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John Wert Path - Bear Meadows
John Wert Path - Bear Meadows Post holiday hikes can be difficult to rally for. We all feel heavier and slower. It's cold out. As if those aren't enough excuses to stay on the couch, most local hikes require going uphill which no one seems to enjoy. Here is an option that everyone will enjoy -- great scenery, easy accessibility and no elevation change. The John Wert Path is a beautiful walk and refreshingly flat. Starting at Bear Meadows Natural Area, in Rothrock State Forest, this three-mile trail was built for cross country skiing. It remains a wonderful ski trail but also serves as a perfect walking trail. The Bear Meadows Natural Area is always beautiful. I've enjoyed visiting this scenic bog in all seasons and it always surprises me with something new. On cloudy fall days, a chance shaft of sunlight manages to break out and shine brightly on the ridge. In winter, a fresh snowfall blankets the bog in pristine beauty. Spring and summer offer amazing colors as plants and flowers bloom wildly throughout the landscape. The John Wert Path begins near the parking area at Bear Meadows. It is posted with a trailhead sign and marked with blue blazes. You'll find a trail marker on the left after the bridge. The path follows Sinking Creek as it flows from the bog towards Colyer Lake. The trail winds through rhododendron thickets and explores giant hemlock stands. Within a hundred yards you feel as if you were a hundred miles from a road, a car, your job and civilization. When I hike a trail that climbs a mountainside, I get a single focus on achieving the summit. This makes me hike up, up, up, searching for the top. On John Wert Path the exact opposite happens. I find myself constantly stopping, turning around, never feeling rushed or pressured to make forward progress. I just want to drink in the forest and see all the amazing beauty it offers. Am I absorbing the forest or is the forest absorbing me? I don't ponder the answer for long; I like the effect too much. When the trail is near water you'll find evidence of a healthy beaver population. Many felled trees carry the beaver's telltale marks. Hundreds of small teeth marks carve an hourglass shape until the tree topples under gravity. You'll see old stumps, freshly fallen trees and works in progress that suggested the phrase "busy as a beaver." There is a real beaver stadium hidden in Bear Meadows. If you walk the trail's length of three miles you will reach a gas line cut and Thickhead Mountain Road. The gas line cut has a certain beauty, although the fact that it is a man-made scar through the forest always bothers me. This treeless corridor provides a place for tall grasses and wildflowers to prosper. The trail continues past two hunting camps and soon reaches a sharp corner along Thickhead Mountain Road. You can plan ahead and drop a car here, or turn around and walk back on John Wert Path. I find the path feels like a completely different trail when you return on it. For some reason it still offers a sense of exploration and discovery even though I just walked it one way. That's one of the things I love about this path; it just has a certain intangible quality about it. It doesn't really go anywhere and it isn't physically challenging. It simply wanders through the forest offering secret spots and quiet places. I have encountered deer and bear on the path. I have heard the songs of birds but I never see them. I have rested on sun drenched rock and heard a tree fall in the forest. It's the type of trail that lends itself to slow, carefree walking with many rest stops, even though they aren't necessary. It's the type of trail one asks questions on and sometimes finds answers. When there is enough snowfall you can ski along the path, the intended use when it was built in 1983 by the Penn State Outing Club cross country ski division. It parallels Treaster Kettle Road which makes a long loop from Colyer Lake or Bear Meadows. Either way this is challenging for experienced skiers so please make sure you understand the route beforehand. Directions From State College take U.S. Route 322 East to Tussey Mountain Ski Area. Continue on Bear Meadows Road for three miles and park at the stone monument on the right. The John Wert Path is posted on the left after you cross the bridge. If you want to drop a car on Thickhead Mountain Road, use Treaster Kettle Road, which intersects Bear Meadows Road a few hundred yards before the parking area. Follow Treaster Kettle for 3.5 miles to Thickhead Mountain Road on the right. Continue on Thickhead for one mile and park by the gate on the very steep switchback turn. John Wert Path begins at the gate. |
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