In another thread my interest was piqued about doing a quick trip to this area when the fall colors would be most intense. I read several trip reports online and found that those who visited later in October had usually missed the peak color time, so I wanted to go a little earlier in the month, which turned out to be a good idea.
The weather forecast called for rain and wind and generally overcast conditions. I debated back and forth with myself whether to go or stay home, but I know from some past experiences that when the opportunity arises it is often best to just go with it and see what happens. Turns out it was pretty wet most of the time but I enjoyed it all the same, and it gave me a good opportunity to get some practice adjusting to the wet world, which I normally avoid when at all possible.
I drove down from State College, PA, after visiting a friend whom I hadn't seen in 17 or 18 years. Although the drive was only about 4 hours, it took a little longer because I had to take a break to let my dog, Cyrus, do his business, and I stopped for a big breakfast. The drive up to Spruce Knob was filled with spectacular fall color, and it was clear we had arrived at a good time. Spruce Knob is actually passed on the way to the trail head, so we made a quick visit there to take a look at it just in case the forecast conditions for the next day (cloudy, 45 mph gusts) made it impossible to see. We got to the trail head around 2 p.m.
There were a few cars parked at the Seneca Creek trail head on FR 112. I checked to make sure I had all my gear in order, loaded Cyrus' doggie pack with his food and we headed down the trail (North, actually), ready to take in the bucolic scene and soothing sound of water flowing through a rock-strewn creek.
Wrong! Seneca Creek was almost dry! There were a few small pools of water along the creek and there was a tiny amount of flow, but those photos I had seen online were not to be had at this time.
But that would change… the first rain drops were felt shortly after the easy hike (~3 miles) to Judy Springs. I was filling the water bottles at the spring (wonderfully clear and cold water, no treatment necessary!) and hurriedly finished that job so I could set up the Duomid for its first actual field use. I would have preferred not to be forced to deploy it under such duress, but the sky was getting quite dark and the rain drops were getting fat the way they do when a "big one" is imminent. Got the tent up quickly, threw the dog and all gear inside and zipped up the door just as the moderately heavy rain began to fall. It was a bit of a challenge hooking up the ground sheet (Lesson 1: Modify those clips!) and getting all the gear squared away with the dog in there. However, there was no rush as the rain lasted almost 2 hours.
The rain stopped at 5:45 p.m. Dinner for me at the pooch. JD and a cigar to celebrate. 8 p.m. and the rain decided it wasn't finished by a longshot, followed by more than 5 hours of rain ranging from light to moderately heavy. It quit a little after 1 a.m. and the bright moon lit up the tent for a while, then it became muted again as more clouds arrived.
The morning sky did not look promising as a dense layer of clouds hung very low, covering the ridge on the west side of the creek and threatening to spit more rain at any moment. But we managed to have breakfast and get on the trail without further showers dousing our enthusiasm.
I wanted to see more of the creek – which after all the rain now had a little flow to it – so we went north along Seneca Creek and after 2-3 stream crossings arrive at the Horton Trail junction to start the hike up toward the Huckleberry Trail.
This is where I got somewhat lost for a while. I thought I was on the Horton Trail proper, but somehow managed to start following a trail up a steep brook drainage that was not the Horton trail. However, just before I doubled back I came across and old fence line with some wire mesh that was still intact, so I assumed this very overgrown trail would eventually intersect with the actual Horton Trail. I made it up to an open meadow that was chest-high with all manner of brush and burrs and sticker-laden vegetation, and after thrashing about in this stuff for a while I decided to look at the map again and maybe, just maybe, take a look at the compass…
Well… it turned out that when I came out of the drainage I had been thrashing the wrong way through the meadow, going north instead of south, without benefit of the sun to remind me which way was East. Anyway, got it figured out and finally started bushwhacking in the right direction and eventually met up with the High Meadows Trail and got back on track. At least it wasn't raining and in fact the sun finally started peeking out before I got to the Judy Springs/Horton trail junction.
The Huckleberry Trail follows the ridge and undulates gently in elevation as it passes through Spruce stands and a couple of open meadows and some very raw, exposed areas of jumbled, broken shale. There are several campsites along the way, and my original plan was to camp at one of those if there was a water supply somewhere nearby. But despite all the rain, there were no springs up high on the mountain, so we ended up going back to Judy Springs. But we made it to Spruce Knob, took a few photos (it was totally overcast again!), had a little something to eat and headed back down. And then it started raining again, although lightly.
Got back to Judy Springs around 4 p.m. and the light rain persisted. Got the tent up and, again, threw the gear and ourselves inside with a new appreciation for the various degrees of sogginess. Once again got everything squared away, by now with Cyrus obeying a little more quickly when I directed him to move to a different spot so I could arrange stuff.
This time the rain continued until almost dark. Still plenty of time to make dinner for me and Cyrus, who was pretty pooped by this time, and also time enough once again for my little nip of JD and a cigar, which I had to finish under a tree as the rain started up. Yet again…
I lost track of how many hours it rained this time because we were tired and not easily awakend, except when some very strong gusts hit at about 2:30 a.m. We got a little drizzle falling on us from the condensation inside the tent, but with all synthetic stuff it didn't cause us any problems.
After another soggy breakfast, all the soggy gear was stuffed into the pack for the hike out.
And after all that rain, at least I got to see a babbling creek before we left.
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A virtually dry Seneca "creek" on the way in… disappointing to say the least!
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… And a similar view of the creek after about 12 hours of rain!!
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Plenty of water by the second morning…
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The deciduous forest on the Horton Trail… once I finally found it!
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An open meadow just past the Judy Springs trail junction.
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The moss at the base of the spruce trees was rejuvenated by all the rain.
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One of the areas of jumbled slate rocks on the Huckleberry trail.
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Observation tower at the summit… although with the weather there wasn't much to observe!
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I'm not at all superstitious, but somehow it got to be a tradition to rub these for good luck, LOL!! Apparently a lot of other people feel the same way because that thing was really shiny.
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Back on the Judy Springs trail to our previous night's campsite!!
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Walking through the meadow down to Judy Springs. It was raining lightly, so nice to have a waterproof camera.
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On the way out, soggy but happy. Goodbye, babbling brook!
