Davy Hill, Near Tidioute, PA

There's no good reason to climb Davy Hill, which is technically a mountain.  The wooded summit looms darkly above the valley of the Allegheny River in its wild far northern reaches in Warren County, very near to our hunting camp.  

At 1,578 feet, Davy Hill does not meet my 2,000-foot minimum height standard for peak-bagging.  But the heights just aren't as great up here, even if everything else is better.  It's very odd; as soon as you cross over into New York State, suddenly there are a lot of peaks that exceed 2,000 feet.  But on the Pennsylvania side, most don't get much higher than about 1,500 to 1,800.  So...I guess I'm gonna have to cheapen my already cheap self and lower my standards.  (Nothing new.)  1,500 feet is now my new minimum for mountain climbing.

I only wanted to climb Davy Hill because no one in my peak-bagging club had ever done it before.  It stood tempting and unconquered on the west bank of the mighty Allegheny.  So now it's mine, humble as it is.  Also, the mountain itself is on public land, State Game Land 86, as is almost the entire climb.  You have to follow a power line swath up from the tiny riverside hamlet of Cobham, which is mostly second homes for hunters, fishers, and those happy souls like me who love the river and the forest.  It's actually quite a steep ascent in places.

Going east and north out of Tidioute, there's a narrow lane that runs scenically along the river.  The properties right on the river are everything from palatial to squalid.  After a few miles, the riverside lane turns to mud, and the paved road goes left up the side of Davy Hill.  In order to make it a fair ascent, you've got to begin here at the bottom, though it's possible to drive all the way to the top.   (Driving to the top does not constitute bagging a peak.)  It's not a long trek up to the summit, with an elevation gain of only about 500 feet.  The ridge is scenic, albeit without long vistas.  As consolation, there are traces of a long-ago farm.  

Beautiful white pines dominate the mountaintop, the kind that are so widespread up here in the north country.  And as evidence of the long-gone farm, there are grassy old meadows, rows of evergreens, which were planted to create wind-barriers for barns or a farmhouse, and even a tattered old apple orchard where a few shaggy apple trees still stand.

These are all public lands now, open to exploration and hunting.

Personally, I've never been hungry enough to point a gun at an animal, but life is long.  Old, unmarked trails crisscross this countryside.  An old farm road leads to the ridgetop parking lot, which is accessed from Davy Hill Road, which is the cheater's way to get to the top.  It would be fun to come back and explore this place further, but there are just so many places to explore up here.  It's glorious to be back here after all these years.