Pine Creek Gorge, Northern PA: September 2001
Hey Campbell, Want to go Fishing?
Maybe we should have asked if he wanted to go hiking instead. This was our second trip to Pine Creek and Jason and I figured Mike would have a great time. I'm pretty sure we were right. Pretty sure.
I'm not sure why we thought we needed the room, but we borrowed Todd's Suburban, loaded it to the brim with fishing, camping, biking and even golfing gear. We stayed at Pettecote Junction Campground in the town of Cedar Run and fished Pine Creek and Cedar Run.
Honestly, this trip was over 11 years ago so the details are a bit fuzzy. But I do clearly remember hiking for HOURS, after fishing all morning, as Jason led us down miles of gravel roads in search of the campground. We did eventually make it back and Mike didn't die, so that was good. Do you know what its like to hike four miles in rubber pants that come all the way up to your nipples? Yup, its like that.
I'm not sure why we thought we needed the room, but we borrowed Todd's Suburban, loaded it to the brim with fishing, camping, biking and even golfing gear. We stayed at Pettecote Junction Campground in the town of Cedar Run and fished Pine Creek and Cedar Run.
Honestly, this trip was over 11 years ago so the details are a bit fuzzy. But I do clearly remember hiking for HOURS, after fishing all morning, as Jason led us down miles of gravel roads in search of the campground. We did eventually make it back and Mike didn't die, so that was good. Do you know what its like to hike four miles in rubber pants that come all the way up to your nipples? Yup, its like that.
Pine Creek certainly is a beautiful place to fish.
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Cedar Run is small, cold, and full of wild trout.
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Has Anyone Even Heard of Bar-S Bacon?
Camping was .... interesting. We definitely didn't plan or even think about what we needed. We just grabbed some stuff and went. Over the years we have become much more organized in our approach to fishing trips, but I've got to say there is something freeing about jumping in the car and going, come what may .... even half raw bacon.
Pine Creek is nice because you can hike up Cedar Run catching wild trout, or use the bike path along Pine to access miles and miles of good fishing water. South of the campground about 10 miles is the town of Slate Run where the famous fly-fishing only creek of the same name flows into the Pine. The only down side about having so much water to fish is that sometimes its hard to find the best places. We did catch fish, but not too many.
Pine Creek is nice because you can hike up Cedar Run catching wild trout, or use the bike path along Pine to access miles and miles of good fishing water. South of the campground about 10 miles is the town of Slate Run where the famous fly-fishing only creek of the same name flows into the Pine. The only down side about having so much water to fish is that sometimes its hard to find the best places. We did catch fish, but not too many.
Jason caught this nice wild brown trout from Cedar Run
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 I caught this great little brookie on a small Rooster Tail |
The Pine Barrens
It might be beautiful up there, but the fishing was kind of tough. Trout were so hard to come by that Jason took to calling it The Pine Barrens. I can understand his sentiment as we literally hiked, biked, and waded many miles every day in search of fish. We would fish, hard, for hours at a time to catch maybe one trout. That area might be barren of fish, but its certainly fertile with beauty.
The bike trail south of Cedar Run offers tremendous views
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The mountains are spectacular
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Looking down on the Pine a few miles north of the campground
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An old train bridge just north of the campground along the bike trail
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