I'm finally getting around to documenting a hike I took a long time ago. Chris and I hiked the Eastern half of the Quehanna trail. It's one of the nicest places I've hiked in Pennsylvania. There are many fields like this just covered in wild blueberry.
As always, I'm a sucker for a nice view of a creek or river.
There are large areas where birch is the predominant tree. It makes a nice change from the oaks, maples, and hemlock I see most of the time when hiking.
Another really nice view. As I said this was a beautiful hike.
It was interesting for me to see my first "bear tree". Here you can see where a bear has marked the tree with his claws to show his territory.
We camped near an old farmhouse. The farmhouse is long gone but their "plumbing" is still working. They carved troughs in logs to bring water from the spring to near the house. Since wet wood doesn't rot it remains to this day.
We camped near this convenient water supply. We both went with a ground setup rather than hammocks this time. I packed my pad and synthetic quilt inside my bivy so my setup was literally 30 seconds (plus the time to inflate the pad). Of course the next morning the inside of the bivy and the quilt were damp but I set them in the sun and they dried quickly.
This part of Pennsylvania is the only part with herds of elk. These spots have been cleared and during the mating season the males stake out a part of one of these fields and bugle to try and attract a female. People come to watch often. We saw a number of elk but not close enough for a picture.
Nearly stepped on this guy. He was sunning himself in the trail and I walked right over him and then heard the rattle.
This was one of the best views near the end of the hike.
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