The old road walk thru Cumberland County PA

[Second Half]

I've done a bit of research trying to figure out the old road walk thru the Cumberland Valley. Here's a link to a google map I've created:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...0d44f43ea2efbd

From reading some old trail journals it appears to have gone something like this--departing the present-day trail from Center Point Knob, hike east across White Rocks, then a descent to the bottom of Kuhn Rd. Follow Kuhn north to Leidigh Dr.; crossing Rt. 74 Leidigh becomes Old Stonehouse Rd. Following Old Stonehouse thru Churchtown, crossing Rt. 174, past the Ice Cream Lady (is she still there?), continuing north for a few miles.

Then it becomes a bit confusing with several different accounts. One journal says to turn on Claremont Rd but according to the map that would take you the wrong direction. It makes the most sense to take S. Middlesex to Rt 11, Rt 11 east a short way (past the Why-Not Cafe?), then turn left on Country Club Rd. Follow Country Club east to Bernheisel Bridge Rd. Turn left, follow Bernheisel Bridge across Conodoguinet Creek (there is reference to a cable bridge?) then a bit further north to where it meets up with the present-day trail.

There is also mention of the "Halfway Sycamore", is that somewhere along this route?

Can any of you trail historians critique my re-creation?

Thanks!

[Tinker]

I did the rerouted AT in that section last fall and enjoyed it. It might be interesting to day hike the old route sometime in the future, though. Thanks for the info.

[Second Half]

It might be interesting to day hike the old route sometime in the future

That's what I was thinking, it'd make an interesting day hike.

[jbwood5]

Somewhere I've got the old AT guidebooks from the 60's and I might have one from that section..... that is if I can remember where i put them. I'll do my best to try and find them.

I tried to do a similar thing in NJ. I remember the old trail coming off High Point (the actual monument).... dropping down a rough rocky section... across a farm field below and then a long road walk to NY State. That was a real drag (the road part).

[ki0eh]

The roadwalk changed at different times, before 1955 for example it was much closer to Mechanicsburg.

I don't have guides that old to verify, but I'd be surprised if it ever really went over Claremont or to Middlesex village, the US 11 "Miracle Mile" would not have been a pleasant experience even in the mid-1950's, and especially not after I-81 was completed in the mid-1970's. More likely the A.T. crossed the PA Turnpike/I-76 right where it does now on Appalachian Drive.

I understand the old Bernheisel Bridge was a covered bridge into maybe the early 70's, it was offered to the ATC and refused according to what Ralph Kinter wrote in http://www.satc-hike.org/history.htm

The folks at CVATMA (now CVATC) meetings in the late 90's always referred to a "Penn State study", seems like a bunch of landscape architecture students worked on how best to route the off-road A.T. That's probably a well-thumbed binder sitting on a shelf in the ATC office in Boiling Springs, might be interesting to scan and post that. That's probably the bunch that thought the Sunday Farm just south of B.S. would make a good campsite. Likely that came after a wider study (referenced by implication in Kinter's narrative) about routing the A.T. even out through Dillsburg on an abandoned rail line.

I still notice white blazes on power poles around Churchtown.

[Lone Wolf]

i loved the old road walk. ice cream lady, strawberry farm, gina's sub shop, the truck stop salad bar.....

[Slo-go'en]

I agree with L.W. on the old road walk. An 18 mile road walk doesn't sound like fun, but it was very pleasent, with pleanty of shade trees and the truck stop 1/2 way through was a good lunch stop.

The new route is a PITA, and you'd better do it early in the morning if you don't want to be in the sun the whole way.

[max patch]

. An 18 mile road walk doesn't sound like fun, but it was very pleasent

Exactly. It sounds horrible but it was quite the experience. The only negative was that the truck stop offered AYCE waffles, but the waffle iron was always "broken" if the customer was a thru hiker.

[Tinker]

Who wants to organize the annual event?

[Second Half]

Somewhere I've got the old AT guidebooks from the 60's and I might have one from that section..... that is if I can remember where i put them. I'll do my best to try and find them.

That'd be great if you could, I'd appreciate it.

[shelterbuilder]

...There is also mention of the "Halfway Sycamore", is that somewhere along this route?

Can any of you trail historians critique my re-creation?

Thanks!

According to my copy of the 1973 Guide to the Appalachian Trail In Pennsylvania, "south to north", section 11 Penna. Hwy. 94 (near Mt. Holly Springs) to Allen (Churchtown) on Penna. Hwy. 174:

"mile 9.9 Cross RR tracks, then a castle like house on right. Cross a road and on right is a sycamore tree 19 ft. in circumference, perhaps the largest tree on the A.T." This is about 1 mile before crossing Pa. 74 at a small cemetery.

I can't find my copy of the map that accompanied the guidebook (presumably map #1 issued by the PATC in the early 1970's), but I'll keep looking.

[Groucho]

The roadwalk changed at different times, before 1955 for example it was much closer to Mechanicsburg.

