Poconos Ring In Spring

What sights/sounds of spring season most excite you?

“Spring adds new life and new joy to all that is.” (Jessica Harrelson)

During the last week of our  road trip going eastward, we’d decided to change our intended route back to Florida.So heading further eastward with great interest, I observed a diverse natural landscape of hillside valleys covered with dense forest cover along Interstate 80 straddling Pennsylvania’s Allegheny Mountain region. Stopping over in the tiny town of White Haven as a suitable lodging base to see an upcoming local concert nearby, we’d fortuitously chosen a site  to feel the full brunt of spectacular springtime conditions in the Pocono Mountains. Knowing very little beforehand about where to go during our two night stay, we opted for a morning visit to Hickory Run State Park. 

At the visitor center, I then studied up some to learn that this now government “ protected” habitat of over 15,000 acres had been once ravaged over centuries by massive wildfire spread and devastating flood conditions. It’s quite striking as well to know that more recently a period of forest logging destruction centered upon a local tannery nearly wiped out the existing Hickory tree population in this region and caused waste filled pollution whereby local rivers reportedly “ran black.” It thus made good sense to me why I’d walked along the park’s main hiking path aptly named the “Shades of Death Trail.” For this label served for me as a reminder of the heavy price paid to keep this beautiful landscape intact.

On a larger scale,  I thus reach out to my global minded readers to cherish those glimpses of springtime blooms and again free flowing rivers and streams with warmer weather happening locally or in travel as a suitable reminder of how fragile our “Mother Earth”  remains for us to enjoy as we wish. Enjoy the Pocono photos and and attached short video link below.

https://youtube.com/shorts/lHtxDIvGghU?si=aYldC6KS7k0iGMjK