Red Brook and Stony Brook Wilderness Loop-SGL 57

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This is a challenging and beautiful loop that explores the wilderness of SGL 57.  Only experienced hikers should attempt it, and a navigation device is strongly recommended.  This hike uses a series of old logging roads and grades, and off trail hiking.  No trails are blazed or have signs.  The old grades are in variable condition, from being easy to follow, to overgrown.  The grades are often washed out when crossing streams.  This hike also requires several stream crossings without bridges.  We did this loop over two hikes.

Why hike this?  The diversity is amazing.  You will see waterfalls, cascades, gorges, amazing spruce and hemlock forests, impressive rock outcrops and features, wetlands and streams.  The rocks here are very scenic, with caves, chasms, mazes, and giant boulders.

The parking has space for about four cars.  Walk up the road, away from Stony Brook, and turn right onto an old forest road and hike above Stony Brook.  Reach a hemlock grove and a massive boulder below on the right, here, jog up to a narrow grade on the left.  This grade is narrow and clings to the side of the slope, but can be hiked.  This grade joins a large one, continue straight.  Enter a hardwood forest with some large trees.  The grade is wet and washed out in places.  Look for the place where the grade continues straight, and begins to go downhill, and where another joins from the left.  Turn left.  Then turn right onto another grade, which will take you above Red Brook.

Red Brook is a highlight of the hike with its rugged gorge, boulders, waterfalls, spruce and cascades.  The first falls (Lower Red Brook Falls) is below the grade, so you will have to descend to see it.  It is about 25 feet tall over two drops and is very scenic with deep pools in the bedrock.  Continue up the grade into the gorge, which disappears as it crosses Red Brook.  Cross the brook and go upstream, off trail, passing a small runoff stream to the right (this will be the next leg of the hike).  Continue up Red Brook a short distance to the second falls (Upper Red Brook Falls), which is a long slide in a remarkable grotto of cliffs and large hemlocks. 

Retrace your steps to the runoff creek and hike up it, off trail.  Just follow the small stream.  Enter a beautiful forest of hemlock and spruce.  The trail levels off and you will be greeted with ledges.  Turn right/east along the ledges and explore the outcrops, chasms, and mazes in the beautiful forests.  Many are covered in moss and lichens.  It is worth exploring the top, and bottom, of the rocks.  Reach the impressive Boulder Caves, which are mansion sized boulders, angled and ajar, creating caves, chasms, and passageways.  Nearby, on the plateau, are some amazing moss covered chasms about 12 feet deep.  Continue along the edge of the plateau to enjoy the rocks, which recede in size.  Pass a unique, seven foot tall boulder standing on its end.  Enter a stunning spruce forest which is quite thick.  Reach more rocks and chasms, and a five foot falls.  There is another chasm in the spruce.  From there, we began to descend to Stony Brook.

Cross Stony Brook and hike upstream along an old grade.  We left the grade, heading north, crossing a meadow, and rejoining Stony Brook to some wetlands surrounded by hemlock and spruce.  The isolation was incredible.  We headed northeast to some rock outcrops and a cove with a unique rock maze, and then we followed the perimeter of the rocks, crossed some fern meadows, and reached another old road/grade that we take to Catlin Brook and Meadows.  We turned right onto this grade as it explored the top of the plateau with fern meadows, and a climb above ledges to where the spruce returned.  At the next intersection we turned right and then descended with a couple of stream crossings.  At the next intersection, we turned right, with a six foot falls nearby.  We walked down a glen of fractured rock and continued down Stony Fork.  This grade is washed out along Stony Brook, we picked our away along the creek.  We then passed an old gate and followed the old road to another washed out stream crossing, but a path guided the way.  We then followed the road back down to Mehoopany Creek and the cars.

We parked at about 41.466900, -76.161440. The loop is about 12 miles long.

For the map above: Red is off trail. Yellow are old grades/forest roads. Black dots are rock features, such as ledges, caves, chasms, or boulders.

