Hiking in Moshannon State Forest

The weather was to be sunny and cool, and I took the day off work so my husband and I could go hiking in Moshannon State Forest, above Black Moshannon. We'd almost gone backpacking Monday into Tuesday, and this was where we had initially planned to go. We ended up spending Monday day hiking in Quehanna instead. So Thursday, we agreed to head to our original destination in Moshannon State Forest, even if only for the day.

We started things out, though, with a fabulous lunch at Jim's in Bellefonte. Our favorites: chef salads, cottage fries, and garlic bread. You must humor me and take a look at the shot of the two beautiful chef salads in the extras. Yes, by the end of our day, we'd be VERY glad we had a decent lunch tucked under our belts!

We started out on the Allegheny Front Trail (AFT), and wandered all through the woods, traveling uphill and down. Like the Mid-State trail, this one is amazingly rocky. Boot Killer is what my husband calls the Mid-State, and the AFT isn't far behind in that regard!

We wandered off the trail to check out an old campsite of ours, but discovered a surprise instead: a fenced area in the field just below the former site, that kept us from easily making our way back down the hill. We bushwhacked through some huge pines, and at one point, I simply bull-dozed my way through them (yes, even at 5'2" I can bulldoze with the best!). I later ended up picking pine needles out of my jacket hood, my camera bag, and even my underpants!

By the day's end, we had walked more than six miles and we were beat. How tired was I? I was so tired that I never even had the energy to look at the day's photos. Yes, THAT tired, from all that walking! So for my soundtrack song, let's let it be this: Fats Domino, with I'm Walking.