Kennerdell Tract, Clear Creek State Forest

I have an older brother who lives in Washington State, and whenever we get together we usually go for a hike.  He was staying in the Youngstown area, in Ohio, so we made for the nearest woodland destination east of the border: the Kennerdell Tract of the Clear Creek State Forest in Venango County, Pennsylvania.  Coincidentally, it's very close to Oil City, where our family is from, and we have a lot of relatives buried in the cemetery at Rockland, which is just across the river and up the hill.  Grandparents, cousins.  My wife’s family is also nearby.  This is the view from the Dennison Point Overlook, which can only be reached by a steep, pleasant slog up from the Allegheny River, which is 480 feet below.  I asked my brother if he knew which river this was, and he said, "The Monongahela?"  It’s called “deracination.”  Look it up.

This is the drive-up overlook on the road just above the village of Kennerdell.  The "Kennerdell Tract" is a pretty big patch of woods, 3,243 acres.  It's got 23 miles of trails with lots of wobbly suspension bridges across the many stony streams.  An old forest road runs alongside the riverbank with serene river views through the trees, and the trees themselves are big and beautiful.  It's a mature forest, dark, with a high canopy and lots of solitude.  There were many pleasant little campsites scattered beneath the trees—though I opt for sites that cannot be seen from the trail.  I would have taken more photos, but my brother and I were so busy talking about the past that I neglected to do it.  Funny how there are people out there in the world, people you rarely see and seldom think about, who hold pieces of your story--sometimes pieces that you lost or pieces you never held.  There are people out there who function as near-strangers in your day-to-day life, but they know things that you do not know about your origins, your family, your past, and you so rarely make the effort to look those people up and discuss life with them.  My West Coast brother is such a person in my life.  He remarked that, living in Washington, he'd forgotten how beautiful an eastern forest is.  He'd forgotten its smells and scenes.

It's not a dramatic sort of place, but it is pretty enough and well worth a visit if you're in the Franklin - Oil City area.  Also, it’s not an altogether small place.  It’s only slightly smaller (and very much more beautiful) than Hillman State Park, and it’s a lot bigger than Ryerson Station.  I even considered a few little plots of land that were for sale nearby—not because this place is even marginally as wonderful as the Monongahela National Forest, but because there’s enough here to explore, and it would be nice to have a little place so close to family—both living and dead.  I won’t be able to hike forever, as evidenced by some of the posts below, and a place in the woods is all I require.