Two weeks after Maria's "eight miles at eight weeks"
hike, we returned to hike a segment of the LT about two miles west of
the previous hike
near High Knob Vista. We started at the point where the LT crossed Dry
Run Road at mile 28.42, on the pleasantly cool afternoon of September
16, 1995. To reach this point by car, we took the road to High Knob
Vista,
known as Shanerburg Road or Dry Run Road, west from Double Run Road
between
PA Route 154 near World's End State Park and PA Route 42 near Eagles
Mere. Approximately two miles west on this road, where the High Knob
Vista
access road turned right, we continued straight. A little over a half
mile later, there was a sign on the left for McCarty Road, a gated
woods
road. The LT intersection was about 1/10 to 2/10 mile beyond McCarty
Road, with a small parking area on the north side of the road for the
Nettle
Ridge Trail which shared this route with the LT.
We began our hike at elevation 1670 ft, following the LT on the
opposite side of the road from the parking area. Anticipating a
relatively easy hike because the elevation changed in a very narrow
range over the first two miles, we began to get concerned by Maria's
apparent displeasure as we approached mile marker 28 shortly after
beginning. She cried and fussed more strongly when Mike stopped moving
to pose for a picture at the mile marker. Then, as luck would have it,
there was a trail register just 1/8 mile further at Mary's View, mile
27.88.
Registration meant an extended stop to write a comment. Mike's eyes are
still good enough to read the first line in the notebook off of the
photo: "Maria was ten weeks old yesterday." Just above the notebook in
the photo is a screaming child in the front carrier. Aimee and Mike had
made around a half dozen hikes on the LT and seldom encountered a trail
register; by unusual coincidence, we encountered a register on each of
Maria's first three hikes.
We had two choices -- give up and go back to the car, or keep moving
and hope the motion would put her to sleep. Between the motion and the
exertion of crying which tired her out, Maria fell asleep shortly after
leaving Mary's View and continued to sleep for over two miles until we
stopped for lunch and took her out of the carrier.
The next change in elevation occurred at we gradually descended into Dutter Run, dropping to about 1600 ft at mile 27.51. We followed the run upstream for the next 4/10 mile, rising 140 ft. The trail guide mentioned seven stream crossings and four waterfalls, but these were not of much excitement since the area had been in a drought and there wasn't much water flowing.
When Maria and Mike rehiked this segment on October 17, 2004, conditions were very different. The previous few months had seen above average rainfall, so much so that there was a flood emergency relief center for the area open in Williamsport. There had been rain as recently as the previous evening. So the seven stream crossings were hardly routine -- especially the one where Mike was trying to lift Maria across a gap between stepping stones, lost his grip, and dropped her on the rock instead, getting both of them a bit wet. As for waterfalls, Mike has always been very liberal in his definition of a waterfall -- if there's a rapids, some foam, and at least a six inch drop, he considers it a waterfall. Using that criterion, there were dozens of waterfalls along this 4/10 mile segment.
We left the run on a slight ascent, and leveled out at 1780 ft as we crossed Dutter Trail at mile 26.96. After that, we dropped slightly until we reached McCarty Road at mile 26.66, then gained about 90 ft to 1800 ft near mile 26.50. Then we dropped about 200 ft, moderately steeply towards the end, cut back toward the ridge and regained 100 ft, started to gradually descend again, and eventually dropped dramatically in about 2/10 mile from 1600 ft to 1310 ft where we began to follow Kettle Creek downstream at mile 25.69.
Kettle Creek may be more substantial in normal times, but in 1996, the area hadn't had much rainfall for a while, and it was more like a bubbling brook. We stopped for lunch, literally in the creek bed, where we could sit on some large flat rocks and enjoy the surroundings. Mike took the carrier off and Maria awoke, but now she was in a pleasant mood. Taking advantage of this, Mike snapped off a succession of ten photos with Maria posed against the backdrop of the rocks and bubbling creek. In 2004, Mike and Maria stopped for a second lunch break in the same place with considerably more water in the creek.
