Natural Mid-Atlantic : PA Greenwood Furnace State Park

Sunday, June 27, 2021

PA Greenwood Furnace State Park

Whelp. After getting really sick with a bad case of diverticulitis that lasted a few days, I gave up the prospect of continuing my two week Mid-West hiking trip and headed home. To try to salvage the second week, I booked a campsite for a few days at Greenwood Furnace State Park in the PA mountains south of State College, the home campus of PennState (We Are!)

Rothrock State Forest entrance

It was exactly what the doctor ordered. I took Amos, my long-suffering hiking buddy who I left at home during my Illinois adventure. He was mad at me for most of the two hour drive but when he saw the tent come out of the truck, his favorite camping blanket, and his travel bowls, he was all in for a few days in the park. He's such a great camper.

Hiking around the quarry lake on this cool trail.

For three days we hiked about ten miles a day on various trails that connected to the park including a section of the Standing Stone Trail (which I want to thru-hike someday), and two trails in nearby areas of Rothrock State Forest. The campground was small but nearly half empty. We had the park and the forest to ourselves. Each day walking I felt a little better and Amos was as happy as a clam.

Hardened iron bloom remaining in the crucible.

Ruins of Furnace Stack #1

Looking up at the feedstock inlet, Furnace Stack #2 (CCC-renovation)

The park is the site of the Greenwood Furnace, one of many large iron furnaces in the area that operated to produce iron from the ore-rich banks that run the length of these mountains. Some features of the large 19th century village remain and a trail follows past the iron masters house, church, meat house, stables, blacksmith shop, and wagon yard. The quarry lake is now a beautiful place to fish or swim. We followed the lake trail all the way around and snagged a few miles on the Standing Stone Trail.

Foxglove beardtongue, Penstemon digitalis

Our second day we were a little more ambitious with an eight mile rainy day loop through the forest and later, a visit to the Alan Seeger Natural Area for a mile-long walk through old growth hemlock under cooler and sunnier skies. This trail intersected a section of the Mid-State and Standing Stone Trail so we hopped on it for another mile or so. All around us were the remains of ancient hemlocks that had succumbed to the Wooly Adelgid infestation. Some of these old giants were five-hundred years old by the time this forest pest ended their lives. Still, there were plenty of old trees still standing despite the outbreak and an interpretive panel at the end of the hike described this old forest as "coping" and not doomed.

Alan Seeger Natural Area - a 500 year-old giant on the right.

Rhododendron

Ancient hemlock killed off by Hemlock Wooly Adelgid

Someday I'll thru-hike this beautiful long distance trail.

On day three of my salvage trip into the forest, Amos and I hiked the Whipple Lake Trail (3 miles) and another section of Standing Stone (5 miles) then back to the park to pack up. It was a deliciously cool morning and though we were finished with our hiking in Rothrock for now, we snuck in another 3 miles following the Turkey Hill Road ( a gravel forest road) and looping back on the Lawrence Trail. Named for a child whose grave is found in the nearby 18th-19th century Greenwood Furnace Cemetery, we stopped in to visit his grave site and the graves of several Revolutionary and Civil War veterans.

Whipple Lake Trail at Whipple Dam State Park

Gravesite of Daniel Grey, Revolutionary War veteran, Greenwood Furnace Cemetery

Gravesite of Lawrence Troy, 6 mo, 1881.

Greenwood Furnace Cemetery

Whipple Dam State Park and Greenwood Furnace State Park are a dream for CCC history-buffs. I spent a lot of time photographing some of the best CCC structures I've seen in a long time. Some of these structures are massive - like picnic pavilions or large cabins - while other structures seem to occupy less space. But are all rustic and built to last another hundred years.