I Love May. Another Beautiful May Afternoon And Hike, This Time On The Greater Hazleton Rails To Trails.

It was another  beautiful sunny and mild  May afternoon Friday. And, once again,  I wanted to enjoy it. So I decided to hike on another one of my  favorite trails, the Greater Hazleton Rails to Trails located a few miles from my home in Hazle Township, Luzerne County, As I noted in my previous blog, every day in May brings about something new  to our forests and woodlands. A new migratory bird returns.  a new species of flower blooms or a  tree seems to produce leaves overnight.  It’s a beautiful time of year.  But the beauty of May is fleeting and I don’t like to miss any of it.

And hiking on the Greater Hazleton Rails to Trails lets me see a few more days of it. The 5 mile trail is located atop a ridge about 1700 feet above sea level, 1200 feet higher than the Susquehanna Wetlands where I hiked Thursday afternoon. Spring is about a few week behind the wetlands  up here. The difference could be seen on the mostly bare trees as soon as I began my hike on  the trail. However, the leaves are starting to appear on the maples, birch and the witch hazel trees shown here.

I started my hike on the eastern trail head near the village of Hazle Brook. I walked a short distance on the trail when I heard , then saw , one of my favorite migratory birds, a black and white warbler. I have seen these birds. In the jungles of Central America and on the shores of Hudson Bay in Canada. I love seeing them here in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

There were other signs of Spring. Blue arrow leaf violets,

yellow dwarf cinquefoil

and wild strawberry flowers, bloomed along the trail.

The hay- scented ferns were unfurling their first fronds.

Flowers also appeared   on some  of the trees along the trail, including the service berry,

and hawthorn trees. Both of these trees will provide berry and fruits for the birds and wildlife in the Summer.

 I continued my hike under the mixed older deciduous forest seeing  a few chipping sparrows. These noisy birds are short distance migrants traveling to Florida and northern Mexico in the Winter.

The trail left the older woodland passed  this small  stream, which still supports native trout.  I saw a few trout swimming quickly upstream when I walked past.

The trail took me to a mixed pine/ oak woodland. I love the tall pitch pines growing here along the trail.

However the trail now follows a  border an abandoned and reclaimed anthracite coal strip mining area on the other side of a haul road.

Here I was surprised to see this blue headed vireo in the trees. I haven’t seen many herd and I believe it is migrating to older forest lands.

I walked through a culvert that passed under the still active coal mining haul road,

and walked through a larger strip mine reclamation area. The massive strip mines  that were located here were reclaimed and now young locust, birch pine, alder and poplar trees grow here. I am predicting this will be a great habitat for migratory song birds and our year long resident birds when the woodlands mature.

On Friday I only saw a few colorful prairie warblers in the trees along the trail. I often see pine and palm warblers here in the Spring.

The trail continued through the reclamation area, and crossed a bridge over an active rail road right of way.

This railroad is one of the oldest in the Nation and transported my ancestors and most immigrants who worked in the coal mines and supporting businesses from Ellis Island. The local Civic Partnership is working on connecting the Greater Hazleton Rails to Trail to the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Trail.

I crossed the bridge and now entered an abandoned strip mine area that wasn’t reclaimed. I firmly believe our trail should be connected the D &L trail since it passes with so many different natural habitats and  also many areas associated with our Anthracite coal mining history.  There is more information on the history of the trail and the surrounding anthracite coal mining in many of my previous blogs which can be searched using the search tool. .

It only passes through the abandoned strip mine area a short distance. And, as the leaves continue to appear on the trees much of the strip mines will be hidden. It’s best to hike here in the Winter months to see the strip mines.

The trail now continued into a mixed oak/ maple/hemlock and pine woodland. I had often seen oven birds and wood thrushes here and I didn’t see a wood thrush but I did see  this oven bird which is one of the few birds that sing   in the heat of mid-day.

I also saw this  black -throated green warbler her, another bird that was probably just passing through to nest in more mature forest.

Here I found some more signs of Spring, the high bush blueberries were flowering and

And I also saw Juvenal’s duskywing butterfly on the ground along the trail.

The trail left mixed woodlands and now followed  an old road that once  led to a Beryllium processing facility for about a 1/4 mile. And once again creates another  different habitat .  Mostly birch, sassafras and  poplar trees grew along  the trail ,

and I usually find indigo buntings, scarlet tanagers and  eastern towhees  here in the Spring and  Summer, I  did  see and hear a few eastern towhees. There distinctive calls remind me of  my youth. There were many of these birds in the abandoned strip mines and second growth woodlands near my  childhood home. 

I also saw a pair of brown headed cowbirds in the treetops.

I walked out to another unique habitat, the pine and heath barrens located along the trail.

Here I noticed some dark storm clouds forming in the  western skies.  They weren’t calling for rain but I know storm clouds when I see them.

 I  was out about 2 miles and  started walking back, quickly, to my Jeep. 

The skies grew darker  on my hike back,

and I was sure I was going to get drenched when I heard some thunder in  the distance.

However, only a few drops of rain fell, the storm just missed me, passing to the northeast. I was only about a 1/2 mile from my Jeep when it did. The clouds cleared and the sun came out again.  I saw two  more birds on my hike, this Baltimore oriole,

and a pair of great crested flycatchers high  in the treetops. Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web page with some more photos of the birds I saw on my hike. Greater Hazleton Rails To Trails birds May 2 2025.

I finished my four mile hike in the late afternoon sunshine.  As always it was another great hike on the Greater Hazleton Rails to Trails, and I am glad I can share some of the beauty I found here on my blog. Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web page with some more photos from on my  4 1/2 mile  hike. Greater Hazleton Rails To Trails hike  May 2 2025.

62. “It is now May. It is the month wherein nature hath her fill of mirth and the senses are filled with delights. I conclude it is from the Heavens, a grace, and to Earth, a gladness” – Nicholas Breton

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