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Black Moshannon State Park

We spent Tuesday driving out to Black Moshannon State Park for a walk and picnic lunch. Like every other park I’ve been to up here, it was lush and beautiful — very reminiscent of the Arkansas State Parks that I have idealized from my childhood. Due to my inability to edit objectively, click through to see about 80 pictures and videos of our day at the park.

Here’s the state flyer that guided our journey.

Should you ever decide to visit Black Moshannon State Park and you find the visitor station closed, this set of pictures will make you think you’ve already seen it.

That’s quite a comprehensive display of taxidermy there…
		…and just outside the window is the live version.

Once you leave the visitor’s centers you’ll be treated to a nice lake with all the amenities you would expect from any good state park.

Lots of lily pads with flowers in bloom across the Black Moshannon Lake and Bog area.
The mountainside surrounding the park is covered in the remnants of, what I’m told, was an incredible amount of mountain laurel. Even at this stage in its late bloom, it is impressive to see the laurel covering the forest undergrowth as far back in the woods as the eye can see.
Swimming area with beach, and volleyball court.		Boat launch	Paddle boat rental — all rentals were closed because of the threat of rain, but we never saw a drop.
		anachronistic beach ball
			Even Pennsylvanians believe in bat conservtation…
…in a small sort of way.	Definitely a pirogue fishing kind of lake…	…or maybe a canoe if you’re a yankee.
		families fishin’…does it get any better?	if you come here for camping, here’s the second most important place on the grounds. (I don’t have a picture of the most important place, but it has to do with the other end of the digestion process.)
	looks like they’ve got a beaver problem	that middle boat has a german accent	what does it say about my media consumption that I gave the term “ghost town” a completely different meaning then the one intended?

Most of our time was spent trail-walking. We started out on Bog Trail, switched over to Moss-Hanne Trail and Indian Trail, then came back on Hay Road Trail.

	head of Bog Trail		Most of Bog Trail is a boardwalk with nature-related signposts.
	Speaking of the beaver problem…	…here are some stumps courtesy of the beavers.
		Not every picture is flowers and light. Even little bunnies die in the bog, leaving their smelly bloated corpses on the boardwalk.
	The fern growth under the canopy on the inner trails was thick.		a tiny red berry hiding in the undergrowth.
This little toadstool was in the center of one of the trails.

After our walkabout we sat under the trees on the tax-provided picnic table. We brought some of Evie’s delicious homemade pickles, a bag of veggies, sandwiches and cookies.

Note the beverage choices. Who’s gonna live to be 100?

Thanks for looking through the pictures. As a reward, here are some peaceful “mood” videos to enrich your Black Moshannon Park experience.

        

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