Originally I was not sure how I wanted to hike this trail. I didn't have the time to do the entire loop so I knew that I would have to either do an out-and-back hike or a smaller loop. I had entertained the thought of placing a bike at the western trailhead that I could use to travel back Eagleton Road to the eastern trailhead and where I would have my car parked. I finally decided on using one of the cross connecting trails, specifically the one that descends along Boiler Run, which would make for a hike of a little over 9 miles.
The trailhead isn't located on the main loop of the trail and you have to hike about a third of a mile in until you meet up with it. The first 4.5 miles of hiking was actually quite easy. This section of the trail is something that you could do with younger children if you had another car parked on down Eagleton Road. I was disappointed as there weren't any vistas along this section of the trail, but the trail itself was free of obstacles, wasn't rocky at all, and the gradual ascent wasn't even noticeable.
After meeting up with the main trail loop at 0.3 miles I continued to hike for almost another mile before the trail crossed over Eagleton Road. Along this stretch I did get an opportunity to have a close encounter with a white tailed deer. Most of my encounters in the woods with deer are typically of me watching their tail get smaller and smaller as they bound away from me. In this case the deer actually ran towards me, to the right of the trail, and stopped about 100 feet directly to my right. I was able to to snap a quick picture of it before it continued on it's way down the mountainside.
Once I crossed Eagleton Road the trail meets up with a power line and follows the clearing for about a tenth of a mile before it bears to the left and back into the woods. Once in the woods again the trail meanders on for another 1.5 miles before you once again cross Eagleton Road. One thing that I particularly like about this trail is that it often meandered. One thing that I don't like is when a trail is blazed through the woods in a straight line. I like when the trail will weave in and around the trees as it makes it way through the forest. This is exactly what this trail did and it made the hiking experience even more enjoyable for me. I saw another deer while hiking this 1.5 mile section, but it was quite a ways away from me and I didn't have the opportunity to get a clear picture of it.
Once I crossed the Eagleton Road for the second time I saw more deer. There were two deer that I startled as I hiked along the trail and both were gone before I could even get my camera out of it's bag. This was the most deer that I've seen on all the hikes that I've done and thought to myself that if I hunted I'd probably considering coming up here to hunt this winter.
I crossed Eagleton Road for the third time at 4.5 miles into the hike. At about 4.4 miles the trail turned to the right to avoid a piece of privately owned land. At this turn in the trail was the juncture with the Boiler Run Connector. I followed the Boiler Run connector across Eagleton Road and met up with a dirt forest road at 4.7 miles.
For the next 1.7 miles I had an easy hike on this forest road as it paralleled Boiler Run. Boiler Run was quite picturesque and I took many opportunities to stop and take photos. Finally at 6.4 miles into the hike Boiler Run met up with the Left Branch Boiler Run. There was a camp at this intersection and this was where the connector trail met back up with the Eagleton Mine Camp Trail. I turned left onto the main trail and started my first real ascent of the day.
Over the next 0.6 miles I climbed 400 feet to a ridge top. This section of the trail is also known as the Bootlegger Trail and there was a supposed still that operated on top of this ridge. The still was operated by a
Prince Farrington, a legendary prohibition-era bootlegger. After hiking for about 0.2 miles across the top of the ridge I began a descent into Buckhorn Hollow.
There is a small stream that runs down Buckhorn Hollow and the trail crossed it on a newly built bridge before beginning another ascent. Even though this ascent was rather steep for the first tenth of a mile, it soon began to traverse across the face of the ridge, for which I was happy because it was getting quite hot and humid at this point of the hike. It was along this section of the trail that I was treated to the only vista of the entire hike. It wasn't much of a vista, but it did allow you to look down on Buckhorn Hollow and across to the ridge top beyond.
At 8 miles into the hike the trail began to follow the remains of an old railroad grade. This was the railroad grade that connected the mines at Eagleton with Lock Haven. The railroad grade made for nice hiking even when the trail left the grade to go across the top of spoil piles located along the grade.
After changing direction three times on the railroad grade switchbacks the trail left the railroad grade and followed an abandoned forest road back towards Eagleton Road. This was the fourth and last time that I would cross this road. At 8.8 mile I turned right off the main trail, completing the loop, and headed back to my car parked at the trailhead.
The entire hike was a little over 9.1 miles and I was satisfied with my respectable hiking time of 3 hours and 20 minutes. I still have 13 miles of the main trail to hike. I may consider doing this as an overnighter later on in the year. I had not seen any established campsites but seeing as how the trail has only officially been open for less than a month, my guess is that there aren't any campsites.
My experience with this section of the Eagleton Mine Camp Trail was quite favorable. I would definitely recommend hiking this trail if you have a chance. With the entire trail being a 20 mile loop it could quite easily be done as a weekend hiking trip. Rumor has it that the trail will be expanding in the future. Additional side trails, expansion of the loop, and connectors will probably be announced in the upcoming years. It looks like the Eagleton Camp Mine Trail has the making of being another Pennsylvania must-hike trail destination.
A small waterfall located just off the trail as I descended into Buckhorn Hollow.
The last mile or so of hiking is done along an old railroad grade. I was amazed to see the amount of earth that was moved to build this railroad grade.
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