I’m always looking for loop hikes. I’ve hiked this one 3 times in the last month. Well, that’s not exactly true. The first time, we were searching for it. The second time, I hiked it out Wolf Run and back Browns Hollow. The third time, we went out Browns Hollow and back on Wolf Run Road.
This trail is inside of Allegany State Park, but not any of the areas that are on the park maps.
The Wolf Run Road area was a busy saw mill community in the 1800s. I imagine all the hillsides were “shaved” off as all the usable timber was harvested and farms were established. It wasn’t until the 1920s and later that reforestation projects were undertaken.
As you hike today, you sometimes come across remnants of the hand of man in the park.
The Creek in Browns Hollow
I can’t imagine what this structure might have been used for. Here are more views of it:
This stump was interesting:
Views of the creek and the old road:
Did you notice this in the previous photo?
We recognized this fork from the first time we got “lost” in this area:
The road climbs toward the North Country / Finger Lakes Trail:
The section between mile 2 and 3 is very muddy and slippery. It gets a little better when you are back on Wolf Run Road. Here’s a few just before coming out of the woods and into the more open area:
All along Wolf Run Road, you can see places where there must have been homes, businesses, and even a school.
This is my favorite picture from the last hike:
The end…
I like the stone step where the school used to be. I’ll have to check out Brown’s Hollow.
Thank you for this very peaceful post on this hectic local election scenes, how nice to come home after midnight and Indulge in this missive w a nice piece of dark chocolate.
Oh, John. First, I’m glad I was able to give you something calming after a hectic day. Now my mouth is watering for dark chocolate.
email: Jennifer.Schlick@gmail.com website: JenniferScottSchlick.com
On Wed, Nov 4, 2015 at 12:46 AM, A Passion for Nature wrote:
>
The old cement walls in the picture are part of the barn belonging to the Brown family whose
home was across the trail on the south side.At the top of the ridge there is an USGS marker
stating The “Brown farm”.this is on the highest point between Brown run and Peters run.
If you look closely along the trail,you can see where the old farmhouse used to be it is framed
by some very tall spruce trees.Several years ago [65] I can remember being able to drive up
Wolf run road and cross the PA.line going down into Coon run.
Thank you for the history!! I know exactly where the VERY tall spruce trees are. I’ll have to poke around for the house foundation. I was also thinking of heading to that USGS marker one of these days.
email: Jennifer.Schlick@gmail.com website: JenniferScottSchlick.com
On Sun, Nov 8, 2015 at 10:04 PM, A Passion for Nature wrote:
>
Wonderful pictures! I love seeing the remains of old buildings after nature has reclaimed them – thanks for sharing these!
– Cynthia