Even though our original plan to go to West Virginia didn’t happen we ended up having a fantastic trip and gained a little respect for Pennsylvania backpacking. We haven’t found the El Dorado of East Coast backpacking yet, but we got a little bit closer this weekend.

We went to the Sproul State Forest a bit north of State College, PA. It was about a 4 hour drive from Philly including stops for gas. We hiked the East Loop of the Chuck Keiper Trail which we read about in the book Backpacking Pennsylvania.

The guidebook wasn’t very good and we got lost trying the find the trailhead. The maps of the area were also terrible so it made figuring out where we were difficult. The trail itself was well blazed but parts of the actual trail were still hard to find. I think the lack of a quality trail is because the area doesn’t get much use. We spent 2 full days (and one evening) in the backcountry and only saw 2 other people. The isolation was my favorite part of the trip.

We got started late, late on Saturday night so only hiked in about a mile before setting up camp. By the time we were finished cooking it was about 10:00 so we went to bed and woke up the next morning for a full day of hiking. Let me say that there are two horrible, horrible things about backpacking in Pennsylvania – bugs and humidity (in that order).

We hiked a total of 14 miles the second day, from about 11:00 to 6:00 and the bugs were terrible the entire way. The scenery was great but the bugs made it difficult to actually stop and enjoy any of it. We had biting flies, mosquitoes, gnats, and all kinds of bugs all flying around our heads and into our eyes. The humidity on both days was also brutal. I’ve never had to drink so much water on a backpacking trip and I’ve also never felt as disgusting as I have on this trip. The guidebook says that summer is many people’s least favorite month to backpack and I have to agree. It’s terrible.

While the second day was really tough, it was rewarding. We covered a lot of miles and saw a lot of the backcountry. We picked a good place to camp but were too tired to make dinner so we just set up the tent and passed out. At night we were awoken by bright lights outside the tent. At first we thought they were flashlights but realized that they were fireflies. I’ve only seen fireflies a couple of times but these were really spectacular. It was like a personal fireworks display a day early.

The third day was relaxing compared to the second. We covered about 7 miles and took a lot of water breaks. We started hiking about 10:30 and got to the car about 5:00 but the leisurely pace made the scenery more enjoyable. I think both the bugs and humidity were worse on the last day, but once we got up higher the bugs became a non-issue.

Overall this was a good trip. The first backpacking trip out is always cool and this one didn’t disappoint. I’m still bummed that we didn’t get to go to West Virginia but I think we’ll aim to do that over Memorial Day when the bugs won’t be so bad. Doing this trail also made me realize how out of shape I am and gives me some incentive to exercise more. I think my pack was about 40 lbs, but by the end it felt like it was 60.

Trail: East Loop of the Chuck Keiper Trail
Location: Sproul State Forest
Distance: 22 miles
Our Time: 2+ days (2 mile per hour average)