After my Memorial Day Weekend off being completely sick with a summer cold, I tried to redeem at least a small part of my plans by heading to Michaux State Forest for a quick two-day camp and hike break. Still coughing, wheezing, and short of breath the rugged hike up and around Rocky Knob did me a lot of good and helped restore my faith in the power of nature to heal what ails us.
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| A mile into my hike, the trailhead! |
Mountain Laurel was at peak bloom and the trail was adorned with white and pink cascading sprays of flowers the whole way around the five-mile lollipop route that I started up on Ridge Road, having to park aways down from the small Rocky Knob parking area. But not to worry, the extra hike along this beautiful stretch gravel forest road runs along the west ridge of the mountain and leads past the great burn of several years ago. The burn area is now awash in Mountain Laurel, vigorous young Black Oak shrub forest, and many surviving old Chestnut Oak. The charred trunks of fire-killed trees, mostly maples, marked the hot fire's path as it swept over the heathland and into the oak woods. But all was well here and chock full of Indigo Buntings and Towhees and Flycatchers flitting among the carpet of Cinnamon Fern, shrub oak, and Blueberry that blanketed the blackened slash.
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| Ridge Road |
This gem of the Pennsylvania State Forest system is considered the cradle of Pennsylvania forestry conservation with the first forest school established in the Commonwealth in the 1890s nearby at Mount Alto, now the Penn State Mount Alto campus. Besides being one of my favorite state forests, it is also within an hour and half drive from home and any excuse (like two days off in a row) to come explore here will do. Forty miles of the Appalachian Trail traverses the ridgeline and the Rocky Knob Trail intersected the AT early on.
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| Mountain Laurel bloom signals the start of Appalachian summer |
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| Burnt orange blazes of the Rocky Knob Trail |
Michaux State Forest manages this beautiful tract for its diverse ecosystems including fire-dependent habitats, heath barrens, pinelands, and the lush Appalachian oak-hickory woodlands. Interspersed are the fire meadows, grasslands, and deep ravines, each with their own avian and insect profiles. At the ridge top I was entertained by Common Yellowthroat and Eastern Towhee exchanging the latest knob-news. My long sit at the newly rebuilt Rocky Knob overlook bench included glimpses of heath-loving Fritillaries and Hairstreak butterflies.
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| A view of Rocky Knob |
The Gypsy Moth killed oak woods along the south ridge are regrowing as heath barrens interspersed with White and Virginia Pine. Sawflies buzzed through the air and in the distance a Red-Shouldered Hawk chattered away on the pineland edge. As expected in a dead woodland, woodpeckers were everywhere. In a short trail section across a stump-studded slope I saw and heard Pileated Woodpeckers, Hairy Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers, and Red-Bellied Woodpeckers. They seemed to be everywhere all at once!
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Gypsy Moth killed oak forest now a young pinelands
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| Mixed Pine and Oak Forest |
The pathway of the Rocky Knob Trail was originally built by the CCC in 1937 and is part of the 45-mile Flat Rock Trail System that interconnects with the AT and old forest logging roads. There are steep but short climbs, narrow rocky single track, and some steady but wider graded paths. The slow and steady hiker will enjoy a range of forested vistas that include the viewshed of Long Pine Run valley and lake. This wasn't hard for me to do as I had to take numerous breaks still dealing with coughing and shortness of breath. Oh, to be rid of this blasted cold!
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| Foot of Rocky Knob |
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| Some birds of the deep woods |
Amos took long cool drinks at two spring pools that bubbled from the side of the mountain as we made our way up the wider trail to complete the 4.5 mile loop. From the path that overlooked a remote stream valley, I saw and heard a Broad Winged Hawk pierce the deep green canopy with a shrill "Creeeeeeee-Creeeeeeee!" Other birds took note of this woodland bird hunter and gathered along the trail edge to watch for it. These included several Black-throated Blue Warblers and what appeared to be a mob army of Ovenbirds.
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| Fly Poison, beautiful but toxic |
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| Teaberry |
Mountain Laurel in full bloom signals the start of the Appalachian summer. It is the state flower of Pennsylvania and when its pentagon-shaped pinkish/white blossoms appear the forest is fully in dense canopy which this understory evergreen tolerates so well. I stopped to watch several clusters of mature blossoms to see if I could catch the extraordinary "pollen punch" the flower stamens deliver to investigating bees. It didn't take longer before a big Leaf-Cutter Bee lumbered onto a blossom set and began to heave herself from flower to flower. She hummed along until she got whacked by several stamen catapults all at once. She hummed louder maybe a little annoyed but she was definitely now adorned with several pollen packets that she carried off to another Mountain Laurel further down the trail.
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| A steady walk uphill |
We returned to the trailhead and the start of the loop (which we did counter-clockwise) and having met only one other person and their dog on the trail the whole afternoon, we decided to take a snack break sitting down on the counter-clockwise side of the trail. Of course that's when a group of hikers came bouncing down the access path to find me and my dog laid out eating pepperoni treats and crackers. It was the first time all day I had the opportunity to speak and my voice came out like a chain smoker's gravely grunt of "Hey there! Sorry we're hogging the trail!" Amos gave a coonhound's classic howl while they were trying to figure out what I had said. Needless to say, the group took the clockwise side of the trail - in somewhat of a hurry.
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| Stop here for a sit-down break |
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| Red circle (truck parked) to trailhead and loop |
Notes:
Michaux State Forest, Franklin/Adams/Cumberland Counties, PA. 85,500 acres of beautiful forest and mixed habitat, managed as working forest and biodiversity. https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/StateForests/FindAForest/Michaux/Pages/default.aspx
Mountain Laurel pollen packet punch https://arboretum.harvard.edu/stories/mountain-laurels-fling-pollen/#:~:text=Beyond%20the%20clouds%20of%20flowers,stamens%2C%20whose%20tips%20contain%20pollen.
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