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Lower Red Brook Falls, SGL 57. Great hike today to some new places, and amazing spruce and hemlock forests.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 8, 2019 at 2:45pm PST

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Upper Red Brook Falls, located in a grotto of cliffs. SGL 57.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 8, 2019 at 3:04pm PST

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Exploring the incredible Boulder Caves. SGL 57.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 8, 2019 at 3:18pm PST

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The spruce forests on these high plateaus were amazing today. SGL 57.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 8, 2019 at 5:04pm PST

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Exploring mossy chasms. SGL 57.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 8, 2019 at 5:11pm PST

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Deep in the Boulder Caves, SGL 57.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 9, 2019 at 1:06pm PST

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Impressive roots in the chasm. Looked like roots from Angkor Wat. SGL 57.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 9, 2019 at 2:51pm PST

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More crazy rocks, SGL 57.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 9, 2019 at 2:54pm PST

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The Lost Mine, an old coal mine. A very beautiful forest of hemlock and spruce surrounds the mine. SGL 57.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 9, 2019 at 3:04pm PST

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One of the unique features of SGL 57 are its many chasms, crevasses, and mazes. It's hard to imagine the eons it took to move this bedrock apart.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 9, 2019 at 3:10pm PST

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SGL 57 has some of the most beautiful forests in the Mid Atlantic with thousands of acres of spruce and hemlock forests. Some of these trees are huge. Here is also a unique ecosystem, called the rocky spruce forest summit, home to several rare species. I love hiking among these amazingly diverse and isolated forests. Combined with the rocks, waterfalls, gorges, isolation and views, SGL 57 is like no other place in PA.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 9, 2019 at 3:30pm PST

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Deep dark spruce waters of Lower Red Brook Falls. All the drops total 30ish feet. SGL 57.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 9, 2019 at 4:59pm PST

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Roots of ice. SGL 57. A 5 foot falls was nearby.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 9, 2019 at 5:04pm PST

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Upper Red Brook Falls is in a stunning bowl shaped grotto that features massive ice flows by February. The water is reddish from the spruce swamps upstream. SGL 57.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 9, 2019 at 5:39pm PST

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Cave/maze passageway, SGL 57. Explored a new area of rocks and cliffs.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 10, 2019 at 1:03pm PST

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More new rock areas we explored in SGL 57, including a seven foot tall boulder standing on its end.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 10, 2019 at 1:07pm PST

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Ryan taking a break and enjoying the spruce before we descended the plateau down Stony Brook. Glad we got up there, the snow is probably gone. SGL 57.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 10, 2019 at 1:10pm PST

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Large boulders and deep pools at the Crystal Cascade on Stony Brook, SGL 57.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 10, 2019 at 1:14pm PST

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Within a temple of spruce. SGL 57.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 10, 2019 at 3:30pm PST

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Exploring the north woods of SGL 57. Miles from a road, only sounds were the wind in the trees and a waterfall in the gorge below.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 12, 2019 at 3:16pm PST

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Boulder Caves, SGL 57.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 16, 2019 at 3:57pm PST

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Back in the spruce. Explored the headwaters of Stony Brook. Wild country up there. SGL 57.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 21, 2019 at 3:27pm PST

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Headwaters heaven. Near the source of Stony Brook. SGL 57.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 21, 2019 at 3:29pm PST

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Deep in the wilds of SGL 57.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 21, 2019 at 3:33pm PST

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A window in church. Stony Brook headwaters, SGL 57.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 21, 2019 at 3:35pm PST

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Boreal wetlands, these places are very biodiverse. SGL 57.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 21, 2019 at 3:38pm PST

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Exploring a new rock maze. SGL 57.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 21, 2019 at 3:42pm PST

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Mehoopany Creek twilight. An awesome day in the wilderness. SGL 57.

A post shared by Jeff Mitchell-Outdoors Author (@hiking_mitch) on Dec 21, 2019 at 3:44pm PST