April 8, 2023
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| Boxcar Rocks, looming out of the forest |
The morning of April 8 started a little cool in the morning, but promised to be sunny and warm by the afternoon. Perfect weather for hiking! This time we traveled to Lebanon County, passing by Swatara State Park near Jonestown on our way to the Boxcar Rocks.
Boxcar Rocks can be found along Gold Mine Road and is also known as the Chinese Wall, supposedly for its resemblance to the Great Wall of China. The rock wall is an impressive site rising from the forest floor at the top of the mountain and does seem to stretch on for quite a distance. We only explored the end of the wall closest to the trail leading to it because we couldn't find a clear path leading along the other end.
Keep in mind when traveling up Gold Mine Road you will lose cell service and there is very spotty service at the rocks. If you're planning to use AllTrails or some other mapping app, it's a good idea to download your maps before ascending the mountain. We neglected to do that, but were able to find the unmarked trail anyway.
We used Google Maps before heading up the mountain to find the parking area at the top. It's a small area at the start of a logging road that can accommodate about a half dozen cars. Make your way around the gate and up the rutted dirt road until you see an unmarked, but clear path heading off to the right into the forest. In less than a mile you'll see the rocks looming up out of the forest in front of you. It's actually a bit startling as you have no clue they are there, even with the leaves off of the trees. You won't really appreciate how massive the rocks are until you get close to them.
We highly recommend visiting the rocks in early spring or late fall when there aren't any leaves blocking the view, not to mention snakes to contend with. The path to the rocks is easily traversed, but as soon as you approach the base it becomes very rocky. Sturdy hiking shoes or boots are a must and hiking poles are a good idea, too. Although small children and dogs can easily handle the path to the rocks we do not recommend letting them scramble on the rocks. There are a lot of huge boulders and deep crevices for little legs to get caught in. However we both give this site two thumbs up.
We started circling the rock face over to the left of the trail. There isn't a clear path - you have to pretty much pick your way onto and over the rocks along the base of the wall until you come to the end and can circle around to the side facing the valley. However, it would be easier heading toward the gap in the wall and climbing down to the other side before heading to the left and exploring this section of the wall. Just be careful and watch your footing. Many of the rocks are loose with large, deep gaps between them.
Despite its name seeming to indicate otherwise, the Lebanon Reservoir & Segriest Dam are actually located east of Boxcar Rocks in Schuylkill County, between Tower City and Pine Grove. By way of explanation, the Lebanon County line is only a half mile away, and the reservoir holds water for the Lebanon water system.
Unlike our previous stop, there was a large parking area at the Reservoir. Immediately across the entry road are the ruins of the Swatara Furnace, c. 1830.
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| Swatara Furnace |
The loop trail around the reservoir is approximately 4.31 miles long and it took us just under 2 hours to complete. Once again, we recommend sturdy hiking shoes/boots and hiking poles because there were a lot of rocks and steep grades along the trail. Be forewarned: the trail is not well marked or well maintained. We were extremely glad we had downloaded a map from AllTrails before starting. Also, there are two cable water crossings on this trail. They weren't difficult to traverse at all and we found them quite fun.
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| Segriest Dam |
We chose to follow the asphalt path past the furnace and up the hill to the 125 foot breast of the dam. The dam is fenced off, but if you go the far right corner of the fence and cross the rocks you will find the start of the trail that loops around the reservoir.
We had the trail to ourselves the whole time we were on it. We did pass some backpackers coming around the fence at the top of the dam just as we approached it, but didn't see anyone else until we got back to the furnace, where the trail ends. We had to crawl over or under several downed trees and pass through some soggy areas on the trail, but we really enjoyed the hike. I'm not sure we would have enjoyed it quite as much had we not downloaded the trail map before starting off. We could easily have gotten off the trail without it, and you couldn't always keep the reservoir in view to help guide you along its shore. We'd recommend this hike for the novelty of the wire crossings over Fishing Creek. In addition, the view of the mountains rising up from the reservoir were nice, even without the leaves on the trees. We gave this hike two thumbs up!
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| Lebanon Reservoir with the dam in the distance at center |
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| The second crossing |
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| One of two cable crossings |
There are quite a lot of other things to do and see in this area which is known as the Stony Valley. We plan to return in the future to ride the Stony Valley Rail Trail and check out some of the other sites such as the Second Mountain Hawk Watch, Yellow Spring Stone Tower and Incline Plane, as well as the abandoned resort town of Cold Springs, just to name a few. For more information on the area and its many interesting sites, click on this link: StonyValley.
* All Photos are the property of the authors except where otherwise noted. *
