Otter Creek Campground, PA to Long Level, PA
section miles: 13 total miles: 106
Let's not mince words here - this section was brutal. Thirteen miles, at least twenty of which were straight up 400' cliffs. Or so it seemed. We nicknamed it "The Dragon's Spine" for the endless knee-jarring ascents and descents along jumbled, rocky ridgelines not suitable for mature audiences. There were plenty of opportunities for the trail to skirt harmlessly around these outcrops, so that one could admire them from a distance as God intended, but clearly the Mason-Dixon folks had more interesting challenges in mind. Either that or they employeed a troup of overly-rambunctious boy scouts to blaze this section. Took us over eight hours, which gives you a pretty good idea of the plodding pace, and a quick glance at a topo map showing the contour lines condensed to a black smudge along the river gives you a pretty good idea of the difficulty. We've climbed entire mountains that took less effort - a fact I never failed to wheeze out whenever we met fellow hikers crawling past us in the other direction.
The day started out, however, relatively tame. A beautiful sunrise greeted us upon arrival at our drop-off, and the first few miles heading north from Otter Creek Campground were a jaunty stroll. We felt strong, and complimented ourselves on how easily we tackled the first elevation gains as we passed through rather non-descript woodlands. Scenic overlooks provided some fabulous views of the river bathed in early morning light. We chatted about our good progress and how we should make it to Wrightsville by early afternoon, with plenty of time left in the day to play tourist. So much for that idea.
Beyond the three mile mark, or so, you begin to pick up lingo in the trail guide that will dog you the rest of the day. "Climb steeply by switch back... Climb steeply on stone steps... Climb the cliff and and follow the crest of the ridge... Reach high point and begin steep descent... Pass a small, overgrown graveyard with the remains of many hikers..." Okay, kidding about the remains, but I wouldn't have been surprised. I would like to recount some interesting stories, but other than seeing a couple of eagles and a flock of trumpeter swans during a rest break, I pretty much stared at my feet all day. We stopped to commiserate with another pair of hikers about midway through and learned that people actually run this trail as part of an ultra-marathon. I can't imagine.
Near the end of the day, as we summitted our last dragon spine, we met one more hiking couple. They confirmed out that we had, in fact, seen the worst of it, and the trail beyond this point would soon return to gentler terrain. From this vantage point - an imposing cliff overlooking the river towards the north - one can see that the topography changes markedly. The river broadens out considerably, and the flanking hills look more welcoming. There must be some interesting geology underlying this change, as you get the impression that whatever compression buckled the steep ridges to the south came to a rather abrubt end at this juncture, or perhaps more accurately, folded down into a basin. Here the west bank is known, appropriately, as "Long Level", and roads follow along the river on both sides to Wrightsville. Across the river this same abrubt elevation change is marked by Turkey Hill, famous as the home of Turkey Hill ice cream. So close, and yet so far.
With all that said and done, we did enjoy this section, and I "complain" about it in good spirit. Spectacular views and the satisfaction of meeting a difficult and novel challenge (for us) made it well worthwhile. Not that we intend to do it again anytime soon, mind you. For anyone contemplating this section hike, assuming you don't regard marathons as simply a pleasant jog, we suggest splitting it into more reasonable chunks, allowing yourself plenty of time to rest and enjoy the scenery.
We're now over 100 miles from our front door and two-thirds of the way to the AT.
Postscript
I happened upon a video on youtube of boy scouts backpacking through this section. Gives you a pretty good idea of the experience. Mason-Dixon Trail video
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