View Full Version : Yellow Springs, PA
LittleRock
12-12-2018, 14:15
Starting to plan for next year's AT hike in PA. I found a place called Yellow Springs, about 5 miles south of the Rausch Gap Shelter, that would work perfectly for my mileage plan. The only problem is my guide book does not show a water source for that location. Is there an actual spring there? Any decent tent sites in the area?
Gambit McCrae
12-12-2018, 15:44
There is water at mm 1170 & 1173.6 Yellow springs (mm 1172) has no water
PS guthooks is a great tool for this type of planning
Durunner
12-12-2018, 19:09
If that's the place I'm thinking of, there's a mailbox trail register and small camping area. Nothing great, but doable I guess. It was a little past a stream going NB. If you don't camp there and are heading NB, just go to the shelter. It is easy ridge walking and slightly downhill. Nothing in between that and Yellow Springs though. Lots of brush from what I recall between the two areas.
You will see why they have named this place Yellow Springs. There is plenty of water. The high sulfur content to the spring has turned the water yellow along with the rocks. It smells like rotten eggs. I don't know if it will actually kill you. I tasted it and it's awful.
SkeeterPee
12-12-2018, 22:36
I stayed there, the water at the stream south of the camp is fine and you only have to carry a mile or so.
Please note their is an old open well just 10 or so yards from the camping area. I would find that in the daytime and make sure not to walk that way if you have to get up in the middle of the night.
LittleRock
12-13-2018, 10:51
Thanks everyone! So it sounds like the best plan is to fill up south of Yellow Springs and then camp there.
This was a tough one mileage-wise. Starting from Clark's Ferry Shelter, the first shelter was only 7 miles, but the second one was 25, which is too much for me. The only other place in between the two shelters where my guide book showed a water source was Clark's Creek, but it was next to a road.
Thanks everyone! So it sounds like the best plan is to fill up south of Yellow Springs and then camp there.
This was a tough one mileage-wise. Starting from Clark's Ferry Shelter, the first shelter was only 7 miles, but the second one was 25, which is too much for me. The only other place in between the two shelters where my guide book showed a water source was Clark's Creek, but it was next to a road.
i had some problem with mileage planning when i hiked through there. if memory serves correctly the dispersed camping rules on PA game lands, which are kind of odd, allow camping at several spots through there.
i was heading south and didnt want to stop for the day at rausch gap as making duncannon from there the next day wouldnt have been feasible, so i hiked south until i hit game lands and found a nice clear spot under a large coniferous tree right off the trail. collected water from a source slightly off the AT on a side trail (flat, not downhill) a couple of miles before there. i honestly dont recall if it was before or after yellow springs, i want to say it was a mile or so north of YS where i camped and the water was maybe a mile or so before that
Gambit McCrae
12-13-2018, 12:59
i had some problem with mileage planning when i hiked through there. if memory serves correctly the dispersed camping rules on PA game lands, which are kind of odd, allow camping at several spots through there.
i was heading south and didnt want to stop for the day at rausch gap as making duncannon from there the next day wouldnt have been feasible, so i hiked south until i hit game lands and found a nice clear spot under a large coniferous tree right off the trail. collected water from a source slightly off the AT on a side trail (flat, not downhill) a couple of miles before there. i honestly dont recall if it was before or after yellow springs, i want to say it was a mile or so north of YS where i camped and the water was maybe a mile or so before that
When I did PA this October I ignored every shelter for the trip. There were so many camping spots I could literally walk for as long as I wanted during the day and into the night and when I got tired, just pull out guthooks and bingo, tentsite in .8 miles. Grab water thru out the day so dry camping was never an issue. Will definitely implement this strategy of only using shelter spots upon coincidence if there is tenting nearby, and as water sources.
Why is it a problem if water isn't located where you intend to camp? Not being tethered to camping sites that have to have water has advantages.
