April 7, 2023
Good Friday was indeed a good day in spite of the cloudy, cool weather. We spent the day with some of our family members exploring a couple of sites in southern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. We weren't about to let the weather stop us.
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| View north from the Pinnacle Overlook |
First on the list was the Pinnacle Overlook, located near Holtwood. It is one the properties that comprise the Susquehannock State Park and is known for its expansive views of the Susquehanna River, the valley and the forest surrounding it. There's a network of short in/out trails there, as well as some longer loop trails. We headed straight to the overlook to take in the view of the river below. We had hoped to spot some eagles or hawks since they are known to be in the area, but no luck. So on we went to the next stop.
We've been slowly visiting as many of Pennsylvania's 124 State Parks as we can and collecting stamps at each for our Pennsylvania State Parks Passport book. Our next destination was the Susquehanncok State Park Office where we collected our stamp and had a quick peek inside the 1850 James B. Long House, located next to the office. Although the exterior of the building looks to be in good shape, the interior is not open to the public due to weak floorboards. We were lucky in having a park ranger offer to let us take a look from the opened doorway.
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| James B. Long House |
From there we drove further down the lane to the parking area for the Hawk Point Overlook. From there we could look 380 feet to the Susquehanna River below and the many islands located in the river below. There was a lot of information here about the different hawks, eagles and osprey you can sometimes see from the overlook, but once again, we didn't spot anything other than turkey vultures.
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| Hawk Overlook, looking north |
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| Hawk Overlook, looking south |
There are several interconnecting trails in the park to explore. We followed a section of the Overlook Trail through the forest and circled back to our car before heading to our next destination.
Ferncliff Wildflower & Wildlife Preserve
The Ferncliff nature preserve is located near Drumore, a little further south along the Susquehanna from Susquehannock State Park. This preserve is not as popular as the Shenks Ferry Wildflower Preserve further north, and as a result it is much less crowded. There is only a small parking area that can accommodate approximately 4 or 5 cars.
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| Barnes Run |
If you visit the preserve, go past the gate and follow the blue blazes along Barnes Run, threading its way through the forest and around huge boulders on its way to the Susquehanna River. You'll come to a sign pointing the way to the Winter Overlook. We followed the white blazes, carefully crossed the creek on stones and then headed up a steep ravine to the top of the ridge above the railroad track and river. There were wildflowers all along the trails, and at the top Virginia Bluebells carpeted the forest floor.
The map on the preserve's website shows this trail as an out and back, but we could see a narrow trail continuing along the ridge, and although it sometimes seemed to disappear in the bluebells, we were able to find our way back down the steep
We give the preserve a thumbs up for its solitude, moderately challenging trail and beautiful scenery. We would have preferred a longer trail to hike on, but it was a nice family-friendly hike.
To see an excellent short video about Ferncliff Wildflower and Wildlife Preserve, click on the link below:
Walter Zolna's Ferncliff Preserve Video
Note: This trail can be traversed without hiking boots/shoes, however there are steep areas, loose soil/gravel and wet slippery rocks to contend with. We recommend at minimum sneakers with good tread. We wore our hiking boots for the approximately 2-mile loop we hiked.
* All Photos are the property of the authors except where otherwise noted. *
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| Trillium |
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| Spotted Geranium |
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| Springbeauty |
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| Dutchman's Breeches |
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| Virginia Bluebells |
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| Garlic Mustard |
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