Stubbs and I set out for the Loyalsock late on Saturday. I had to cover a soccer game in the afternoon, so it was after 6 pm when we finally got on the road from Philly to take the four hour drive to Lycoming County.

We made it to Bloomsburg as the sun was setting and wound through progressively smaller roads as the darkness set in. A few detours and a stop for snacks found us getting into Masten around 10:30 pm.

I wasn’t sure how crowded the primitive campground would be and was worried that it might be hard to find a spot. We arrived and parked next to the lot for backpackers parking, which was full. But we found there was only one other person camping at Masten after wandering in the dark with our flashlights for a few minutes. We found a nice campsite and started setting up camp.

As I was pitching my tent, a man emerged out of the darkness and said hello, scaring the hell out of me for a moment. His name was Herb, and he was the only other person camping in Masten. He was a colorful (and drunk) character from nearby Laporte. He explained his friends had stood him up on a fishing trip and he was enjoying the night by himself. We chatted for a few minutes about hiking in the area and the threat of threat of gas drilling. And how crazy it was that anyone wanted to drill anywhere near the Loyalsock.

He eventually returned to his camper and we ate a quick snack and turned in to get some sleep. Herb’s trailer played music  into the early morning.

We awoke on Sunday morning to grey skies and light rain. We packed up camp and drove the few miles to Ellenton Ridge Road to park for our intended hike. We were going to hike the Old Loggers Path to connect to the Sharp Shinned Trail, to connect with Rock Run. Our plan from there was to bushwhack Rock Run down to wear it meets Yellow Dog Run, some three miles away. We had done a different version of this hike last year, taking the OLP to the same destination. We were hoping to check out the cliffs and cascades of the upper gorge of the Rock Run.

But all the best laid plans…The rain tapered on and off as we drove to the trailhead. It rained steady for a while as we started our trek on the OLP. We reached the yellow blazed Sharp Shinned Trail and took that as it descended gradually through the woods. The rain really came down as we approached Rock Run. We took cover under a giant pine tree as it poured for about 20 minutes.

I’m fine with hiking in the rain. And certainly don’t mind a little bushwhacking, particularly in the Loyalsock and even more particiualrly along Rock Run. But the cards seemed stacked against us for this one. With the rain pouring down and the rocks in the run feeling like they were coated in ice, we decided that it was going to be a rough day if we continued on with our intended hike. We instead bagged it, and hiked back up the Sharp Shinned Trail, back to the OLP, and back to the car. If the weather was going to suck, no worries, we were in the Loyalsock and there was plenty to see.

I pulled out my map and made a plan for the rest of the day as we jumped into the car to avoid the rain. I’ve been wanting to hike a loop through the Hoagland Branch of the Loyalsock for a while, and we would now have a little time to scout some trails and some of the roads. There was also a waterfall that we’d not yet explored that was fairly accessible from where we planned to go. So I threw that into the plan as well.

We drove from Ellenton Mountain Road back to Masten. We crossed Pleasant Steam and headed through the forest on Hillsgrove Road. It rained intermittently, but the road gradually rose away from Pleasant Stream and reached a nice vista. We parked the car and dodged rain drops to take a few pictures.

We continued on past the vista and through more rain. We turned on to Merrell Road to take the route toward Sharp Top Vista. I’d only been up to Sharp Top once before, on our OLP hike in 2010, and recalled it as a beautiful view. We’d not be so lucky this day though.

Even though the rain tapered off, the vista was completely closed in by clouds. We waited a few minutes, hoping things would improve, but they didn’t.

We headed back down the mountain and through more mysterious roads. An occasional deer scampered out of the way as we continued through the fog.

We arrived at our next destination after about 20 minutes of back roads driving. It was only drizzling as we jumped out of the car at Hoagland Vista, a lovely view at the end of Slab Run Road.

We experienced just about every type of weather one can experience in August on the vista. It drizzled for a little while before the rain pushed off momentarily and the sun appeared. I was hoping we’d get a rainbow, but it never appeared (though we saw one later in the day.)

We hopped back in the car and headed back the way we came, eventually getting back to Mill Creek Road. We drove a few miles as the creek parallelled us on the right.

The creek eventually disappeared into the gorge on the right. We reached a small pull off where a trail lead down the hill. The rain had pushed off completely by this point and it was actually pretty nice, with sunshine and a bit of a breeze. We made our way down the hill toward the sound of rushing water and shortly arrived at the top of Mill Creek Falls.

A quick look around saw a path that led down some small cliffs to the base of the falls. We scrambled down and made our way back to pool at the bottom of the falls. I’ve been to bigger falls in Pennsylvania, and even in the Loyalsock, but Mill Creek Falls was impressive in its own way. It’s pool of turquoise water had me particularly enamored.

We had one last stop to make before heading back home and we backtracked once again. Back down Mill Creek Road and back to Camels Road.  We went past Slab Run Road and hit Bearwallow Road.

Shortly after that we reached lovely Bearwallow Pond. We pulled into the parking area and next a lone pick up truck. The clouds had returned and it was threatening to rain again. We snapped a few photos and watched as a lone canoe drifted along in the water.

We continued along Bearwallow Road, eventually finding our way back to SR4001 (after a few wrong turns and an inconvenient detour). We surprised a few deer along Bearwallow Road, and they were kind enough to stand still for a few seconds so  I could grab a picture.

We made our way back toward southeast PA. I grabbed one last picture as we made our way our way past Forksville near World’s End State Park. The covered bridge there dates back to 1850 and it stopped raining enough for me to stick my lens out the car window to grab one good photo.

Despite some foul weather, we still managed to find our way to new locations and get the lay of the land for a future trip.