Don’t even bother entering “State Game Land 265” into the map-app on your phone. Phones don’t know yet that this pleasant little 500-some acre patch of woods exists. I only know about it because it appeared on the peak-bagging website that I keep talking about. This is the true summit of a 2,530 foot height, and I gotta admit…it’s a little anticlimactic—like many of the peaks around here.
A small lane runs about one mile from the parking area on US-40 to the summit of Woodcock Hill, which is pictured in the top photo.
A round trip is an easy 2-mile out-and-back. Once again, I’ve added another unremarkable peak to my peak-bagging site. I’m thinking maybe I need to go back to my old way of hiking…you know, where I pick a destination regardless of whether it’s listed as an unclaimed peak on that site…
Of course, US-40 is also known as the National Pike. It used to go all the way from Atlantic City to San Francisco. Now it only goes as far west as Salt Lake City, Utah. But the Pennsylvania segment runs overtop the old original road that General Braddock hacked into the wilderness in his failed attempt to take Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh) from the French in the 1750s. There are a lot of historic sites, old taverns, and outdoorsy destinations along this roadway: Fort Necessity, Jumonville Glen, Ohiopyle, the Forbes State Forest and a lot more.
Views from the flanks of the mountain were not altogether stunning. But it was a pleasant day to spend in the October woods.
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