State Game Lands 95 - Day 113

  The camera had to go inside my pack for half of the day. It was raining too hard to keep it out, even in a plastic bag. This means I did not get pictures of some beautiful wetlands, and the nice job of fixing the trail that has been done after there was beaver damage. I don't know if the Butler Chapter is doing this work or the PA DNR, but it is much appreciated. There were several replaced and/or new bridges.

But it was raining hard enough that there was lots of mud. I planned for this- wore my rain suit and old shoes and just slogged on.

Much of this State Game Land is reclaimed strip mine sites. Many of the mining trenches are now filled with water and managed for wildlife.

I just liked this view. I walked past here during the 10 minutes or so of sun there was today.

There is also some active development of wetlands to mitigate the acid mine runoff. Wetlands are really good at cleaning up this type of pollution. (It was what I was studying in grad school.) So the trail wound between many small ponds, some specifically constructed for water treatment.

One of the interesting rock formations today has a name. It's called Vulture-Bear Rock. Yes, that's a bench on top.

Trudy hiked with me this afternoon. She brought better weather with her! It stopped raining. That was quite lovely. We saw a kingfisher, and more rattlesnake plantain orchid.

I completed my 50 mile in PA for a patch yesterday, and Sue is working hard to try to complete that many while she is still with me.

Miles today: 16.4 hard ones (headwinds, rain, sloppy mud). Total miles so far: 1481.8.

See Moraine State Park