Friday August 14th - Lower Trail to Bald Knob Ridge - very close to State College PA - About 7 miles, 900 feet elevation gain

This was a surprisingly challenging hike.  It's only about 5 miles from the hotel we are staying at in downtown State College.  This trail started off near some interesting municipal water infrastructure that takes a very modest stream and runs it through some sort of settling pond and then off into a water supply.  The trail started off following this small stream on a very rocky and rooty trail.  After about a mile the loop portion of the trail starts and it went straight up the side of the ridge very steeply.  The actual amount of elevation wasn't huge but it was steeper and probably longer than almost any hike near us in the Finger Lakes area.

The ridge portion of the trail was delightful.  It was woodsy with occasional glimpses of the valleys on either side of the ridge and there was a light breeze.  We didn't see anybody on the upper portions of the trail which wasn't a surprise after going through dozens of spider webs all the way.


The downhill leg of the loop was very gentle and nice and then we were walking along the stream again for a longer distance along the same trail we started on.




















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