Minister Creek

I hiked some of the Minister Creek trail for the first time today, a popular trail about 25 miles from town by road and maybe half that as the crow flies, intending to do the North Loop of about six miles. As it turned out the trail, like many trails, was neither well maintained nor well marked, so going clockwise I missed the right turn ( near the top of the map after the apex ) and found myself on the North Country Trail, a thru hikers trail that extends the width of the state. Fortunately it crossed Minister Hill road further on so I realized where I was and turned right to get back to the car. With all the crisscrossing trails and logging roads in these mountains it would have been easy to become lost miles from where I expected to be, and even seasoned locals have embarrassed themselves that way. The trail itself included hard climbs and open woods and passed through some of the sandstone formations that are common around here, a few of which were four story high cliffs left after the land around them eroded away. Like all of the trails in the Allegheny Forest the clay soil had not absorbed the rain water so mud was abundant; in that regard western PA is not the place for new shoes! I think the dog enjoyed the outing as much as I did, and as usual she chased chipmunks and raced ahead or to the sides or fell behind, but always returned to me without calling. She could easily have done another six miles without breathing hard!