One-Tank Getaway - Canoe Pennsylvania’s Grand Canyon

One Tank Getaway:
Canoe Pennsylvania’s Grand Canyon
Just Don't Forget The Mothballs!

by Scott Daily, on special assignment

DETAILS:

Whether you choose to hike or canoe the length of the gorge, remote and primitive camping is available within designated sections; however, permits must be filled out in advance since it is a state forest area. Permits, along with just about anything else needed to enjoy a weekend in the canyon, are available at Pine Creek Outfitters.

If you would like to visit the canyon area, but are not one for sleeping in a tent and eating couscous with freeze-dried peas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, there are many options available ranging from hotels, to bed & breakfasts, to cabin rentals with all (or most) of the comforts of home.

The town of Wellsboro has many opportunities for antique shopping. Nine miles west of Wellsboro, near Harrison Park on Rt.660, is Animaland Zoological Park, a 12-acre zoo with over 200 animals. For a bird’s eye view of the canyon, airplane rides are available at the Canyon Airport for a modest fee. Guided horseback rides are available from both Tioga Trail Rides (717-724-6592), and Mountain Trail Horse Center, Inc. (717-376-5561)

Since my dining experience was limited to quick meals cooked on an MSR pack stove, and boiled in water filtered from Pine Creek itself, I am not quite an authority on the best dining opportunities the canyon area has to offer. But I did hear a rumor that the Cedar Run Inn, Rt. 414, just south of Wellsboro, offers fine dining as well as lodging. Another suggestion was the Antlers Inn Restaurant & Lounge, located on Rt. 6, 15 miles west of Wellsboro. The Antlers Inn offers cabin rentals, as well as a circular fireplace where you can sip your favorite cocktail and reminisce on the day’s adventures.

If camping with facilities is more your style, Pettecote Junction Campground (717-353-7183) offers creek-side sites, and Canyon Country Campground (717-724-3818) offers higher-elevation views of the canyon. Both offer hot showers, a camp store with hearty supplies of weenies and marshmallows, and electric/water hookups for RV’rs, as well as firewood and ice. Cabin rentals with fully equipped kitchens, room to sleep up to 10 people are available at Rough Cut Lodge (814-435-2192), located about 18 miles West of Wellsboro.

Again, Pine Creek Outfitters has just about anything you need in the form of rentals, from canoes, rafts, wet suits, and dry bags, to tents, packs, sleeping bags, and mountain bikes. For information on experiencing the nature of the canyon area, their Outdoor Adventure Guide is indispensable. For more information, or for a free copy of the 1997 guide, call them at 717-724-3003.

Getting there, if you avoid the Harrisburg rush hour, takes just over 2 1/2 hours. Out of the Burg, take 15 North past Williamsport to the Rt. 414-Liberty exit. Take Rt. 414 to Morris. In Morris take Rt.287 North to Wellsboro. If you want to continue on to Pine Creek Outfitters from here (call in advance for their hours), take Rt. 6 West to Ansonia until you cross the bridge over Marsh Creek and the Colton State Park entrance on your left. From the bridge, Pine Creek Outfitters is within a mile on your left.

One final word of advice: Bring mothballs. It is common knowledge in the northern tier that porcupines love to chew coolant hoses and other much-needed tidbits of vehicles, mainly when parked overnight at trail heads, etc. Simply spread the mothballs around your car or truck, and many headaches can be foregone.

There are a lot of variables - car size, driving speed, missing a turn, wind direction and velocity. The size of your gas tank.

I drive a four-door Sidekick above the maximum posted speed limit. Had I not left at the worst time possible - between 3:00 and 6:00 PM, on a Friday, no less - I would not have sat idling in the route 322 westbound rush hour traffic for 45-plus minutes (to travel a total of under ten miles), and would in turn not have had to fill my tank just short of Harrisburg on the return trip.

What I’m getting at is that a trip to Pennsylvania’s Grand Canyon may or may not be a true One Tank Getaway. But after a weekend of canoeing class III rapids, hiking the "Black Forest," viewing bountiful wildlife, or fishing for native brook trout, you will enjoy the added adventure of watching your needle rest just below the E with only fifteen miles to home.

If Pennsylvania has anything remaining that fits the concept of wilderness, chances are that it is located in the state’s northern tier. Many consider the Pine Creek Gorge, a.k.a. Pennsylvania’s Grand Canyon, located just west of Wellsboro in Tioga County, the crown jewel of Pennsylvania’s wild and scenic places to visit.

Formed during the Ice Age, the canyon was carved by advancing and retreating glaciers of what is known as the Wisconsin Ice Sheet. The result is the rugged and wild gorge that we know today.

For hikers and mountain bikers there is a seemingly endless array of trails, many of which follow old railroad routes. No longer used, the rails have been lifted and are now a part of the area’s rails to trails system that stretches the length of the gorge, from the northern end in Ansonia to the southern end at Rattlesnake Rock just below Blackwell. Nineteen miles in all, the trail’s surface is made of crushed limestone and is suitable for travel by both foot and bicycle.

Parking is available at either end, and since this is not a "loop trail" it is wise to have a vehicle waiting at the far end. If your party has only one vehicle, a shuttle service, as well as mountain bike rentals, are available from Pine Creek Outfitters, just west of Wellsboro.

The same applies to canoeing the gorge, which was my method of, and my recommendation for, experiencing the area. A friend and I toured the gorge in early April. With a canoe rented (again) from Pine Creek Outfitters, and loaded with camping gear stuffed into dry bags, we made our way through class III rapids on a thoroughly wet and blustery weekend. We were clammy by trip’s end, but our spirits were undaunted due to the tranquil and remote surroundings.

Canoeing and rafting Pine Creek is, in most circumstances, limited to certain months since it is a free-flowing waterway. Under "normal" conditions, according to the Outdoor Adventure Guide for the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania (see info. below on how to obtain a copy of this informative annual publication on the area) the Pine is floatable mid-March through mid-June and from late September through early November, since water levels fluctuate with the weather. All that you need, whether for a one-day float or an entire weekend, is available for rental for minimal cost.

The scenery through the gorge may make you dread your return to the "progress" of suburbia. There is no perpetual hiss of highway, no sound of bulldozer tracks clacking in the distance, no beeping of construction vehicles in reverse. The sounds you hear is the swirl of the water around your paddle and sweet bird song.

Mountain spring waterfalls cascade over cliff faces that sprawl skyward to our sides. At one point we passed below a bald eagle nest larger than a grown man’s outstretched arms. The white head feathers of mature eagles stand out like flashes of light even in the sky of a rainy, gray day. One eagle circled just above the tree line as another, the mate, waited in the nest for us to drift quietly by.

Small game species such as squirrels, scurry and chirp, hidden in the trees. Merganser ducks, paired to breed, scuttle along the shallows near the creek banks. A year ago a great blue heron with a wing span of several feet led the way downstream for many miles as if it were our personal guide.

Wading birds such as herons find the Pine to be an excellent food source due to its clean waters, which in turn support a healthy population of fish species.

Pine Creek is widely known for its trout fishing. Whether you plunk live bait, spin, or fly fish, the Pine and its tributaries offer top-quality fishing opportunities. And limited access by motor vehicle into the canyon area makes canoeing or rafting the gorge a top choice for fishing without the crowds.

...One final word of advice: Bring mothballs. It is common knowledge in the northern tier that porcupines love to chew coolant hoses and other much-needed tidbits of vehicles, mainly when parked overnight at trail heads, etc. Simply spread the mothballs around your car or truck, and many headaches can be foregone.