Shingletown Gap, Centre County   Ernie Ostuno
  Jul 26, 2004 01:35 PDT 
Large uprooted hemlock in the stream valley. A separate area of old growth occurs on the ridge top near here. Photo taken January 1999.

I have visited this site several times, most recently on 3/15/02. Two
areas of old growth can be found here and they separated by second
growth mixed oaks. About 10 acres of mature and old growth hemlock,
white pine and hardwoods are in a stream valley/water gap, and another
20 acres of old growth (again primarily hemlock) are on north side of a
ridge top. Most of the trees in the valley are concentrated right along
a stream. About one acre was cleared for a water filtration pond. A ring
count on a fallen hemlock gave an age of about 210 years. Several
hemlocks in the valley approached 50 inches dbh and 100 feet in height,
while those near the ridgetop were smaller; about 40-45 dbh and 80-90
feet tall. Very large rhododendron were noted in the presence of the old
growth hemlocks,
both on the ridge and in the valley. Both areas of old growth are
fragmented and surrounded by second growth hemlock, pine and hardwoods.
A single specimen of old growth red pine was found in the valley. The
hemlocks on the ridge top were growing in very rocky, poor soil.
RE: Dale Part 2   Ernie Ostuno
  Jul 26, 2004 15:27 PDT 
Shingletown Gap

Use this Rothrock State Forest map to find PA Route 45:

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/stateforests/images/roth3.gif

and then this map:

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/stateforests/images/roth7.gif

You will be following a trail along Roaring Run (seen at the very top of
the map segment in the link above).

Take PA route 45 south from Boalsburg and then take your first left.
Follow this road a mile or so until you come to a small parking area in
front of a chain link fence. Park there and walk to your left around the
fence to the trail head. Follow the trail and stay on the left side of
the stream. You will see scattered big hemlocks and a few white pine for
about a mile or so and intermittent patches of big trees and big
individual hemlocks. The lone red pine was about 2 miles back there,
near where the examples of old growth trees pretty much ends.

To get to the old growth on the ridge you can either head south on Sand
Spring Trail to hike up the slope from the valley, or you can drive up
the ridge by using PA 322 to S.R. 2001 to Laurel Run Road. Then park at
the ridgetop and walk south in the clearing until you reach the Mid
State trail, which takes you to the old growth, most of which is on the
north slope, just off the trail.
Shingletown Gap   Dale J. Luthringer
  Jul 27, 2004 07:30 PDT 

Ernie,

I thought those place names sounded familiar. I tried to get to
Shingletown Gap or nearby on roads, but they were all blocked off. The
land contours looked promising, but I didn't have time to hoof it in.

I did take some height data nearby farther down Laurel Run Road as you
get closer to the Mt. Nittany ski area. There was a nice little stand
of very mature hemlock on the edge of a steep hill and adjacent to
Laurel Run Road. I didn't get CBH data, because it had private property
signs all along the edge of the road. Here is my data set. I'm
wondering if this might be comparable to Shingletown...

Species Height

BB 89.5
BC 115.8
CO 90.6+
CT 95.6+
CT 100.2
EH 111.3
EH 111.8
EH 115.3
EH 118
EH 118.1
EH 123.5
RO 103.4
RM 90.1+
TT 127.5
TT 128
TT 131.1
WP 111.2
YB 90.6

This results in a Rucker Index of 104.6, which seems to be about average
for a taller growing site in Centre county.

Site Rucker Index

Cook Forest S.P. 135.47
Wintergreen Gorge 128.28
Fairmont Park 127.72
Walnut Creek 121.69
Ander's Run N.A. 121.48
Ricketts Glen N.A. 121.85
Heart's Content N.A. 113.79
Lake Erie Community Park 113.57
Alan Seeger 111.13
Coho Property 109.59
Scott Community Park 109.56
Tionesta N.A. 109.36
Detweiler Run N.A. 104.65
Laurel Run Road 104.6
Glenwood Community Park 98.08
Bear Meadows N.A. 93.3
Parker Dam S.P. 85.57

Dale
RE: Shingletown Gap   Ernie Ostuno
  Jul 27, 2004 15:50 PDT 

Dale,

There is a decent stand of hemlocks just past the ski area off Rte. 322;
along the creek as you make your way into the Rothrock. But the hemlocks
along Roaring Run (off Route 45) are bigger, with some very large
individuals, along with the occasional big white pine. It would be
interesting to get some age/size comparison from the trees on the ridge
and in the valley at Shingletown Gap, to see how growing conditions
affect sizes for trees of roughly the same age. I talked to a grad
student at PSU a couple years ago who was doing coring at old hemlock
stands in Centre County, but i don't know if he had the chance to do
this.

