Lick Run is a tributary of

Little Fishing Creek Little Fishing Creek is a tributary of Fishing Creek in Sullivan County, Lycoming County, and Columbia County, in Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through eight townships. The watershed of the creek has a ...

Lycoming County Lycoming County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 114,188. Its county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. ...

and Columbia County, in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Jordan Township in Lycoming County and Pine Township, in Columbia County. The watershed of the stream has an area of . The entire drainage basin is considered to be a Coldwater Fishery and a portion of the stream is considered to be

Class A Wild Trout Waters Class A Wild Trout Waters are the highest biomass class given to streams in Pennsylvania by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. They are considered to contain the highest-quality naturally reproducing trout populations in Pennsylvania. Th ...

. At least one

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

crosses the stream.

Course

Lick Run begins in a valley in Jordan Township, Lycoming County. It flows nearly due south for almost a mile, in the process exiting Jordan Township and Lycoming County. Upon exiting Lycoming County, Lick Run enters Pine Township, Columbia County. In this township, the stream turns south-southwest and its

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...

deepens. After nearly a mile, it crosses

Pennsylvania Route 42 Pennsylvania Route 42 (PA 42) is a state route located in central Pennsylvania. The southern terminus of the route is at PA 61 in Centralia. The northern terminus is at U.S. Route 220 (US 220) in Laporte. The route heads north through Columbia ...

and turns nearly due south, flowing very closely parallel to Pennsylvania Route 42. The stream continues south for several miles, receiving a number of unnamed tributaries. It eventually turns south-southeast and crosses Pennsylvania Route 42. A short distance further downstream, the stream reaches its confluence with Little Fishing Creek. Lick Run joins Little Fishing Creek upstream of its mouth.

Geography and hydrology

The elevation near the mouth of Lick Run is above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. The elevation of the stream's source is between and . The concentration of

alkalinity Alkalinity (from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is the capacity of water to resist acidification. It should not be confused with basicity, which is an absolute measurement on the pH scale. Alkalinity is the strength of ...

in Lick Run is 16 milligrams per liter.

Watershed

The

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

of Lick Run has an area of . The stream is in the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

quadrangle of Lairdsville. The community of Sereno is in the vicinity of the stream.

History and etymology

Lick Run was entered into the

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...

on August 2, 1979. Its identifier in the Geographic Names Information System is 1179300. A prestressed box beam bridge carrying Pennsylvania Route 42 over Lick Run was built in 1987. It is north of the community of Iola and is long. Lick Run is named after a natural

salt lick A mineral lick (also known as a salt lick) is a place where animals can go to lick essential mineral nutrients from a deposit of salts and other minerals. Mineral licks can be naturally occurring or artificial (such as blocks of salt that farm ...

in its vicinity.

Biology

Lick Run is considered by the

Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is an independent state agency responsible for the regulation of all fishing and boating in the state of Pennsylvania within the United States of America. Unlike many U.S. states, Pennsylvania has a separ ...

to be Class A Wild Trout Waters between its headwaters and the junction of T-645 and Pennsylvania Route 42. This stretch of the stream is long. It is inhabited by

brook trout The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae. It is native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada, but has been introduced elsewhere ...

. The stream is also considered to be a Coldwater Fishery throughout its entire drainage basin.

References