To all of you who did not attend Prowl the Sproul, we missed you and you missed a special weekend of hikes. The weather was cool, 59 degrees on Friday, 63 degrees on Saturday and a little warmer on Sunday. The hiking trails were great, well-maintained, challenging and beautiful.
Prowl the Sproul Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resource guides were knowledgeable and friendly. For the ninth year in a row they proved to be great hike leaders.
I had the opportunity to drive much of the Sproul State Forest north of Route 120 for three days. It was my role over the weekend to support the six hikers who participated in the Prowl the Sproul Donut Hole Trail Slackpack. Their goal was to hike 45 miles of the Donut Hole Trail in three days, starting at Farrandsville to the east and ending at Ted's Truss, a bridge built a few years ago by the Keystone Trails Association over Young Women's Creek to the west.
Slackpackers were driven to the trailhead each morning for hikes of approximately 15 to 17 miles each day. I would meet them for lunch and provide water, and - if necessary - provide transportation back to camp if health or other issues prevented a hiker from going forward. I also had the opportunity to hike with the slackpackers for an hour or so along their route. I would then return alone to the shuttle van which was generously provided by Keystone Trails Association Vice-President and Slackpack leader Wanda Shirk. At the end of the day I would pick up the happy, but tired, slackpackers and return them to camp.
I witnessed extensive energy development while driving, and a little less energy development while hiking. The Sproul State Forest is undergoing massive energy development and the drilling rigs, compressor stations, pipeline cuts and well pads increase every year.
This year, we even saw evidence of seismic crews placing charges right on the trail! Upon my return to Harrisburg, I called DCNR and set up a meeting to learn how we might better protect our trails from this type of activity.
Day One: I drove in from Route 44 on Carrier Road from Haneyville to meet the Slackpackers for lunch, provide water, and give a ride back to camp if anyone desired it or needed it for health reasons. First mile (approximately) of Carrier Road is township road and is paved. The second through fourth mile (approximately) of road has been upgraded to support 18-wheelers back to a drill site, which is near the gas transmission pipeline and is shown on the DCNR Donut Hole Trail map. The rest of Carrier Road to Oak Ridge Road remains old forest road, as does Oak Ridge Road to the Donut Hole Trail. I drove back to Farrandsville with my wife to pick up Wanda's van and then traveled to the Western Clinton Sportsmen Club to drop off my car. I then drove to Hyner Mountain Road to Ritchie Road to Sugar Camp Road to the Donut Hole Trail to pick up the Slackpackers at the end of the day. I did the same trip the next morning.
Day Two: Ritchie Road has been upgraded and expanded to support 18-wheelers and a new and expanded from 6-to-12 inch gas gathering pipeline and right-of-way all the way to the Transcontinental Gas Pipeline, which is also shown on the Donut Hole Trail map. That gathering pipeline also crosses Hyner Mountain Road and goes back to numerous Anadarko drill sites (nearly across from Ritchie Road on unnamed road) and a big new compressor station near the Penelec Electric Transmission corridor.
Day Three: Dropped off Slackpackers at Hyner Run State Park and drove Dry Run Road from Route 120 to Donut Hole Trail for water support for slackpackers at lunch. Road upgraded to support 18-wheelers from Route 120 to about 400 yards short of the Donut Hole Trail (approximately 6 miles). Road is significantly changed, upgraded to support 18-wheelers, and new gas-gathering pipeline has been added which increases the forest cut to 100 or more yards from crossing point of NY Gas and Electric Transmission pipeline (identified on map) to approximately 400 yards from Donut Hole Trail (approximately 4 miles); also, Abes Fork Road and the next road north before the Donut Hole Trail has been expanded as described above. There are many new well pads constructed or under construction in this area. One active well drilling rig was in operation, belching smoke and clanging pipes on this otherwise bucolic Sunday morning. Most of the pads in this area are identified as XTO sites. XTO is a division of ExxonMobil.