Smethport, Cherry Springs Dark-Sky Park, Little Pine, York Gun Show course
(posted from home)
(this post covers 26-28 October)


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Saturday, 28 October-

Today I attended the Tri-County Gun Show in York. Two weeks ago I had been looking for information on permits and had found a company which would provide the necessary paperwork and handgun-safety training for me to apply for a Florida Non-Resident permit, one which is more widely recognized than the PA permit I’ve applied for. And their schedule of upcoming events showed they would be in my area this weekend.
The class was very interesting. First we filled out the paperwork for the application to the State of Florida and a fingerprint card. We had passport-size photos and fingerprints taken of each of us, then our paperwork notarized, followed by a basic handgun-safety course. The latter included gun handling safety exercises using a very realistic replica pistol (due to limitations at the gun-show venue) as well as practical shooting experience (again emphasizing safety) using a laser-equipped pistol and an electronic target. We had to hit the target three times and pass the written test before we could be given certificates of completion to accompany the application. Our fingerprints guy and one of the instructors (there were two) are Philadelphia-area police officers. That instructor is also a notary and he made it very clear that the paperwork we had filled out and signed in his presence was a legal affidavit and we were liable for any lies or omissions of fact. Our instructor was the company owner and an NRA-certified instructor. Two Baltimore-area guys stopped by to chat with him while we were on break and told him they were very glad they had taken the course and they had used their permits in other states. One was a firefighter, the other a Baltimore city police officer. We joked with them that they must be shills for the course but of course that was long after we had already paid our money and started our course.
After the course I circulated through the gun show. I saw a few items of interest but only bought a few snap-caps (dummy bullets) and a traveler’s guide to state gun laws.

