Chuck Keiper Trail

The Chuck Keiper Trail is a decent sized loop trail in Northern Pennsylvania, which can be divided into two shorter loops, for one or two night excursions. Yes, I know the two loops don't add up to the 52 mile total - the Eastern loop includes the trail section which cuts the Chuck Keiper Trail in half:

• Total length: 52 miles
• Easter Loop: 23 miles
• Western Loop: 33 miles

The DCNR has some maps available for download. They also have a brief trail description that goes through some of its history:

• Trail Description (DCNR)
• DCNR trail maps

(5/28 - 5/29/2006, solo)

To get to the trail, take I-80 to Snow Shoe (exit 147), and travel north on Route 144. About 20 miles towards Renovo, you'll come across the parking area for Fish Dam Run View. I didn't see any signs about parking, and found my car safe when I reached it the next morning.

Good photos, directions, and trail notes can be found at Mid-Atlantic Hikes. There's also a fairly detailed copy of a trail map, with an elevation profile. If you do print the map on the website, you might want to study it before hand because the text is small and blurry when you print it out.

The trail notes from the Mid-Atlantic Hikes webpage are accurate, and match the trail's terrain for the whole trip. I specifically found the notes useful for finding the trail head. As the notes say, "Begin walking up Swamp Branch Road but immediately turn left through a small spoil area to pick up the orange blazed connector trail". This is the truth - when you cross the road from the parking lot, the trail almost immediately veers left into the woods. Look for the orange blazes.

The trail notes describe a 3 day hike, and also explain good places to camp for the first and second nights. I don't consider myself to be an extreme hiker, but I camped on the Northern ridge coming out of Boggs Hollow (a little beyond the second camp area on the trail notes). It was dry up here, and I didn't want to worry about coming up the ridge the next morning. This helped me out the next day when I reached the Renovo water shed. I plenty of energy to kill the 2 mile gradual climb up to the top.

I started the trip 11:00am on Sunday morning, and finished at 11:00am on Monday, Memorial day of 2006. This was my first loop hike, and I enjoyed it more than backtracking as I usually do when I hike alone. The trail was very scenic, and offered plenty of different landscapes. I didn't see too much wildlife, though I ran into a small snake and a bobcat, which bolted up a mountain side in the water shed. A group of hikers I ran into (boy scouts?) mentioned they heard coyotes at night.