Girl from the North Country

No, this isn't a post about Bob Dylan. It is a post about our brief, muddy jaunt on the North Country Trail in Moriane State Park yesterday.

After days and days of rain, we were greeted with a sunny and unseasonably warm (60 degrees!) late October day. Most of the leaves were down, but still bright yellow and dull orange-red, and the reduced cover allowed the sunlight in to illuminate the forest floor. The sun hadn't been out long enough to dry up the copious mud, however. And it seemed to be hunting season for just about everything except deer, as we were informed by the armed gentleman we encountered who was lucklessly tracking turkey. Next time we'll put on a little blaze orange.

We started from the NCT parking area on PA 528, and followed the blue-blazed Glacier Ridge trail to the Davis Hollow marina. From there we took the pink-black blazed trail for a ways, but it was poorly marked and difficult to follow. We ended up on an old forest road (which the pink/black trail incidentally joined about a mile up) and took this back to the NCT. To finish, we made the loop on the yellow-blazed lakeside trail for some outstanding views and some steep climbing.

We didn't see too much wildlife, unless you count chipmunks. Definitely didn't come across any turkeys. However, just as we neared the parking area, we did find a baby snake, and watched and listened as his scaly underside rubbed over the fallen leaves.

The North Country Trail (which follows the Glacier Ridge trail within Moraine) goes from North Dakota to upstate New York, and a sizeable portion goes right through western PA. We look forward to field-testing some of our cold weather AT gear on portions of this trail, perhaps in Cook Forest or the Allegheny National Forest. We'll be sure to check the hunting regulations first...