Although it's only a four-and-a-half mile loop, the Fred Woods Trail--in the Elk State Forest--is well worth a three-hour drive up from Pittsburgh. Everyone who comes this direction hopes to see elk in the wild, and we were not disappointed, though I didn't get any photos. They're such majestic animals, with their graceful antlers, their enormous girth, and their great self-confidence.
The Fred Woods Trail is certainly remote. The only way to get there is to follow a narrow dirt track, known as Mason Hill Road, up the steep mountainside. I don't know what you do if you meet a car or truck coming the opposite direction. This trail has some of the best scenic vistas in the state, and it's surrounded by truly wild country--the Quehanna Wilderness. The wooded hollows of Cameron County are so far-flung that they make a great place for cooking meth. This region is famous for its meth in the same way some regions of the world are known for their wine or beer.
But it's unspeakably beautiful. The Elk State Forest is no stranger to me. I hiked here pretty frequently in the mists of another life. But my most recent visit was threefold: first, I've wanted to hike the Fred Woods Trail since first reading about it here; secondly, I wanted to do some research on the possibility of doing a "through hike" on the nearby 75-mile loop known as the Quehanna Trail; and thirdly, I was entertaining a visitor from out west who's always making deprecatory remarks about how easterners think any woodlot is a wilderness. I wanted to humble him a little.
He loved the Fred Woods Trail, with its elk. and grand rock formations, and long views, but he kept insisting that it was nothing compared to Utah. He's probably right that the Pennsylvania Wilds can't compare to the empty places of the Utah deserts--at least not in terms of the vastness of unpeopled expanses. But there are two things that keep me from taking an interest in Utah: impending water shortages and Mormons...and not necessarily in that order.
Along an undramatic section of the Fred Woods Trail, we came across this interesting old stone fence, which was surely placed here when farmers were still trying to scratch a living from these stony uplands.
The rock formations along the trail are really amazing. These boulders are about fourteen feet high on either side of the trail, which might be three feet wide. The silence of this place is dense and otherworldly. Ah, I miss the northern part of the state so bad. Coming back here is a rare joy that reminds me of how much I lost when we moved to Pittsburgh. It feels like someone I love has been taken away from me, killed in a senseless accident, sacrificed on the altar of expediency. The wilderlands east of the Quehanna are even more vast and unknown. I don't mean to be an ingrate, and I love my city very much...but sometimes I miss this place more than I can say. If we only get one life--as I believe we do--then shouldn't we spend it living in the places and in the ways that bring us joy?
