These were our guides to the area. On the air photos dark patches of conifers could be seen on the upper slopes of the y-shapes valley of upstream reaches of Lower Jerry Run. These were the trees described by Dale and Ernie as old growth. Bruce Kershner also had described limited hemlock old growth on a visit to the area.

This region is part of what is know as the Allegheny Plateau. It is a broad general flat to lightly rolling plateau that covers much of north and west central Pennsylvania. In this particular area the cap rock of the ridges is a thick bedded sandstone unit. Joints and pores within this sandstone unit allow water to quickly seep downward resulting in a relatively dry upland surface. Springs commonly emerge along hillsides and valley walls where the downward percolating water reaches less permeable layers of shale and siltstone.

Almost all of the area had been timbered in the late 1800's. There is a nice description of the lumbering history of the immediate area in a document entitled Elk State Forest.

http://www.pa-conservation.org/Elk-Forest.PDF

The virgin forest in Elk District consisted of magnificent white pine, hemlock, some red pine, mixed oaks and northern hardwoods, which included beech, sugar maple, birch, and black cherry. The first timber removed from the [Elk State Forest] district was the white pine used for ship masts. Some of the finest white pine spar trees in the country were removed from Sterling Run between 1865 and 1872. After white pine longs became scarce, hemlock lumber prices rose high enough for the tanneries formerly using only the bark, to begin marketing hemlock logs for lumber. Sawmills and logging camps sprang up throughout the district. Logs cut from the vast stands of hemlock were rafted or floated down streams such as the First Fork, the Driftwood Branch and the Bennett's Branch of the Sinnemahoning Creek. In 1915, the last log raft went down the Driftwood Branch, thus ending the hemlock logging era. The cut-over areas were further altered by vast wildfires that killed the remaining young trees. With the exception of few virgin stands passed up by loggers, the old growth forest in this area was gone. The first purchase of land for the Elk State Forest was 3,487 acre tract in Middle Jerry Run bought from D.R. Fullterton on May 31, 1900. Originally called Forest Reservations, these lands were purchased to reestablish a forest that had been nearly eliminated by cutting and burning.

I did manage to find the Virgin Timber in the Lower Jerry area. I found one tree that is about 10' 10" in circumference. There are a lot of of others that are 8' and 9' in circumference.  The trees are about 8 tenths of a mile from the parking area. You can drive to the power line and park if you have good ground clearance. It is an easy walk following the trail, after the snow goes away. - George Lockey

We met at the entrance to the natural area. There is an easy to find parking lot off Three Runs Road. There was a small American Chestnut at the edge of the parking area twenty five feet high. It looked like a good omen for the day. From the parking lot we jumped into Anthony's jeep drove down a rough road running along the western plateau above the run. The upper surface of the plateau was forested with small relatively young trees. The canopy reached 60 feet and consisted primarily of red maple with white, chestnut, and red oak also forming portions of the canopy. Scattered pitch pine reached 50 feet, Sassafras grew to 40 feet. The lower understory included smaller sassafras, maple and oaks, and nice witch hazel up to 20 feet in height. The forest floor was relatively open with scattered blueberry and laurel and a covering of ferns woodland ferns just starting to unfurl. The map showed an old road paralleling the stream valley about ½ to the west. The idea was to drive down the road then cut cross country to the east when we reached downstream as far as the second small side branch. Here was an interesting looking patch of dark blobs that could be old growth conifers.

Pitch Pine on uplands

We followed the road until it ended at a camp. A blazed trail led into the woods beyond the camp so we started hiking. After a half mile or so it became apparent that this trail was leading toward a small side stream draining to Upper Jerry Run to the west. So we took a compass bearing and headed east. We were bound to intersect Lower Jerry Run somewhere. On out hike we had passed patches of blueberry bushes, most with only the beginning of buds for the flowers that would eventually become blueberries. Here however was a virtually impassible thicket of mountain laurel. Most from chest height to over head high entangled with downed branches and tree trunks. Anthony and I took turns leading. We were forced to go northward as well as eastward as we traveled. Eventually we reached the cover of trees and escaped the thicket of laurel bushes. An old tree stand or dilapidated structure of some sort reminded me of something out of the Blair Witch Project.

Beyond the sheltering edge of the woods the land began to slope downward. We walked downhill through some open woods and into a hemlock thicket. Most of the hemlocks were small 6 to 8 inches in diameter. A few were upward of 18' to 24" across and 60 to 70 feet tall. Nothing really impressive. They could be old, but likely date from the 1880 to1915 period. Just below the hemlocks was an old road. This was the one appearing on the topo map. We followed the road down the hill deciding we were descending into the valley of Middle Jerry Run. The hillsides were very steep. As we descended the types of trees slowly changed. We picked up some tuliptrees, ash, some birches. Occasional massive blocks of sandstone were encountered along the downward path. Small waterfalls and cascades could be seen in the run far below. We descended to stream level near the downstream end of the run.

