Devils Race Course | 13 July 2009 | part 2

This is the second part of a video record depicting a hike to Devils Race Course, a blockfield located on Pennsylvania State Game Lands no. 211 and partly in Middle Paxton and East Hanover townships, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. The roughly six-mile round-trip hike was done on 13 July 2009. A previous unsuccesful attempt to hike to Devils Race Course was documented in the bapyou video 'hiking Stony Mountain | 30 June 2009.'

Blockfields are usually classified as periglacial (near-glacial conditions) geomorphic features, a remnant of the various glacial periods which came and went during the Pleistocene Epoch of geologic time. (The Pleistocene Epoch began approximately 1.6 to 2 million years ago and came to a close approximately 10,000 years ago with the onset of warming and the beginning of the Holocene Epoch of geologic time.) Blockfields require (1) a bedrock source for the boulders of which they are composed, and (2) a nearby slope down which the weathered boulder-sized material is fed to the block bed.

There are a number of well-known blockfields located in the state of Pennsylvania. Perhaps the best known and most-visited is Boulder Field, located in Hickory Run State Park in northern Carbon County. Others include Blue Rocks blockfield (located on a privately run campground of the same name near Lenhartsville in Berks County); River of Rocks (in the valley down below Hawk Mountain also in Berks County; and Devils Potato Patch (located in a wind gap called Little Gap just north of Danielsville and on the Northampton County/Carbon County line). The Devils Race Course -- the blockfield shown in this video -- is probably the least accessible (and therefore the least visited) of all the blockfields in Pennsylvania.

Directions to Devils Race Course:

From the parking area where the Appalachian Trail (AT) crosses Route 325 in the valley of Clark Creek (Dauphin County, PA), cross the bridge over Clark Creek and turn left off of the gravel road onto the AT. Hike on the AT (white blazes) until its intersection with the Henry Knauber Trail (HKT) after about 1/4 mile or so.

Turn right (south) onto the HKT (red blazes) and follow it for about one mile up to the top of Stony Mountain.

At the top of Stony Mountain you will come to a cairn. Turn left to remain on the HKT.

You will descend into a shallow valley and, eventually, you'll cross some swampy areas, a few small brooks, and begin to rise on the other side of the shallow valley through some leafy areas. (Keep an eye on the trail as you go.)

NOTE: As you hike on these forest trails, take care to notice when a double blaze appears. A double blaze -- two blaze marks, one above the other -- indicates a significant change in direction for the trail. A blaze mark is a (usually) rectangular patch of paint on a tree trunk, though sometimes they are painted on rocks.

Eventually the HKT intersects with the Horseshoe Trail (also called the Rattling Run Trail on the USGS topographic maps depicting this area), a wide grassy vehicle road (or former vehicle road?) probably used by hunters during game season. Turn left (northeast) onto this road/trail.

Walk about one to one-and-a-half miles keeping an eye through the trees to your left (north) as you walk. You will eventually notice an expanse of light-colored rocks at a distance of about two-hundred yards through the trees. When you see these light-colored rocks through the trees, make your way northward through the forest and you will come to the edge of the Devils Race Course.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Devils
• Race
• Course
• blockfield
• Pennsylvania
• State
• Game
• Lands
• 211
• Rush
• Middle
• Paxton
• East
• Hanover
• Township
• Dauphin
• County
• Stony
• Mountain

[pastafariangirl]

One quesstion...have you ever come across any names that ancient appalachain peoples or natives would call this? I just wonder if there is any mythological legends accosiated with these in the US. Just curious.

Thanks

[bapyou]

Hey! That's a really good question. I've never come across any native names that were specific for these features, though probably there were. If you learn of any such names, please let me know.

[pastafariangirl]

That's interesting since I had no idea there were others. The one on my channel is in Cascade, MD. I am guessing it is a block field as well. THanks for sharing.

[bapyou]

Hello Sprye.

The Devils Race Course in Maryland is most definitely a blockfield. Blockfields are not uncommon features in areas which were close to the ice front during the last Ice Age.

Read under "more info" at right to find the names & locations of more blockfields in Pennsylvania. There are more of them in Maryland as well I'd bet. You could plan an entire vacation visiting the blockfields of the northeast U.S. (Sounds like fun to me.)

Cheers.

[italokid80]

(sorry about my english),like Antarctica or Greenland ("roof of sphere"-in english?)

[bapyou]

"Calote" means "ice sheet"? In English, generally, the ice covering Antarctica or Greenland is called an "ice sheet."

From what language comes the term "calote"? French? Rumanian?

[guitaristwagner]

I wonder how many snakes are contained in those rocks :-o

[bapyou]

Yes, after reading your comment I opened the map and saw Stony Creek. It is in the next valley south of the Devils Race Course between Sharp and Second mountains.

I am from PA originally, but not Dauphin County.

[bapyou]

What is the meaning of the term "calote"?