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Friday, 27 October-

I headed home this morning but selected a more circuitous route. I was in no rush; I just wanted to be home sometime today. Route 44 first took me to Jersey Shore. I stopped at a sporting goods shop there, mostly out of curiosity but also hoping to find some accessories for my pistol. This one was absolutely jammed with rifles and shotguns. The regular gun racks behind the counter were filled and below the racks began a long line of guns, all standing upright on their stocks and the line extending ten feet past the counter, then past the storeroom door and another ten feet into the back room. And, like the other shops I visited on this trip, they were doing a steady business on this weekday morning. They did have the manufacturers’ normal accessories for my gun. But I had been hoping to find some holster options and perhaps a grip extension for it but no luck there.
Continuing south out of Jersey Shore I passed the North-Central Region Office of the Pennsylvania Game Commission. I stopped in and asked if there were some directory of public shooting ranges. The clerk was very helpful in finding and printing off the info for me and she ‘went the extra mile’ by asking a couple of the guys in the office. They identified some local club ranges but I don’t want to pay for a club membership to occasionally use a range.
I turned off at Route 880 which took me past Ravensburg State Park and across the mountain into Sugar Valley. I very much liked that area which has a fairly large Amish population judging by the buggy-wheel ruts on the roads and having seen only a dozen people out today in this valley and all of them were Amish. I then took a forest road across Sugar Valley Mountain into Brush Valley and Route 45, coming out near the Bald Eagle District Forest Office. I stopped at the office to ask about two things I had seen in my drive through the forest—deer management area signs and seedling tubes. I learned that the Deer Management Program identifies areas where there are too many deer and issues special hunting permits for hunters to take a doe in that area outside of the normal hunting season. I had seen the seedling tubes in clusters as I drove through the forest and wondered why they are clustered and what, exactly, is going on. I got lucky on that question. A Timber-Management specialist from the Harrisburg home office happened to be in the office today. We spoke for the better part of a half-hour and I learned about the history of the forest in that area as well as about the seedling tubes. The forest is now predominantly an oak forest and has been re-generating for about 100 years since the clear-cutting of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. After the clear-cutting, a series of intense fires crossed the area, largely because of all the slash left behind and because the forest lands were just considered unusable land so fire-prevention and fire-fighting was not considered important. In areas where the fires were very intense, some species (pines for example) were wiped out entirely. At the time oaks and chestnuts competed for survival but then the chestnut blight killed all of the latter. More recently, the gyspy-moth infestations of the late Seventies and Eighties killed many trees. The oaks have proven most resilient and while DCNR would like to have a more diverse forest, they plant a lot of red oak. Deer will preferentially browse for red oak seedlings and very few of them make it on their own. So DCNR plants them in light plastic tubes, generally anchored by a red-oak or white-oak stake. The tubes both protect the seedling from deer and also provide a mini-greenhouse for the young plants. When the seedlings grow above deer-browsing height, the tubes are slit and discarded. The tubes are clustered both because they are placed in open-canopy spaces in the forest and to make the tubes easier to maintain. The stakes are oak in order to last longer, but even so will rot after a few years and it’s not uncommon for the tubes to be needed for seven or more years. Also, bears seem to like to knock down the tubes. It’s unclear why bears would have any interest at all in the tubes but there are theories about it. The mini-greenhouse environment inside the tubes attracts wasps, bees, and other insects and the bears may be interested in their larvae. Also, snow and wind will knock down the tubes.
I also learned there’s a demonstration forest just down the road from the District Office and they printed off a guide brochure for me. After thanking the very helpful folks there, I drove to the demo forest. I saw two pickups in the parking lot and figured they were bow-hunters or perhaps squirrel hunters. I put on my blaze-orange cap and started down the path, then realized my jacket was a color very much like a deer’s so I went back to the van and put on a blaze-orange vest. I followed the path, stopping every few minutes to read the demo-forest visitor’s signs and the brochure. They describe what was done in each plot, from clear-cutting to 9 and 20-tree-per-acre release treatments, to ‘diameter-limit’ cutting. I had only made it third of the way through the stations when I heard a very loud bang from about 40-50 yards away, off to my two-o’clock. I took it for a muzzle-loader shot. And that drove me to a decision. Here I was in a heavily-leaved forest, walking around on a dead-leaf-strewn path and very close by is a guy with a muzzle-loader. Though my blaze-orange hat and vest and his hunter training to be sure of his target should in theory mean I was OK, I decided not to chance it and I went back to the van.
I then drove down Route 235, enjoying this very nice country drive through the Susquehanna River hills to Liverpool. By 1600 I was back home.
My trip since Monday added up to 850 miles, a good bit of it through light rain. I was somewhat disappointed in how suburban the area was around Lake Pymatuming and Presque Isle seemed more like a city park than I like. I did enjoy seeing the fall colors throughout the trip, particularly my hike in the snow among the colors on the North Country Trail segment—that alone was worth the trip. I paid for two night’s camping (at Pymatuming and Little Pine State Parks at $14 per night with electrical hookup) and two were free (the Wal-mart at Corry and a dispersed-camping site in the Allegheny National Forest).
That evening we watched “Inside Man”. This was the second time viewing the feature for me but I didn’t mind. It’s a fast-moving, convoluted plot and I picked up on things I had missed the first time through. Labashi enjoyed it too.

