Rim to Rim in Leonard Harrison to Coulton Point and back in the Pennsylvania State Parks.

Here is a little history of the two parks that I thought others would want to know.

Leonard Harrison he was a local lumberman and developed this area at first to be a public picnic ground and was called “The Lookout”. It later became what it is today a beautiful testament to the preservation of public lands for all generations to enjoy. This park was founded in 1922 and sprawls 585 acres. If you want to know more here is the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) website Leonard Harrison SP

The other park is Colton State Park names for Henry Colton, and he was a local lumberman. Established in 1936 this is a 368-acre park. For more information follow this link Colton Harrison SP

I packed up the Soob and headed easterly to the campground. I stayed at Leonard Harrison campground. It’s nice and clean with hot showers that are free.

Now mind you, this campground does not give you privacy between you and the next camper. It’s nice, don’t get me wrong. It’s safe and every time I have been there the complete strangers have been most pleasant.

I knew going into this that the threat of rain all day Saturday was real and that my creek crossing maybe a no go if she was too high.

I left the chateau at 0800 and drove nearly 5 hours to the campsite. I showed up early and the DCNR was nice enough to allow me to set up camp early. I would fight a little bit of rain putting up the foul weather porch and then finally setting up my MSR Hubba Bubba II (first generation). As I was unpacking of course thinking when this was going to end. The gear coming out of the Soob was like clowns coming out of a clown car at the circus.

It was muggy and believe it or not it wasn’t as buggy as I thought it was going to be.

I noticed I was blessed by an apple in front of my camp site. This would draw the bugs to the fermented apples and keep the bugs from bugging me.

I completed the set-up of Chateau Sonder and began to figure out a game plan for the rest of the evening.

I noticed a group of people across the way, and they were putting up their tarp. Now mind you this tarp was let’s see maybe 40 feet x 30 feet I am guessing. Looked like something out of the show Breaking Bad how they used to bag up drug houses to stop the smell from getting out in the neighborhood.

I was watching the campers across the way putting together their basecamp. To protect the innocent, I will use the cast from “How to Train Your Dragon”. We have Tuffnut, Snotlout, Hiccup, and Astrid.  Come to find out they have never camped before as a group and we will just say it was a wee comical.

I was watching Tuffnut struggling to hook up a corner of the tarp to a tree. Now, mind you he has on crocs and had one foot resting on the tree and the ball of his foot on the plastic rail of the bed of the truck. I just envisioned him slipping and Tuffnut would have been eating bark.

I offered my assistance and helped them make a knotted rabbit ear to pull against to secure it with the wire that they had to the tree. They were very grateful for the assistance, and I could not stand by and watch them struggle.

I would learn that they are from Canada hence the Viking, Dane, or Norse fictional characters chosen to protect them lol.

I went on Saturday night to take photos of the sunset, and I would not be disappointed.

The storm clouds parted, and I was able to get some nice shots. I don't know why it had turned out this way sometimes it’s just nice to be lucky.   

Saturday comes and goes, and Sunday was gameday

I woke up at 0600 on Sunday with my game face on. I ate my cliff bars n utilized my coffee press and headed out to hike from rim to rim.  

This hike would also include a creek crossing. I would need to cross the big pine two times this day. I packed some snacks "very important", 70 oz of water, wading boots with carbide cleats, trekking poles, and my waders.  

My only nightmare was going to be if she was too high to cross. I gauged from the lack of rain overnight that she was going to be fine.   

The fog blanketed the area so well it made the gorge invisible. I began to ascend into the gorge and only one other person was on the trail at this time.  The top of the gorge here was at 1823.5 feet.

The trail has several switch backs. The park also has plenty of pressure treated walkways and stairs. Did I mention stairs. The pressure treated monsters would wreak havoc on my pace on my return leg.   

I arrived at the bottom of the gorge she was at an elevation of 1108.7 feet, and it was so beautiful and peaceful.  

I sat upon a large rock and took it all in and started to read the water. I read it to pick the best path to cross the creek.   

I crossed her without much trouble, changed out of my waders and some folks looked at me like I was from another planet. I waved at them and disappeared into the woods for the other quarter of the hike.

On this side of the Valley it was Colton Point State Park. The trail is a little treacherous and narrow because of erosion and lack of trail care IMHO. Not that you will get seriously injured, but you need to pay close attention. So up I went.  

After some tricky footing I arrived at its western rim at an elevation of 1777 feet.

The cool morning and being in the shade I stopped sweating and I did not have to pee both not good signs since I have been drinking water like a camel!

I hiked back down into the gorge and did the creek crossing. They looked at me in awe, I guess, and I laughed and yelled “what”. lol

I swapped my gear and began the trek up. I was automatically faced with all those dang stairs! I was halfway up the stairs realize I am out of water. I sh!t I though so at this point I am sweating and my ball cap is covered in sweat. This is a good thing meaning my core is letting out heat and the sweat glands have not shut down to conserve water.

I have a mile to go out of this small canyon. So, I began with a pace of and really was vocal with my breathing so they would hear me and move out of the way. I did not want to stop, and this would get me to a water spigot as steady as I could be. Controlling my breathing and swinging my arms in cadence with my feet I was off to finish this hike.

It was 1.3 miles with no water and that’s not smart at all, poor planning on my behalf. I will be purchasing a 3-liter reservoir soon.  It took me 37 minutes to climb out of there and it felt like an eternity, but I made it. The secret for me was never to stop.  The percentage grade according to my Garmin was 9% with an average moving speed of 2.08 mph.

I got back to the chateau and walked slowly to cool down and drank a few bottles of water slowly.

The clan was away for the day doing their thing.  I got a nice hot shower, changed clothes and went into town for some items.

I was on a mission to have a fire tonight.  I returned to the hooch with wood, newspaper, and some small kindling.

I warmed up some chili and the clan from across the way makes it back to their camp. They were sunburnt some other toastier than others.

I ate my chili and then started my fire. She looked good when I got her going.

Tuffnut asked me if I was hungry earlier, and I said I had eaten already.  The food smelled of amazing tacos and yummy veggies.

At this time Snotlout has barely started to drink and was coherent at this point in the game, but this would change in a few hours.

Well I am getting ahead of myself but their was a need for my first aid skills and my Navy Seal – Corpsman “from my friend Bob ( I miss you buddy)” first aid kit was needed.

To describe why let’s just say that Tuffnut well was careless with an axe and was extremely lucky, and that Astrid well decided to attempt a digging move like she was playing beach volleyball. Well, it was not a beach of sand she tried this with but a beach of creek rocks! After I filled a little ziplock bag of ice she had Hiccup to give her aid, and all was good.

They were a great group and a laugh a minute.

They were very grateful for my help, and I was just glad all in all they were ok.

They were extremely nice and asked me to eat with them, but I had already eaten chili at that point. I soon caved into their wonderful smelling chow.

Funny fact they had all these Rump sings with them and one CVS walk-in Covid shot signs. They were hilarious to say the least and it gets better. They were afraid that they did not have enough tent stakes, so they improvised. These signs have small steel rods that are the signs supports.

They took as many as they thought they would need and decided to display the rest around their compound!

So, back Snotlout status and some burnt a$$ popcorn that Hiccup was close to salivating over was trashed. It caught fire I think three times and was ruined.

Astrid tried to pull the charred popcorn out of Snotlouts hands, but he was determined to eat it all.   By this time, he was so drunk we will say he was out of it.

We laughed and I am sure annoyed the entire campground, but it was fun. I know I am leaving out a bunch, but those memories will be posted later maybe.

I hope you enjoy the photos and the write up!

Be well,

Sonder