Hammersley Wild Area?

[Speedogomer]

After planning this trip 3 times now and falling through hopefully will be there Sept 9th for a 2 night trip. We will probably take george's advice and park in cross fork. The other option we might do is head farther north, aND hit the twin sisters trail and hike south to the Hammersley pool.

Any more advice or tips are appreciated.

[Hobbit]

Greetings from Potter County. I am with the STC Suquehannock Trail Club and the Hammersley is one of the sections of the STS that I help maintain. The Twin Sisters Trail ends north at a parking area on Red Ridge Road. On some maps this road is called Big Springs Road. It connects between McConnell and Windfall roads.

The drive to this parking area is not too bad coming in from the Cross Fork Creek road to the Windfall Road to the Red Ridge Road. They are narrow but in good shape, not rutted from logging or gas company heavy equipment. The McConnell road is always a guess to the condition of the road or what vehicles you will meet coming from the other direction. The Red Ridge road is not used much and can be rough but coming in from Windfall Road it was fairly smooth earlier this year.

The Twin Sisters trail was trimmed and cleaned up last fall with new yellow blazes so its not too bad to follow now all the way to its signed junction with the Elk Horn trail part of the STS that descends off the plateau to the Hammersley stream and valley. Even still you will see older different colored blazes and side trail markings of paths that really don't exist. Just follow the yellow and stay on the plateau. The Vista of the Twin Sister hollows is worth the walk in. There is one good spring for water up on top that the Twin Sisters Trail crosses. This is about a mile north of the junction with the STS/Elk Horn junction. So the Twin Sisters is a dry trail from the Red Ridge Road parking on down.

Dont know if you were planning a loop back to the parking via the STS in the valley or not. It can be done via gas line or cross country work up near the Black Mark Hollow area. Lots of options.

Chris

[Speedogomer]

Thanks for the info Hobbit, great advice. I may pm you with more questions as the trip approaches.

[Hobbit]

Glad to help out any way I can to help you have a successful trip. Been hiking back and forth across the Hammersley for several years now. My interest in family history drew me to the area. My grandparents and mom grew up in Cross Fork and Windfall Road area. Grandfather worked at Ole Bull State Park when it was the CCC early 30's.
Chris