Fifteen folks met up at the Old Stoney Creek Road trailhead on a crisp, breezy, but sunny spring Saturday, April 27. The route for the day was to hike to the Lower Shamokin Falls and then take the steep jeep road up to the Upper Shamokin Falls, all part of the Wintergreen Nature Foundation trail system. Hike leader, Marit Anderson, was joined by the following hikers: Karem Cosar, Tom Millner, Ivan Via, David Consolvo, Jocelyn Prostko, Nancy Kern and Aiko (her pup), Barbara Martin, Len Denicola, Cheri Acker, Marie Moss, John Brandt, Betty Joyce Nash, Claire Cline and Nancy Handley. We meandered up the fire road along Stoney Creek to the trail leading to the Lower Falls. The stream crossings were not bad, although Marit had experienced much worse on her pre-hike 10 days earlier. At the lower falls we had a quick snack and then regrouped to make the steep ascent. We had some pretty views along the way of Nelson County and numerous wildflower sightings, many pointed out by our wildflower expert, Claire Cline. Some of these included Golden Alexander, Wild Phlox, Wild Geranium, Jack -in-the Pulpit, Pinks, and more. At the top of climb we branched to the left as advised by Nancy Kern on the Morgan's Loop to take the circuitous route of the Upper Shamokin Falls - enjoying it from all sides. Lunch was next to the falls followed by dessert of chocolate chip cookies and dark chocolate. The water was flowing fully, providing a beautiful backdrop to our meal. From there we reconnected to our earlier trail and made it back down the side of Crawford Knob with a part of the group making a sighting of morel mushrooms. We arrived at our cars around 1:45 pm, some folks departing for home and others to some breweries and cidery. Our mileage for the day was 6.5-7 miles (depending on the different GPS devices) and a 1600 ft. ascent. Could not think of a nicer thing to do on a fabulous spring day!
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| Submitted by Marit Anderson |
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