Tiadaghton Trail Challenge

WELCOME!

Are you ready to hit the trails? Tiadaghton State Forest awaits. Get stoked to have the time of your life in the beautiful Pine Creek Valley, The Heart of the PA Wilds. We are excited for the 7th annual Tiadaghton Trail Challenge and it's sure to be a fantastic event. Choose between the challenging Half Marathon or 10K option. The course will take runners on technical, rocky and moss covered trails with heart breaking climbs and quad busting descents. Amazing scenery will include vistas, dark hemlock and oak forest areas, trout streams and small cascading waterfalls. Aid stations will be fully stocked with your typical trail fuel! Awards will be given to first male and female overall winners. There will be sweet swag for all pre-registered racers. Hang out afterwards and enjoy some great food at the post-race celebration.

Registration

Bib pick up begins at 7:30:am Event pricing and start times are as follows: Half Marathon - $65 Start time -9:00 am 10k - $50 Start time- 10:30 am Cut off times for the Half Marathon: Intersection of Lower Pine Bottom and Route 44 12:05 Aid station at the top of Eiger 1:05 NO REFUNDS NO DEFERRALS NO BIB TRANSFERS NO BANDITS NO SAME DAY REGISTRATION

10K Course Description

The 10k course is a loop that begins and ends at the Tiadaghton State Forest Resource Management Center, just outside of Waterville, PA. The course will begin near the office building and descend to State Route PA- 44 at the entrance to the office (intersection of Lower Pine Bottom Road and PA- 44). From here runners will take a right and proceed along PA- 44 to the Waterville Recreational Access for the Pine Creek Rail Trail, where runners will pick up the Old Wagon Road. The Old Wagon Road was the original road used to travel along Pine Creek’s corridor (when riding horses and horse- pulled wagons was still the hippest way to travel. The Wagon Road is now a shared use trail that was re-established for trail users by the Jersey Shore Outdoor Club and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR ). The course then proceeds along the Old Wagon Road with views of Pine Creek to the left and the steep hillside of Huntley Mountain to your right. This trail is gently rolling, but it has numerous softball - sized rocks making the trail slightly more technical than you might otherwise expect. Shale outcrops dot the hillside along with old grades that were used to access timber and rock quarries in the late nineteenth century. After about 1.6 miles, runners will take a right and ascend the Gleason Trail. The Gleason Trail is about .75 miles from bottom to top, and it is an unrelenting ascent. The trail is rocky, narrow, and steep. Be thankful that you’re ascending this bugger. Shortly after turning onto the Gleason Trail, be sure to look to your left to view the remnants of the large stone quarry across the stream. Then, follow the red blazes to the top of Huntley Mountain, where the Gleason Trail joins the Tiadaghton Trail. Turn right on the Tiadaghton Trail. The Tiadaghton Trail on Huntley Mountain provides easy running for a while, and the leafless trees in November will provide great views across the valley along its corridor. The Tiadaghton Trail was originally constructed by the Boy Scouts of America in the mid- twentieth century. Scouts working out of Camp Kline maintained a trail loop that allowed scouts to hike from the camp (Bonnell Flats) to Little Pine State Park and back, using the current Tiadaghton Trail and what later became the Mid State Trail (and parts of the Houselander Trail). After years of being abandoned, numerous volunteers and volunteer organizations (including the Jersey Shore Outdoor Club) in cooperation DCNR reconstructed the trail. Continue along the yellow blazed trail and descend from the top of Huntley along the old fire tower road, before veering onto single track to return to the Pine Creek Rail Trail parking lot in Waterville. Once you’ve returned to the Old Wagon Road, take a left and continue back to PA- 44 via the Pine Creek Rail Trail. Take a right on PA - 44 and follow PA - 44 back to the Tiadaghton Resource Management Center.

Half Course Description

The half marathon course is a loop that begins and ends at the Tiadaghton State Forest Resource Management Center, just outside of Waterville, PA. Participants running the Half Marathon course split off from the 10k (see course description above) at the ridge of Huntley Mountain by adding a brand new 2 mile loop that will take runners to the highest point of the mountain. Participants will run by the ruins of an old fire tower observation tower and experience a new vista along a right of way. This new loop will come as some relief as it is the least technical and steep section of the course, and a great opportunity to make up some time. Upon closing the loop, runners will descend a series of switchbacks back on the Tiadaghton Trail, which will return them to the Waterville Rail Trail Access parking lot and will branch off upon the return to Lower Pine Bottom Road and continue their journey back onto the Tiadaghton Trail, towards Ramsey. From there, they will ascend the newly introduced Eiger Trail, alias “The Quadfather ''. The name Eiger pays homage to the Eiger Mountain of the Bernese Alps, while the unofficially dubbed “Quadfather'' should indicate where the strain of the 1,000ft climb will feel most localized. Eiger was the third leg of a three phase project by DCNR that utilized old quarry grades into recreational trails. At the summit of Eiger, racers will be rewarded with a view of the pulchritudinous Bull Run Vista, but shouldn’t dally for too long! There is still quite a stretch ahead. Proceeding, runners will link up with the Log Slide Trail. As the name implies, this trail was revitalized from old logging grades from the turn of the century. Imagine how steep a grade must be to be able to slide a log down the 1 mile face of a mountain, then you will have a pretty good idea of what to expect descending this trail. Upon reaching the bottom, runners will backtrack onto Lower Pine Bottom, hanging a left, and follow the gravel road roughly one mile before reaching the final climb… the Wolf Path. There will be one small stream crossing leading up to the ascent of Wolf Path. There is nothing gradual about this trail; racers will feel the brunt of this 800ft climb almost immediately. Halfway through, the trail will conjoin with a dried stream bed, perhaps one of the more technical sections of the course. Upon summiting, runners will link up with Middle Hill Road and follow the Middle Hill Trail back to the DCNR building. Similar to the descent off Tiadaghton, Middle Hill is a screaming and unrestrained series of sharp twists and turns that will have you throwing your hands in the air and smiling your way to the finish.

Proceeds

About The Tiadaghton Trail - In Memory of Kasey Kemmerer The Jersey Shore High School Outdoor Club in 2009 took on the project of re-opening a hiking trail in the Tiadaghton Forest. The club decided in that year to dedicate work on the trail to two former members of the Outdoor Club who tragically passed away in the summer of 2009. The Tiadaghton Trail had not been officially mapped or declared a viable trail since 1973. The possibility of re-opening the Tiadaghton Trail would provide one of the very few looped trails in North Central PA. The trail is approximately a 25 mile loop and goes from Ramsey Village to Little Pine State Park using both sides of the creek, and providing beautiful vistas and challenging terrain.. All proceeds from this trail race will benefit the Kasey Jack Kemmerer Memorial Scholarship Fund that selects at least one graduating senior from Jersey Shore Area High School to receive a financial scholarship each year.