Larry A. Smail's Blog

  We, here in western Pennsylvania, have been witnessing some great summer weather. The morning temperatures are in the fifty degree comforts. I, and sometimes Laurie, have walked about a half a dozen times in the last two weeks. How could I be expected to set and paint or work on a precious day like this.  

I needed to visit my sister this morning so the walk was planned early and near her residence. I elected to walk the Frog Pond Road near the Simpson Church. (This church was built in 1893.) I believe this area still to be in Cowanshannock Township.                                  

Two fawns.

The early morning held a fairly thick fog, but the sun in short order began to burn the fog off. I saw a number of rabbits and a couple of gray squirrels. I saw eleven deer  in total, four of which were fawns. I was blessed to watch them play and case each other. I saw two flocks of turkeys. One flock yielded a few poults to my view. The other flock, probably, had some babies, but the high vegetation would not allow seeing any.                                          

The round-trip venture was around four miles possibly a little more. The morning was quiet and comfortable and not one vehicle came past me while walking along the road. This is a rare treat!

Red (Purple) Clover

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   I haven’t placed any entries here in a while. We have had some hot, humid weather and quite a bit of rain as of late. However, I have been doing some local walking within the community. I have been busy recording a new CD placing many tracks with each song. I have been working on some art projects as well. I am going to enter the Pennsylvania Waterfowl Show later this year. Add to these, I have been doing some music at various places. So, as you can see, I have been staying out of trouble as well!

Rupp Run

Friday morning presented some much cooler temperatures in the morning so I decided to walk near my old homestead along Silvis Hollow Road in Kittanning Township here in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania. I parked at the intersections of this road and the Garrett’s Run Road and walked the road easternly towards the home where I was raised. Eventually, I surprised my mother and step-father, Bob with a short visit.                                                                                  

Upon my return towards the car I, often,  entered the woodlands to walk along a creek I used to spend hours on…Rupp Run. This crick (creek) is a tributary of Garrett’s Run which in turn enters the Allegheny River. As a boy, I remember catching minnows from a bridge below the house. What a joy to have a water course to play around.                                                                                                                        

I have memories of carrying a tackle box and a bait-casting style rod and reel along the crick to catch trophy chubs. They were, probably, a maximum of around eight inches. That fact didn’t matter to a young lad….I had a blast in their pursuit.

Hickory Nuts

A friend and I would do litter patrols along these waters too. I always hated to see garbage in the streams!

 I remember another time while sneaking under one of the narrow bridges. I saw some old wood peewee bird’s nest anchored to the side. I reached up to see if the nest was empty and it tumbled from the bridge’s side onto my head. I was covered with bird lice!!! I quickly removed my white tee-shirt (Since that was we all wore back then.) and continually covered my head and torso with the cold waters. I learned a lesson!

Cattail

Another instance proved to be a lost shoe! I entered into a muddy looking area along the stream. A suction occurred and my foot and leg became sucked down. I had a very difficult time getting out of the muck. I did find I was missing one of my tennis shoes as I finally survived the quick sand. Oh the joys of being a country boy! The Keds were, probably, dirty anyway since I would always rub dirt into my new tennis shoes. They needed a patina immediately. No boy in his right mind would be caught with glossy black and white tennis shoes!

The recent warm and wet weather has proven to be a boom to fungus growth. I viewed many species growing within the woodlands.

Indian Pipes

A small waterway and a boy. These are things that make memories!  

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  Friends, Larry and Ruthann, as well as, Laurie and I visited the Todd Sanctuary near Sarver, Pennsylvania. These lands are controlled and maintained by the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania. The 176 acres was originally donated by W.E. Clyde Todd in 1942.                                                                                                                                                                   

The woodlands consists of varied habitats. One will walk through high canopy big timber at times and later walk into an abandoned field in the early stage of successional growth. Other sites demonstrate an abandoned field of many years with younger tree growth. A northern slope is dominantly hemlock.

The pond

A nice feature for me is a vernal-style pond with lots of duckweed on the surface. Hundreds of frogs are throughout this pond. A rather large water snake came to the bank as we watched. Dragonflies flutter everywhere! the sounds of the bullfrog permeate the quiet, peaceful area.                                                                                                     

The site includes many marked trails. The longest trail is 2 miles in length. All others vary. I enjoy the Polypody Trail with big rocks covered with boulder ferns. the Ravine Trail follows a rock-based stream that meanders among steep and rocky sides.

Laurie was chosen trail leader which proved interesting at times but we all made it out alive. Laurie doesn’t care for spider webs stretched across the trails!

Trail leader

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Bennett’s Branch of the Sinnemahoning Creek

I had planned this hike at the Fred Woods Trail last week, but current and pending weather conditions forced a change in plans. However, this Memorial Day, I decided to head north into Cameron County to investigate this trail.                                                                                          

A friend, Marci told stories of massive rocks in the area where the Fred Woods Trail crossed the ridge’s top. I knew I need to spend some time at the area in the future. I had wished I could have done this hike on another day, since I would have loved to see either the Elderton or Kittanning, Pennsylvania Memorial Day parades. Again, watching future weather predictions forced a decision for this day. The temperatures are to rapidly increase into the mid-eighties by Wednesday and the nineties following on Thursday and Friday. The humidity is to, also, grow in moisture.

  I left the house shortly after 5:00 A.M. to arrive around 7:30 A.M. to the parking area for the trail. I gathered up my camera’s and my friend, Ruger and began the trek into the forest. A walking staff accompanied me. I was elated to have the third leg after moving into a section of trail loaded with rocks of all sizes.

         The forest’s habitat changed several times during this hike. The beginning featured hemlock and mostly maples. The forest floor, although beautiful, were covered with the hay-scented fern. This specie emits a toxin that suppresses new tree growth.                                                          

As I continued, the woods began to show signs of increasingly bigger rock formations. Here the woods were rather open. This area would soon show an undergrowth of dense huckleberry. A large area exhibited such growth. Farther down the ridge the Striped Maple overtook the understory. This maple is not a best specie for wildlife either. All through the hike cherry and oak saplings were scarce to non-existent although big oaks were often present.

I had hoped to see a rattlesnake on this travel. However, the temperatures were somewhat cool. Frost could be viewed along the lower areas as I traveled to the trail. I talked with a local and he said he catches them at times and knows of a den near his place.

Boulder fern and Canada Mayflower on rock’s edge.

The rock formations were, indeed, big! Many of the rocks were much bigger than a common home of poor people like me. Many had split many years ago. Trails between these splits easily exposed how the rocks had fit together in times past. One such corridor went for around a hundred feet or more. The rocks were big like I said!                     

Bull elk with new antler growth and summer hair in place.

Two sites are kept open for hikers to view beautiful vistas. The mountains are grandeur in God’s Country Pennsylvania. One vista is called  the “Water Plug Run” with the other called “Huckleberry Vista”. I set for a time to take in the splendor!

Critters of interest were one gray squirrel and lots of chipmunks. I saw three deer here and four deer while traveling. I saw two turkeys and an elk while traveling too.                                                                                

Bull Elk

However, I was thrilled to walk up ion two bull elk while traveling the trail! I knew seeing them was a possibility, but yet, I was taken by surprise when I encountered the two. On a sad note a small group of ravens were viewed feasting on a dead bull elk.

Warblers were singing all day. I saw an American Redstart and vireos along with a Blackburnian Warbler. Oh, how I tried to capture this specie with the camera! I almost did!

Leaving the trail was a sad event. I would have liked to stated much longer. I stopped at the Bucktail Overlook for a spectacular view of the mountains of the area. this was almost a 360 degree view!

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