August 31, 2019 hike - Morrison Trail System - Allegheny National Forest PA - 6 miles
Finally its labor day weekend and we have made it out for some hiking and camping. Ok, the camping is in a cabin but we enjoyed Oil Creek Family Campground a few years ago and we are enjoying it now. The drive down from Rochester was easy and not particularly busy. We got into camp about 9:30 pm Friday.
On the way we had a very down home dining experience at Nellies in Arcade NY. Though I rarely go for it, I had the fried shrimp dinner. I appreciated that it came with macaroni salad (everything seems to come with mac salad in Western NY) and coleslaw and I had my choice of potato so I had mash instead of the normal fries. It was very good and our server was extremely nice. We also both had pie which was great but probably a mistake for me in terms of feeling very full and still having two hours of driving left.
When I was looking for hikes around this area I printed out a single page double sided map and guide for the Morrison trail. It detailed a 5.8 mile loop, an 8.8 mile loop and the two could be combined for about 11 miles (part of each smaller loop bisects the larger loop so it isn't exactly 5.8 plus 8.8 for the big one).
The trail covered a variety of landscapes. Some of it was nearly level but most of it went up and down repeatedly following then crossing what seemed like a dozen different creeks and streams. The weather was amazing with temps below 75 and humidity below 45%. I especially enjoyed the section towards the end where they had cleared some of the underbrush and trees giving that area a brighter airier feeling. Interestingly, at one of the crossings of a dirt road, there were two oil wells. As has been the case at several other oil wells I've seen in Kansas or Wyoming, they are sometimes just out on public land with no fencing to ward people off. These two weren't running (and may not have run for a few years) but they still had their relatively modern electrical control systems intact and the area around both wells had a strong oily smell. I don't know if Oil Creek Energy has plans to run those wells again but it seems weird to just have them hanging out.
Tomorrow's activities depend a bit on the weather. There is about a 40% chance of rain and thunderstorms so we may have to find indoors things to do. Still, it's so nice being in one spot for 3 nights. A lot of our little trips end up feeling kind of rushed but this was only 4 hours of no Interstate driving each way so it feels like a relaxed trip.
Pics by Brian...
On the way we had a very down home dining experience at Nellies in Arcade NY. Though I rarely go for it, I had the fried shrimp dinner. I appreciated that it came with macaroni salad (everything seems to come with mac salad in Western NY) and coleslaw and I had my choice of potato so I had mash instead of the normal fries. It was very good and our server was extremely nice. We also both had pie which was great but probably a mistake for me in terms of feeling very full and still having two hours of driving left.
When I was looking for hikes around this area I printed out a single page double sided map and guide for the Morrison trail. It detailed a 5.8 mile loop, an 8.8 mile loop and the two could be combined for about 11 miles (part of each smaller loop bisects the larger loop so it isn't exactly 5.8 plus 8.8 for the big one).
The trail covered a variety of landscapes. Some of it was nearly level but most of it went up and down repeatedly following then crossing what seemed like a dozen different creeks and streams. The weather was amazing with temps below 75 and humidity below 45%. I especially enjoyed the section towards the end where they had cleared some of the underbrush and trees giving that area a brighter airier feeling. Interestingly, at one of the crossings of a dirt road, there were two oil wells. As has been the case at several other oil wells I've seen in Kansas or Wyoming, they are sometimes just out on public land with no fencing to ward people off. These two weren't running (and may not have run for a few years) but they still had their relatively modern electrical control systems intact and the area around both wells had a strong oily smell. I don't know if Oil Creek Energy has plans to run those wells again but it seems weird to just have them hanging out.
Tomorrow's activities depend a bit on the weather. There is about a 40% chance of rain and thunderstorms so we may have to find indoors things to do. Still, it's so nice being in one spot for 3 nights. A lot of our little trips end up feeling kind of rushed but this was only 4 hours of no Interstate driving each way so it feels like a relaxed trip.
Pics by Brian...
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