By David Ira Kagan On May 9, 1883, the Jersey Shore, Pine Creek and Buffalo Railroad was completed through Pine Creek Valley. On that day, a work crew from the north met one coming from the south at “Ross House,” about 10 miles north of Waterville. This main line allowed narrow-gauge logging railroads to be…

By David Ira Kagan What is so very special about bicycling, walking or jogging along the Pine Creek Rail Trail at the beginning of April? When your spouse, your friends-even your enemies-tell you that you’re crazy, meshuggener, to be out there at this time of the year? When you need to wear gloves, woolen socks…

By David Ira Kagan Out on March 13th on the Pine Creek Rail Trail, I rode my bicycle for the first time since January 5th. Although still a bit soft in places from the downpour a week earlier and the melt-off of snow and ice, it’s now manageable from the southern terminus off Railroad Street…

David Kagan Utceter Cemetery, in western Lycoming County along Pine Creek just off the rail-trail one mile south of Slate Run, contains about 45-50 gravesites of 19th century pioneer farming and lumbering families. The names include Callahan, Tomb, Stradley, Hilborn and Herritt. Daniel Callahan, born in Ireland, was a Revolutionary War veteran who received a…

By David Ira Kagan On Wednesday, October 27, 2010, I sat on a folding chair at the White Tail Parking Access of the Pine Creek Rail Trail just off Route 44 a couple miles above Jersey Shore. And I counted for two-and-a-half hours-from 11:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. I counted water tanker trucks that barreled…

By David Kagan Bicycling through rain. Through a downpour. Through a torrent. Through a deluge! The day? Thursday, July 23, 2009. The forecast that morning? Cloudy, with a 40% chance of a late afternoon shower. At about 1 p.m., I left my Torbert Village home, heading north up the Pine Creek Rail Trail. I thought…

By David Kagan If you’ve bicycled past the village of Ramsey on the Pine Creek Rail-Trail since mid-summer of 2008, then you couldn’t help noticing the attractive sign at the access parking area. Professionally done by 21st Century Signs of Williamsport, bolted down, and anchored with two solid, thick wooden posts, it reads, “Circa 1790,…

By David Kagan Well, I did it! I bicycled along the Pine Creek Rail-Trail from my Torbert Village home to the northern terminus at Stokesdale just above Wellsboro, and then back again–117 miles, in 13 hours, on a beautiful September 17, 2008 day. Why? Partly as training for my fourth straight year of participation in…