Have you ever hiked a trail based on a name? While studying Gai for trails in the area, I noticed a short hike called the Oren Krumm Trail. Having a dog named Krumm (short for Krummholz), I was intrigued. I had to hike it. I had seen a sign saying that Brockway Mountain Road was a rough road. I stopped by the visitor center in town to ask how rough. They told me it is pothole city but paved. No problem. The Oren Krumm Trail is on Brockway Mountain Road. The road climbs up Brockway Mountain and has a number of lookout spots along the way. Many people take the road just for the lookouts. There are also a million mountain biking trails off of this road. Fortunately, Oren Krumm Trail isn't one of them. It's very short and not connected to any other trails. I was the only one parked at the trailhead. The hike was a bit overgrown, but I still loved it. There were many white birches and many ferns. I found photos of the trail in October, and it has gorgeous fall foliage.
I did some research later to try to figure out why the trail was named Oren Krumm. Krumm (and Krummholz) come from German. So, what is Oren Krumm? Google translate says it means "Crooked Ears". Hmm. That seemed odd as a trail name. I researched more and learned it was named after a person. A young man named Oren Krumm had built the trail as an Eagle Scout project. Sadly, he died of meningitis at the age of 18, just after completing the trail.
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