Tom Rankin
Well-known member
Since the main driving route to Panther is still closed, we decided to red-line some trail that neither of us had ever been on. We parked at the lot near the camp ground and instead of crossing the bridge to head to Wittenburg, we went up the other way. The trail starts out steep, but quickly levels off. It passes by some nice ledges, which I assumed we were skirting. However, the trail soon drops precipitously, about 200' straight down the hill! 
Along the way, we discovered a set of stone stairs, about 90 of them, that Laurie's dad built back in the early 70's. We got to the bottom of the valley and crossed a small stream that the guide book says has a bridge. All that is left of the bridge is some rotten planks. Irene did not take this one out. The map showed the trail heading straight up the other side and turning right. After spending about 20 minutes trying to figure out where the trail went, we finally noticed that it turned LEFT first and then right! (We later realized that all of this up/down/right/left is to avoid some Private Property).
After this we hit a beautiful old road that heads up thru the PP and onto state land. This same road leads all the way to Denning! We did not follow it that far, but we did follow it quite a while as it slowly gained elevation, winding around a huge curve around and up the valley we were climbing. As we ascended, we passed under the headwall, where a stream plunges down from high above to the valley below. A little while after that we came to the usual trail that we take for Panther. We headed right and passed over Giant's Ledge. The clouds were still not blown off, but it was a cool view either way. We headed on to Panther, where the views were also good.
On the way back we finally met other people. This turned into a conga-line, with almost 40 people heading up the various trails, mostly to Giant's ledge. At the end we ran into Ranger Geirloff, who is always friendly. Even he is still confused about some of the trails being open or not!
Along the way, we discovered a set of stone stairs, about 90 of them, that Laurie's dad built back in the early 70's. We got to the bottom of the valley and crossed a small stream that the guide book says has a bridge. All that is left of the bridge is some rotten planks. Irene did not take this one out. The map showed the trail heading straight up the other side and turning right. After spending about 20 minutes trying to figure out where the trail went, we finally noticed that it turned LEFT first and then right! (We later realized that all of this up/down/right/left is to avoid some Private Property).After this we hit a beautiful old road that heads up thru the PP and onto state land. This same road leads all the way to Denning! We did not follow it that far, but we did follow it quite a while as it slowly gained elevation, winding around a huge curve around and up the valley we were climbing. As we ascended, we passed under the headwall, where a stream plunges down from high above to the valley below. A little while after that we came to the usual trail that we take for Panther. We headed right and passed over Giant's Ledge. The clouds were still not blown off, but it was a cool view either way. We headed on to Panther, where the views were also good.
On the way back we finally met other people. This turned into a conga-line, with almost 40 people heading up the various trails, mostly to Giant's ledge. At the end we ran into Ranger Geirloff, who is always friendly. Even he is still confused about some of the trails being open or not!
