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Kettle Creek Gorge LbNA #51889

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Oct 10, 2009
Location:
City:Eagles Mere
County:Sullivan
State:Pennsylvania
Boxes:2
Planted by:The Soul Mates
Found by: The Northerner (2)
Last found:May 28, 2011
Status:FFa
Last edited:Oct 10, 2009
The trail to these boxes is steep, rocky, slippery, and narrow and is not recommended for people who are afraid of heights. The clues are just straightforward directions although deciphering my babble might be challenging enough.

About 3 miles South on State Route 42 from Eagles mere PA is a dirt road named Brunnerdale road. Turn on to the road and drive 4 miles to the trailhead parking lot for a little slice of heaven known as Kettle Creek Gorge. The parking area will be on your right. At the West end of the lot is a small stream known as Ogdonia Run. Pick up the blazes of the Loyalsock Trail here and follow as the trail follows Ogdonia Run downstream. The Loyalsock trail is well blazed with yellow discs and red LT(new blazes) or red discs with a yellow LT (old blazes) as well as some of the traditional rectangular blazes. About 10 to 15 minutes in you will come to a sign that says the trail was relocated, if you are adventurous you can take the old trail by trying to follow the old, faded and sometimes painted over blazes which we did once about 3 years ago but for planting these boxes and the directions I give here, just stay on the well blazed LT as is ascends the mountain on some long switchbacks. After about a mile you come to the sign for Angel Falls and a light blue metal disc blazed trail which will lead you there. Take the blue blazed trail to the falls and stand right at the top of the falls where the water runs over and enjoy the spectacular view of the gorge below. Walk around the right side of the falls to the largest tree on the edge of the cliff. You can get a pretty good view of the falls from here, and if you go 12 paces at 332 degrees to a tree spor you can find the box, which honors this beautiful place. After stamping in you can follow the blue blazes down to the bottom of the falls for a better view. When you are done exploring and taking in the scenery here you need to return to the LT back the way you came. Once back to the sign where you first left the LT, continue going in the same direction you were headed before the diversion. The trail heads mostly uphill as you are headed to the top of the mountain. See if you can spot the three trees that were growing right up against each other and all fell away from their center as you head up the mountain. We thought it looked cool anyway. As you approach the top of the mountain the trees will almost be all young saplings. Continue over the top and begin your descent into Kettle Creek Gorge. Careful here as the trail is narrow, steep, and slippery. After a while the trail will level out and you will see another sign for the Kettle Creek Vista and some more light blue disks for blazes leading off to the left which you will follow for a short distance to the Vista. This is a great place to take lunch if you didn’t already do so at the falls. There are even some “lazy boy recliners” around the fireplace but we prefer to sit on the large flat rock at the edge of the vista and enjoy yet another wonderful view. This place just feels like a good place for a falcon to roost and so you can find the falcon roosting just 7 paces away at 330 degrees under the backside of a rectangular boulder next to the big tree. Now is the time to make a decision. You can go back to the LT and return the way you came back to your car, or you can continue the way you were going and follow the LT down to the bottom of the gorge and hike along the Kettle Creek. When we planted the boxes one of us was not feeling up to continuing so we went back the way we came. When we did the hike 3 years ago we did hike down to the gorge and looped back to our car on McCarty Road. For those adventurous souls here are the directions for the rest.
Continue on the LT down to the Creek and across it. The trail then turns to follow the creek upstream. Here the Loyalsock Trail follows an old, narrow gauge railroad grade. Soon the trail merges with a wide grassy trail that approaches from the left. When the Loyalsock trail turns off of the wide grassy trail and heads up a steep bank on the left, stay on the wide grassy trail which is McCarty road. McCarty road will cross the creek again and head steeply uphill and uphill and uphill. This was the hardest part of the hike when we originally did it. The trail goes all the way to the top of the mountain and then back down eventually ending on Brunnerdale road. Turn left on Brunnerdale and walk the road for a short distance to the parking lot and your car.