Sproul and Susquehannock State Forests, PA
One evening awhile back in time Michelle and I decide we needed to get out of Dodge so to speak and we packed up Fafhrd, threw the sleeping platform in the bed, the fridge in the front and headed towards Sproul State Forest in the center of Pennsylvania.
All ready to go we headed out on the road and made our way east along I-80. Once over at Snowshoe we headed north up along PA 144. Sproul State Forest is part of the Allegheny Plateau and 144 divides the Forest right up the middle. Numerous spur roads lead of from it running to the north and south. Off from these are numerous small drive able trails that wander through the forest. Most are narrow and tight and are pockmarked with rutted mud holes and a few washouts. These trails are better suited to Jeeps and smaller sized rigs, the few we were on were tight for the Tundra and on one we had to back up a ways to find a turn around when the trees got a little too tight. Expect some pin striping.
This is not the most scenic of PA’s forest as you spend most of your time on top of the plateau and miss out on the creek valleys that are this states best scenery. The woods is made up of gnarly chestnut oak, maples and birches intermixed with acres of mountain laurel.
When we were there in early June the laurel was almost in full bloom and was quite pretty. The scent was wonderful.
Also the Marcellus Shale operators were in full swing and there is heavy construction traffic on some of forest roads. As we are use to the deep well gas sights on this side of the state I was surprised by the huge amounts of clearing for these Marcellus sights. Here a well can be done on an acre, there a sight is at least 10 acres of cleared and stripped land, not to mention the miles of gas right away cut and carved from the landscape. The billions being spent there is obvious.
So we ran up some of the forest roads..
and saw some scenery…
One evening awhile back in time Michelle and I decide we needed to get out of Dodge so to speak and we packed up Fafhrd, threw the sleeping platform in the bed, the fridge in the front and headed towards Sproul State Forest in the center of Pennsylvania.
All ready to go we headed out on the road and made our way east along I-80. Once over at Snowshoe we headed north up along PA 144. Sproul State Forest is part of the Allegheny Plateau and 144 divides the Forest right up the middle. Numerous spur roads lead of from it running to the north and south. Off from these are numerous small drive able trails that wander through the forest. Most are narrow and tight and are pockmarked with rutted mud holes and a few washouts. These trails are better suited to Jeeps and smaller sized rigs, the few we were on were tight for the Tundra and on one we had to back up a ways to find a turn around when the trees got a little too tight. Expect some pin striping.
This is not the most scenic of PA’s forest as you spend most of your time on top of the plateau and miss out on the creek valleys that are this states best scenery. The woods is made up of gnarly chestnut oak, maples and birches intermixed with acres of mountain laurel.
When we were there in early June the laurel was almost in full bloom and was quite pretty. The scent was wonderful.
Also the Marcellus Shale operators were in full swing and there is heavy construction traffic on some of forest roads. As we are use to the deep well gas sights on this side of the state I was surprised by the huge amounts of clearing for these Marcellus sights. Here a well can be done on an acre, there a sight is at least 10 acres of cleared and stripped land, not to mention the miles of gas right away cut and carved from the landscape. The billions being spent there is obvious.
So we ran up some of the forest roads..
and saw some scenery…
