The Huckleberries in Quehanna Wilds

The sun was scorching; I mean, I don't mind getting tanned, but I don't like to be cooked! I had hiked in to Kunes Camp in the morning and planned to hike in and around the Beaver Meadows Shallow Water area and check on the huckleberries. All of these places are in the Pennsylvania Wilds section of North central PA, in a place called the Quehanna Wild Area.

Quehanna Wild Area is huge! 1,000's of acres, much of them designated as wilderness (no buildings, man made implements or even improved roads). There are hundreds of miles of trails, including the Quehanna Trail (75 miles long or so) for pure enjoyment. Even better is the near certain solitude when you reach a slight distance off the road.

For a change, I parked on Reactor road and hiked in after chugging a bottle of Gatorade. I was travelling lite, carrying only my camera bag and a couple dry bags to put the huckleberries in.

Remember I said 'nearly certain' you'd be alone? This was one of my unlucky trips to the area, since within mere yards of entering the trail I heard 2 older hikers talking very loudly, coming towards me. Both were carrying cameras. I talked with one of them for a few minutes and listened to him as he told me how disappointed he was that they saw no wildlife, lol. Hmm, I wonder why?

If there is one bad thing about the Quehanna Wilds, it's that food is too plentiful-the wildlife does not need to move around much to find food, so while there is abundant wildlife, it is hard to come across any. The area is large enough that there is plenty of room for both animals and people.

It was about an hour hike in, then another hour hike around the large heath meadow, to get to the beaver dam and the abundant huckleberries. After the two hikers in the beginning of the day, it was a very peaceful trek, complete with the high pitch call of 2 hawks. My attention divided between the beautiful surroundings and the trail ahead (this is  Timber Rattler country), I made good time..

It was a bit late in the day for wildlife viewing, so I busied myself picking over 3 quarts of huckleberries before heading back out, taking a different trail through an area of boulders bigger than your house! I would have spent more time exploring this area, but was rather dehydrated and needed to get back to business. As it was, I got some awesome panoramas, tons of fresh berries, and left my stress for the flies and mosquitoes to feed on!