Middle Creek WMA: Snow Geese and Frogs

A number of years ago now, we visited Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area, near Lancaster, Pennsylvania to see the Snow Geese Migration. We've always talked of going back, but it just hadn't worked out until last weekend. There weren't as many geese this time and there were only a few Tundra Swans, but we were also a little bit later in the season. Peak migration was a few weeks ago. In spite of that, we still had a great day and saw lots of birds:

 Snow Geese coming in for a landing

 Hanging out on shore

 Something spooked them and a whole bunch of them took off from the water at once. The sound of all of their wings beating was impressive.

 Graceful landing

 Another one coming in to land.

 All lined up

 Even though there were fewer geese than the last time we were there, there were still a lot of geese.

I was trying to take pictures of Tundra Swans that were really too far away to photograph, when this little Belted Kingfisher got my attention. It was a noisy little thing, but was happy to sit there and let me take pictures (click to enlarge).

 Two ducks feeding on the lake.

 Snow geese moving en masse

 We drove the road around the WMA, which took us by a little wet spot that was full of Wood Frogs and their egg masses. The frogs themselves were really vocal and love was in the air. You can hear a brief recording of their calls here (scroll down on the right)

 A couple of frogs on the egg masses.

 Snow geese on the water later in the day.

A juvenile Bald Eagle.

Waiting for Spring: Two sections of the Pennsylvania Appalachian Trail

This post will be a double hike bonus post: We have managed to hike both of the past two weekends, but I started a new job last week, so I didn't get a post up about the first one.

Two weekends ago, we went out with two friends and hiked a new (to us) section of the Pennsylvania Appalachian Trail (AT) from Shippensburg Pike to Pine Grove Furnace, with a side trip to Sunset Rocks. We were very lucky with the weather, considering how cold it has been. It was bright and sunny and probably in the 50s with little wind. This winter, that qualifies as a super warm day.

 Tom's Run Shelter. This was near the halfway point of our hike and it was where we had lunch. Pro tip: Make sure you put the memory card in the camera. I took some pictures on the first half of the hike, but the camera didn't have a card in it. Oh well. Anyway, it turns out that there used to be two shelters here, which we've seen elsewhere in Pennsylvania (sometimes one is labeled "snoring" and the other "non-snoring"). One of them was apparently burned down in 2013 by a careless hiker.

 Daffodils popping up near the shelter.

 An old chimney at the shelter.

 Just north of the shelter is the halfway point of the Appalachian Trail.

 We took a side trip up to Sunset rocks. It was a steep climb followed by a really pretty little scramble through some rocks and pine trees.

 Michael out on Sunset Rocks.

 Fold lines on a boulder

 Ferns on the rocks.

At the end of our trip, we visited the Appalachian Trail Museum. The building is an old grist mill in Pine Grove Furnace State Park. The museum opened just a few years ago, but it has a nice little exhibit on the AT. One kind of cool thing: They have a sign from the summit of Katahdin in Maine, which is the end of the trail. It turns out that it is the sign that was on the summit when we hiked it in 2009. It was replaced in 2010.

This was a really nice, interesting hike and was about 11 miles, total. We saw a few people near Sunset Rocks, but not very many and the weather was just great.

Sunday, we returned to Pine Grove Furnace State Park with two friends and hiked the next section of the AT north to the parking area just north of highway 94 for a total of 11 miles. The hike started with a short walk on a gravel bike path along a really pretty spring. The weather was much colder than last week. The highs only reached the low 40s and it was pretty windy, which made it feel colder.

 Rocks along one section of the trail. This is as close as we got to any views on this hike.

 Lichens on rocks.

 One of our friends standing near a coal pit. There were a number of these of varying depths along the trail.

 A pretty stream near James Frye Shelter.

 This was a really interesting tree: a Winged Elm (Ulmus alata). If you click to enlarge, you can see way the bark stands out away from the branches in wings. I have no idea what kind of tree it is. Michael figured out what kind of tree it is.

 Our first true wildflower of the season: Simplocarpus foetidus (Skunk Cabbage).

 The trail along an old railroad grade.

Right at the end of the hike, near a road, we found another wildflower: Claytonia virginica (Spring Beauty).

