Another cold, icy day. Seems like we’ve had to deal with more ice this year then last year. We headed out to Locust Lake. We’ve had really great weather lately. Mostly blue sky and not the typical winter gray that I remember from last year. We hiked a loop that took us along Locust Creek, up to Broad Mountain then back down. After the hike we stopped to enjoy the icy beach. I’ve never see the beach in the summer and wondered how crowded it gets. Well, no one was here today! So we sat for a while and looked out across the frozen lake watching the ice fisherman before heading home.
The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has a very well organized layout of Pennsylvania’s State Parks and Forests. The parks can be searched by region and each park has its own map and recreational guide in a downloadable pdf. I’ve been using these resources to find different trails to explore since I’m new to the area. This week I chose Tuscarora State Park. The stunning Tuscarora Lake sits at the foot of Locust Mountain with Locust Lake State Park being just six miles away. The trail I chose today was called “The Spirt of Tuscarora Trail” which was a little under 5 miles. It’s quite an amazing trail. Absolutely stunning scenery with thick, lush forest and wetlands. I still can’t get over how green it is in Pennsylvania. Part of the trail is carpeted in bright green moss with fern on either sides. It looked so magical. With a soft wind blowing through the trees, I truly was enjoying the morning. The single track trail can be done in a figure eight loop which took me up a few steep sections of rhododendron and then down through low rhododendron tunnels. I can imagine how beautiful they must look when in full bloom. The forest here consists of several species of oak, eastern hemlock, white pine, sycamore, birch, maple, ash and tulip trees. The trail looped me down to the edges of Locust Creek where there were late season wildflowers still in bloom. One of the highlights of this trail is the “spirit tree” which stands creekside in all his moss covered glory. I believe this tree was hit by lightening and his shape now takes on a mossy covered goat head. As I took my time taking in all of this great scenery, I saw a good number of very tiny toads hopping about as I walked. This really was a lovely trail. I walked it very early in the morning and did not see a soul. I will surely come back again to this magical place in the future to explore more of these wonderful trails.
