Larry A. Smail's Blog

Cowanshannock Creek

 I left this morning to run a few errands prior to strolling along the Cowanshannock Creek trail. The trail parallels the creek heading to an area known locally as Buttermilk Falls. I left the trail to follow the actual waters. The beauty of this creek always mesmerized me. The features are rocks and lots of them. Some of the boulders are bigger than trucks. Crawling around and over these features can be interesting as well as dangerous.

  The rocks in the morning hours are usually slippy to walk on due to the dew of the early morning hours. The waters are some of the most beautiful in Armstrong County. I noticed a number of fish while hiking along the creek. I saw carp; suckers ranging in the 15 to 18 inch range. I, also, saw some bass here and there darting along in search of minnows. 

Buttermilk Falls

On a sad note, much vandalism occurs in the area. Rocks are carved into. Others yield satanic and perverted symbols. Beer cans cover any areas where ATVs can get into. Trash can be discovered along the stream from high- water times. This “stuff” washes down from miles upstream and settles along the trees and rocks.

  However, the landscape, as a whole, still is beautiful. There are big, towering trees; hemlocks and rhododendrons make for dark green contrasts against the fall foliage. The colors should peak in a couple of weeks.

The acorns and beech are everywhere this year. the food supply will be long-lasting for the many critters that feed on them. I did see one turkey and several squirrels on this hike. 

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  Laurie and I went for a nice hike today at the “Todd Sanctuary” near Freeport. http://www.aswp.org/toddTrails.html  The lands are owned by the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania. This hike was sure better than the trek I made on Monday morning. Although I saw a deer, a number of squirrels; bear tracks and found a sheephead mushroom, I was caught in a heavy rain that wasn’t scheduled! I was soaked!

  Our hike today was great! The weather was perfect. We hiked on several different trails that snaked their way through a diverse number of habitats. We saw dense hemlock groves; big timber; pole-sized timber from past pasture lands and areas with large boulders rich with moss and polypody ferns. Another area featured seven-foot high goldenrods making for a sea of yellow.                                                         

            Another site features a nice pond loaded with frogs and newts and fish. We sat on a bench and enjoyed the traffic-less solitude. A couple of rock-laden streams cross through the lands. Of course, the water tables were low due to tha absence of rain these past several months.     

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    Laurie and I decided to take a bike ride on such a fine fall-like afternoon. My friend, Frank told me about the bike trail along the Allegheny River at Emlenton, Pennsylvania.  He mentioned the scenic river sites.

The Allegheny River , is indeed, scenic anywhere north of  communities of East Brady through Parker and continuing northward. The waters here are much like the waters known to the natives tribes and early colonists and such. A visit to this area will quickly show a river with plenty of islands; large boulders; shallow rapid-like waters; deep colorful holes of green water; narrow and wide river sites. One will, also, see lush vegetation.     

In all we traveled 12 miles. Laurie wasn’t comfortable traveling through a tunnel that quickly lost all light. I wanted to bring along a flashlight , but forgot the device. Here we turned around. I vowed to attack the tunnel on my on some day this fall! Who knows she may decide to “git-er-done” too. 

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