Hickory Creek Wilderness--in the Allegheny National Forest--never disappoints...but that's not for lack of trying. The one official trail through the wilderness area is poorly marked and very easy to lose in places. Worst of all, the one trail runs a 12-mile loop along a plateau and avoids the most scenic parts of the wilderness. I've gotten lost in there once or twice--by purposely going off trail. But I say that it doesn't disappoint because there's something darkly lovely and soothing about the place.
At 8,663 acres (13.5 square miles), this wilderness area is about half the size of the Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia--but far less visited. Even on summer weekends, I've never seen more than 8 or 9 cars at the trailhead parking lot. Compare that to the hundreds of cars parked along the forest road into the Sods. My recent explorations along the Tanbark Trail brought me into the easternmost edge of the Hickory Creek Wilderness, which gave me the idea to come back and do a bushwhack deep into the trackless region along Middle Hickory Creek--which the Tanbark crosses at its headwaters.
I parked at the lot where Forest Road 116 meets Hearts Content Road, and I took this short cross-country ski trail parallel to the road and back to the Tanbark Trail, where I crossed the road and entered the wilderness area--all territory that I've covered in recent times. This ski trail was once the railroad bed into the disappeared village of Dunham Siding. Once I reached the Tanbark on the south side of Hearts Content Road, all I had to do from there was go off trail and follow the small brook as it gradually got larger and its valley got steeper.
Wilderness areas are designated by Congress, and there are only two in the Commonwealth. (Some folks are trying to get the two large "Allegheny National Recreation Areas" designated as "wilderness" as well, but it'll take a more forward-thinking Congress than the one we've currently got.) The other existing wilderness area in Pennsylvania is just a small collection of islands in the Allegheny River. But they've got US Route 62 whizzing past them, and they hardly feel remote. Hickory Creek Wilderness? Yeah, you can get good and lost in there. It's a mix of beautiful hemlock and beech forests with lots of streams, and swamps, and waterside meadows. It's pretty, but there's nothing in the way of overlooks or vistas out over the countryside.
Hickory Creek was designated a wilderness in 1984. Then in 1985, a powerful tornado came through and cut a wide swath of destruction right through the picturesque southern section of the newly-named wilderness. On official trail maps, the "tornado swath" is clearly marked; it follows the bed of the Middle Branch of the eponymous Hickory Creek. I'd never ventured into this part of the wilderness area before because I assumed that the tree carnage would be an ugly hassle to climb over and around.
I was wrong. The valley of Middle Hickory Creek is beautiful. The hemlocks are almost mystical in their size, and shape, and color...and their dark and elegant presence. And while there is some tree carnage, it's largely due to 21st century climate change winds that come ripping over the Big Level Plateau--where the Allegheny National Forest is located. The trees that got pushed over 41 years ago, in 1985, have returned to the soil now, with the help of all the moisture in these valleys. Beavers are very active along the many streams in this area--as they are along the East Branch of Hickory Creek, as my friend and I discovered some years ago. For a retrospective on that adventure, click HERE. ("East" Hickory Creek is just NORTH of "Middle" Hickory Creek, which ought to be called "South" Hickory Creek, because it's the only other branch... Who names these things?)
I followed the stream for about two miles until it comes upon a large beaver pond and some streamside meadows. You can't get lost as long as you're following the stream, but you do have to be careful not to let smaller tributaries trick you into following the wrong stream.
There were still patches of snow on the banks of the streams down here. This little creek is not Hickory. Its name doesn't appear on the map. Do all little brooks like these even have names?
This area is truly a wilderness--no traffic noise, no beer cans, no trails, no fire rings or old campsites, no rusting oil wells. Two miles into the wilderness was enough to make me feel like I was in Alaska. In so many parts of the Allegheny National Forest, you've got to bear with the oil wells, and the access roads, and the clearcuts. The uninterrupted forest here was such a joy. Oh, and I saw my first red-shouldered hawk, which is kind of rare.
On the drive out, I snapped a shot of this hunting camp...just because I liked it.
