Hazle Creek Junction Railroad Tracks Hike. April 18 2015

Another beautiful warm sunny day in Northeastern Pennsylvania, and I wasn’t staying indoors.  I decided to hike up the railroad tracks from  the town Weatherly to see if there was any wildlife on the ponds about 2 miles up the tracks. In the past I had seen ducks, geese, herons and even an American bittern. Also have seen  a lot of bears, deer,  and a couple of otters on the ponds. 

So I hiked up the railroad tracks and crossed the bridge over the Hazle/Black Creek, known as Hazle Creek Junction. This is where the old Beaver Meadows railroad and the Buck Mountain railroad intersected. There is more information on my blog post from March 29 .   I then hiked up to the Penrose Reservoir and was disappointed to only find a few mallard ducks and a green heron. Still was a beautiful [place to just sit and enjoy the peace and quiet.

I continued to hike north on the rails, further then I have gone before and went up a steady incline. Atop the mountain I could see, and hear,  the Hazle/Black  below. There were some nice views of the surrounding hills and I, again, took a rest and enjoyed the sunshine and peace and quiet. I wondered how many other had walked out here over the year. I know thousands of folks must have crossed these hills in the trains that brought passengers, many of them European immigrants, coming to work in the anthracite coal mines. What where they thinking as they saw these beautiful mountain scenery?

Headed back and was saw our state bird, a ruffled grouse and what I believe is a flycatcher. Not a lot of wildlife today but still a great hike. Here are some more photos I took on my hike today.  https://keepyoureyespeeled.net/photographs-5/nggallery/blog-photos/weatherly-railroad-tracks-april-18-2015

Thoughts come clearly while one walks. ~Thomas Mann