Ledges on the Ridge

For well over 40 years I’ve looked at some outcropped ledges on a hogback ridge along northcentral Pennsylvania's Pine Creek. And for well over 40 years I’ve said to myself, “Self, you’ve got to climb up there to see the view from those ledges.”

Well, I finally did it last fall, after almost all of the leaves had fallen and the colors were gone. That I should have done it earlier in the year when the fall colors were at their best goes without saying – as does the fact that I should have gone up there years ago.

The trail to the ledges leaves the Pine Creek rail-trail below the village of Ramsey. Before the great increase in recreation along Pine Creek, there was but a faint trail up the hill but now the route has a name – Stonecutters Trail – and paint blazes –

The route follows the old road by which flagstone was brought down from a sidehill quarry –

The flagstone became sidewalks and curbs in urban areas before the quarry was abandoned about 100 years ago. The old quarry isn’t very large but has an interesting cut spanned by a large slab of flagstone –

Once past the old quarry the trail is but a footpath –

After a couple of switchbacks the trail heads straight up the end of the hogback ridge –

Passing rock outcrops and ledges along the way –

Those outcrops are of a fine-grained sandstone, sometimes called siltstone, that were laid down on the bottom of a shallow sea and are highly fractured –

Eventually the trail reaches the top of the ridge –

And approaches the ledges at the end of the ridge –

Where there are views to the east across Pine Creek and into the valley of Ramsey Run –

And to the north up the Pine Creek Valley –

Unfortunately, it was one of those gray sky days so the photos leave much to be desired. Now it was time to head back down the trail, and follow an easier, longer route back to the Pine Creek rail-trail.