After lunch, we continued a short distance downstream to the point where the LT crossed the creek at mile 25.24. In 1996, we then began backtracking, but when we reached mile 25.44, we left the LT to use McCarty Road as an alternate return route. In fact, we would recommend the Alpine Club designate this road as a Red X trail from mile 25.44 to 28.42. (It's too bad they didn't take this suggestion when they revised and renumbered the RX system in 2004-05.) McCarty Road climbed steadily, 450 ft, until it re-intersected with the LT at LT mile 26.66. It saved about 1/3 mile in distance, and although it was strenuous to climb consistently over such a short distance, it avoided worse climbing along the LT with its up-down-up-down run over this segment. Staying on McCarty Road for the remainder of the return allowed us to avoid descending and ascending Dutter Run also. We reached Dry Run Road just east of our parking area and finished hiking to the car.
In 2004, Mike and Maria crossed the creek on a log
bridge and continued for just over three more miles to Brunnerdale
Road. See the Kettle Creek to Brunnerdale
Road page for details of the remainder of that hike.
Footnote: The theme of this hike was well expressed by the end of
Mike's entry in the Mary's View trail register: "Maria earns her 10
mile patch today. And Mike and Aimee will have done half the trail." We
sent to the Alpine Club
for our patches after we returned home from the weekend. How many
ten-week-olds have become members of the LT ten mile club?
 Left:
The beginning of Maria's third hike, on September 16, 1995, was
evidently not as much to her liking as the previous two. At mile marker
28, just under a half mile into the hike, Maria was putting up quite a
fuss as we stopped to take a photo. We figured she'd stop complaining
once Mike started moving again. Right: A closeup of
Maria at mile 27.88, where we stopped to sign the trail register.
It's pretty obvious that she was not happy about this stop only 1/8
mile after the mile 28 photo stop. The rest of us were hoping to
enjoy Mary's View of Smith Knob and High Knob. |
 Right: The original
strategy -- keep moving and she will calm down -- turned out to be
successful once we left Mary's View. By mile marker 27, Maria was
enjoying a nap in the front carrier. Isn't hiking in the woods a
relaxing pastime? Left: Once Maria
fell asleep, she napped for quite a while as she had done on the
previous hikes. Here, Mike poses her for a photo opportunity at
mile marker 26. While she slept, Mike stashed the trail guide in
the carrier behind her head. |
 Left: Maria awoke in an
excellent mood when we made our lunch stop at Kettle Creek near mile
25.69. We took her out of the carrier and she posed
on a large rock with the bubbling creek in the background. Right: Another
photo of Maria posed amid the wonders of nature at Kettle Creek.
Mike's strategy was to find a spot like this and take a half dozen or
more photos. Some of them were bound to turn out well posed, and
the settings were so realistic that some people thought they were
photographers' fake backgrounds. |
 Above: Maria's next visit to Mary's View in October, 2004, nine years and one month after her initial visit, was much more to her liking. After we stopped for our first lunch break, she posed at the vista with High Knob in the background. We had begun our hike there, 2 3/4 miles away by trail and about 300 ft higher. |
 Here's Maria near one
of the first of many waterfalls we encountered as the trail followed
Dutter Run, crossing back and forth a total of seven times, between
mile 27.51 and 27.11. |
 Right: A closeup of one
small rivulet in the Dutter Run waterfalls as it falls over a rock and
splits into two. Left: Look closely to
see Maria standing above what was probably the highest waterfall along
Dutter Run. She's just above the top of the fall to the left
between two trees.
|
 Right: Here's a
side view of
that same fall along Dutter Run. This segment was nowhere near as
quick to hike in 2004 as it was during the drought in 1995. At
least we only got ourselves wet by falling in the water once while
attempting to cross. Left: A much more wide
awake
Maria in 2004 poses at mile marker 27. Red eye reduction is
great, but when will they make photo software with "big eye" reduction? |