Here is a mapserver topo showing the trails proximity to Mechanicsburg:

http://mapserver.mytopo.com/homepage...latlontype=DMS

Look in bottom left area.

[ki0eh]

Here is a mapserver topo showing the trails proximity to Mechanicsburg:

http://mapserver.mytopo.com/homepage...latlontype=DMS

Look in bottom left area.

North of that crossing with US 11, Lambs Gap Rd has since been redirected around a new strip mall (where the speedway and trailer park were on that quad) so you couldn't even step in those footsteps. It sure would be handy to have a Wegmans right on the trail though, it's about in the midway of the old speedway.

But that map inaccurately refers to the ANST, as the A.T. left that area at least 13 years before the National Trails System Act was enacted. It wouldn't even have gone over White Rocks then, there was an older more direct (and of course easier) route down a hollow between Center Point Knob and the north/lower end of Kuhn Road. (Incidentally the National Park Service just bought this hollow and more in 2011.)

It was the 1954-55 relocation that put Duncannon on the trail - the vector crossing the Conodoguinet on your map and up through Lambs Gap, went to Marysville and then right through downtown Harrisburg (I've seen guides that old tell you which trolleys to take, unfortunately I don't have them).

[max patch]

Accordingly to my 1988 journal I was shocked to read that I wrote that the paved road portion of the Cumberland Road Walk was only about 12 miles (I hiked 22 miles total that day).

I've referred to that stretch as 18 miles over the years - I guess that 12 miles "seemed" like 18.

[Second Half]

According to my copy of the 1973 Guide to the Appalachian Trail In Pennsylvania, "south to north", section 11 Penna. Hwy. 94 (near Mt. Holly Springs) to Allen (Churchtown) on Penna. Hwy. 174:

"mile 9.9 Cross RR tracks, then a castle like house on right. Cross a road and on right is a sycamore tree 19 ft. in circumference, perhaps the largest tree on the A.T." This is about 1 mile before crossing Pa. 74 at a small cemetery.

Thanks! This should help to locate the sycamore--I wonder if it's still there? I may have to make a road trip....

However this info conflicts with what I've found in my research, according to the most detailed journal I've found (from the 1980s), the roadwalk crossed 74 at Leidigh/Old Stonehouse, not at Boiling Springs Rd/174 which is where the cemetery is located.

More research is needed.

Thanks!

[max patch]

My 1985 PA Guide states "Cross PA 74 at a small cemetery."

[The Old Fhart]

Here's a description northbound from my 1931 guidebook. The trail then was east of the line you've drawn.

"In Brandtsville at 57.64 m. turn left on macadam road, pass railroad station on right and store on left. Turn right at 56.74 m. and cross railroad and covered bridge over Yellow Beeches Creek, following macadam road along stream. Turn right at 57.84 m. into dirt road. Pass road on right and schoolhouse at 58.24 m. Turn right at crossroads at 58.64 m. At 59.34 m. take extreme left fork. (Heisey farm; good spring at side of road to right into meadow; old Indian camp ground; many Indian relics have been found in this locality.) Pass faint road on left at 59.94 m. Pass crossroad at 60.14 m. and road on right at 60.34 m. Take right fork at 60.44 m. Pass roads on right at 61.94 m. and left at 62.04 m. At 62.64 m. turn left onto hard-surface road.(Route No. 641 Carlisle to Mechanicsburg. To right, approximately 1.5 miles, lodging and meals may be procured at National Hotel in Mechanicsburg.) Turn right at 62.74 m. into abandoned road, which soon becomes grass-grown. Pass road on left at 63.34 m. At 64.04 m. turn left into Kingston and Mechanicsburg road. Turn right at 64.14 m. into dirt road skirted by A.T. and T. cable line. Cross tracks of Cumberland Valley Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad at 64.34 m. Pass crossroad at 64.44 m., road left at 65.04 m. and road right at 65.24 m. Turn left at 65.44 m. into macadam road. (route No. 114. May be followed to Hodgetown, where accommodations may be obtained at Willow Mills Farm.) "

[EarlyBird2007]

Here are links to three scans, that show a map of the the old Cumberland Valley section of the AT prior to 1991, when it was a roadwalk. FYI, the old Sycamore is alive and well. It is on Leigigh Road, in the vicinity of the intersection with Route 74 (York Road). That area is shown on map 3.

I ride my bicycle in that area quite frequently. Personally, I like the new trail walk much better than the old road walk. However, the old road walk is great to bike on.
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0Bw9...ZWIzYWUy&hl=en

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0Bw9...Yjc2NDc4&hl=en

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0Bw9...N2M5NWU5&hl=en

[Second Half]

Thanks for all the information! I updated my google map based on Early Bird's scans. It looks like Kuhn Rd. didn't exist yet in 1974.

And it appears this may be the Halfway Sycamore:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en...2ceaa37e0df689

[Graywolf]

Nimblewill Nomad mentioned this in his book "Ten Million Steps".. How he missed the road walk and it was very nostalgic...