Get your big feet on the North Country Trail in Lawrence County.
There’s something running through the hills of Lawrence County that most people wouldn’t believe.
Sasquatch? Well, there were sightings of a 7- or 8-feet-tall hairy biped in the early 2000s. Or so says the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society. And 2015’s “Bigfoot: The Movie” was shot hereabouts, too.
But what might be an even bigger surprise is that this place northwest of Pittsburgh is also home to a stretch of the North Country National Scenic Trail, a national recreation trail that, when completed, will allow people to hike from Vermont to North Dakota.
The Wampum Chapter of the North
Country Trail Association takes care of about 120 miles in Lawrence and Beaver counties as well as in Ohio.
That group invites you out to hike 4.5 or 9 miles of that during its St. Patrick’s Day Sasquatch Search. From 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on March 21, people can meet at the town’s former train station. Volunteers will drive hikers out to the Sankey Hill Road trailhead so they can walk the 4.5 miles back to the depot, where they can dig into a hot lunch of assorted chili dishes. Or participants can choose to hike out to Sankey Hill and back, a trip that’s described as moderately difficult.
The first 50 people to complete the hike get a commemorative button depicting Bigfoot on a background of shamrocks.
My 12-year-old son and I walked the route on a sunny Saturday last month and while we didn’t see Sasquatch, we did
enjoy the sights we did see on this stretch of trail.
We got shuttled to Sankey Hill Road by very active Wampum chapter member and trail angel Brian Charleson. He met us at the Wampum Depot and we had a nice chat before he dropped us off and nicely asked that we text him when we made it back. He expected our hike to take three to four hours — a little bit longer than usual because the trail was covered with about an inch of snow and ice.
It was only in the mid-20s when we set out at 11 a.m. We stopped to sign the ledger in a box near the trailhead. The crunchy snow was covered in animal tracks — rabbit, deer and what I’m pretty sure were coyote. The only human prints were ours. We backtracked over them after a short detour to see the new Eagles Nest overnight shelter that was built last year as an Eagle Scout project.
It’s much spiffier than the abandoned homestead nearby, which looks dilapidated enough that we dared only peek inside, without touching it.
We were cold, but glad that the ground was frozen, because otherwise, the trail would be pretty muddy through this recently logged area. It’s criss-crossed with logging and mining roads and paths, but the blue paint blazes on trees and posts kept us on the North Country Trail.
“I think the snow makes it more fun,” said my son at one point, and I agreed. Away from gurgling creeks that we crossed on volunteer-built bridges, the world was so quiet as we paused in snowblanketed fields.
We stopped to look at the remains of a lime kiln, another historical highlight on this stretch. The trail guide explains, as does a sign on site, that this cut-stone chimney was used as recently as the 1920s to coal bake the lime out of the local limestone for use as fertilizer. Interesting, most of the ground we were walking is owned by Cemex, a Mexican-based multinational cement and building materials company.
We hiked on. With the leaves off the trees, we had some good views of distant farms and houses.
“It feels like we’re in the middle of nowhere,” said my son. “Because we are!”
On Snake Run Road, where the route is on pavement for about a half mile, we paused to drink some of our water and share a chocolate brownie Clif Bar. Then the trail zigged back into the brush and trees, where, at one point, we encountered two giant wild turkeys. The trail dropped down over railroad tracks to the road back along and over the Beaver River and into Wampum. We made it back to the car by 3 p.m. — perfect timing for a bite of lunch in town before the hour or so drive home.
Wampum Depot is easy to find at 303 Main St., Wampum, PA 16157. It’s just more than 40 miles from Downtown on interstates 279 and 79 and routes 18 and 288.
While we didn’t see any signs of Sasquatch, participants on the March 21 group hike will. North Country Trail Association Wampum Chapter Vice President Brian Hager has a Sasquatch costume and says, “I will be in the woods while the hike is going on and at the train station afterwards if people want pictures.”
You can do this hike on your own, too. Or plan to walk other off-road stretches. The Wampum Chapter takes care of the trail from Alpha Pass at McConnell’s Mill State Park to its connection with the Buckeye Trail in Zoar, Ohio — a total of 43 miles of off-road trail and 80 miles of connecting road walks until more trail is completed. There are three overnight shelters and other camping options.
The Wampum Chapter advises wearing proper footwear, dressing for the weather and carrying drinking water. The group leads community hikes throughout the year and also will offer commemorative buttons for its McConnells Mill Waterfall Hike (May 16), Beaver Creek Canal Hike (Aug. 16) and Watt’s Mill Pumpkin Pie Hike (Oct. 18). It’s also again running the Darlington Road + Trail 5K on July 25. You can learn more about the group and its section of trail at www.northcountrytrail.org/ wam. More volunteers and supporters are most welcome.
The national North County Trail Association is once again inviting hikers to take its Hike 100 Challenge: Join it (earning a shot at monthly giveaways) and hike a total of 100 miles on the trail in 2020 and earn a commemorative patch and finisher certificate: https://northcountrytrail.org/ trail/upcoming-events/special-events/ hike-100-challenge/hike100challenge-join. The NCTAs Pennsylvania Trail Council is offering a “PA Hike 50 Challenge” patch, as well: https://northcountrytrail.org/trail/ pennsylvania.