Allegheny Almanac

Free Canoeing For Volunteers from September 11 through September 18

photo by Chris Lareau, copyright 2009

Organizers report that donations or volunteers have signed up from Clarion University, Lowe's, Northwest Savings Bank, Oneida Lumber/Ace Hardware, PNC Bank, Trinity Memorial Episcopal Church, Trout Unlimited, University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, Whirley Drinkworks! and the Warren Young Professional Association.

Here's the 2010 schedule for the Allegheny River Clean-Up:

Saturday, September 11th:

 Brokenstraw and Conewango Creeks

Monday, September 13th:

 Allegheny River - Indian Waters to Tidioute

Tuesday, September 14th:

 Allegheny River - Buckaloons to Indian Waters

Friday, September 17th:

 Allegheny River - Kinzua Dam - Betts Park

Saturday, September 18th:

 Allegheny River - Betts Park to Buckaloons

Signs-Ups are at the Allegheny River Clean-Up web page.

It's starting to become an annual tradition. Just before the State Fishing Tournament , held here from September 23 through September 26 in Tidioute , numerous civic-minded groups are pitching in to make it a beautiful experience by cleaning up more than 31 miles of the wild and scenic Allegheny River, from the Kinzua Dam to Tionesta, as well as the Conewango Creek and the Brokenstraw Creek. The stretch of prime canoeing water includes the state's only wilderness lands, the Allegheny River Wilderness Islands, and tributaries.

This year, several groups are providing free canoes and kayaks, and more (including some parties) to volunteers. Sign-ups are currently being held at:

Allegheny Outfitters

Friends of the Allegheny Wilderness

Indian Waters

Conewango Kayak and Canoe

For detailed info, including locations and dates visit the Allegheny River Clean-Up website.

Re-tracing George Washington's Hikes

by Snowbelt Parson

photos and article Copyright 2010 by Snowbelt Parson

I'm still taken aback by the spooky feeling that I get in the woods down here in the south-western part of the state. It's not so spooky that I don't enjoy the hikes, and it's definitely not enough to keep me out of the woods. But it is a sensation of strangeness, foreignness. Some ancient, primordial defense mechanism built deep into the human DNA puts us in "alert mode" whenever we're surrounded by the unfamiliar, and 
though I've spent much of my life here in Southern PA, I didn't begin hiking in earnest until moving north. The woods down here just has an eerie quality to me. Of course, all the poison ivy might have something to do with my guardedness. You honestly cannot look at the ground anywhere along the trails at Hillman State Park without finding sprigs of poison ivy.

And butterflies. The woods are swarming with butterflies, some of them pretty large. They tend to fly away as soon as they see you lifting a camera to them, but otherwise they flit and dance around like graceful puppets on invisible strings. In fact, this second photo has a couple of butterflies in the throes intimacy and a few leaves of poison ivy lurking beneath.

Hillman's history as a coal mining area becomes apparent the more you visit. Many of the trails are old coal roads, as seen in the third photo, and a good many of the ridges and summits weren't left there by the glaciers. They were formed by the screaming machinery of the 1970s, removing the topsoil, restacking it, and tearing the coal from the earth.

Although the natural wonders in the southern part of Penn-sylvania are less gripping than those up north, at least the history of European civilization is much older and richer here. There are a few buildings dating back to the late 1700s. Heck, the Hickman Family, who built the house I own, had been living on that spot since the 1780s. I theorize that the kitchen and "servant's quarters" above it are the original structure.

George Washington made many trips through this region as a rookie officer before the Revolutionary War, and at least one trip out this way as an old man in failing health--the President of the newly formed United States--trying to supress a peasants' uprising now known as "The Whiskey Rebellion." People around here still talk about the Whiskey Rebellion as if anyone outside the South Hills of Pittsburgh remembers it.

Today's one-hour trek was a loop through pleasant woods crawling with poison ivy. Some elevation offered something akin to vistas from time to time. Once again, beginning at the hamlet of Knowlton, take Knowlton Hill Road eastward, away from the townlet, and stop at the second parking area on the left.

Snowbelt Parson is completing his tour of the Allegheny River Watershed in Western Pennsylvania after having written extensively about hiking up in the Pennsylvania Wilds. He currently resides in a pre-Civil War home outside of Pittsburgh. You can follow his saga at his blog, called The Allegheny Journal: Backwoods Treks in Western Pennsylvania.

Rimrock Beach Trail Open

You can now get here ...

  

Rimrock Overlook

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...from here:

Kinzua Beach

According to a spokesperson for Pennsylvania Kinzua Pathways, the first phase of the Rimrock Beach Trail is completed and the rudimentary pathway is open for adventurous hikers. Young children and out-of-shape oldsters like myself might not enjoy it as much as others at this stage of its construction. My son and I did it easily in about 45 minutes with several stops to rest. There are numerous rock formations that make comfortable seats along the way.

What the trail looks like from above:

 
The two mile or so Rimrock Beach Trail has two major switchbacks to minimize the uphill grade. As the slope increases you are getting closer to the base of Rimrock:

This is what some people call "Cornplanter's Stairway." Take this up to the top of the Overlook, through a neat tunnel staircase, complete with handrails:

  There is plenty, plenty of parking at Kinzua Beach, which might be a good place to start.

 Follow the paved roadway on the upper parking lot as far as it goes to find the trailhead where there is a gate that reads "closed to motorized vehicles" and a gravel road.

 You may see one or two "Rimrock Trail" signs posted there. Once you make it to the top of Rimrock you will be treated to a great vista made possible by a recent "tree trimming" by the Forest Service. From there you can see Dewdrop Campground on the other side of Kizua Lake. Done looking?

Cool off at the base of Cornplanter's Stairs. Turn left at the bottom and follow the base for about 200 feet where you can treat yourself to a natural geo-thermal air conditioner that blows out of the rocks. It's better than a Fridigaire!

 Now the hike back to the beach is all downhill! By the time you finish you will probably be ready for a much-deserved dip in the lake at the beach.

As mentioned before this is just the first phase of the trail construction. A lot of amenities are scheduled to be added later this year or next, including handicap access. For more information, visit the Kinzua Pathways web site at this link. Local high school students put a lot of sophisticated work into designing it and they deserve a lot of credit for a beautiful trail.

--Chris Lareau

ALSO, See Related Article: Kinzua Beach Coming Back to Life

Photo of trail plan by U.S. Forest Service, Allegheny National Forest. All other photos Copyright Chris Lareau and may not be reproduced in any form without permission. Check with the editor, first.