Saturday, May 24, 2014

Frogz

 

Yes Frogz.

Lot’s of them hoppers. I was actually asked to pet a few. Slimy. But I love them.

But let’s finish up the Keystone State first. I will be visiting more of them this fall but I stopped by three more PA SP’s in the past week.

Last Thursday I headed north along rainy roads to Locust Lake.

Rainy Road

Locust Lake Sign

There are 282 sites here but only the electric loop was open. I nabbed site 33.

Locust Lake_033

I quickly walked the open loop because it was going to fill up quickly for the weekend. Even though rain was expected to continue. Which it did.

Number 62 had a nice lake view.

Locust Lake_062

And then I spent the evening watching the water pour off my tarp as a river formed a path through my campsite.

Stream 1

Stream 2

Locust Lake Flood

Nifty.

Friday I explored the rest of the park. There’s a beach and a store.

Locust Lake Beach

Locust Lake Store

Which opened the day after I left but probably was not too busy that weekend.

Near the store is the best site here. Number 274, although several others near it are the lakeshore as well.

Locust Lake_274

Life is all about irony and that was made plain to me as I left Locust Lake last Saturday.

The campground had filled up.

Locust Lake Crowds

The rain had given way to the sun.

Locust Lake Saturday Morning

Yeah.

Which was fitting as I was leaving and heading many miles north to Hickory Run State Park. Where I enjoyed one day of beautiful sunshine.

Hickory Run Sign

One of the cool features of this huge 381 site campground is the boulder field. It’s about three miles away up a mainly dirt road.

Road 1

Boulder Field Sign

I thought they were dropped by glaciers but that was not the case.

Boulder Field Sign 2

Water freezing and thawing.

Boulders 1

Like a giant cat litter box. But without the smell. Or the poop.

The photo above was shot raw and processed through an HDR program.

Don’t forget to play with your aperture.

This is f/3.5

Hickory Run Boulder Field 2

Pick a rock, any rock.

Make it stand out and blur the background.

Hickory Run Boulder Field 3

Something different.

I stayed in site 72. A very large site and one of my favorites.

Hickory Run Campsite

Hickory Run_072

When I arrived and was looking for a site I saw a black bear leaping up from this site and scurrying away. That’s why I picked it. Hoping the little guy would come back and pose for some pictures. He had other plans and never returned. Darn.

This is the most popular mountain campground in the state of PA.

A huge beach and several lakes and ponds bring campers from nearby NYC and Philly, less than three hours away.

Hickory Run Beach

Hickory Run Lake

Hickory Run Pond

The sites range from shaded, like numbers 186 and 269, to open grass ones, such as number 341.

Hickory Run_186

Hickory Run_269

Hickory Run_341

There is a huge grassy field in that area. Perfect for tossing a Frisbee around or a small cat. Or a gerbil for that matter. But I do not condone that.

Interesting roads lead to interesting trails.

Hickory Run Road 2

Shade Sign

I passed on that one. Didn’t feel quite right.

Tuesday was Tobyhanna.

Tobyhanna Sign

A small state park with only 140 sites.

I parked in number 119, the best site in the park.

Tobyhanna_119

I have outrun spring and the trees are naked again. This could be an ongoing theme since I will be in Maine in a few weeks. I think there is still snow there…

Some sites had some foliage. I liked 3 and 56.

Tobyhanna_003

Tobyhanna_056

But the best are are by the lake and if you cannot get 119, 117 is a good choice.

Tobyhanna_117

It was just myself and one other camper here for my brief stay. And a few flies. Small nasty ones. I had to take precautions while making dinner.

Sandwiches

I took some pics of the lake and river as I left on Thursday morning.

Tobyhanna Lake

Tobyhanna River

It is a gorgeous spot and I would love to come back in the summer. Just to borrow a canoe and paddle some of that water. It’s that good.

But I continued on to New York state on Thursday. But not before taking a last PA pic.

See, SIL Tracy and Nephew Riley enjoy the TV show “The Office”. It was set in Scranton, PA. Not really, but you know what I mean.. I looked for a sign as I was travelling nearby on a stormy Thursday.

I think it says Scranton.

Scranton

Not sure because of the rain. It’s the best I could do.

Rain 1

Rain 2

I am camping now at another TT place to use a basecamp to visit the Catskills next week.

Friday morning cleared up enough for me to make some breakfast tacos.

Friday Breakfast

As well as cook some boneless pork chops for later feasts.

Pork 1

Sear and then slow cook.

Pork 5

Pork 3

Stop drooling. Slow cook means covering it up on low heat. A smaller pan on top lets the juices drip back down.

Pork 4

Yummy.

While I was doing all that cooking the Frog Police showed up.

Frogz 1

This is not a good place to be if you are a frog.

Frogz 2

Unless you like to be yanked out of your pond and held.

Frogz 3

Reminds me of when I was a kid. Chasing frogs and snakes all over British Columbia. That is what being a kid is all about. Skinned knees and tree forts. Broken arms and legs were a right of passage. Remember all the friends who would sign their name on your cast? You would hope that a certain someone would sign something just a little special. To prove your crush was not unfounded. Right?

Regards,

Greg

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