Conquering Cook Forest, PA [pic heavy]

Parke1

Parke1

Joined
Feb 11, 2003
Messages
1,862
Well, we made it back. My new wife and I went on our first camping trip together. We had a very comfortable base camp set up, and made plenty of time for hitting the miles and miles of beautiful trails in this gorgeous 6700 acre park. Ok, on to the pics!


Park entrance. Note my new Tilley T3. I'm thinking this is the beginning of a "Tilleys in the bush" series...
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First time making bannock. The RAT3 worked out quite nicely for slicing it up.
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The view afforded from Seneca Point (a rocky outcropping at the end of a nice hike):
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The old fire tower. The last time someone from my side of the family was here was just shy of 50 years ago, when my father and grandfather made a visit.
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Me, standing majestically on the bank of the majestic Clarion River.
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My wife Katie standing in a similarly majestic manner.
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An extremely old, extremely dead chestnut tree. When viewed up close the trunk was completely carved with initials of hikers (which normally annoys the heck out of me, but this tree has been standing dead since the 1920's).
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The Tilley perched above an ice cold spring where we stopped for drinks and pictures.
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The awesome scenery of the old Logging Road trail.
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Me, taking another breather.
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It was only a two day affair, but we had a great time, and can't wait to get out again!

Thanks for taking the time to review the pics!
-Parke1
 
LOL. I always make sure my Tilley gets its photo op in the woods:

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Looks like some spectacular forest scenery there. Good to see the RAT living up to its design intent. :p My RAT-7 only dug a cathole on my last hike. Sorry...no pics... ;)

And same here: I can't wait to get back out, either.
 
I assume the virgin timber is still there. I was there as a kid. Camped there. Funny story actually... we were with my Uncle who is cheap cheap cheap.... well, we were in the picnic area and my uncle says lets make camp here (using jungle hammocks). The picnic area was deserted. My Dad agrees to be nice. We spend the night and first thing in the morning a Ranger pulls up and kicks us out for camping in a picnic area. These days, there probably would have been a fine. Actually it is kind of a nice memory overall. I cherish those days (not the camping illegally part).

I remember the really big timber there. Didn't see any photos of it. Glad you had a good time. PA is a great place to camp, hike, and hunt. Thanks for the photos.
 
Congrats on the Nupials and great pics! It is great that you are able to share the wilderness with your wife. Just be sure to infect her with your gear lust!

I have the exact same Tilley as you and its has seen all 5 Great Lakes, the Pacific and the Arabian Gulf. Great hat -the best - and I think the Misses derserves one too don't you? At first they will give that line that they don't want a hat messing up their hair. They will come around eventually.

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Keep taking those trips and sending pics. Cool that you traced the firetower to a trail your dad and grandfather hiked. That has some sentimental value!
 
I remember the really big timber there. Didn't see any photos of it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, there's all sorts of HUGE timber in the area. It's really a fantastic park.

Congrats on the Nupials and great pics! It is great that you are able to share the wilderness with your wife. Just be sure to infect her with your gear lust!
I have the exact same Tilley as you and its has seen all 5 Great Lakes, the Pacific and the Arabian Gulf. Great hat -the best - and I think the Misses derserves one too don't you?
Click to expand...

Thank you very much. Don't worry about my wife with the gear lust. She already has put in an order with me for a Tilley of her own, as well as a new daypack, a new Mora, and a new LED headlamp. I think one of us had better get a 2nd job if this keeps up... :D

This coming weekend we're planning on just a day trip up to the Gorge in the Cuyahoga Valley national park, so hopefully I'll have some more scenic photos to share then.

Thanks for all the kind words everyone!
-Parke1
 
Great pics. Looks like you guys have more water than we have right now in WV. It is DRY here:eek: By the way awesome old chestnut. I have never seen a dead one standing around here. Usually there's just the old stump and some stump sprouts.
 
Thanks for the compliments guys!

The bannock recipe I used was:
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 pinches salt
2 rather generous tablespoons sugar

Pre-mix the above ingredients. When you're ready to cook, add water until you form a fairly dry dough. Place dough into a lightly greased cast-iron skillet, pressing into a giant pancake roughly 1/2" thick. Cook over a fire until bottom is golden brown, flip, and repeat. Total cooking time was maybe 10 minutes.

I made some at home on the stove last night to which I added some dried cranberries and crushed walnuts, and it came out great!

-Parke1
 
Awesome - thanks for the recipe. I'm in the process of trying to make some right now!
 
hey great pics!
I dont live that far from Cook Forest!
My girfriend and I try to get up there a couple times a year on a day off to walk around or even to picnic.
 
Jim,

I'm very envious of you. Where I live, there are a few parks around, but nothing that could compare to Cook Forest. My wife and I stopped in Clarion on the way home to grab some lunch at the County Seat restaurant. Good biscuits and gravy, might I say.

-Parke1
 
Parke1,

Good Evening, Sir. Thank you so much for sharing the Pictures. I liked all of them.


May the Almighty Bless Us all with Great Camping,

ADF
 
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