Roaring Run Natural Area, Forbes State Forest

This is the sun rising through the trees in the beautiful and remote Roaring Run Natural Area of the Forbes State Forest.  The state forests are prostituted to frackers and conventional drillers and dickless chainsaw boys trying to prove their phallic potency by cutting down trees.  In fact, Governor Corbett has opened nearly 100% of our public lands to fracking.  The only truly protected regions of our state forests are the tracts that are designated "natural areas" or "wild areas," and even they are islands under siege.

Natural Areas are left to nature with little to no human intervention.  For that reason, don't believe your state-issued forest map if it claims that there's a "scenic overlook" somewhere in a "natural area."  The map is surely at least a decade old, and the branches are never cut back in a "natural area," so the view is almost certainly obstructed by trees.  I found two such disappointments in the otherwise pretty cool Roaring Run Natural Area.

There are lots of trails and old farm roads at Roaring Run. The lane in the top photo ends at an old farmsite that was easily identifiable by a broad glade and the remains of an overgrown orchard.  This land was acquired by the state in 1975, which is a long time for mountain meadows and fields to be reclaimed by the forest.  But perhaps the most curious thing I stumbled across was this old monument to three children killed in a sleigh accident in 1896.  I have not been able to learn any details about the event, but the marker looms eerily in the dark forest.  All three children had different last names, and Google tells me that the day was a Sunday, so I assume they were out for a joy ride or else en route to or from church.

Like I said, the overlooks in Roaring Run Natural Area exist only on paper.  Forget about Painter Rock Trail and its overlook, the trail's not even that nice.  Birch Rock Trail is a long upward hike, and it's more and more poorly established the further you follow it: a pretty good clue that there's nothing to see at the end of it--except birches and rocks, which I guess is all its name promises.  I did climb a tree at the erstwhile Birch Rock Overlook, and I managed to get a photo of what's left of the panorama--bottom picture.  The most scenic trail I found at Roaring Run was the "South Loop."  Very pretty, and a few breaks in the trees provide unexpected-if-narrow overlooks.  Also, I didn't get to hike Roaring Run Trail itself, which follows a rocky stream, but I bet it's a scenic area.