The Mountain Laurel Is Starting To Bloom. A Hike To The Tank Hollow Overlook In Carbon County.

June is my favorite month for a lot of reasons. One of them is mountain laurel, Pennsylvania’s State Flower. This evergreen member of the heath family, which includes  azaleas, blueberries, cranberries, huckleberries and rhododendrons, covers the mountains of Pennsylvania with its white to pinkish flowers in early to mid June. The exact time and intensity of the bloom vary from year to year depending on the weather.

I decided to see how the mountain laurel flowers were  doing this year. It was a beautiful sunny and warm day last  Wednesday.  We had a lot of rainy and cloudy days this Spring here in Northeastern Pennsylvania.  So, after spending the morning at my law office, I headed out to take advantage of the sunshine and drive to State Game Lands 141  in Carbon County. I  arrived at the game lands  Behrens Road parking lot  in Penn Forest Township around 2 p.m. There are  many great trails to view the mountain laurel near my home in Luzerne County . I think the trail to the Tank Hollow Overlook is one of the best. During a peak year it is a magical walk in a forest of pink and white flowers. 

I began my hike on at the gate on Behrens Road. The gate was closed now but it is open during hunting seasons allowing one to drive to the Tank Hollow Trail, about a mile from the gate. I didn’t mind walking the mile under the deep blue skies and puffy white cumulus clouds.

The trail is actually the state game lands access road.  It is  gravel and dirt making for easy tick free hiking. The beginning of the trail  passes through an area  of controlled burning by  the game commission  a few years ago. . The burning is done  to mimic the natural fires that occurred from lightning strikes and encourages the growth of many species of  native Pennsylvania trees such as pitch pines and scrubs oaks, and plants such as blueberries and other heaths.  Wildlife also flourishes in the newly burned growth. It apparently worked here as it created a lush fern covered woodland along the trail.  Only two years ago only  black  and charred  remains of the vegetation could be seen along the trail.These are interrupeted ferns.

Now in addition to the lush ferns, native sheep laurel,.

Philadelphia fleabane,

 blue eyed grass and

common cinquefoil bloomed along the trail. 

Invasive, but pretty, ox eye daisies

and  meadow hawkweed also took advantage of the controlled burning and bloomed all along the trail.

I have also have  seen a lot of bird activity in the controlled burn area on previous hikes. It was mid afternoon and I didn’t expect to see much bird or wildlife activity on my hike. Soon after beginning my hike  heard the familiar “drink your tea” song of a male eastern towhee.  I saw this male,

and female and a few others in the woods along the trail. I often heard these birds in mid-afternoon on my hikes picking blue berries in the woods near my home.

I was surprised to see quite a few migratory song birds active in the heat of the  afternoon, including this black and white warbler,

this prairie warbler, 

a few common yellowthroat, this was a male,

and the colorful chestnut sided warbler.

I also saw this eastern click beetle crawling across the road.

I continued on the trail and the many tall oaks and pitch pines towering over the fields and meadow along the road.

After about a  1/2 mile I began to see the mountain laurel flowers.

They had just begun to bloom and already provided splashes of color to the lush green  colors  of  the Spring foliage.

The mountain laurel can range in color from pure white,

to a reddish pink. It looked like they were still  a few days from their peak bloom.

The trail took me to a second gate and parking lot.

Here the road descends a ridge into a deeper and older , mixed oak and pitch pine woodland.

Lush patches of hay-scented,

cinnamon or fiddlerhead ferns, and

bracken ferns grew along the trail.

I soon came to the  entrance to the trail down to the Tank Hollow Overlook.   I met a lovely couple who live in Mahony City  near where my maternal grandmother was born.  We talked about the beauty of the trail and our mutual love and respect of the woods of Northeastern Pennsylvania. 

This trail leaves the road and  was wet and muddy  at the beggining from the recent rains.

It also becames a rocky as it nears the overlook and passes through the thick grove of mountain laurel.

The mountain laurel is everywhere here and, when it is a good year, it is a magical place to walk. It looks like this will  a spectacular bloom.

There were not many birds here in these deeper woods, I did hear a few of the very common ovenbirds  and red eyed vireos, and saw this black throated blue warbler but that was it. Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web  page with some more photos of the birds I saw on my hike.  Tank Hollow Hike birds June 10 2025. 

And, as I often do on my hikes in the mountians, I did see a few snakes in the rocks, this is a  copperhead. It is poisonous but they like to be left alone and are not a danger.

The trail became more rocky as it approached the overlook above  the Lehigh River Gorge.  I walked down through some thickets of   mountain laurel and rhododendrons before  reaching the rocky outcrop and  magnificant view. I always enjoy this place. The view of the oxbow in the Lehigh River is  beautiful. The sounds of  rushing river below echo through the famous gorge and add to the beauty of this place.

I took in the view and was careful since their are rocks and where there are rocks there are snakes so keep you eyes peeled for them  if you hike out here. I spent some time enjoying the view and was joined  by a fellow from New Hamshire who  was visiting Pennsylvania.  I started back and enjoyed my wlak through the mountian laurel. It should be at it’s peak in a few days.

I walked back  up the ridge.  Here I saw a few of the many ovenbirds I heard on my hike.

It was a beautiful June afternoon. Cumulus clouds floated in the deep blue skies.

It was now late afternoon and there was still not a lot of bird activity, just the same birds I saw on the begimning of my hike, including a few more colorful prarie warblers.  Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web  page with some more photos of the birds I saw on my hike.  Tank Hollow Hike birds June 10 2025.

It was now late afternoon as I finished  my  4 mile hike.  There are so many great hiking trail near my home and it is hard to decide where to hike I am glad I decided to hike in these state game lands and to enjoy the beauty of the  wildflowers, woodlands, wildlife the  views and especially our State Flower, the mountian laurel.

It is going to be a nice bloom this year and I hope to see a lot more of it on my hikes. Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web  page with some more photos from my hike.  Tank Hollow Hike June 10 2025.

"My bonnie flower, with truest joy
    Thy welcome face I see,
  The world grows brighter to my eyes,
    And summer comes with thee.
  My solitude now finds a friend,
    And after each hard day,
  I in my mountain garden walk,
    To rest, or sing, or pray.

  All down the rocky slope is spread
    Thy veil of rosy snow,
  And in the valley by the brook,
    Thy deeper blossoms grow.
  The barren wilderness grows fair,
    Such beauty dost thou give;
  And human eyes and Nature's heart
    Rejoice that thou dost live.

  Each year I wait thy coming, dear,
    Each year I love thee more,
  For life grows hard, and much I need
    Thy honey for my store.
  So, like a hungry bee, I sip
    Sweet lessons from thy cup,
  And sitting at a flower's feet,
    My soul learns to look up.

  No laurels shall I ever win,
     No splendid blossoms bear,
  But gratefully receive and use
   God's blessed sun and air;
  And, blooming where my lot is cast,
   Grow happy and content,
  Making some barren spot more fair,
   For a humble life well spent."
Louisa May Alcott.