Day 2: From Bolich Run Shelter to Morgan Hollow Shelter
dry as a bone
I wake up at dawn absolutely delighted to not be covered in condensation. The first night at the shelter is a big win: my clothes dried overnight, there were no bugs, and I didn’t have to deal with packing a wet tent. I took some time to make a cup of tea and greeted a boy who came down the trail with his dogs to fish. I ride a camel up the stream next to the shelter and then take some time to admire more red effects before continuing.
Ringtones on Trail: Dead Can Dance «Tell me about the forest», the creatures «standing there»
I return to the trail and walk through dense hemlock as I pass hunting lodges and many good campsites. Unfortunately, I can feel my tendonitis slowly returning and my shoes are definitely worn out. I regret the pair of waterproof Topos I left in my car. Around mile twenty I start to see rare Jacob’s Ladder flowers (don’t pick them) and cross many old trails and campsites. The trail is somewhat uphill at this stage, but for the most part descends gently through wetlands on the way to Ole Bull State Park. The park comes out of nowhere, but it is big. There are plenty of campsites, a few buildings (all closed when I got there), and places to hook up RVs. My leg was really starting to kill me, so I took some time to have lunch and rest.
«Somewhere, to what remote and fearful region I know not, Denys Barry has gone…»
After my lunch and a few stretches, I exit the park and cross Route 144. The trail begins on the other side of the road and I immediately begin heading up Impson Hollow Trail. Getting an extra 900′ of elevation is great, it gets me out of the wet, but it doesn’t help my leg. One of the big surprises on this trail is the use of switchbacks, which seem to be rare east of the Mississippi. The next few kilometers wind up and down through deep forests and pine forests, dotted with hunting lodges. I saw a lot of local hunting lodges, but I never saw many animals (yet). Then, at mile 30, I reached the scariest part of the trail:
“Made with fear by Welfare Hollow Sign Shop of red oak in the dead of night, June 18, 1977.” Awesome, a haunted hilltop trail! According to the STS Guide, this part of the north-central Pennsylvania forests is inhabited by a species called «Hide-Behinds.» No one knows what they look like as they are very alert and surprisingly hide behind things to avoid being seen. A little further on I pass another sign, this one quoting HP Lovecraft’s poem “The Moon Bog”. The guide also says that behind the warning signs is a rune that, if spoken, will protect those hiding behind. But they didn’t actually include the rune in the guide and I don’t bother going back. An alarming silence reigns here. At this point I’m limping with tendonitis but somehow I don’t seem to have been a tempting enough target for one of the Hide-Behinds. I limp through the rest of Spook Hollow and set foot on an old logging road around mile one.
Time to make decisions
The next few miles are a fairly steep descent to Morgan Hollow Shelter, where I camp for the night. There are no tables or benches here, but the shelter is dry and supplied with water. I hang my wet clothes to dry, make some dinner, and start making plans. Right now I’m dragging my right leg due to tendonitis, but other than that I feel great. At this point I am only twelve miles from Crossfork, PA, around mile fifty. I decide I’ll start at dawn, hopefully get there around 11:00 and see how my leg is. I thoroughly check the shelter for Hide-Behinds and then call it a night.
rty one. thirty-one.
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