Heberly Run

This was another of a long succession of cloudless blue sky days; Trudi the dog thought it was a great afternoon for a hike (and who could resist that face?).

So, the dog and I went to Heberly Run, to a valley that I haven’t visited since 1983 – time sure does fly. Heberly Run arises on the Allegheny Plateau of northcentral Pennsylvania, although some folks would argue that it’s actually in the northeastern part of the state. The entire watershed is on State Game Land #13, and so is open to the public for hiking, hunting, fishing and just plain enjoying the outdoors.

One hundred years after the lumber company that had once owned the land sawed the last log at its mill in Jamison City, the forest and the streams have mostly recovered. The original grandeur of the old growth forest is gone, but the new forest is beautiful and signs of the old logging operations are hard to find.

The Heberly Run watershed has a number of waterfalls, some on the main stream and others on tributaries. We started walking where Heberly Run joins the larger Fishing Creek and proceeded up Heberly.

The first waterfall is Big Falls, the highest (34 feet) on the stream. Unfortunately, a crystal clear blue sky day isn’t the best for photographing waterfalls, especially when the stream’s course means that parts of the falls may be in full frontal sunshine.  

 

Next up is Lower Twin Falls and then Upper Twin Falls (except the falls really aren’t twins, they’re just close together) –

We only had time to get to Lewis Falls with its circular plunge pool, what in my opinion is the prettiest waterfall of the three, before turning around and heading back downstream –

Heberly Run and its tributaries have waterfalls beyond counting, some fairly large, some small, but all beautiful. With its steep hillsides, cliffs, wet slippery rocks and wild character Heberly Run isn’t a place for those not prepared to take some chances and bear the consequences – the dog with her four feet, claws and low center of gravity had it easy.