Deer Lick Run

Ever wonder how a place gets a name like Deer Lick Run? Is running what you do after licking a deer? Jeff Mitchell (peace be upon him), the guru of the Allegheny, is rarely wrong. But his entry on hiking the valley of Deer Lick Run is pretty much doe-doo-doo. Either he says "right" when he means "left" or else the lay of the land has changed drastically since he researched the chapter. (As if a single right turn would kill me after 40 years of leftward migration, but I tried that mistaken rightward course last time I was here.) Anyway, I find his directions a little misleading, but the good thing about following streams is that you can't get lost doing it.

Deer Lick Run is hard to find because it's tucked away behind a private campground near Sheffield, but it's one of those absolutely beautiful streams that meanders lazily through a broad valley, beneath hemlocks. There used to be a reservoir in this valley somewhere, and it still appears as a body of water on your ANF map, but I find no traces of it.

Of course, I've only ever visited this part of the forest in March...two years running. Last year, Jeff's directions got me so far off track that I considered the hike a kind of defeat. This year I decided to give it a second go, and though Jeff's directions were still a mystery, I managed to find great hiking down along the stream bed on forest roads.

This is the beauty of earliest spring. It was 4o degrees in the sun, warm and windless, bright and clear. And under those hemlocks, it still felt like winter. There are birds back in the forest, singing to each other about their recent vacations in Brazil. "Gladys, you're back! Where's Frank? Oh, we had the lovliest little spot in a mango tree, right on the banks of the Amazon this year! Say, did you see the Caldwell's birdfeeder isn't open yet?" You just have to wonder what those little birds have seen in their lives, the spectacular views that have been wasted on them. And why do they come back here while it's still so cold? The animals are all so hungry at this time of year, and the bears will be lumbering out of their dens. I came across several spots where deer had dug up the snow in search of food.

I'd like to come back to Deer Lick Run when the snow's gone to see if there are any lingering traces of the old dam that held the reservoir. From Route 6 approaching Sheffield from the east, take Toll Gate Road north into the forest. Ignoring Jeff's one and only printed mistake, just follow the stream.