Hiking the Mid-State Trail (MST)

9/30/09: After a long and restful night by the fire, and a warm sleep in the bunk, I woke rather slowly and fixed my usual breakfast of hot oat bran, bananas, peanut butter and honey. I started off the day exploring the campground around the lake. There were several exhibits describing the furnaces, and how the CCC had been created to provide jobs to the many unemployed men following the depression. These areas replanted the trees that were stripped during the boom times of the late 1800s. These areas in Pennsylvania were where there was water to power machinery, ore to be mined, and timber to burn. This combination resulted in large areas of deforestation. The furnaces created a level of heat needed to change ore into a material that could be refined further into marketable...steel? The jobs and the CCC were created to reforest the area and bring income to the many unemployed. There were remnants of the furnaces, and this answered the question I had about why some many towns were called 'furnaces'.
I reviewed the map again and decided I'd hike the spur trail from the campgrounds out to the Pennsylvania Mid State Trail. Then I would had down Detweiller Run down to the recreation area, and back up the dirt road to the campground. It was around 11:00 a.m. I found some good elevation gain getting to the MST. Not a tough hike, but up and down a few hills and valleys. As I descended to Detweiller Run, the trail turned and became 6 foot wide path of 8 inch to 12 inch round rocks. The trail may have been a dry stream bed, but it's also possible these stones were place here to establish the trail. It was a clear trail, but required a good deal of attention to keep from turning one of my weak ankles. That would be that last thing I wanted to have happen.
I was at about 2 miles down the run and found things getting a little damp. The trail now ran alongside a stream and the foliage got more and more green. There was some dampness in the air. At some point, I realized that this trail was pretty far out, and that it felt as though I should be hitting the cross trail that brought me across to the recreation area. I went back to the map, checked the scale, and saw that the map was 1 inch to 2 miles. For whatever reason, I'd thought the map was inch to one mile. That accounted for the long hike to the MST, and also why I hadn't found the cross trail yet. The two mile from the spur to the rec area, was now was a four mile hike. And the hike back up the road wouldn't be two miles, but another 4. Hmmm, I thought that it was good that I'd done some conditioning before I left Tampa. Along Detweiller Run the forest closed in on the trail. I was within 10 feet of the stream, but the branches hung down forming a tunnel, in many places just tall and wide enough for me to pass. The ground was very wet, and there were several stream crossing. There were a couple of wooden bridges, strong and secure, but very wet and slippery. Again I was glad to have hiking poles. The trips along those wet logs would have been treacherous.
I finally reached a sign indicating the direction to the recreation area. It was a long hike in. There were several old and broken cabins. Large wooden structures that appeared to accommodate campers or scouts during the summers, but possibly had fallen out of use. Most of this area was flat, and as I proceeded, I was glad for the house that appeared to be inhabited. At least the barking dog was a sign of civilization. My GPS, proved helpful at this point. I was able to view the direction back to the campsite. When I came to the road, I was fairly confident I was turning in the right direction. A man pulled his car over, rolled down the window and asked if I'd lost a dog. He's seen one barking. I said that I had not, and before I could question him about directions, he wished me a good hike and drove off. I was getting pretty tired. I stopped and ate my last PB&J roll up. And drank most of the remaining water. Peanut butter and jelly pack very well in a soft tortilla. I felt some energy rolling back in. I hiked the last 4 miles up the road and came to camp. At the very end, withing the campground, an older man and his daughter were hiking and we stopped to talk. They were surprised that I'd tackled the lengthy hike, and I explained the map-reading error. The woman said she'd tackled one of the trails out of the camp once, but found it very steep and didn't continue. This was one of those hikes that conclude with very little fanfare. I sat in my folding chair with a refilled water bottle, and just closed my eyes for a bit. I made dinner and then gathered firewood for the evening.
The next day I drove into "town", and found a convenience store. I bought some firewood, and and a can of beef stew, and a "hoagie". In the store were the construction workers I'd heard the day before. I really didn't have anything to say at the time. I did talk to the woman that took my sandwich order, and I volunteered some information about my trip. Noting to myself her hands that appeared those of someone hard-working, she said, "It must be nice to be able to do that." It made me think about people who would love to have the resources to travel a five week vacation. I was humbled.