THANK
YOU MISTER MINER
I
stumbled upon Rusty Glessner’s blog (http://rustyglessnerphotography.com/2014/09/04/visiting-miners-run-falls/) while researching a
waterfall in north-central Pennsylvania.
We didn’t make it to that waterfall on this trip, but the blog did
introduce me to the waterfalls of Miners Run, north of Williamsport, PA. Initially I put it on the list of “places we
might get to if we have time”. On
Wednesday we’d planned to visit Watkins Glen State Park in New York and
Ricketts Glen State Park in Pennsylvania.
After finishing at Watkins Glen we realized
that we didn’t have time for Ricketts Glen that afternoon. Miners Run is a much shorter hike, so we
decided to substitute that one. It
features six waterfalls, though a couple of them are only marginally large
enough to be considered true waterfalls.
It
was raining steadily when we reached the trailhead. We ate lunch in the car, and the rain eased. Christy decided to sit this one out, as it is
a short creek walk and I would be focused on photography. She curled up with a book and Kona while
Boone and I headed upstream.
Miners
Run Falls was my first stop. It is visible
from the road. Although it isn’t large,
it is lovely. The fall foliage was
mostly on the ground here, but it was freshly fallen and still colorful. It added a lot of beauty to the scene, and
the conditions were perfect for photography.
There was a beaten path to this waterfall, but it was all creek walking
and bushwhacking beyond. Most of the
hiking was pretty easy, though there were a few tricky spots. The second waterfall is pretty but
small. It’s no more than 10’ high, so it
is debatable whether it really qualifies as a waterfall.
The
third waterfall is a beauty. It’s a
multi-tiered cascade, about 20’ tall.
The fall color was truly stunning here.
The fourth waterfall was another small one. The highlight of the hike was the fifth
waterfall. It’s a beauty, with two
distinct levels, each around 20’ high.
There is a pool and short stretch of mellow creek in between the
drops. That was a source of confusion
for me. At the time, I thought they were
two separate waterfalls – numbers 5 and 6. The rain picked up, Christy had been waiting
in the car for over an hour, and I still needed to hike back. I climbed the bank on River Left until I
stumbled upon the faint remains of an old roadbed. I was able to follow that all the way back to
the car in just a few minutes. This
return was much faster and easier than following the creek. It wasn’t until later that I realized that I
only made it to the fifth waterfall, and the sixth was still upstream. Oh well, I guess that’s a good reason to go
back!
TWO WRONGS DON’T MAKE A RIGHT, BUT THREE LEFTS DO
(SOMETIMES)
We
still had a couple of hours to spare, so we decided to do another short
hike. I picked Jacoby Run Falls, since
it was nearby. The hike is a mostly easy
3.3 mile round trip to a 45’ waterfall.
Getting
to the trailhead proved to be challenging.
The direct route was closed because a bridge was out. However, the signs didn’t say how far it was
to the closure, so we weren’t sure if the closure was before or after the
trailhead. We drove a couple of miles,
only to find the road blocked. We turned
around and took the detour route. This
took us around the closed bridge. We
reached an intersection where we rejoined the road we had been on
previously. At that point, a left turn
would take us to the trailhead, while a right turn would take us back to the
bridge that was out. Unfortunately, it
wasn’t quite that simple. The road to
the right had signs stating that the road was closed, and that the detour was
the road to the left. Meanwhile, the
road to the left also had signs saying that the road was closed ahead because a
bridge was out. The detour route was the
road to the right.
What
a classic. Only in Pennsylvania! You really can’t make this stuff up. We turned left. Luckily, we reached the trailhead before the
closure.
Christy
decided to do this one since the rain had diminished to a drizzle. We started the hike on a boardwalk across a
wet meadow. Then we headed up into the
woods. Before long we began paralleling
Jacoby Run. The far side of the creek
featured an ugly logging road and a recently logged area. Neither were very attractive. There wasn’t much water in the creek, which
was both surprising and concerning.
Miners Run is only a few miles away, and it looks like a similar-sized
stream on the map. It had been flowing
strong, but Jacoby Run wasn’t much more than a trickle. Conditions got worse upstream. We actually hiked up the rocky streambed for
a stretch. Here, the creek was mostly
dry. Perhaps the stream runs underground? We weren’t far from the falls, so we decided
that we might as well finish the hike.
There
was more water farther upstream, but not much more. When we reached the base of the falls we
found an impressive horseshoe-shaped cliff with some damp rocks. Sigh.
Christy was not impressed.
Perhaps
we’ll come back when the water is up, or during a cold spell. I’ll bet that cliff has incredible icicles in
the right conditions.
We
hiked back by the same route. Then we
drove out of there, managing to avoid getting lost while avoiding all of the
closed bridges. We drove on to Christy’s
parent’s house in Clearfield, arriving in time for dinner. It was nice to settle in there for a couple
of nights after being on the road for 6 days.
Back to Pennsylvania
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Please remember to Leave No Trace!