Herpin' Pensylvania for Easter - Penn-Rosevelt State Park and Black Moshannon State Park

Passing through local towns on the way from Carlisle to Clearfield, PA we saw beautiful displays of cultivated trees including Plum, Flowering Almond, Quince, Apple, Pear and Lilac. I was blown away by how well all of the flowering plants were growing. It is always a struggle to get things to bloom in Canada let alone get them to flourish like this.

Cultivated double flower

Cultivated Flowering Dogwood

Penn-Resevelt State Park looked like it was on our way but it ended up being up in the mountains along winding dirt roads that took forever to get up. The drive was beautiful and if it was later in the year the thick under-story of Rhododendrons would have been flowering.   It didn't really have a good trail system with a short loop we could do that day.

Penn-Resevelt State Park

Penn-Resevelt State Park

Black Moshannon State Park had more interesting things to see than Penn-Rosevelt and the boardwalk was a lovely trail from the airport.

Black Moshannon State Park

Black Moshannon State Park

Black Moshannon State Park

Off the boardwalk you could see Marsh Marigolds in bloom and salamander egg masses.

Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris)

Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris)

Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris)

A large number of salamanders was breeding in the wetland since huge clumps of egg masses could be seen just off the boardwalk.

Spotted Salamander Egg Masses

 Trailing Arbutus is a lovely small creeping plant with pink-white flowers. The shrub has hairy stems and opposite leaves.

Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea repens)

Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea repens)

Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea repens)

Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea repens)

 At the end of the loop there was a scuz pond with a bunch of Green Frogs in it. I am sure there would be a bunch of frogs breeding in it at night. It looked and smelled quite gross though and sadly in some places it was overflowing into the adjacent wetland. 

Black Moshannon State Park

For Easter dinner we went to a dutch restaurant called Dutch Pantry Family Restaurant. They had lovely ham dinners.

Dutch Pantry Family Restaurant