The long-closed "Main Picnic Area" at Raccoon Creek is a study in woodland desolation. It looks to me as if it's been abandoned for about fifteen years. Large pavilions with fireplaces, restrooms, parking lots, and water pumps are all decaying back into the landscape.
Raccoon Creek is "the" outdoor destination for Pittsburghers, and the beach, hiking trails, and campground make it a busy park. But people don't seem to go on picnics as much as they used to. Signs say this picnic area was closed because of budget "constraints." Two other large picnic areas remain open...but I've never seen many people in either of them.
There is a small tree growing right through the top of this picnic table. The park service gives this dismal place a slightly positive spin by calling it a "reduced mowing area." There's poison ivy everywhere.
In tough economic times, our state parks have had a very busy year. People have turned to them as cheap vacation destinations close to home. Also, as the Evil Governor Corbett has threatened to cut funding to the parks, I think people have rediscovered them in a kind of panic..."to love that well which thou must leave ere long." Apparently Raccoon is so big that it can spare a forty-acre picnic area. I sure hope all our parks don't end up looking like this place by the time the Corbett Regime leaves office...
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