Kooser State Park, Revisited

The Spillway at Kooser Pond

The last time I visited Kooser State Park, in the Laurel Highlands, I bemoaned the fact that its beautiful four-acre pond is polluted with industrial sludge, and it's beach is closed.  Nevertheless, I really liked the place.  The dense forest, the rustic old buildings of rough-hewn timbers and stone, the general layout.  It just reminds me so much of Twin Lakes, too.

The first day of fall in the Laurel Highlands

I liked it so much that I scheduled a time to go back there with my kids to spend a night in one of its three wooded campsites.  It didn't work out, but since I'd already paid for a night, I decided to go by myself, and it was so cool.

A peninsula on Kooser Pond--mostly for trout fishers

I'd never camped alone before, and I found the prospect of it a little intimidating.  I'm not scared of bears or coyotes.  There's just something a little vulnerable about sleeping alone in a tent along the roadside.  Backpacking might be a little less creepy since you can hide your campsite far from view.  But in a conventional campground, you're on display, sleeping and exposed.  

The west end of the Kincora Trail is very, very steep

I even get the willies sleeping out in the back yard.  But this was really nice.  My goal, when I camp, is always to hear an owl, which has only happened once, at Twin Lakes, Kooser's more isolated doppelganger up north.  But last night at Kooser, I actually heard a screech owl!

Along the Kincora Trail

Of course, I also heard coal trucks screaming by on the PA 31.  The highway noises didn't let up until about 11pm.  But if you come emotionally prepared for the traffic racket, it's not so bad.

The little lane leading up to the three wooded sites

There's something almost holy about spending a night alone in the woods.  Outside my little ring of firelight, it was incredibly dark.  I always forget the beauty of the night skies away from urban light pollution.  There were so many thousands of stars.  I wish I had the kind of camera that could film them.  In fact, I wish I had a decent camera, period.

My solitary wilderness home, site 33

If I return to camp at Kooser, I'll always get site # 33.  It doesn't have much level space for a tent, but it's the only site in the whole park that backs onto the woods.  And of the three wooded sites, it's the only one that actually feels secluded, since the other two overlook the main campground.  The Laurel Highlands are so beautiful right now: the golden sunlight, the autumn trees, the beautiful old farms with enormous, ornamented barns.  The deep green of the meadows contrasts with the changing trees.  I spent a few hours hiking but a few hours, too, just driving down those lovely country lanes, lined with yellowing trees and split rail fences.  The wooded ridges are always in the background, now tinted in red, and orange, and yellow.