Worlds
End State Park, Forksville
Thursday,
26 April 2018
As
I walked the dogs this morning before we left, I saw a large flock of
some kind of yellow warbler – they all look so much alike to me,
and I didn’t have binocs, and anyway they were trying to stay away
from us. But they were really pretty. By the side of the road as I
was leaving the campground, I saw what
I thought was
a marmot, and
I can now say that a groundhog is a type of marmot so I was sort of
right.
I
was also
right about being on something higher than a hill: I took a different
route leaving the campground this morning and found myself at the top
of a hill with a 12% grade for 3½
miles – of course with 90°
bends and no shoulders while going downhill. Oh well, I’m seeing
Pennsylvania.
Have
I mentioned before that there are small wind farms scattered all over
the state? This area too.
Fred
Waring, the bandleader, was born in Tyrone, just north of Altoona. They have a historic plaque up saying so. He started Fred Waring and
the Pennsylvanians while he was at Penn State.
Speaking
of which, I
headed north to the town of State College, where Penn State
University is. The
highway seemed to run along the upper part of a hill, and I could see
a long valley full of rolling hills (note, I
know the difference between hills and
mountains), covered with evergreens, and spaces where the trees had
been cleared for farmland. Very picturesque.
State
College
Going
into State College, the road has been cut through a ridge, leaving
very steep slopes on either side of the road. The highway dept. has
covered the slopes with a plastic mesh, apparently to hold onto the
gravel that covers it. I don’t remember seeing that before.
I’ve
come to think Pennsylvanians
are either careless or overly
challenged when coming up with place names – I’ll bet half the
towns are named “-burg” or “-burgh” or “-ville.” (There
are 5 separate towns in the state named either Mechanicsburg or
Mechanicsville.) But it seems to me that “State College” is
pretty low on the creative standard, besides making it hard for
visitors to follow road signs (so hard to remember the sign is
directing me to the town and not to the school).
Nonetheless,
after making a few wrong turns, I found the college. I was mostly
going because I’d understood they have a creamery, and I thought
maybe they’d sell dairy products like, say, ice cream. They do
have a creamery – I saw many signs directing me to it, but I never
figured out which of the buildings it was. Plus, parking is at a
premium and my RV didn’t really fit in. Trying to find the visitor
center (also shown on signs) I stumbled on some kind of auditorium
with short-term parking in front and green grass. Yea! Because all
of us needed to take a bathroom break and leg-stretch time.
Penn
State seems like a small campus – nothing like UT, for instance –
but it spreads out because there are a lot of agricultural buildings,
with cows and so forth. In fact, knowing nothing about the school as
I do, I’d guess
the primary focus is on ag-related subjects, based solely on the
buildings I saw. And sports, of course. Lots of sports buildings.
Williamsport
I
went on up the road an hour to Williamsport, which
is the Birthplace
of Little League Baseball. They say so at several points around
town, including the baseball field where, I guess, the birth
happened. I stopped at the town because I’d read they have a
Millionaires Row area, with mansions built by the timber barons of
yesteryear. And they do have some pretty nice houses, though it
seems a little upstart compared with Bethlehem and Philadelphia.
Williamsport
is spread out along the Susquehanna River,
which has been running due north from Harrisburg (actually,
I guess it’s been running south from Williamsport to Harrisburg),
and here makes a turn to the northeast. I’d thought of
Williamsport as a smallish town but was really surprised to see how
big it actually is. I wish I had a wi-fi signal here so I could look
up what accounts for its current size, since it’s not the logging
that originally put it on the map.
Montour
County, where Williamsport is, is known for its many covered bridges,
a fact I forgot until I saw one as I was driving toward the
campground. The campground is in a different county, but there’s
another
covered bridge about a mile down the road. I’ve seen signs
pointing toward them before – near the Flight 93 Memorial there are
two,
for instance - but have avoided them because I was afraid I’d get
there, find the clearance far too low to go through, and not be able
to turn around. Now that I’ve seen these two
I’m certain that’s true – both have a clearance of about 8’,
and the one in the photo is on a single lane road with (of course) no
shoulder, or even a wide spot.
When
I was in the Altoona area I was reminded I’m farther north than
Harrisburg by the almost complete absence of signs of spring. That
persisted through the State College area. But the house I shot at
Williamsport shows a wisteria carrying on like crazy, and I saw a few
trees with a little spring green on them. But this campground still
looks very winter-y, fortunately without snow on the ground. I did
see a star magnolia on the way, though – so pretty – and more probable skunk
cabbage.
Worlds
End Campground
This
campground is on the Loyalsock Creek, which to
my mind is pretty dadgummed big for
a creek. But what a name. There’s even a town named Loyalsockville. Where on earth do you
suppose they got this
name?
 |
| Loyalsock Creek |
Speaking
of which, the reason I’m staying in this campground is the name. I
thought I’d see what Pennsylvania thinks of as a worlds end. The
park literature says the name likely came from the view to be had
along the hiking
trails, and
that 7 mountain ranges converge in this area. I knew
I’d been driving around mountains. They’ve got a whole section
in
their handout
on the geology of the area that’s pretty interesting if you’re
interested in millions of years of erosion, which I actually am.
 |
| Worlds End campsite |
This
is an odd park with a state road running right through it – in
fact, about 5 trees away from my RV. They limit pets to 10 campsites
and tell us to walk our dogs on a trail on the other
side of this state road, which has frequent traffic from hunters and
fishermen and maybe locals for all I know. Not just exactly
pet-friendly, but they’re letting us stay, the dogs love the trail,
and we’re just here for 1 night. So who can carp about a lack of
wi-fi.
Tomorrow
I’m leaving Worlds End for the Promised Land. Really.
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