Good-bye (for now) Cook Forest
Monday, June 21, 2010
Thursday was our last day in the forest. We had a big pancake breakfast . . . blueberry, banana or plain pancakes were the options. I tried them all and the blueberry were my favorite and the banana my least - too much banana flavor for me. I like to taste the pancake. Also, FYI, maple syrup is really reasonable there (compared to our outrageous prices here in OH). It's also local! I meant to get some for home but of course I forgot.
My parents left after breakfast - and after Caine caught six MORE fish. Geesh. Those too were cleaned and taken home. Seemed excessive. I packed up the cabin and then packed up some lunch. This morning the plan was our big hike in the old growth forest. After my parents left we set out with our map and a general plan - of course we did not stick to the latter.
This was an awesome hike. It was easy to moderate by my standards (though I was not the one with a
toddler in back-carrier). I'd guess we did about 2 miles or more in the forest before stopping for lunch then another mile or more back to the cabin.
Most of Cook Forest and PA in general - heck the entire east coast or US for that matter - was logged in the early 1900s (and earlier). Some stands of virgin or old growth or original forest did remain though. Cook Forest has some large sections of this and let me tell you the trees are amazing. You get so used to trees being huge! On the drive home it looked like we were passing saplings and basically just sorry excuses for 'forests.' Many of these old hemlocks and white pine are over 300 years old - many as high as 150 feet tall, and some as wide as 4 feet! I love hiking for so many reasons but one of them is that it can really be a very spiritual, centering and calming experience. This forest was beautiful and reflecting on the trees and really the whole natural setting can really put just about anything in perspective.
I hope to make stops in Cook Forest annually. I'd really like to try more advanced hikes as J gets older and more capable. He hiked part of the Ancient Forest Trail and he hiked nearly the entire way back so I think we have a good lil hiker in the making.
posted by Shannon @ 21.6.10,
