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| Heron waiting patiently for a fish to snack on at Hopewell Lake at French Creek State Park |
Sunday, Sept. 9, 2012 Me and Dave headed out to French Creek State Park. It was a perfect Fall day, and who knows how many days we will have like this to take in our great state parks.
This drive was much shorter than last weekend's trip; a 120 mile round trip for us on this sunny day. French Creek is part of the Hopewell Furnace National Historical Site, an Iron works village established in the 18th century. As luck would have it, we missed the turn off for French Creek and went to Hopewell Furnace first; which provided us with the opportunity to pick apples right on-site next to the main office. I should say I picked apples, cause Dave got perturbed with me when I got picky about which apples to pick- I am a very picky person, but I figure since we get to choose which apples we want from the tree we should be picky. So we went home with 11 pounds of Romes, Red Delicious and Jonathan apples.
With that behind us, we headed off to French Creek only 5 minutes down the road.
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| Dam at Hopewell Lake- Dave on upper right side of picture |
The office at French Creek was closed, but we found a ranger at the parking lot and he signed our PA passport for both French Creek and Marsh Creek State Parks, numbers 4th and 5th respectively in our passport (only 115 left to go). He was really nice to talk to and, he suggested we start our hike on an unmarked path that would lead us around Hopewell Lake. The Dam picture above was actually located at the opposite end of the lake from where we started, so my pictures a little out of order.
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| Beaver Dam located a short distance from the beginning of our hike. The Ranger told us we would see two beaver dams and a beaver hut. We really hoped to see a beaver, but on this day had to be satisfied with seeing their home and cleaver carpentry work instead..... still satisfying. |
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| Butterflies galore filled the air as we made our way around Hopewell Lake. This one didn't seem to mind me take picturesof it, as it basked on the purple clover. |
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| Aview of the lake looks like a picture Monet would love to paint. |
Our hike took a little over an hour. Dave did good with his hips, but the groin cramp didn't help. A short break and a snack from our handy-dandy back pack helped. This park has so much to offer from boat rentals, nice fishing areas, trails, picnic areas, nice play area for kids, and camping. I'm sure this must be a popular spot for Philadelphians.
From here we headed out to find Marsh Creek State Park, which has a lake used for sailboating, kayaking, and canoeing. This park is only supposed to be 20 minutes away according to the ranger. The windy Rt 345 seemed like it took forever to lead us to Rt. 82 and then RT 282. Our GPS has come in handy, but without a street address for Marsh Creek, we are on our own. Now, if you have ever ridden with me and my hubby, you know this can be dangerous. Of course, it didn't help that it was mid-afternoon and we hadn't had lunch yet, so with sugar levels low, we missed the very small and brush hidden sign for the state park and headed south toward West Chester. Finally we found a Micky D's, and stopped for a little break.
We set out for our drive home, figuring we were going to have to miss Marsh Creek. Low and behold ten minutes down the road I saw the road sign for Marsh Creek. This very picturesque lake was dotted with sail boats, and actually boats of every kind. It has hiking and biking trail We didn't stay long at this park, I think we were really ready to go home and relax.
We were satisfied though that we made it to the park and could be honest to the Ranger's signature in our passport book.
We hope one of these southeastern PA parks will spark your interest and become a destination for your future agenda. Until then, keep your hiking boots ready, and may the Fall sunshine warm your toes!
Happy Hiking..... Apryle and Dave
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