evw659
Member
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2010
- Messages
- 455
My brother, his girlfriend, and i went to sproul state forest for some backpack camping/ small stream fishing. we were in the burns run wild area from the 14 to the 16.
Day 1:
i worked 9-3:30 on saturday the 14 and we left cambria county around 4 and arrived at the trailhead to the chuck keiper trail at about 6 or so. we locked the car and began traversing down the very steep trail and ended up following a trib called owl run the whole way down to burns run. we had to move quickly because we were running out of daylight in the thick forest. in our haste, i nearly stepped on a 4-5 foot rattlesnake that was just sitting on the trail in a very steep section. we made it to burns run and my stomach sank when i saw a 20-25 foot wide bone dry streambed. i was astonished that in a watershed of this size, there is absolutely no water at all. i figured there had to be a sinkhole upstream somewhere and was hoping the stream would come back up somewhere close downstream. this was slightly above the confluence of owl run. we walked downstream and found some water in the stream from owl run. the stream was little more than a trickle at our first campsite. we got camp set up just before dark and i made a couple casts and got one 7-8" native on a dry.
Day 2:
the weather outlook was pretty bad before we left with a 70 percent chance of rain saturday night and all day sunday. so at about 11 am we packed up and moved downstream in hope that the stream would "resurface". we hiked about 1/4 to 1/2 of a mile downstream and found a very nice campsite overlooking the biggest pool we had seen yet on this stream. we noticed that this section of stream had two or 3 times the water than it had a little ways upstream so i fugured it must have resurfaced. we set up at this location, made a fire, and ended up swimming in the big pool. i didnt take a water temp, but it was no more than 50 degrees. it just about knocked the wind out of me when i jumped in. at about 3 or 4 in the afternoon, we decided to chase some natives. we were almost ready to go and then the sky opened up. it rained for about 2 hours, and brought the stream up a little. we only had about an hour and a half to fish before dark, so we headed downstream and were greeted with some of the best brookie water i have seen in a while. i didnt fish very hard( we were teaching my brothers gf how to flyfish and she even caught one!!) i caught around 7 or 8 fish and lost one monster in the 10 or 11 range. the fish were the most beautiful i have ever seen. i forgot my camera in the tent and couldnt get any pics of the fish, so we had to settle for mental photographs of the fish and scenery. we made it back just before dark, so i grabbed my camera and made a couple casts, and got a couple trout pics.
day 3: i had work at 5 on monday so we left camp early in the morning. we had to hike about a mile and a half or two miles and go up about 1200 feet in elevation. it was a pretty rough hike out with 30-40 pound packs on. as we started the the steep ascension up owl run, i was breaking trail and was taking in the beautiful scenery, when i unknowingly stepped right over a very large adult rattlesnake. my brother yelled in panic after i stepped over it, and i unknowingly jumped back over the snake, as i thought it was it was infront of me, because i never saw it. its a good thing we had a cold rain the night before, because that snake never moved an inch. we made it back to car and headed home. the hike back took about 2 hours or so.
caution: this area is very remote and is littered with rattlesnakes. be very careful if you go into this area. access is very difficult. there is no roads at the mouth of the stream, and we took the easiest way to get to the stream, which was a 1200 foot desension. you almost have to camp to be able to effectively fish this stream. hope you enjoy the pics.
]our starting point on the ckt[/url]
]headwaters of owl run[/url]
]see the rattlesnake?[/url]
href="http://s576.photobucket.com/albums/ss204/evw659/?action=view¤t=DSCN0937.jpg" target="_blank">
]pool above our first campsite. about 20 natives in this pool.[/url]
]pool above our second campsite[/url]
]big pool by our second campsite[/url]
]clinton county native[/url]
]salamander[/url]
]very clean water in this stream[/url]
]colorful trout[/url]
Day 1:
i worked 9-3:30 on saturday the 14 and we left cambria county around 4 and arrived at the trailhead to the chuck keiper trail at about 6 or so. we locked the car and began traversing down the very steep trail and ended up following a trib called owl run the whole way down to burns run. we had to move quickly because we were running out of daylight in the thick forest. in our haste, i nearly stepped on a 4-5 foot rattlesnake that was just sitting on the trail in a very steep section. we made it to burns run and my stomach sank when i saw a 20-25 foot wide bone dry streambed. i was astonished that in a watershed of this size, there is absolutely no water at all. i figured there had to be a sinkhole upstream somewhere and was hoping the stream would come back up somewhere close downstream. this was slightly above the confluence of owl run. we walked downstream and found some water in the stream from owl run. the stream was little more than a trickle at our first campsite. we got camp set up just before dark and i made a couple casts and got one 7-8" native on a dry.
Day 2:
the weather outlook was pretty bad before we left with a 70 percent chance of rain saturday night and all day sunday. so at about 11 am we packed up and moved downstream in hope that the stream would "resurface". we hiked about 1/4 to 1/2 of a mile downstream and found a very nice campsite overlooking the biggest pool we had seen yet on this stream. we noticed that this section of stream had two or 3 times the water than it had a little ways upstream so i fugured it must have resurfaced. we set up at this location, made a fire, and ended up swimming in the big pool. i didnt take a water temp, but it was no more than 50 degrees. it just about knocked the wind out of me when i jumped in. at about 3 or 4 in the afternoon, we decided to chase some natives. we were almost ready to go and then the sky opened up. it rained for about 2 hours, and brought the stream up a little. we only had about an hour and a half to fish before dark, so we headed downstream and were greeted with some of the best brookie water i have seen in a while. i didnt fish very hard( we were teaching my brothers gf how to flyfish and she even caught one!!) i caught around 7 or 8 fish and lost one monster in the 10 or 11 range. the fish were the most beautiful i have ever seen. i forgot my camera in the tent and couldnt get any pics of the fish, so we had to settle for mental photographs of the fish and scenery. we made it back just before dark, so i grabbed my camera and made a couple casts, and got a couple trout pics.
day 3: i had work at 5 on monday so we left camp early in the morning. we had to hike about a mile and a half or two miles and go up about 1200 feet in elevation. it was a pretty rough hike out with 30-40 pound packs on. as we started the the steep ascension up owl run, i was breaking trail and was taking in the beautiful scenery, when i unknowingly stepped right over a very large adult rattlesnake. my brother yelled in panic after i stepped over it, and i unknowingly jumped back over the snake, as i thought it was it was infront of me, because i never saw it. its a good thing we had a cold rain the night before, because that snake never moved an inch. we made it back to car and headed home. the hike back took about 2 hours or so.
caution: this area is very remote and is littered with rattlesnakes. be very careful if you go into this area. access is very difficult. there is no roads at the mouth of the stream, and we took the easiest way to get to the stream, which was a 1200 foot desension. you almost have to camp to be able to effectively fish this stream. hope you enjoy the pics.
]our starting point on the ckt[/url]
]headwaters of owl run[/url]
]see the rattlesnake?[/url]href="http://s576.photobucket.com/albums/ss204/evw659/?action=view¤t=DSCN0937.jpg" target="_blank">
]pool above our second campsite[/url]
]big pool by our second campsite[/url]
]clinton county native[/url]
]salamander[/url]
]very clean water in this stream[/url]
]colorful trout[/url]
I love camping too and from what I read in your post, it seems you also enjoy your trip. Apparently, winter camping is very much different from the normal camping trip. If you haven't tried out winter camping, you should probably try it. It gets you out of the home and could be a lot of fun as long as you have anything you need. The experience is really amazing. 
