Day Forty-Four to Forty-Five - A Summer of Bluegrass, Camping and Friends - Monday 6/10/2024 - Tuesday 6/11/2024

Today it's Monday June 10th. This is my last morning walk at Jellystone - PA Wilds in Mansfield, later this morning we will head to Ives Run for a few nights. We were supposed to be heading to Little Pines State Park in Pennsylvania. But, we took a dry run down to see it and we decided to see if we could change our plans.

I will be glad to get off this mountain! The walks have been challenging, but enjoyable! This morning I took the partially paved and dirt Airport Road. It has signs at both ends marked "No Campers." The end of the road I walk on has plenty of hills and valleys on it and a few good tight turns. I am told the other end of Airport Road has an almost straight up and down hill. Many GPS units will try to take campers that way to get to the campground. The campgrounds website instructs you to follow the directions the campground supplies and not to follow the GPS. They put the signs up, because not everyone listens!

The cows were out in one of the farmer's fields this morning. There was even a calf enjoying some of its mother's milk!

We took the scenic US Route 6 to PA 287 to get to Ives Run. Even taking the scenic route, it was still only a 30-minute drive! 

Scenic Route 6 spans almost 100 % of Pennsylvania from east to west. US Route 6 is the heart of the American Dream. This tranquil highway along the Keystone State’s northern tier offers 400-plus miles of history and heritage, small-town culture, friendly people, and wondrous sights too-often forgotten. We have traveled a good portion of it before. Here is the blog on the portion we traveled before. Wellsboro, with its gaslighted streets is just one example of the charm you will find along many of the towns along Route 6.

Our first visitor to our site, in Ives Run, was a squirrel. He certainly was not afraid of us!

He just settled right in and made himself at home!

Ives Run is one of our favorite parks in this region. It offers great sites and the water is so beautiful. We only have 2 nights left on our 14-days stay in a 30-day period. But, we will take it! We got a sight that is in the FHU loop, so water, electric and sewer connections! Awesome! We still only get 4 stations, of which only one is a major broadcast network. So, you never mind the TV and you enjoy a campfire!

Tuesday, June 11th and it's my 163rd walk of 2024. My first walk back at Ives Run on Hammond Lake in Tioga PA. It was 51° and overcast. 

There are soooooo many paved roads to walk on here, my splits are good.

This morning enjoying coffee, we saw a squirrel. A squirrel is a squirrel, right? Think again. More than 65 different types of squirrels live in the US. There are 24 types of ground squirrels, 22 species of chipmunks, and two types of flying squirrels, plus marmots, prairie dogs, and of course tree squirrels. Besides gray squirrels, the eastern fox squirrel is Pennsylvania's other common tree squirrel. We think it is a Fox squirrel!

Unlike gray squirrels, fox squirrels prefer open, park-like woods with sparse ground cover, usually avoiding mountains and extensive forests. Their nesting, denning and feeding habits are much like those of gray squirrels. Fox squirrels have gray to reddish-gray upper parts and buff to pale orange-brown or white undersides. 

Like the other Pennsylvania tree squirrels, fox squirrels never actually hibernate in winter but will hole up and sleep soundly through several days of snowstorms or extreme cold.

 

We are camped on site # 29 in Hawthorn loop. We are right near a bridge over the creek that I never knew was there! It's actually not a creek, it's the park's name sake. It's Ives Run!  Ives Run and Stephenhouse Run are both tributaries to Hammond Lake. At one time both runs supported trout. I doubt trout could survive in Ives Run now! It was a relaxing day at the campground!

Stay tuned for more #TwoLaneAdventures