We expanded! PPFF welcomed our first-ever Volunteer Coordinator, Kathryn Giblin, to the staff. She'll be based in the Camp Hill office but will be our eyes and ears and shovel and loppers and boots on the ground working with our volunteers. 

Kathryn studied anthropology and sociology both at the University of Pittsburgh and Queen's University of Belfast and worked with volunteers both stateside and in Northern Ireland. 

With this varied and unique background it's going to be great fun getting to know her. We'll keep you posted on where you can exercise that same opportunity.

The latest addition to our YouTube playlist, Health & Economic Benefits of PA Parks & Forests, is a Spanish-language translation of the Children & the Outdoors video, Los niños y el aire libre. Give a click below!

The Governor recently launched a new initiative to position the state as a travel destination. The Great American Getaway recognizes the cultural and natural assets that make Pennsylvania a leader. So why not combine your next visit to a state park or forest with one of the many museums and historic sites you'll find nearby (like the pictured Fort Pitt Blockhouse at Point State Park pictured here). Intern Martha has combed the internet to help you make the connections. Visit the PPFF Publications page and download your fact sheet. 

Photo credit – Roy Engelbrecht

The event you've been waiting for...

Here it is!

PPFF joins with French Creek State Park to offer a women's weekend in the outdoors (September 6 through 8). Activities include mountain biking, kayaking, yoga, hiking, birding, atlatl, and disc golf, as well as skill builders like composting, map and compass, outdoor safety, and Leave No Trace. This event is designed for women of all levels of outdoor experience and materials will be provided.

Find out more and get yourself registered at the PPFF Calendar of Events. These events have proven very popular in other parks and we anticipate a sell-out. Don't delay!

PPFF is out and about this week. Come and meet Tasha and Kathryn (not to mention the Friends of R.B. Winter) at the Susquehanna Greenway Outdoor Expo on Saturday and see Tasha again at Camp Hill's National Night Out on Tuesday. Click each pic for more info!

Remember the photo two weeks ago from the Appalachian Trail? I wondered whether a reader from the Potomac AT Club, section maintainers near Duncannon, might know about the enthusiastically marked blue trail taken by hiker Kimberly Smith. Debra Takach of the Duncannon Outdoor Club and the Duncannon AT Community writes:

The blue trail is a trail off the AT about 4 miles South of Hawk Rock. It takes you to the Duncannon Watershed Road. Once at Watershed Road you can turn right to return to the Hawk Rock entrance at the Duncannon Recycling Center for a total of 8 miles. If you turn left at Watershed Road and hike 1.25 miles, then turn right off of Water Shed Road by the carne on your left and walk a short distance you come to a large furnace stack and a bubbling spring on your right. The return trip going back on Watershed Road takes you back to the Hawk Rock entrance at the Duncannon Recycling Center for a total of 11 miles.

I just hiked the 11 miles yesterday and will be advertising the hike for hikers to attend with the Duncannon Outdoor Club for the monthly outing in August.

The furnace stack is left over from a lumber yard. People used to ride in wagons to the mill for lumber and water.

Thank you, Debra! Keep an eye on her page for your opportunity join this hike or others in this beautiful central PA locale. 

New on the blog, a convo on mountain biking with Purple Lizard Maps' Mike Hermann. 

Being so close to The Border, I was happy to see PLM's latest offering will be Deep Creek Lake and Savage River State Forest over there in Maryland. Good biking in that neighborhood. 

Available now on their website and at the Ohiopyle State Park retail space. 

Posts like the one including this photo in the Camping in Pennsylvania state parks group are what make social media fun. 

Jez Beth posted the picture from the family's recent visit to Kettle Creek; another reader commented that was her husband in the kayak.

We all come together in a state park, right?

NOT invited to join the fun, however, is a BEAR. The AT Conservancy has been posting distressing news all month with this update last Tuesday:

The ATC continues to receive bear reports for the George W. Outerbridge Shelter area (NOBO mile 1,260.3). Hikers should continue to exercise caution in this area, keep a clean camp, and pack out all trash and food waste. Never leave unsecured food unattended – even for a moment such as a quick trip to the privy or to check out a view. Secure food, trash, and scented items overnight in a bear canister or the bear box at the shelter.

Failing to heed this practice results in a dangerous condition for both you AND the bear. Leave No Trace!