I'm the maintainer for that section. As noted there is no water at Yellow Springs by the mailbox, and there is an old hole that you don't want to stumble into (sticks thrown on it, seem to become firewood and disappear).
The hollow a quarter-mile south of there on the A.T. will have water in it, early-season. In a normal summer, that will dry out. There is a very early seasonal spring about 1/2 way from the mailbox down into the hollow. I would skip that one, most likely a dog was in it 5 minutes before you came.
The Yellow Spring itself, is down the side trail (on the "east" side of the AT) about 1/3 of a mile, and then to the left in a side hollow without a well defined or marked path directly to the spring. It is yellow, naturally occurring acid drainage. You could bushwhack from the village but that's only for the novelty.
Trail-north on the A.T., from 1/3 of a mile to about a mile out, there is a succession of swampy spots, with a couple of relatively well defined clear springs on the right side of the trail, feeding the swamps.
Trail-north of the mailbox 2 miles, on the west is the side trail to "The General". Then, a quarter-mile out, next to an illegal campsite in a rhododendron glade, is a perennial stream (this year, it's often been high enough to hinder day-hikers going over to "The General"), possibly even more reliable than the Rausch Gap shelter spring.
2.3 miles give or take north of the mailbox, on Trail-east side is Cold Spring Trail, blue blazed. Don't get excited, the Cold Spring is a mile laterally and 700 ft elevation down, off-trail to the south between the old RR bed and the hunters' parking area. A very vague faded orange trail passes it.
Durunner
12-14-2018, 18:55
I got some water heading NB before getting down to 325? There was a seasonal spring, so I imagine it isn't always flowing. The shelter's water is pretty awesome, as it is a piped trough right there at the shelter. I started at Duncannon. Stayed behind an overlook just off the trail the first night. Second night, I stayed at the shelter. There was also a nice little piney small camping area north of 325 at the top of the ridge. That was a dry campsite though.
LittleRock
12-17-2018, 11:13
Why is it a problem if water isn't located where you intend to camp? Not being tethered to camping sites that have to have water has advantages.
Not having water near the campsite is not an issue. Not knowing that I need to carry extra water and then not finding any near the campsite is a BIG issue.
LittleRock
12-17-2018, 11:19
I'm the maintainer for that section. As noted there is no water at Yellow Springs by the mailbox, and there is an old hole that you don't want to stumble into (sticks thrown on it, seem to become firewood and disappear).
The hollow a quarter-mile south of there on the A.T. will have water in it, early-season. In a normal summer, that will dry out. There is a very early seasonal spring about 1/2 way from the mailbox down into the hollow. I would skip that one, most likely a dog was in it 5 minutes before you came.
The Yellow Spring itself, is down the side trail (on the "east" side of the AT) about 1/3 of a mile, and then to the left in a side hollow without a well defined or marked path directly to the spring. It is yellow, naturally occurring acid drainage. You could bushwhack from the village but that's only for the novelty.
Trail-north on the A.T., from 1/3 of a mile to about a mile out, there is a succession of swampy spots, with a couple of relatively well defined clear springs on the right side of the trail, feeding the swamps.
Trail-north of the mailbox 2 miles, on the west is the side trail to "The General". Then, a quarter-mile out, next to an illegal campsite in a rhododendron glade, is a perennial stream (this year, it's often been high enough to hinder day-hikers going over to "The General"), possibly even more reliable than the Rausch Gap shelter spring.
2.3 miles give or take north of the mailbox, on Trail-east side is Cold Spring Trail, blue blazed. Don't get excited, the Cold Spring is a mile laterally and 700 ft elevation down, off-trail to the south between the old RR bed and the hunters' parking area. A very vague faded orange trail passes it.
This is exactly the kind of info I was hoping for - thanks!
My guide book shows the nearest reliable water source south of Yellow Springs is Rattling Run, 2.6 miles south of Yellow Springs. Are there decent campsites in that area?