Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve Leg Stretcher
Mar 29, 2015 9:15:41 GMT -5
Post by Admin on Mar 29, 2015 9:15:41 GMT -5
September was the last time I've been out in the "real woods" (excluding a couple of trips to my local county park with the girls) so I didn't want to try anything that might be beyond my current capabilities. I chose the Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve and Education Center near Mt. Hope/PA. There is one steep climb toward the beginning of the hike as described on my site. I was'nt quite sure I could handle it so we bypassed it this time. I was joined by Ted E. Bear, Woolly Bully, Christopher Robins and Treebeard-IM. The night before the regional forecast called for temps near forty with partially cloudy skies. Instead what we were met with was temps in the high 20s with an occasional light flurry. We put on our boots and packs, crossed the road and picked up the white blazed Nature trail, passing an ugly pink cabin on the left and a pond on the right as we walked through a majestic stand of evergreens.In about 1/3rd of a mile we crossed Swamp Creek on a wooden bridge and immediately turned left onto the pink blazed Swamp Creek trail. The trail closely parallels the creek for about a mile. Parts of it are paved with flat stones while other parts are perennially wet.
Fortunately some of the swampy areas had a layer of crusty ice which made passage a bit "cleaner" than under warmer conditions. Near its end the trail veers to the west crossing several narrow fingers of the creek as they drain through a rocky swamp. We turn right onto the green blazed Foothills trail as we follow an old jeep road a short distance before encountering some more swamp-like conditions. This doesn't last long as we soon reach another woods road. The trail follows a series of rolling roads joined together by switch-backed footpaths (Yes my friends, you can occasionally find switchbacks in PA. You just have to know where to look for them.) There are scores of dead trees around us full of large woodpecker holes. We can hear the Pileated variety calling and pecking on hollow trees. It must be mating season.
We cross the north fork of the creek in 0.3 miles and in another 0.2 miles reach the best of the woods roads. I say this because it is mostly covered in a thick mat of moss. The trail follows this rolling carpet for 0.9 miles as it wraps itself around the west fork of the creek, crossing it at its headwaters in a swampy area. The trail then turns right onto a well worn woods road. Parts of it are sunken suggesting that it may have once been a skid road. In 0.4 miles we turn left and climb up and over a shallow ridge. In 0.5 miles we cross a gravel road (probably the same road we turned right on earlier) and continue on the Foothills trail for another 0.4 miles, passing through an area where the forest has been thinned (a method of logging no longer used in PA). There is little to no understory here, an indication of over-grazing by the protected deer. The Preserve has planted several saplings in the area which are being protected by plastic tubes preventing the deer from nibbling them down to the ground. We turn right, once again joining the Swamp Creek Trail but this time traveling in the opposite direction and a few hundred feet above the creek, out of its sight. In 0.5 miles the trail merges with the Nature Trail at a kiosk and bench. This is the upper part of the loop trail we started on. In 0.5 miles we skirt the edge of the evergreen plantation and arrive back at the ugly pink cabin and our cars.
I guess most would describe this as a nice walk in the woods but for me it was a winter ending ice-breaker and allowed me to get my toes wet and ready for some true hiking.
Fortunately some of the swampy areas had a layer of crusty ice which made passage a bit "cleaner" than under warmer conditions. Near its end the trail veers to the west crossing several narrow fingers of the creek as they drain through a rocky swamp. We turn right onto the green blazed Foothills trail as we follow an old jeep road a short distance before encountering some more swamp-like conditions. This doesn't last long as we soon reach another woods road. The trail follows a series of rolling roads joined together by switch-backed footpaths (Yes my friends, you can occasionally find switchbacks in PA. You just have to know where to look for them.) There are scores of dead trees around us full of large woodpecker holes. We can hear the Pileated variety calling and pecking on hollow trees. It must be mating season.
We cross the north fork of the creek in 0.3 miles and in another 0.2 miles reach the best of the woods roads. I say this because it is mostly covered in a thick mat of moss. The trail follows this rolling carpet for 0.9 miles as it wraps itself around the west fork of the creek, crossing it at its headwaters in a swampy area. The trail then turns right onto a well worn woods road. Parts of it are sunken suggesting that it may have once been a skid road. In 0.4 miles we turn left and climb up and over a shallow ridge. In 0.5 miles we cross a gravel road (probably the same road we turned right on earlier) and continue on the Foothills trail for another 0.4 miles, passing through an area where the forest has been thinned (a method of logging no longer used in PA). There is little to no understory here, an indication of over-grazing by the protected deer. The Preserve has planted several saplings in the area which are being protected by plastic tubes preventing the deer from nibbling them down to the ground. We turn right, once again joining the Swamp Creek Trail but this time traveling in the opposite direction and a few hundred feet above the creek, out of its sight. In 0.5 miles the trail merges with the Nature Trail at a kiosk and bench. This is the upper part of the loop trail we started on. In 0.5 miles we skirt the edge of the evergreen plantation and arrive back at the ugly pink cabin and our cars.
I guess most would describe this as a nice walk in the woods but for me it was a winter ending ice-breaker and allowed me to get my toes wet and ready for some true hiking.