Tuesday, May 24th, 2022 … Two Lane Adventures Continue!

Gary & Sheryl, Bob (my brother) & Ellen, Shelia and Charlie & I took a trip to the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. It is also referred to as the Pine Creek Gorge, stretches for over 45 miles with depths of nearly 1500 feet. The dynamic topography of the PA Grand Canyon creates many scenic wonders, including steep canyon walls and waterfalls.

The PA Grand Canyon State Park areas display spectacular views. Colton Point on the west rim and Leonard Harrison on the east rim of the canyon. We headed to Leonard Harrison to view it from their overlooks.

George Washington Sears, an early conservationist who wrote under the pen name "Nessmuk", was one of the first to criticize Pennsylvania lumbering and its destruction of forests and creeks. Sears lived in Wellsboro from 1844 until his death in 1890, and was the first to describe the Pine Creek Gorge. He also described a trip to what became Leonard Harrison State Park: after a 6-mile buggy ride, he then had to hike 7 miles through tangles of fallen trees and branches, down ravines, and over banks for five hours. At least he reached "The Point", which he wrote was "the jutting terminus of a high ridge which not only commands a capital view of the opposite mountain, but also of the Pine Creek Valley, up and down for miles".

The creation of the park was the work of Leonard Harrison, a former lumberman and businessman from Wellsboro who owned a substantial amount of land in the Pine Creek Gorge. In the 1890s Harrison operated a sawmill at Tiadaghton in the middle of the gorge, which was supplied with logs, not by train as was most common in that era, but by a log slide built into the side of the gorge. The log slide was used on a year-round basis: during the winter the logs slid down on ice; following the snowmelt the slide was greased to ease the descent of the logs. After the village and the mill were destroyed by a fire, Harrison turned his attention to tourism. He purchased 121 acres of land at the site of the current park in 1906, then developed this land, known as "The Lookout", and invited the public to enjoy the beauty of Pine Creek Gorge. Harrison donated the picnic grounds to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1922.

Beautiful flowers throughout the park!

Although the park was donated to the state, the Wellsboro Chamber of Commerce made initial improvements there and operated it for the first two decades. Elsewhere in the gorge the state bought land abandoned by lumber companies, sometimes for less than $2 per acre. Except for the adjoining Colton Point State Park, this land became the Tioga State Forest, which was officially established in 1925 and lies just north and south of the park. As of 2008 the state forest encompasses 160,000 acres, mostly in Tioga County.

After our tour of the park, Charlie, Sheila, Gary & Sheryl did some errand running in Wellsboro. My brother, Ellen and I had to get a nail out of his tire. The shop was closed, so we had a light lunch at the Wellsboro diner.

We enjoyed the rest of the day at the campground relaxing and talking. We had a chili dinner, a campfire and a great sunset!

Stay tuned for more of our Two Lane Adventures!

I forgot to share the one piece of private property with a house on it at the base of the gorge! No electric ....