Ernie
Shingletown Gap   Dale J. Luthringer
  Feb 14, 2005 16:14 PST 
Bob, Ernie,

Here's another very late post, but better late than never.

The following tree height data is from my trip to Shingletown Gap on
11/18/04. Please refer to Ernie's earlier post for a site description
of old growth and forest species mix. I believe he gives a good
assessment of the area, so I won't take the time to re-iterate.

I parked at the end of the road just below the water treatment area and
started to walk upstream. I first measured some white pine and hemlock
just upstream from the plant, then continued to work my way upstream
about 1.5 miles. The tallest hemlocks and white pines I found were
again just upstream from the plant. I didn't have time to check the
ridges, so I decided to concentrate on the stream valley trees to
increase opportunities to find the tallest trees in the stand. I was
not able to find the red pine Ernie was talking about. It'll have to
wait for a future trip.

The largest girthed hemlocks I found were adjacent to the stream. I'd
estimate some hemlocks in this valley to go near the 350 year range. If
I had more time, I wanted to check out the section of taller hemlocks
and thick rhododendron that was just upstream and west of the water
treatment plant in a boulder filled convex bowl drainage. I just didn't
have to time to go "rhodo surfing" that day.

The day's stats follows:

Species            CBH     Height

Am. basswood   4.7        78.2+

Black birch        N/A       75.1+

Black gum         3.4        57.1+

Chestnut oak     4.8        78.1+
Chestnut oak     4.8        90.1+

E. hemlock        10.7      100.7
E. hemlock        10.5      109.6
E. hemlock        N/A       114.7
E. hemlock        N/A       115.1
E. hemlock        N/A       116
E. hemlock        N/A       122.9

E. white pine     N/A       112.7
E. white pine     6.9        117.6

N. red oak         4.6        69.1+
N. red oak         6.7        72.7+
N. red oak         9.2        87.1+
N. red oak         10         87.1+

Pitch pine          3.5        63.8

Red maple         3.8        82.8+
Red maple         5.2        85.1+

Tuliptree            N/A       103.9
Tuliptree            N/A       115.3

White ash         N/A       114.8

White oak         5.8        84.1+

Yellow birch       5.3        78.1+
Yellow birch       4.8        79.5


Shingletown Gap Rucker Index = 97.47

Species            CBH     Height

E. hemlock        N/A       122.9
E. white pine     6.9        117.6
Tuliptree            N/A       115.3
White ash         N/A       114.8
Chestnut oak     4.8        90.1
N. red oak         10         87.1
Red maple         5.2        85.1
White oak         5.8        84.1+
Yellow birch       4.8        79.5
Am. basswood   4.7        78.2


Here's my most up-to-date list of Pennsylvania Site Rucker Indices:


Site
Rucker Index




Cook Forest State Park
135.94

Wintergreen Gorge
128.53

Fairmont Park
127.72

Ricketts Glen State Park
126.29

Anders Run N.A.
122.31

Walnut Creek Gorge
121.69

Hemlocks N.A.
114.75

Heart's Content N.A.
113.79

Lake Erie Community Park
113.57

Coho Property
113.19

Alan Seeger N.A.
111.13

Scott Community Park
109.56

Tionesta N.A.
109.36

Allegheny River
104.99

Detweiler Run N.A.
104.65

Laurel Run Rd-Centre County
104.6

Glenwood Park
98.08

Shingletown Gap
97.47

Bear Meadows N.A.
93.72

Parker Dam State Park
85.57



Shingletown Gap was quite an interesting place. There was an old
logging road of sorts that ran right down the center of the stream
through the gap. Some portions of this road were actually converted to
hiking trail. If I had more time, I would've liked to explore the
southern ridge and work my way east. Hemlocks seem to progress further
up this ridge, and I could still see hemlocks on the ridge as I walked
about 1.5 miles up the drainage. The flats on the upper end of the
drainage all appeared to be logged, but it appears that some of the
ridges were spared. I wouldn't be surprised to find small stature old
growth in this area.

As a side note, when you pull off RT45 on the short road to the parking
area of the gap, you pass a small private stand of old oaks on your
left. The twisted crowns of these trees suggests this small stand
probably has some age to it. It would be interesting to compare the
ages of the oaks on the private stand to those in the gap.

Dale