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Notes from the Countryside

Hiking the Great Northeast Notes from the Countryside With Mary Felley

Now that the warm weather has finally settled in, my thoughts turn to getting outdoors. Luckily, I have a great resource in Attorney Jeff Mitchell of Tunkhannock. Jeff, a Conservancy Board member since 2006 and a board member of the Keystone Trails Association, has written several outdoors books and has an extensive knowledge of hiking spots across the state. Jeff’s books “Backpacking Pennsylvania,” “Hiking the Endless Mountains,” and “Hiking the Allegheny National Forest” are available at Fitze’s Department Store in Tunkhannock.

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Jeff reflected that of the many miles of country he has wandered in his hiking and camping career, Northeastern Pennsylvania has some of the most beautiful he’s seen. He was kind enough to recommend several web sites worth visiting for information on Pennsylvania hikes.

The first three web sites cover the whole state and feature longer hikes, many of several days’ duration. These sites are a great resource for serious hikers and hiker/campers:

The Pennsylvania page of Mid Atlantic Hikes: www.midatlantichikes.com/pa.htm. A “superb resource” with a clickable map of hikes across Pennsylvania.

PA Hikes (another “top notch website”): www.pahikes.com

Keystone Trails Association: www.kta-hike.org

For local hikes, Jeff suggested the following:

Endless Mountains Hiking Club: www.woodbourneforest.org/hiking_club.htm . This is a local group that wants to offer hikes at all ability levels in our corner of the state. Visit their page and sign up if you’d like to help organize hikes or just take part!

Susquehanna Trailers Hiking Club: susquehanna_trailers.tripod.com. This group is based in Wilkes-Barre but draws members from our region too.

“Hiking Jane” Frye: www.hikingjane.com. Jane leads a full calendar of great walks around our area. Hiking destinations range from Lake Scranton to northeast Pennsylvania state parks to scenic areas in New York State.

Local groups that hike with a specific wildlife interest (usually birds) are also worth looking into. Check their program, event and field trip pages:

Greater Wyoming Valley Audubon Society: www.gwvas.org

Lackawanna Audubon Society: academic.uofs.edu/faculty/careym1/las.html

Northeastern Pennsylvania Audubon Society: www.nepaaudubon.org

Groups that own or manage one or more natural sites for public visitation:

Woodbourne Forest and Wildlife Preserve: www.woodbourneforest.org. Woodbourne is a 640-acre sanctuary on Route 29 in Dimock, Susquehanna County.

Endless Mountains Nature Center: www.emnconline.org. The EMNC runs nature programs for children and adults at Camp Lackawanna site at Vosburg Neck outside Tunkhannock and elsewhere. It maintains a trail network at Camp Lackawanna and a nature trail at the Wyoming County Fairgrounds.

(And, of course) Countryside Conservancy: www.countrysideconservancy.org. The Conservancy maintains hiking and mountain-biking trails on several of its preserves, including Little Rocky Glen, Meadowsweet, Quarry Ridge, and Messimer. Several trail maps can be downloaded from the “protected lands” section of our website, and more will be added soon.

Get out there on the trail this summer and, as a wise man once said: “Enjoy, enjoy!”

Meanwhile, it’s not too late to book tickets for the Countryside Conservancy Tenth Annual Auction! The Auction kicks off at 5:30 pm on Saturday, July 11 at the Allied Services corporate offices in the Abington Executive Park, opposite the Scranton Country Club on the Morgan Highway. You can reserve your tickets by calling 945-6995.

Also, come see us at Celebrate Our River Day at Tunkhannock’s Riverside Park on Saturday, July 25! We’ll be part of a great afternoon of water, music and the great outdoors along the Susquehanna River. Come learn about the Conservancy and the South Branch Tunkhannock Creek Watershed Coalition, or join the volunteers who will be cutting back the Japanese Knotweed infestation at the park.

Mary Felley is the Executive Director of the Countryside Conservancy. Contact her at 945-6995 or cconserv@epix.net