Hearts Content

July 10, 2021 Chapman State Park Clarendon, Pennsylvania

I had an energizing morning walk in the woods.  The healing and restorative powers of nature allows us to leave the worries of the past several weeks behind…and breathe.  Tim has always sworn that we will live longer because we spend this time outdoors, traveling the way that we do.  It must be good for blood pressure and I know that I feel better when I walk someplace lovely.  Oh, and these hills are going to be really good for the gluts!

The state park campgrounds were very full this weekend.  We did plan ahead and reserve a site at Chapman State Park before we even left home.  We made the short drive from Cook Forest and had lunch by Chapman Lake while we were waiting for our campsite to be ready.  We had picked up sweet cherries from a produce stand along the way and we ate them with tangy goat cheese and rosemary flatbread.

After some quiet time, we took the Jeep out to explore.  We took gravel forest roads and some muddy dirt roads as well…old logging roads and roads that led to defunct oil rigs.

We stopped at Hearts Content Scenic Recreation Area, aptly named because it certainly makes my heart happy when someone long ago decided to preserve something for future generations.  This 120-acre parcel was given to the state by a logging family.  Here 400-year-old timber stands undisturbed for “inspiration and scientific study”.  The forest was dense and dark and almost chilly and smelled of earth and pine.  The logs and rocks were covered in thick layers of moss and fungi.  The trees were white pine, hemlock, and hardwoods. 

We hiked through, in awe of the size and majesty of these big old trees. 

The tiniest orange mushrooms stood out in stark contrast to the lush greenery.

We learned that the ferns in this forest are abundant because the deer do not eat them.  The deer population here is large and the deer eat the new shoots, shrubs, and new saplings.  There is concern that as old trees die, new ones will not survive to replace them.

We grilled Mediterranean chicken and ate it with fresh corn on the cob and cantaloupe. 

This evening a volunteer gave a lecture on the timber rattlesnake in the amphitheater.  He was an excellent teacher and we learned a lot.