When you’re seeking a peaceful hike through the woods, head to Hickory Run State Park’s Stone Trail. Here, you’ll find a lesser-used trail that gives adventurers an opportunity to enjoy a tranquil hike through a Pennsylvania forest.
The 15,990 acre Hickory Run State Park is located in Carbon County. Once in the park, follow signs and take the gravel road toward Boulder Field. Stone Trail is located shortly before reaching the park’s extraordinary Boulder Field, a National Natural Landmark. The trailhead is located alongside a parking area which includes a convenient vault toilet.
Stone Trail is rated as easy hiking and makes for a perfect walk in the woods. The path leads through hemlocks and deciduous forest. The trail is abundant with Pennsylvania’s state flower, Mountain laurel. Hike the trail in mid-June when the bushes are in bloom for a special visual feast.
The park has a variety of different habitats and is designated as both an Important Mammal Area and an Important Bird Area. Keep watch for the more than 50 species of mammals and 150 species of birds that live in this park. Blackburnian warblers, northern waterthrush and red-breasted nuthatches along with belted kingfishers and broad-winged hawks are among the numerous birds found in the park. Visitors may see deer, wild turkeys, mink, spotted and Jefferson salamanders, wood frogs and snakes including garter and black snakes as well as timber rattlesnakes. Be aware that there are black bears in the park. Black bears usually avoid people, but the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources offers this advice, “If you come in contact with a black bear, try chasing it away by making loud noises like yelling…Never approach a bear and be especially wary of mother bears and cubs.”
Stone Trail begins as a grassy, rocky path several feet wide. When hikers reach a T, a park sign clearly points Stone Trail continues to the left; however, the park map names this path: Boundary Trail. Following this trail to the left, hikers will find the path narrows to a single person width. Brush occasionally impedes the trail. Be conscious of ticks, especially in this section. Designated as a snowmobile trail, snowmobilers also should know the path has a cluster of boulders in one section. The trail winds along the park boundary line through Mountain laurel surrounded by wild huckleberry bushes and into a hemlock and ferns region before reaching the end of trail marker at another T. Take the left onto Fourth Run trail. This wide forested trail will take adventurers back to the gravel road. At the intersection with the road, turn left and follow the road back to the parking lot for a loop hike.
Read more about Hickory Run State Park here.
Comments
Sign In and share them.