We went back to Tuscarora State Park today to see if we could figure out how to do the loop from Lake View, Spirit and Crow trails. After some research, it seemed we’d have to take the street a short way and then reconnect with the trail. This time we headed off on the Lake View Trail heading counterclockwise or west. The trail followed along a road and past by some camping areas. The lake was crystal clear and for once, the weather wasn’t super humid. From the Lake View Trail we picked up the Spirit of Tuscarora Trail. I’ve been on this trail a couple of times and it’s a really beautiful trail. It’s very well take care of and ironically, we happened to bump into its creator, Pap. He was out on the trail cutting back the shrubs and making sure the trail was clear. We stopped and chatted with him for a while and he told us he had created this trail over 30 years ago and has been taking care of it ever since. You can easily see it is a well loved trail. It’s also a very unique area. There’s quite a bit of diversity compared to a lot of Pennsylvania trails which tend to all kind of look the same after a while. The terrain is also less rocky in this region. I’m not quite sure why that is compared to most other Pennsylvania trails, but i wasn’t complaining. After talking with Pap, he confirmed we would have to follow the trail to the street, hop the guard rail and walk up the road a short way if we wanted to pick up the Crow Trail and continue the loop. We took his advice and found our way. It was an absolutely beautiful day. The monarda was flowering in the meadows and it was full of butterflies. We also came upon a majestic larch plantation. It was a really nice hike. As the day went on, it started to warm up and the humidity began to rise. Luckily we were just about wrapping up our hike and ready to head home. It was a great day at Tuscarora State Park. I always enjoy coming here.
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.
