A Walk Amongst River Towns

• Parker, Pennsylvania, North Country Trail miles 94.5 to 97.5 
• This was an out-and-back hike.
• This part of the trail is a completely paved bike-hike trail.

I was spending Easter weekend at Jellystone Park in Harrisville where my husband works, and decided to spend Saturday hiking on the North Country Trail. I chose an area along the Allegheny River, and as it turns out, it was only a 30-minute drive from the campground!

I had never been to this area before. I felt giddy when I descended onto the road along the river and headed south to Parker, PA, seeing that the trail was a paved bike-hike trail between Parker, Foxburg, and Emlenton. What a beautiful place!

When I first arrived at the trailhead, my first objective was to find a convenience store or gas station to pick up some water and snacks. Parker's riverside accommodations did not disappoint! Not only was there a well-stocked convenience store, but there was also a very clean restroom. Let me tell you....when you're hiking, a nice restroom is an amazing find!

With water in hand and a nice treat of Combos, I began my planned 6-mile adventure. The first landmark I encountered was this amazing, blue truss bridge. The most striking thing to me about this bridge was its incline. According to HistoricBridges.org, the grade is at 6.32%. I was also surprised to read that it was built in 1934.

While on the bridge, I took pictures of the surrounding views.

Here is a view of the city of Parker. It doesn't look like much, but most of the city is beyond the cliff visible at the top of this photo. I didn't have the opportunity to explore up there this time!

These views are along the river as I began my walk. It was such a nice surprise to be hiking on pavement! That allows for quite a quick pace, and I ended up stashing away my hiking poles.

This is an old railroad bridge. This is not the first time I've encountered an old railroad bridge along a route that has been transitioned to a bike-hike trail. I think it is such a great way to utilize old railway grades!

Here is the point at which the Clarion River meets the Allegheny River! The railroad bridge crosses this point.

After 3 miles, I arrived in Foxburg. Like all other areas here, I had never visited Foxburg before. Unfortunately, there would not be much visiting today, either! 

Obligatory selfie! 

Heading back along the same route! I took this picture because way off in the distance, between a forked branch at center-right, you can barely see our little white adventure wagon waiting for me. I had left it parked in the parking lot of the convenience store.

Arriving back in Parker, this is what you'll find on the side opposite the convenience store. A spacious parking lot!

The view of the bridge from underneath it.

Views from the bridge.

If you look carefully, our van is on the right side of the bridge, a small white speck!

What a beautiful walk!

North Country Trail Workday

There are many trails in this area, but a significant one that runs through the Allegheny National Forest is a section of the North Country Trail. This 4,800 mile runs from North Dakota to Vermont. About 95 miles of it goes through the Allegheny National Forest which is my "home territory."

Along the North Country Trail, there are associations which work to maintain the trail. They also organize events like my favorite Allegheny 100 Challenge. This year's Allegheny 100 Challenge runs from June 6th until June 8th, and it'll be my 5th year participating. 

What I have not been able to do thus far in all of my hiking adventures is participate in a trail workday. Trail workdays are planned by the association responsible for this section of the trail, generally two per month. Although I have been aware of many of them, this weekend was the first chance I had to get out there and give back to the trail that I love so much.

Volunteers were told through a Facebook event post to meet at 10:00 a.m.at the Red Bridge Trailhead at the southern end of the Kinzua Reservoir. I pulled up to the parking lot to meet more than a dozen other volunteers who welcomed me to their group. We caravanned in 4WD vehicles via a service road up to a spot that was close to where the work was needed. My little Nissan Sentra had to stay behind, and I rode with another volunteer.

I sent this picture to Ed (my husband)
right before we headed up to the work site.

The plan for the workday for the team I was part of was to work on two re-routes of the trail. The first re-route was to create a by-pass for a very steep section of the trail by creating some zig-zags in the trail that are called switchbacks. The second was because after a survey by the Forestry Service, it was found that a small portion of the trail was on the wrong side of a property line. 

I worked on the re-route for the steep hill. To start the re-route, organizers had gone in the previous day and posted pink flags to mark where the new trail should go. It was interesting to learn that it had to stay within 50 feet of the original trail in order not to require a study assessing any broader effects of the re-route. Next, one of the volunteers went through with a leaf blower to remove the top layer of leaves and debris. The next part, generally speaking, was to make the trail as nice to walk on as possible by cutting away branches, trimming back roots that could possibly be trip hazards, and to make the tread as level as possible. This involved several different kinds of work and tools including bringing bucks of soil over to fill low spots, shifting rocks to more stable spots, etc. 

In total, we worked for about three hours with a break for lunch in the middle. It was a really fascinating experience, and I look forward to going to my next one! Although this wasn't an official hike, I did accomplish a lot of hiking and hard work! My step count was 16,347.

The following picture was taken by Tina O'Toole, who is one of the association's primary leaders. You can find more on the group's Facebook page.