Town Hill Tract, Buchanan State Forest

When I decided to explore the Town Hill Tract of the Buchanan State Forest, I was surprised to find that there is absolutely nothing about the place online.  I mean truly, there's nothing out there, which is strange because it's a big place.  I don't know the acreage, but it's pretty much the southern end of the valley of Brush Creek (which is pretty accurately named), including the adjoining hillsides.  On a map, it looks like about four miles long and a mile wide.  I spent the better part of a day there, and I suspect that it hasn't had a visitor since the 2016 deer season.  The little road out to the place is narrow and grassy--little more than a driveway--with menacing "No Trespassing" signs on either side.  But before ducking into the deep bush, it passes through this beautiful countryside adjacent to I-70.  And of course, 70 then enters Maryland and goes screaming off to Baltimore.

For all its proximity to a major interstate, the Town Hill Tract is pretty far-flung. Getting there isn't hard, but it does require a bit of determination.  Just take Exit 151 off I-70, turn left onto Old 126, and take a right onto Spade Road--which becomes gradually narrower and less populated as you go.  By the time you reach the lonely sign indicating "Buchanan State Forest--Parking," the weeds growing up through the road will be scraping at the underbelly of your car, and you'll be hoping no one happens along in your direction.  It's definitely a one-lane road. The unassuming ridgeline that you see in this photo is the crest of Rays Hill.  Standing at a modest 1,800 feet, it forms the border between Bedford and Fulton counties.  I thought there might be good views from up there, so I made its summit my elusive goal.  Little did I know how hard it would be to achieve.  I hike with a walking stick in part because I heard once that if you plant your stick in sunny weeds before planting your foot, a snake will strike the stick first.  I also use my stick to break up spiderwebs that are stretched across the path.  Here at the Town Hill Tract, I needed two sticks: one for snakes and one for spiders.  It was almost entirely bushwhacking through tall weeds, and I kept walking into spiderwebs and their occupants, both living and dead...   

From the parking area, there is a single trail, which probably used to be a farm lane.  It passes through a young forest of beeches and oaks, which probably used to be the farm's pastures or fields.  It's a dense forest of springy saplings.  The trail comes into a big meadow and continues as a much smaller track until it peters out altogether.  I did bushwhack from that trail down to Brush Creek, only to discover that it's barely even a brooklet with tiny fishes darting in the dappled shadows.  On seeing the size of the stream and the denseness of the sapling forest, I decided to scrap my plans to camp on the Town Hill Tract.  There were no good sites to put the tent, and the stream was too small to wash in.  Nevertheless, I saw on my map that a certain Clair Winters Road--on the far side of the stream--ascended to the summit of Rays Hill.  I decided to cross over and bushwhack uphill in search of the road and the summit.  I did find the "road," such as it is--here in the third photo.  In places it was a little-traveled pathway like this.  But the higher you go, the harder it is to make out.  It eventually disappeared out from under me, just as a long slow rain began to soak me through and through.  Rays Hill turned me back, and I don't really plan on a rematch.  We, the editors at Snow and Jaggers, specialize in emptiness.  You know that, right?  We love nothing more than words that end in "tion," words like "ruination," "desolation," "isolation," "destruction."  And so, when we say that there is nothing at the Town Hill Tract of the Buchanan State Forest (except ticks the size of sparrows)...just trust us. 

PS: Okay, so there were some nice meadows along the partially-existent Clair Winters Road, and the forest was nice on that side of the stream--older and deeper.  Also, I loved all the sycamores that lined the bottomlands around the brook.  And I really want to know what the summit is like.  Are there views out over the ridges and valleys to the east and west?  If I go back someday, I know right where to start; I wouldn't lose half the day striking off in the wrong direction again.  And the isolation of the spot was almost magical.  I didn't hear another vehicle the whole time I was there.  It might just be worth another visit.... Just one.

PPS: Looking at the map again, I see that the entire summit of Town Hill (another hill) is well within the Town Hill Tract, too.  And whereas I made my approach to Rays Hill from the north, there's another little road leading onto Town Hill from the south.  Oh, I'm definitely going back there...