For Mother's Day I decided to make the long drive to Black Moshannon State Park in the middle of the state for a wet and wonderful muck (wet hike) through the Great Bog on the Bog-Indian-Moss-Hanne Trail. It's a seven mile point-to-point trail that follows the edge of the spectacular wetlands of the Black Moshannon Lake that, if you had all day to do, would make a nice 12-mile loop with park roads and other lakeside trails. But I only had a half day so we set out to do what we could. Keep in mind, Amos does not like deep water...
We made it as far as the airport three soggy miles in where Amos stood on a strip of high ground and refused to go any further. So after a snack under a shady Hemlock and a good lay down, we headed back for an out-and-back muck of six miles. But on the trail, no matter which direction we were headed, the bog and wetland plants were something to behold. Add to that, a beautiful cow elk on the trail, a flock of wild turkey blasting out from an open glade, perfecto.
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| Dry start but not for long! |
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| The trail |
The Black Moshannon Bog or The Great Bog is one of the best examples of northern bog ecosystems in the state. Spring is a fantastic time to muck. The bog encircles the sphagnum moss lined lake making a wide border of marsh and upland bog. Wood frogs bounded out of our way as we forged into the flooded trail. Surrounded by the songs of Black and White Warblers, Scarlet Tanagers, Blue-Headed Vireos, and Chestnut-Sided Warblers, the wooded bog sections with their moss-hummock islands of High Bush Blueberry and Alder were beautiful.
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| Wet glades |
The trail became a slog through marsh grasses and deep mud. We startled a sunning Garter Snake on a section of boardwalk, which itself sank into the mire under our combined weight. Bog plants were everywhere and while not yet in bloom, the buds of Pitcher Plant were plump and ready. I was definitely getting my northern bog fix as we followed the flooded trail between hummocks and grassy meadows. I good mucker never hikes across the hummocks as these are important islands of plant, insect, and animal diversity so I was glad to see that this trail stayed off these mounds of high ground. Instead, a black ribbon of tannin water marked the line of trail.
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| Pitcher Plant |
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| High Bush Blueberry |
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| Pitch Pine on its hummock |
With binoculars I could see a stand of Black Spruce, a rarity this far from the boreal northern bogs of New England, but the climate here is much more like that of northern Vermont where I once lived. The trail crept up from the bog into a higher stand of forest composed of hemlock, birch, oak, and pine and strung zig-zag around a series of vernal pools still standing full of snow-melt water and spring feeds. Frogs were hopping everywhere and in the closer pools I could see tadpoles drifting here and there until we frightened them to the bottom. If there was one Fringed Polygala there were thousands. I have never seen so many of these bog plants along one trail.
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| Fringed Polygala |
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| Edge of a beaver pond |
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| Banks of Red Chokeberry |
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| Red Chokeberry |
Sinking almost to his knees, Amos began to prefer the slightly drier edges of the trail though his attempts to hike dry were thwarted by dense banks of Red Chokeberry. These shrubs provide very nutritious berries for birds in the summer and fall and are especially important for migratory species that require fats for fuel. Painted Trilliums were everywhere on the drier edges so I had to make sure he didn't tread on them by shortening his leash.
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| Painted Trillium |
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| The trail through bog hummocks |
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| Northern Starflower |
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| Cucumber Root |
The trail wound around the edges of the Great Bog then suddenly plunged right in. Up to my calves in tannin-colored water, Amos was plopping and plodding ahead of me on a now longer leash. We slurped through gorgeous grass glades lined with northern Balsam Fir (another rarity!) on mossy islands above the water. A stand-alone Pitch Pine marked a rise in the trail towards the edge of the municipal airport. This is when I noticed the first yellow blaze! It's an easy enough trail to follow, though, and on the way back I saw more blazes that were visible only to those hiking back. Oh well. It was good to have this trail map downloaded, however, since so much of it was flooded and it would have been easy to get confused on the interlacing water paths.
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| Pink Lady Slipper |
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| Lunch tree |
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| Appalachian-Barrens Strawberry |
On the way back I discovered a patch of Pink Lady Slipper orchids so I stopped long enough to ooooh-and-ahhhhh while Amos stood impatiently by. We flushed a flock of Wild Turkey off a dry grass glade. They looked to be mostly young hens or jennies. And soon after that we came around a bend to see the backside of an Elk trotting through the uphill through woods. The Moshannon State Forest surrounds this state park and although "official" accounts will state that elk are not found here, I can now affirm along with many locals and other hikers that there are. Amos, of course, lost his mind and filled the forest with his signature squalling, baying, howls, and yowls.
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| Fiddlehead (fern) |
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| Dry glade of Birch |
Seeing the Elk, I was reminded that in pre-settlement times Moose and Elk were common in these high wetland areas along the Allegheny Front. Moose would have been abundant throughout the wetland complexes of central and northern PA but Elk would have visited the wetlands only spring for fresh emergent, herbaceous plants including juicy moss after a long cold winter of little or no fresh browse. Moose are long gone from these environments, but it was so nice to see an Elk on the edge of the bog doing what Elk used to do here before they were hunted out. The return of Elk has been one of PA's great come-back stories and the herd continues to grow. My first PA Elk spotting years ago was not far from here in the Quehanna Wilds with several since then. This makes five trail sightings I've had while hiking in backcountry areas of our state.
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| Looking back... |
We met up with a muddy couple back at the parking lot who'd made almost the full loop. They were camped at the campground here and got an early start but with another two mile road walk to complete their walk, I offered them to ride them back on the tailgate. They happily accepted.
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| Happy Mother's Day from Moshannon State Forest |
We shared notes to include the Elk which had been standing in the water munching on plants when they saw it. So it had moved upland by the time Amos and I got to her. Covered in mud and happy as clams, these folks do the muck every year on Mother's Day weekend as a way to celebrate all the new life, sounds and sights "reborn every year" in the Great Bog. This marks their seventh year on their Mother's Day Muck. What a fun tradition! Amos hollered the whole slow two road miles which had people walking along the road waving and laughing. The tailgaters had a good laugh, too!
Notes:
I downloaded the map of the Moss-Hanne Trail to have on my phone but this is the best regional map to take along if maps are not available at the office (it was closed when I stopped by)
Purple Lizard Moshannon & Quehanna
