PA > Hickory Creek Wilderness Trail > Allegheny National Forest (April 16-17 2016)

[organix]

This is my first trip report so not sure how to go about this, but will give it a whirl.

Spent the weekend on the Hickory Creek Wilderness Trail, on the western side of the Allegheny National Forest. The trail+loop, per my DeLorme SE, is 12.82 miles of un-kept wilderness. I would suggest decent navigational skills and or a GPS for this trip as the blowdowns, boggy areas, forest duff, and minimal blazes often cause the trail to disappear before you. The trail starts out easy to follow but once you reach the junction, the blazes are often very faded and spaced very far apart, which caused us to go off trail a few times.

We saw bear tracks, a few snakes and tons of wood peckers. We started the loop going south to north allowing us to camp near Jacks Run (a very beautiful part of the forest) and allowing us a shorter second day. The terrain was rocky, hilly, wet, and slippery at times as there is still foliage on the ground from last fall. This is a true wilderness area that creates a great sense of adventure due to having to use navigational skills and the trail being minimally marked. Was a great weekend escape, and will definitely go back again maybe next spring.

Day 1

The connector trail starts here, from the parking lot to the loop.
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Once you start getting closer to the actual wilderness area you will pass through an area with power lines.
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Entering the Hickory Creek Wilderness Area
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The loop junction (I think 1.7 miles from the parking lot) We went South.
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The trail is quite serene, littered with Piney woods, and rock gardens.
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One of the hundreds of blow downs on trail
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There were three camping opportunities before ours and two after ours (about 100 and 200 yards away which i didn't take pictures of).

Campsite 1 - very buggy with a few hanging opportunities
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Campsite 2 - more of a tent site
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Campsite 3 - forgot to take a pic but ran into this guy
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Finally reached our campsite and set up. Sleeping near the water rushing down Jacks run. (N 41*40.9090' W 79*18.2907')
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[organix]

Day 2

Awoke to the sound of woodpeckers ( There are a lot of them )
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The morning starts with a continuous but gradual climb all the way out of the valley
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A mysterious being appeared on the trail
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An example of a non-faded blaze (There were white ones at the junction trail, the loop is yellow with a few whites here and there at the beginning, and the return from the junction is now orange as a man was painting the trees while we were leaving)
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You then continue going upwards toward another rock garden, after the rock garden you retreat into a cool pine tree forest that leads back to the main junction and back to the car.
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If you would like the GPX file i used, please feel free to let me know, the beginning didn't match up well to the trail, but about 2 miles in, it was spot on all the way back to the junction. I also have the first four campsites marked.

[Pennsy Camp and Canoe]

Very nice! I can't wait to get out there.

Edit: btw, did you use gps only, or maps too? Could you suggest which map or maps to use?

[organix]

Very nice! I can't wait to get out there.

Edit: btw, did you use gps only, or maps too? Could you suggest which map or maps to use?

We primarily used a compass and GPS on my IPhone -Gaia GPS, when needed. Gaia worked better than I expected and kept us on trail, or pointed us in the direction of the trail when we went off it. I did bring a topo map from andyarthur if you google that and hickory creek it should come up but only referenced it a few times. I can PM you a link to the GPX file I used if you would want it, it has the camps noted as well, however the first portion of the trip it was off by but quickly matched up as soon as we hit the junction.

[Pennsy Camp and Canoe]

I dont think I can use the gpx file, I'll let you know if that changes. My gps finally died this year (10 years old). Haven't tried to use the gps on my phone yet (android)

[organix]

I dont think I can use the gpx file, I'll let you know if that changes. My gps finally died this year (10 years old). Haven't tried to use the gps on my phone yet (android)

No problem at all! Let me know and ill send it over. I do know android has one similar to Gaia called Backcountry Navigator, maybe you can check that out.