Henry's Mills, like most quaint, riverine locations in the ANF, surely used to be industrial hell. You can tell by the name that it was a "mill town," and I'm not referring to a scenic flour mill with its water-wheel creaking and turning rhythmically in the stream. No, it was probably home to one of those godawful mills where they stripped the bark off the hemlock trees to use the acids in treating leather. But history has been kind to Henry's Mills. Today it's a picturesque hamlet on the banks of Tionesta Creek, about two dozen beautiful little seasonal homes, and hunting camps, and a few chalets.
The North Country Trail cuts straight through Henry's Mills, and the beautiful PA Highway 666 is the main road through town. (Interestingly, New Mexico--easily the 2nd creepiest state in the country--also has a very nice Highway 666, which is nicknamed "The Devil's Highway" and passes by the very eerie Shiprock.) At Henry's Mills, PA666 runs parallel to Tionesta Creek on one side, but don't miss the gated old Forest Road 600, which follows the creek on the opposite bank.
My guess is that this road used to be a railroad track. Only 3/4 of a mile downstream, it crosses a small tributary called Mead Run and becomes a narrow, difficult trail. You'll have to find a way to ford Mead Run because the bridge is long gone. I shimmied across on an oil pipeline, which goes to prove that even evil, reprehensible things have their better moments. This little riverside trail runs the whole length of the Tionesta, all the way to the bridge at Lynch, to Minister Creek, Mayburg, and eventually to the borough of Tionesta, where the creek becomes Tionesta Lake and joins the Allegheny River. Henry's Mills to Tionesta would make a very cool linear backpacking trip if you didn't mind being right across the water from a lesser-known, little-used, and sinisterly named state highway.
One of my long-term hiking goals is to explore a Tionesta Creek tributary known as Lamentation Run, which enters below Kellettville. I wonder how a body of water gets the name "Lamentation Run"?
Is NM is 2nd spookiest, which is spookiest?
ReplyDeleteHello again, Anonymous. In my estimation, Oklahoma is the spookiest state in the US. Its trees are stunted and twisted by the wind; its communities are socially insular and strangely temporary-looking; and the flatness makes you feel as if there's no place to hide. Oh, and the wind! The wind could drive a person insane. But that's just my opinion. Some people love the place.
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