2021 Allegheny Front Trail – Day Three – Wolf Rocks

Tuesday, 20 July

Destination: Wolf Rocks CampsiteToday’s Miles: 9.7
Start Location: Six Mile Run Campsite 28.7

The Trail Gods were looking down on us yesterday. After passing up two or three so-so campsites, Bob and I went aways without seeing another spot. We were on the steep side of Six Mile Run. We even considered wading to the other side to camp before coming across the nicest site we had seen. This morning, there were no campsites for the next three miles.

We had a nice night for sleeping, down to 57 degrees. We heard the sound of rushing water all night and did not notice any cars on the road across the creek.

While getting water before we left, Bob turned and ran into a tree branch. A little blood but a bandaid fixed him up. We were hiking by 8:15 after coffee and breakfast. We crossed a couple roads and I saw a man on a bicycle pass. That was our only other human for the day.

Bob and I passed a couple cabins today and Bob mentioned that we passed the nicest outhouse he had ever seen. It had a shingled roof and vinyl siding with a real door but it was still an outhouse. It was warm hiking, 77 degrees, with only a few blueberries today. We drank plenty of water and made one stop to filter more.

In several areas we passed pine stands that has obviously been planted, sometimes in rows. In the late 1800s the woods were cut for timber and shingles and eventually the denuded landscape fell prey to fires and erosion. In the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps put over 200 young men to work conserving timber, water, and soil. They built roads to aid forest fire fighting and planted trees to help reforest the land.

Not far from our campsite, we passed Wolf Rocks. These are some big rocks with cracks and caves in them. Outside the cracks it looked like someone had poured buckets and buckets of porcupine droppings. More than you would ever believe.

Tonight we are camped on a tributary of Six Mile Run. It is much smaller than the other streams but still nice to be able to wash up after sweating all day. After dinner we heard some turkeys calling and as it got dark, owls hooting. Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler. We are looking forward to that.

Today’s ascent was over 1,300 feet and our descent was about 1,000 feet. The climbs are strenuous but the downhills are sometimes treacherous. Bob and I both prefer steep climbs to steep descents. Fortunately, this trail has nice stretches of mostly level hiking.

One Comment Add yours

  1. Diane says:

    Great adventure.
    The Red Mo sounded interesting.
    I’m happy the tent was exactly what you needed.
    Enjoy. We’re at Lori’s beach home in Ocean City, NJ.

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