 and 6.17. We stopped at the first of the two for lunch after finishing the climb. From mile 6.26 to 2.21, the trail follows a mercifully flat route mainly over smooth paths and old roads through wooded areas. The only exceptions are near mile 5.24, where the trail crosses a rock-strewn area near a vista, and from about mile 3.25 to 2.25, where the trail takes some small descents/ascents. After mile 2.21, the trail begins to descend somewhat steeply, first along a smooth path, then a stony path and eventually stony old quarry road. There are vistas at mile 1.84 and 1.19. After leaving the last of the old quarries at mile 1.06, the trail continues to descend over smoother terrain, eventually following a narrow ridge line between Slate Run and Pine Creek. The trail curves off the ridge and drops to Slate Run at mile 0.32. On two previous hikes in this area, the trail markers indicated a rerouting generally along the east side of Slate Run to cross at the Hotel Manor parking area where there once had been a suspension bridge. On this trip, the reroute blazes had been blacked out, but a sign at mile 0.32 indicated the former reroute should be used as a high water trail. We used it because it was the flattest, most direct route to our shuttle car, an important point after over eight miles of strenuous hiking. Maybe the "new" trail guide has some additional clues to the BFT routing in the mile 0.00 to 0.32 area? The next day, October 16, 1999, we drove to the same parking spot on Francis Road and began hiking the opposite direction, up the hill away from Slate Run. Wooden signs indicated the BFT followed the Chestnut Ridge Trail, an old woods road, for this segment, and gave the distance to PA Route 44 via the BFT as 4.8 miles. Since we had already done the segment from Route 44 (at mile 12.80) back to mile 9.54 on our second BFT segment during September, 1997, we had a little over 1 1/2 miles each way to complete our final BFT segment. Maria hiked on her own two feet for the first 3/4 mile, an old woods road but a moderately steep ascent. After Mike began carrying her in the backpack, the remaining distance was quickly covered. The BFT left the woods road at mile 8.81, and stayed on a flat path to a stream crossing and campsite at mile 9.54. We ate lunch on a log there and toasted our completion of the BFT before following the same route to return to our car. For our year 2000 visit to north central Pennsylvania, we drove to the parking area at the Slate Run Road - Francis Road intersection on October 13, and began looking for the Old Supply - Foster Hollow Trail. Blazes for the Foster Hollow direction were obvious along the road, but there didn't seem to be any indication of the trail in the direction of Manor Fork. After nearly 15 minutes of looking, Mike finally concluded we should "bushwack" the few hundred feet to the stream where he did see two consecutive blue blazes following downstream. Our BFT guide indicated the next 0.54 miles followed the stream, crisscrossing it many times. Due to the lack of visible blazes, this information was crucial. We merely followed the stream the best we could until we got to the vicinity of some cabins near miles 0.62 to 0.70. Again, blazing was poor but we finally spotted a few curving up a hill away from the cabin and stream. At this point, we hit a dug trail that ascended moderately until it was probably more than half the distance from stream level up to Francis Road. Having hiked the "blackout" section of the BFT in 1999, we recognized it when we reached the junction at mile 0.00 (BFT mile 7.74). There, we turned left (uphill) and followed the BFT about 1/4 mile to Francis Road, and returned to our car via about 1.5 miles of the road. The next day, we returned to the same parking area and began hiking the well-blazed segment along Slate Run Road. The trail turned left off the road a few hundred feet later, crossed Manor Fork, then paralleled it for about a half mile (according to guide, but it seemed longer) before ascending at a relatively moderate incline up Foster Hollow for the last 0.42 mile (according to guide, but it seemed shorter). (It took us two to three times as long to hike the flat Manor Fork segment compared to the steeper Foster Hollow segment, so I suspect our guide mileages were wrong.) When we reached the point where Foster Hollow branched left and right, our trail ended at its intersection with the main BFT at BFT mile 38.55. After a lunch break, we returned to the car by retracing the same route. This hike, although only 2.22 miles roundtrip, represented a first for Maria -- her first complete hike on her own two feet! It took us 51 minutes to ascend and 41 minutes to descend, not bad for a 5-year-old! Other Possible Hikes in this Area: (1) The roundtrip from Francis Road to Route 44 is just under ten miles. The remaining terrain between our stopping point at mile 9.54 and Route 44 is relatively flat. Starting at Francis Road puts the uphill at the beginning and downhill at the end. (2) We covered Francis Road to mile 0.00 by one-way hiking and a pair of cars. It's too long for a roundtrip dayhike, but could be broken into two roundtrips, one beginning at each end. The Alcinda Trail junction at mile 4.40 or the Putt Hollow Trail junction at mile 3.76 are easily recognizable dividing points.

This vista is seen beyond the guardrail where we parked along Francis Road on October 16, 1999. The hill lies to the east, across the Slate Run drainage. Mike and Maria have only been hiking a few minutes down from Francis Road to the vicinity of Slate Run and Red Run. The fall color was excellent on these mid-October, 1999 hikes. The right fork of Red Run descends steeply as the trail parallels it from mile 6.70 to 6.26. The steep climb is made more difficult by the boulder-strewn terrain. The waterfalls are nice, especially near the bottom where the stream is most visible. Maria poses at the mile 6.20 vista where we stopped for lunch. Dad had just finished carrying her uphill over 800 ft in the previous 1.3 miles. Mom helps Maria to climb over some large rocks in the vicinity of mile 5.25. Maria covered 1.8 miles on her own two feet -- not bad for a four-year-old -- and that included this segment of relatively rough terrain. Dad finally lured her back into the backpack carrier with the promise of a candy bar snack stop at mile 4.40 The old quarry at mile 1.84 provides a vista looking to the west. This photo looks north-northwest, and shows Slate Run winding between the hills. When we reached mile 9.54 on our October 16, 1999 hike, our final segment of the BFT had been completed. We stopped for lunch at a campsite there, with Mike and Maria posing with the trail guide and a small bottle of champagne used by Mike and Aimee to celebrate the occasion. Maria drank juice. Here's Maria posing near the forks of Foster Hollow on our October 14, 2000 hike of part of the Old Supply - Foster Hollow Trail.  It was not a long hike -- only 2.22 miles roundtrip from the parking area at the Slate Run Road - Francis Road intersection to this point then back -- but it was a personal first for Maria.  Although she previously had completed longer hiking segments on her own two feet, this was the first time she completed an entire hike on her own two feet without being carried part of the way by Dad.  That's pretty good hiking for someone just a few months past her 5th birthday, especially considering that the inbound portion of the roundtrip featured an elevation rise of about 350 feet. Maria has just crossed Manor Fork using some stepping stones, near mile 1.45 of the Old Supply -  Foster Hollow Trail.  This was just before we returned to the car on our October 14, 2000 hike.  For Maria, this was a particular act of bravery.  Two weeks earlier, during a hiking trip on Indiana's Knobstone Trail , Dad had slipped on a wet rock during a stream crossing.  He fell to the ground with Maria in the backpack carrier.  Following that incident, she began to implore him, "Daddy, please don't fall," every time they approached a stream no matter how tiny.

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