The Great Outdoors: Brockway Area Good Place to Begin Outdoor Adventures

Brockway has often been a starting point for many of my outdoor adventures over the years, and it just keeps getting better.

The Clarion-Little Toby Rail Trail has a trail head next to Taylor Memorial Park and there is also a canoe/kayak launch in the vicinity. In October 2016, another launch was added downstream that gives boaters another option in terms of determining the length of their adventure.

The launch, near the Little Vineyard tributary that flows into the creek, adds a new access site for canoers, kayakers and anglers. It complements the launch on the west bank of the creek in Brockway Borough. Little Toby flows north from Brockway through State Gamelands 54 and 44 and into the Clarion River near Portland Mills in Elk County.

I am fortunate to know many of the people who made this project a reality. Bill Sabatose – a lifelong Brockway area resident and a long-time member of the Pa. Fish and Boat Commission’s Board of Commissioners – has championed the watershed for more than 40 years and is the president of the Toby Creek Watershed Association.

He, along with the Frank Varischetti Foundation, the state Fish & Boat Commission, the PA State Game Commission, Tri-County Rails-to-Trails, and the Jefferson County Conservation District were instrumental in the launch project being completed.

Sabatose recognized the work of Steve Varischetti and the team that worked with him in constructing the site as well as retired Brockway Area High School vocational agriculture teacher and conservationist George Miller, a founder of the local Rails-to-Trails who conceived of and promoted a new canoe access site.

The parking area for the new site can be accessed by traveling west for 3.5 miles on Seventh Avenue Extension from the intersection with McCullough Avenue in Brockway. Turn right on the “upper road” and travel 1.3 miles to a finished parking area above the trail.

Last summer, a few months before the launch was built, I kayaked from that spot to the Portland Mills access area on the Clarion River. In less than four hours, I saw a bald eagle and several species of waterfowl.

One of my most memorable experiences on the Little Toby was more than a decade ago on a Father’s Day in June. My dad and I had parked where Jenkins Run flows into the creek. There’s a pretty good section for fishing there and we had split up.

While I was waiting for a trout to grab my bait, I heard the sound of wing beats, then the awe-inspiring sight as a mature bald eagle flew by me, seemingly within a few arm’s lengths away and not more than 15 feet above the water. I walked down to where my dad was and asked him if he had seen it and his smile said it all.

Eagles were becoming more common, but it was still a true treat to see one that you felt like you could reach out and touch.

Below the new boat launch is the waterway’s famous “Swinging Bridge” pool.

Long and deep, it holds many trout, even in the driest of summers when the water gets very shallow. Little Toby Creek has good fishing for stocked trout, and smallmouth bass show up there, too, also coming from the Clarion River.

River otters also show up in the area from time to time, as they make their rounds from established den sites along the Clarion River.

There are also thousands of acres of state game lands in the area with good hunting for white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, black bears, coyotes and squirrels. Furbearers such as beaver, mink, and raccoon also are common in the area.

Large rock formations are also an extremely interesting feature of the area, and one is located just off the Clarion-Little Toby Trail. The Indian Rock Trail and Formation lies near the historic ghost town of Croyland. It was part of a system of rock formations used by the Native Americans that lived on the Allegheny Plateau to provide shelter along their trade routes.

Mountain biking is another popular activity in the area. Obviously, the rail trail is a very good bet, and roads in the State Game Lands system are also open to mountain biking, as well as horseback riding.

For more information on the area, go to visitpago.comhttp://www.tricountyrailstotrails.org

“The Great Outdoors,” sponsored by the Pennsylvania Great Outdoors, is a weekly blog by exploreClarion.com’s Scott Shindledecker. Plan your next outdoor adventure at VisitPAGO.com or call (814) 849-5197 for more information.