As I crossed the stream at the bottom of the valley I slipped and fell in the water, getting a wet and breaking my tripod. No harm real done. The road continued on the eastern side of the stream. We passed some open fields and circled around the bluff separating Middle Jerry Run from lower Jerry Run past a camp on private property along the lower edge of the natural area. The road continued up Lower Jerry Run to another cabin in the woods. Along this lower stretch of the stream were many sycamore, none of them looked very old, but very nicely shaped, and a few reached 100 to 120 feet in height. In the area we also found basswood, beech, and yellow birch trees.

Lower Jerry Run is a pretty little stream. There are numerous small cascades and waterfalls along its length. We walked up the stream valley, crossing from side to side as the stream wandered back and forth in the narrow valley. We clambered over rocks, boulders and downed trees as we worked our way upstream. All together a pretty fine walk in the cool shade near the cascading streams. We could follow our progress on the air photo maps, I even was able to get a GPS location at the one place we stopped for a break, surprising in light of the narrowness of the valley itself. We found a variety of microfauna - snails, millipedes, centipedes, and caterpillers. Squirrels and chipmunks played in the woods. Under one small hemlock was a pile of seeds from a nearby tuliptree gathered by some enterprizing creature. Alas we did not see any Elk. This is part of the Pennsylvania Elk Range and Elk can be found in the area since their re-introduction into the state several years ago.

We passed a couple of side branches with water and some without. Toward the upper end of the stream we began to climb upward as the stream cascaded down the steeper ground. The stream itself at times occupied most of the valley bottom. My left leg was hurting, I had twisted my knee when I fell in the stream, it didn't really hurt much but kept cramping when I worked harder. We looked at the maps and photos periodically, Anthony was doing an excellent job of interpreting out location, however the location was always farther downstream and lower in elevation than I wanted it to be. At last we reached the upper major fork of the Lower Jerry Run. The plan was to hike out the right hand (going upstream) fork of the run to another cabin and then follow the road back to the jeep. Anthony spotted an open area up the steep side of the valley and what might be old hemlock trees. He climbed straight up the side to investigate. After sitting at the bottom for awhile and looking at the run ahead, I felt it would be better to just climb the slope here and follow along the level top to the cabin, rather than to deal with stream, debris, rocks, and climbing following the stream itself.

I talked to Jacqui about it and started the steep climb out of the valley. I stopped frequently on the slope, eventually reach Anthony. He hollered forJacqui to climb up as well and I continued upward to a less steep shoulder near the top.    The shoulder itself was likely because of a slightly softer rock layer. Above this shoulder the hillside continued upward for a distance before reaching the hilltop. However this slope and the hilltop were covered by the same laurel thicket we encountered on the hike in.

The trees Anthony had seen were hemlocks. They were not impressive in size, but had a number of old growth characteristics - furled bark, branching patterns. We talked about it some, but thought they were small in size because of the rocky nature of the ground and limited water that would have been available to them at this location. There were a few other old trees here some white oaks stand out in particular, not large in size, but giving the appearance of age. This patch was on the northern side of this fork of the run - not on the south side were others had found old growth.   So it was a newly found patch of old growth. From the areas indicated by Dale as being old growth, and what we found, it is possible, or likely, that many of the dark blotches near the upper part of these valleys are patches of old growth hemlock, and maybe some white pine. Further trips will be necessary to explore all of these features.

From here we hiked along the slope toward the cabin. I was forced to stop multiple time because of cramping in my knee. I must apologize to my hiking companions. This was fairly level, with only a little up and down to avoid patches of laurel. Even with my leg problems I think this was easier than it would have been hiking up the stream bottom beyond the fork. Besides we got to see some of the old growth hemlock. We soon reached the camp and started up the road toward the vehicles. I had to stop again several times because of cramps in my knee. Tony and Jacqui suggested going and getting the jeep and picking me up. I agreed,   After they left I drank the rest of my refreshments and rested for another ten minutes or so. I hiked out to the main dirt road and waited fro them there, exploring the ridge-top forest while I waited.

Overall we hiked perhaps 5 miles, we started at an elevation of 2089 and dropped down to 880 and back up again. It was a good trip overall. We hiked the length of the natural area, We found some old-growth, with potential for more. The stream with the cascades and waterfalls was beautiful. I took some nice photos. I was disappointed that I don't have pictures of the hemlocks. I was hurting at the time and just didn't think to take any. I expect I will be back again later this summer.

Edward Frank