Photo by Douglas Clifford

Ravensburg State Park

Well, here it is again. The annual Peak of the Perseids. And, again, the skies above the Valley of the Foot of the Turkey are predicted to be somewhat less than peak. 

Thanks to the good people of Sky and Telescope, a good primer on how to take advantage of this Banner Year for the Perseids (sigh) is illustrated below. 

Give a click to the pic for the article in question and best of luck to you!

Douglas Clifford says in our Exploring PA Parks & Forests Book of Faces that the dam at Ravensburg is one of his favorite views in Pennsylvania state parks. I think he's probably not exaggerating - check this photo I had in my file from October 2021!

Below, a couple of repeats  in case you missed them.

Meanwhile, water quality, habitat, and visitor experiences all improved with the recent planting of trees and shrubs at the Tombs Flat Recreation Area in the Tiadaghton State Forest.

Support from donations and funds from sales of New Trail Brewing's Replenish IPA purchased a variety of native trees and shrubs and staff from the Tiadaghton planted the trees.

Tomb Flats Recreation Area provides access to the Pine Creek for anglers, paddlers, swimmers, and tubers and access to the Pine Creek Trail for hikers, bikers, cross-country skiers, and runners! Rustic camping is available at Tombs Flats. Visit the DCNR website to learn more.

Thank you to all our members, donors, and grant-funders for making projects like these possible!

BIG busy weekend in the northwest!

We are happy to add Radio Centro listeners to our regular audience. Tune in each month for interesting guests on outdoor topics.

Yep, the last week in August is where we look to this week. And that's JUST before Labor Day!

Put a bookmark on the PPFF Events calendar and DCNR Calendar of Events so you never miss an announcement.

It was indeed an interesting question, with answers open to debate! Which two Pennsylvania state parks are closest together?

There were different ways to attack it:

1. Consider the linear parks (Bucktail Path and Laurel Ridge) and see where they might simply intersect another park road entrance (8.7 miles to Hyner Run and 12.8 to Hyner View but Laurel Ridge (the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail) starts in Ohiopyle (so that is technically the “closest” for sure).
2. Check out the distance as the crow flies (Colton Point to Leonard Harrison, Karen and Diane’s first guesses, is .59 miles).
3. Plot the drive mileage with good ol' Google maps (or Mapquest) (this was my initial reaction to Rich's question). Janelle gets the point for this one:

• McCalls Dam and R.B. Winter - 4.7 miles
• Hyner Run to Hyner View - 4.8 miles
• Raccoon Creek to Hilman - 5.3 miles
• Moraine to McConnells Mill - 5.8 miles

And I’d add Raccoon Creek and Hillman – 4.4 miles

Lots of people went with the Laurels:

• Laurel Summit to Linn Run – 3.8 miles
• Laurel Mountain to Laurel Summit – 4.5 miles
• Kooser to Laurel Hill – 3.9 miles as the crow flies and 5 miles by car

And we didn't even touch on the PA Wilds parks from Cherry Springs to Prouty Place to Lyman Run to Patterson. The bottom line is that with a little planning you can knock some parks off your list in multiples.

On the other hand, it’s 427 miles from Erie Bluffs to Washington Crossing and 377 from Ryerson Station to Promised Land! 

This week, pay a visit to the PAConservationHeritage website in celebration of Pinchot and Abele's birthdays and tell me two other conservation heroes whose stories you enjoyed. 

Enter each week to increase your chances of a fabulous prize at the end of the month when I'll draw one entry from all correct answers received during the month.

Green boxes are pictures and news; blue boxes are events.

Quote: John Green, Turtles All the Way Down (2019)

Photo: Jiang Ming (as included in Maxine Harrison's blog post on the PPFF website, Cherry Springs and the Wonder of Dark Skies)

And check out the Summer issue of the Penn's Stewards newsletter which has a cover story on dark skies.