A Quiet Walk In The Beautiful Penn Forest Tract Of The Weiser State Forest In Carbon County

I returned to the Penn Forest Tract of the Weiser State Forest in Carbon County last Sunday. I had hiked here twice before and thought I may see some migration g song birds, a bear or some mushrooms in the deep woods along the trails.

It was a cool morning, with temperatures in the mid 50’s as the  sun rose  in clear skies skies through the trees.

There were no birds singing in the woodlands. the only sound was the motor vehicle traffic on the Pennsylvania Turnpike a few miles away.  Large oak and maple trees created a canopy of leaves over the Sawmill Trail. 

The trail was surrounded, on both sides by  lush patches of cinnamon ferns, some still green,

 and other changing into their Fall yellow and orange colors.

Hat-scented ferns also grew along the trail, many already yellow, and filling the cool morning air with their sweet fragrance.

The many patches of milkweed plants I saw on my last hike have produced their seed pods. I was hoping to find some monarch butterfly caterpillars on the milkweed plants, but  I didn’t see a one. I did see the first of hundreds of milkweed tussock moth caterpillars. They were everywhere  on my 5 mile hike.

Most of the leaves on the trees were still green, with some hints of Fall  browns and yellows, on these hay scented ferns,

and cinnamon ferns

and some reds on the blueberry and other heath plants,

and the Virginia creeper vines.

I walked out about a 1/2 mile on  Sawmill Trail and came to the Penn Forest Trail.

I followed this trail which was also a wide well maintained dirt access road.

It was still quiet along the trail.    As I got farther from the highway it got even quieter. There were still no birds active   but I saw a few deer in the woodlands. I was hoping to maybe see a  bear  in this isolated forest.

As I continued on the trail the light of the rising sun continued to filter through the trees and brighten the trail.

Hemlock  and pitch pine trees began to appear  in the oak and maple woodlands,

and I soon passed through a grove of Norway fir trees , These trees are not native to Pennsylvania and I wondered when and why they were planted.

I still saw no birds or other wildlife  but I saw this sign telling me some sort of critters nest in this trees.

After  about 3/4 of a mile I came to the Fire Break Trail and followed it on a path that  was that narrower  with some rocks and roots along the way.

 It took me through a mixed woodland with many large pitch pine trees.

I saw some more deer here and some bird activity, which , again included some black-capped chickadees.

I am convinced that many species of birds, especially when the are migrating join the black-capped chickadee flocks foraging in the woodland  for safety.  This time I only  saw a flock of eastern towhees feeding with the chickadees. 

After about another 1/2 mile the Fire Break Trail ended and I followed an even narrower, rocky and rooted Boundary Trail. This was not the type of trail I wanted to hike still healing the injuries I sustained to my shoulders on another rocky and rooted trial on my recent visit to Havre de Grace.

Fortunately the trail soon took me to the Power Line Trail where the access road to the utility was wider and well maintained. I had hiked this trail for the first time a few weeks ago. I thought it would be a good place to see  some of the migratory birds leaving their northern Summer home. I saw a lot of migratory and year long resident birds on my last visit.

Not this time, I only heard a few crows, and red breasted nuthatches but wasn’t able to ger one photo on my 1 mile hike along the pole line. I was disappointed but I did see a few more deer but  no bears or other wildlife. 

It was a nice walk along the pole line but you could hear the traffic from the nearby  Pennsylvania Turnpike.

There were very few wildflowers blooming along the right of way, just a few spotted knapweed flowers,

with a lot of withered steeple bush flowers that had gone to seed. 

There were also a  lot of hay-scented ferns, cinnamon ferns

and there were a few withered bracken ferns along the trail.

I followed the Pole Line Trail for 1 mile and then took the Weiser State Forest  Boundary Line Trail back to the Penn Forest Trail.

This trail  was mossy ,

was also lined with mostly cinnamon ferns.

 There were also large patches of ripening tea berries here,

and a few hairy asters in bloom.

I came to the gated Penn Forest Trail.

Here I  finally saw a migrating song bird, this black throated green warbler.  Sorry, it would be the only one I was able to photograph on my 5 mile hike. Here is a link to a gallery  on my blog website with some more photos of the birds and insects I saw on my 5 mile hike.  Weiser State Forest birds and insects September 15 2025.

I enjoyed walking on this wide trail as the sunshine filtered through the  canopy of leaves from the oak and maple.  trees.

It is a  quiet easy trail to hike and I saw a few folks enjoying it as I walked back to the parking lot. There are picnic tables along the trail.  This is a great place to spend a morning, afternoon or an entire day exploring the woodlands and observing nature.

As I continued my hike saw a few more wildflowers blooming along the trail including common selfheal,

and this goldenrod flower being visited by this common sweat bee.

Eastern bottle -brush grass , a native grass, had gone to seed along the trail,.

Unfortunately, I also saw some invasive Japanese  stiltgrass.  This invasive species is a nusinace and is destroying native plants. flowers and ferns. It is sadf how many woodlands it has overtakn, inclusing  property I own. Here is a link to a gallery  on my blog website with some more photos of the flowers and plants I saw on my 5 mile hike.  Weiser State Forest  ferns and plants  September 15 2025.

As I neared the end of my hike I  saw a lot more milkweed tussock moth caterpillars  on the many milkweed plants but not a single monarch butterfly caterpillar.

I did see a few more hikers, some solo, some in pairs and some with their families as I finished my 5 mile . I was glad to see folks enjoying the beauty of nature in another of Pennsylvania many state forest. I didn’t see any bear, birds or other wildlife on this hike but it was still a great way to spend a Sunday morning.Here is a link to a gallery  on my blog website with some more photos from  my 5 mile hike.  Weiser State Forest   September 15 2025.

“Fresh air is as good for the mind as for the body. Nature always seems to be trying to talk to us as if she had some great secret to tell. And so she has.” John Lubbock