This wasn't a bad hike at all, but it is probably one I don't need to repeat unless it is part of a longer trip. It is a fairly unremarkable walk through the woods.

A Quick Backpacking Trip on the Laurel Highlands Trail

More than a month ago, we scheduled a backpacking trip for this past weekend and crossed our fingers that the weather would cooperate. I did some research and we wound up picking the Laurel Highlands Trail in western Pennsylvania. The whole trail is 70 miles long and has shelters along the way, similar to those on the Appalachian Trail. We did 18.5 miles of it.

We started at PA route 653 and hiked south towards Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania. The first day, we hiked 12 miles under overcast skies. The trail was pretty easy. It is well-maintained and stays mostly on the top of the ridge. We kept a pretty quick pace because we wanted to make sure we reached our shelter before sunset. There are actually stone mile markers, which made it easy to track our progress.

Stone steps and moss on the trail.

Rhododendrons and boulders. The trail wound its way through the boulders like a little bit of a maze. We passed through a number of areas like this. It was one of my favorite things about this area.

The trail (on the right side of the photo) along the edge of an area that had been logged. It looked like they had logged everything except the oak trees.

A little pond.

Fallen oak leaves in the pond.

Moss on a log. The overcast skies made the bright green moss stand out.

One of the stone mile markers.

 A split log bridge. Even the smallest gullies on this trail have split log bridges.

An overlook of the Youghiogheny River valley before we began our descent into Ohiopyle State Park. The last half mile of the day was a tough, switchback-less descent to the shelters in the state park. It was rocky. Many of those rocks were loose and all of them were covered in a few inches of leaves, providing many opportunities to trip. We were all pretty happy when the side trail down to the shelters came into view.

This was home for the night. The shelters ostensibly sleep five, but we were pretty snug with four and a dog. As far as backcountry camping goes, this was pretty luxurious. There are bathrooms, a water pump, and trash cans. The park also provides firewood. We had a nice fire, a dinner of black bean and squash tacos, hot chocolate, and smores.

After the fire went out, it got chilly. Our friend's dog cold and couldn't sleep, so our friend put her down vest on her. The dog warmed right up and went to sleep, but she was unimpressed with having to wear a vest.

We woke up to a sunny sky on the second day. We lingered over breakfast and coffee, finally starting out around 9:30 a.m. The terrain was much tougher in the last six miles of our hike than the first day's walk. Instead of keeping to the ridgeline, the trail took us up to the top of the ridge and then down into the valleys several times. The scenery was just as nice as the day before and we got several nice views of the river valley below us. One final steep climb took us to the lot where backpackers are required to park.

The Youghiogheny River from the trail

Red oak leaves.

Club moss.

A hole in a hollowed out tree.

One of the more elaborate split log bridges, complete with a stone footing.

Crossing one of the roads.

One last overlook of the river. This was such a nice trail. We talked about coming back sometime and hiking the entire 70 miles.

A quick note about the Laurel Highlands Trail: There is no fee for dayhiking. Backpackers are required to register and reserve shelters in advance. The fee is $5 per person per night. Permits and reservations can be found here.

A Snowy Walk on the Appalachian Trail in Michaux State Forest

On Sunday, Michael and I got out with two friends for a relatively easy 11 miles on the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania. We started at Shippensburg Road and hiked south to Caledonia State Park. Sunday was the beautiful: clear, mild (in the 30s), and a couple of inches of snow on the ground. We hiked north to south, which is probably the easier direction for that particular section. This little  section of the Appalachian Trail doesn't have clear vistas or amazing rock formations. What it does have is pleasantly rolling hills, tunnels of mountain laurel and rhododendrons, pretty streams, and few other hikers (at least in the winter). This is a hike for looking at the detail around you versus wide expanses on the horizon.

 Ice crystals on a rock.

A pretty stream near the northern end of the section that we hiked.

The Appalachian Trail at Birch Run Shelter.

Frost flowers along the trail.

Michael on the Appalachian Trail.

The afternoon light filtering through the trees.

Milesburn Cabin, which is owned by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (for those not from the area, they own a system of cabins that can be rented).

A rhododendron tunnel near Quarry Gap Shelter. If you click to enlarge you can see the white blaze on a tree in the middle of the tunnel.