Larry A. Smail's Blog

    I visited a friend to drop off some venison prior to heading down the Cherry Run watershed for a hike. I pulled along a wide area at the Crooked Creek property. The Cherry Run stream continues through these lands in route to Crooked Creek. Crooked Creek empties into the Allegheny River.                                                                                                               

I hadn’t walked far when mink tracks became obvious. Later I would see fisher tracks too. Other tracks included deer; turkey; ‘coon; coyote; fox; rabbit; skunk; grey and pine squirrels; chipmunks; crow; white-footed mouse and shrews. The mating season is upon the natural world and    the animals are out in search of mates for the season.

    The creek, an approved trout waters, was beautiful with the whites of the snow often contrasted with hemlocks. Icicles hung solidly from the rocks bordering the creek. We would take a hammer and remove ice from such overhangs to make home-made ice cream. Great memories!      

There was plenty of ice along the banks. Tree damage, from the moving ice, was obvious throughout the hike. Large chucks of ice were visible at many sites. Often the ice was approximately three feet above the normal water level of the creek. It appears there was flooding at some point.

   Wildlife sightings were sparse today. However, I did see ten deer at three different places. I, also, witnessed a flock of about 12 turkeys flying from one hill top to another. I wondered what had happened to cause their escape.                                                                                                      

I have lots of memories from the Cherry Run watershed. Over the years many of my relatives have lived here. Some still do. I have walked  from above Route 422 south to Crooked Creek. I have been all over this stretch of stream. Thank you dad for spending time with me and introducing me to the great outdoors.