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Julie Gartside: Outings, Programs
Are you wearing orange? If your hiking this season you should be! It's hunting season, and we'd like all our out-door wonderers to be safe. Check out this handy guide at the PA Forest Coalition. And for more in-depth info go to Pennsylvania State Game Comission.
Add a trail, find a trail, and blog with fellow hikers at Sierra Club Trails. Explore, enjoy, and protect the planet-and now share your stories!
Search, map and share info about Trails in Pennsylvania at ExplorePATrails.com. This new site was recently launched by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources about thousands of miles of trails in PA. Enjoy!
Boot-worthy in Berks and Schuylkill Counties
The most famous trail in our area is the National Appalachian Trail.
The AT covers 2,174 miles from Georgia to Maine. Although the trail runs mainly North-South, the trail through Pennsylvanian is East-West by the compass. A portion of the AT runs along the Kittattinny Ridge through Berks and Schuylkill Counties. If you want to get out for a little walk or a multi-day trip the AT is perfect. There are many nearby access points and scenic overlooks.
Points of interest in our region include: The Pinnacle, The Pulpit, Pulpit Rock, Balancing Rock, Bake Oven Knob, The Knife Edge, and Bear Rock.
Guidebooks and maps for the AT can be obtained from Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) or the Keystone Trails Association (KTA).
Other marked trails in our area include:
Blue Marsh
Daniel Boone Homestead
French Creek
Hamburg Reservoir
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary
Neversink Mountain
Hopewell Furnace
Horse-Shoe Trail
Lake Ontelaunee
Lesser Lake
Locust Lake State Park
Mount Penn
Nolde Forest
Philips Canyon
Sacony Trail
Schuylkill River Trail (Bartram Trail)
POI: Kearnsville Dam
Tom Lowe Trail and Sand Spring Trail
Weiser State Forest
A Note:
Taking a deep breath in the middle of the forest connects one to deep historic roots like no other experience on earth. And while traveling to remote wild lands is not an option for many of us, we can all throw open the doors and take a walk outside.One of my goals as Outings/Programs Chair for the Sierra Club is to help people enjoy the outdoors a little more. I'd like to help people look at the good green world in a new way. What was once a blur a greens and browns becomes maple and walnut trees, spice bush, wild violets, jewlweed, and cattails. The birds become known as juncos, nuthatches, indigo buntings, turkey vulchers, and hawks. All elusive creatures large and small have names and a places in our ecological community. And learning about them is something that we can do together.
The forest is green and the earth is brown.
But there's so much more that I have found!
The closer I look, the more I see.
More shapes, and colors, and filigree.
Last year I bought a Peterson's Guide to Wildflowers. I am not an expert by any means, but I have come to enjoy my time outdoors even more when I am greeted by new and familiar flowers. The experience is very much like meeting friends or greeting old ones. I encourage you, whether it's flowers, trees, insects, birds, and animals (or their tracks), to enrich the time you spend in this great and wild world.
Please visit the Flora and Fauna section of the Photo Gallery for pictures of the plants I've found while hiking.
Nolde Forest
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