Allegheny River/ North Country Trails

 
I am moteling it tonight. Found a cheap one. Just too tired to bother driving on. I decided I would do that before I stopped for my break, so I got to take a longer hike.

My route crosses the North Country Trail here at Emlenton, Pennsylvania. This is a piece of trail I've never seen before. How can that be, you ask? Because the trail was not routed to be concurrent with the Allegheny River Trail when I hiked this section.



Paved trails are certainly not my favorite, but at least it was off road. The Allegheny River was on the west side of the trail.



I thought I'd hike out 3 miles and then back for a total of 6, but I was so happy to be out of the car, I didn't realize how far I'd walked before noting the first mile post. After I noticed a marker, I did 2.5 more outbound, until the next post after this toe of rock.



The weather was perfecto! I was hiking in short sleeves and even wishing I had lighter pants than jeans with me. But, let's not forget that it's only March. There was ice hiding back in among the rocks.



This burl was one of the biggest I've ever seen.



By then the sun was slipping west and the light made these grass heads glow and dance.



You know I can't resist a new pattern of light on the water.



So, now, Motel 6 and I are having a date. I plan to get up early and beat the traffic around Cleveland. There are many NCT friends near the trail crossing who would probably gladly have put me up, but I really needed to get a little farther down the road.

Oh, and how far did I hike? Ha! I had walked over a mile before I paid any attention to a marker, so my total was 7.25 miles. Hike 100 Challenge for 2020 is at 21 miles

North Country Trail north from Emlenton, Pennsylvania, concurrent with the Allegheny River Trail. 3.5+ miles out and back for a total of 7 miles

See Wissahickon Hike