I was wondering if anyone has experience hiking the North Country National Scenic Trail through the Allegheny National Forest, there is something like 87 miles through the forest, i was somewhat interested in trying to hike this, thanks for the help
clong
clong
In 2002, “Pittsburgh” and I hiked for a few days from south of Cooks Forest State Park to somewhere in the southern part of ANF (I think we parked at Kellettville).
As a hiker who equates Pennsylvania with Rocksylvania because of the A.T., I was pleasantly surprised with how un-rocky it was.
It is a regular graded footpath without many of the A.T.-style amenities, tho there was one shelter. Most camping is going to be primitive tenting/tarping/hammocking, and most water is going to be from streams–not springs. I kinda liked it, tho you’d have to ask Pittsburgh for his opinion.
One thing I recall is that the area has a lot of natural gaslines, and sometimes you could smell it (or more precisely, the odor that is added to it for safety reasons). It convinced me not to cook nearby one of these odors, as I assumed it meant gas was leaking somewhere in the area.
I heard second-hand that last winter there was a lot of weather-related storm damage up there. Might want to check that out to see how it’s been coped with.
I can definitely recommend hiking within Cooks Forest SP south of ANF–especially among the still-healthy old-growth hemlocks. Down here in Virginia (and elsewhere), the hemlocks have nearly gone the way of the chestnuts 80-some years ago, due to the wooly adelgid. Good to see them so healthy up there.
I hope to go back, hike up to the NY border, and do the Finger Lakes Trail portion of the NCT in NY State.
Skyline