TOUR AMERICA, 2021: IVES RUN CAMPGROUND, TIOGA, PENNSYLVANIA

Tuesday, June 1 2021

Temperature Low, 56 Degrees; High, 70 Degrees

Exploring Ives Run

This is what happens when you get bored to tears. You decide to go exploring right in your own backyard. We’ve stayed at Ives Run several times now but we really didn’t know much about the campground. Time to corrrect that.

I’m sure most of us know that this is a Corps of Engineers (COE) Park. But who or what is the COE? I went back to our visit at Cape Cod for some information.

OK, so now that we know who built this campground, let’s learn a bit about the campground itself.

There are actually two lakes and two dams in this immediate area. Hammond Lake is a 640-acre lake and Tioga Lake is a 498-acre lake. You’ll note on the map above that there is a connecting channel between the two lakes. More about that in a minute.

The two dams were constructed by the COE between 1974 and 1979 in the aftermath of the floods caused by Hurricane Agnes in 1972.

Now to find out more about that connecting channel we needed take a ride. . .

up the Connecting Channel Overlook road to . . .

Once here we could see. . .

Tioga Lake and Dam to our left.

Hammond Lake and Dam to our right.

Now about that Connecting Channel. . .

Now we know what it is, why it exists and how it works.

The Channel itself.

The Weir or the gate that controls the flow from one lake to the other. Two local gentlemen shared with me that the best catfish hole in the two lakes is right to the left of the Weir where you can see a rope stretched across the channel.

Back down from the Connecting Channel Overlook, this sign caught my eye. My curiosity, of course, got the better of me.

Investigating, I discovered the spillway for the Tioga Dam.

Back now to the actual campground.

The campground sits on the eastern shore of Hammond Lake. It is part of the Endless Mountain region of Pennsylvania along the Allegheny Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains. The campground has over 200 sites and a boat launch with overnight mooring for campers.

The sites here are really nice and there is a spacious sitting area at each site with a picnic table and a fire pit. Site separation is spacious everywhere with lots of open green, grassy areas

There was one area, in particular, that I had noticed on the map of the campground that I wanted to explore.

What was Pine Camp?

So exploring we went. The road was hard packed dirt so traveling it was not a problem as long as you took it slow. What we discovered was a primitive area more suitable for tents with no hookups at all.

There were, however, a couple of travel trailers back here with generators running. We stopped to talk to the couple at this site and they stated it was the best location in the whole wide world. They absolutely loved the solitude and the peacefulness of the location. Definitely, not for us.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement. What a wonderful day of discovery the day turned out to be. It always amazes me how much we find to see and learn sometimes even in our own backyard.

Thanks for taking the time to read our blog.  We always appreciate your company, your comments, and your suggestions. Remember, take time to stop and smell the roses and live each day that God gives you to the fullest.

These are the voyages of  Elvira and her two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before.

See you on down the road!