Fall is here in Maryland and with cooler temperatures, we decided to head out into the forests as much as we can possibly can. So, the last weekend, we switched it around a little and checked out some parks / hikes in Pennsylvania. We treat these short trips a little like “scouting” trips in order to get an understand what is worth coming back to – and hence we cover quite a bit more ground than is really relaxing. But we learn a lot.
Thursday. We planed quite a long drive this way, heading out all the way to Ohiopyle State Park. I tend to avoid State Parks, they offer no real advantage over State Forests but add a ton of rules that we really don’t need. But that specific area doesn’t seem to have a lot of alternatives. The hikes there are spectacular, a gorgeous river walk made us really wish that we could have camped right there.
Camp: 39.87979, -79.49269
Friday
Ok, this is where it gets weird, we went west to Ohiopyle but had to drive all the way East again toward Michaux State Forest. We had been in that area before and really wanted to check it out a little more. We went up to Chimney Rock with amazing views.
The campsite had me worried originally, google maps shows it on a large parking lot designed for ATV riders. But it turned out to be really nice, open are where the dog could run free. Unfortunately, fires were not allowed due to some drought and the temperature dropped down to 4C, not much incentive to stay outside after sunset. Moonrise was awesome though and Mars was incredibly bright.
Here is a short video of the campsite.
Camp: 40.01744, -77.29874
Saturday
Quick but amazing hike near the campsite was the Pole Steeple Trail that a hiker recommended to us. Great hike, amazing views and definitely worth exploring more.
The next camp was up North in Tuscarora State Forest but we decided to do a quick hike even further north. Long drive but it was worth it, the area up there is beautiful. We hiked the Spirit of Tuscarora trail around 4 pm and the light was really magical. Access to the lake wasn’t really obvious and decided to drive straight to our next camp much further south.
The drive was a little rough, 10 miles on windy gravel roads but virtually no traffic. The campsite was allocated by the forest service and turned out to be quite very nice but not near anything. Great site to camp for the night but with not fire allowed it was less than optimal. Very quiet though, beautiful moon rise as well.
Camp. 40.2403806, -77.5437306
Sunday
Last day, so general direction was heading home. We found a nice 6mile hike back in Michaux forest that had great reviews. The Rocky Knob Trail has optional push to the local reservoir (where we had been before but on a different location). The “Rocky Knob” itself looks like quite some scramble but wasn’t on the trail – that may be an interesting location to check out later.