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Thursday, 26 October-

This morning I woke a bit late after a very heavy sleep. With the heat off in Mocha Joe the temperature dropped to 32 degrees but I was very comfortable under Labashi’s zero-degree sleeping bag. After a light breakfast I drove to the nearby Jakes Rocks picnic area and overlook for a look about. With the sun now peeking through the trees I had a great view on my brisk walk to the overlooks and I jogged a bit to warm up. The view to the west was terrific. I could see the snow line on the hills above the lake; it’s about three hundred feet from the top and makes a very distinct line across the mountain. For some reason this area still has its leaves while just a few miles west there’s less color and a few miles east the most of the leaves are down already. I wonder if the lake has an effect. Given that the water is slower to cool, perhaps that has made a difference on these lakeside hills.
I decided I’d start winding my way toward home today though I’ve actually done very little of Route 6. I’ll just have to come back for that!
My route took me to the little town of Smethport where I noticed the Visitor’s Center had a small paper sign in the door—free wi-fi hotspot. Cool! I circled the block to get a parking spot close to the center but thought I’d check inside to see how this one works. I was greeted warmly by a half-dozen seniors sitting around talking. The Visitor’s Center is also the Senior Center, I soon learned. I asked about the wi-fi and the very nice senior center director said she didn’t know a lot about it but had been told to put up the sign just two days ago. I was welcome to come in and try it. Because it’s often a problem to find a power plug I prefer to access from Mocha Joe and said I’d give it a try and let them know how I make out. When I fired up the laptop it found four wireless transmitters, three of them unintelligible strings of numbers and one called “Donald”, all of them too weak to be usable. I took the laptop inside and I was ushered to the back of the building and into the computer/copier room and given a chair right beside the wireless router. That ought to be close enough! I plugged in and did indeed get a strong signal—but it was encrypted and required a password. The center director said the only way she knows to make it work is to give out her password. I suggested I’d get to the password screen and then let her type it in rather than give it to a stranger. She tried a few times and then just handed me the cheat-sheet. And that’s how I got on to the Smethport public wi-fi hotspot named (something like) “3B29560247135684” with password (something like) “2746984572139628”. I explained to the nice lady that normally the network id is something like “Visitor Center Public Hotspot” and no password is required, all a very simple thing to set up and easy to use. She was relieved to hear that and will contact the local folks to insist that it be re-done. Apparently the tech support guys around here don’t support a lot of public hotspots.
As I went about doing my blog update and retrieving my email, I kept hearing people talking about driving in the next room. Finally I overheard someone explaining that they were hosting a “55 Alive” driving course there. A few minutes later an older gentleman walked into the computer room I was using and up to a machine I hadn’t noticed before. He apologized for interrupting but said he had to test his blood pressure. He ran a magnetic card through the machine and a voice welcomed him and then prompted him through the blood pressure procedure. He told me the box is connected to a hospital but I’m not sure I understand exactly how this works. Apparently he’s on blood-pressure medication (since the machine reminded him to be sure to take his medication on time and in the correct amount) but I assume if he fails to have his pressure read, his health-care provider is alerted and a follow-up process initiated. I wonder what happens when he travels.
After I finished and logged off I had a very pleasant conversation with the center director. She has her hands full just running the senior center and it’s a bit much to also have to handle the visitor’s center function. I was interested to learn that just yesterday she had attended a tourism training class run locally by someone from Penn State. Apparently PSU runs these classes around the state to assist small towns in developing their tourism business. After she learned what I’m doing (just traveling around) she told me of her fond memories of camping at the lake (at Kinzua dam) for weeks at a time when she was a young girl. Apparently in those days you could camp along the lakeshore wherever you liked and could have your boat right there and spend your days swimming and water-skiing and just livin’ large.
I stopped in Coudersport at a sporting goods shop called something like ‘Potter County Outfitters’. I was impressed by the variety of goods in this little store and spent quite a while trying to figure out what all the trapping gear does. They of course had traps but they also had these pointy little shovels I’ve not seen before. They were only about three inches across the top of the spade but had about a 30-inch wooden handle and a metal hand-grip at the top. I assume they are used to dig a trap-set hole without disturbing the area any more than absolutely necessary. The shop also had a great variety of scents and scent-covering liquids and some specialized metal chain connectors but I don’t know what those would be used for. I would have asked but the clerk was busy with two other guys in the shop.
On the way out of Coudersport I noticed a police car following me and since I was in a 35-mile-per-hour zone I pulled over (“to use the cell phone”) when I got a chance in order to let him by to go after someone else. But he pulled off behind me. He just wanted to let me know my right-side stop light was out and was very friendly about it. He sure was a young whippersnapper, though. It’s odd how doctors and police officers are always supposed to be older than we are.
After Coudersport it was an uneventful drive down 44 to Little Pine State Park. I did stop at Cherry Springs State Park along the way so I could check out the astronomy field I’ve read about on the web. While the park’s campground is a poor one because it’s on a hill and there isn’t one flat spot I’d be able to park Mocha Joe, the astronomy field is another matter. The astronomy field has new roads, new electrical panels and about a dozen small concrete pads for telescopes. There are three small telescope enclosures, one a traditional metal dome, one a very unique fiberglass clamshell arrangement called an ‘Astro Haven’ and a more-traditional-looking shed with a sliding roof. The latter one has a four-by-four structure attached to the back. You walk in the regular-size side door, reach up to the roof line and unhook two metal hooks, then roll the roof right off the top of the building onto the four-by-four structure. The rollers are garage-door rollers and tracks. Inside are four electric outlets for all your star-gazing needs. You can stay overnight on the astronomy field for $4 or in the campground for $10 (if you are a PA resident). I really, really need to go up there to with my brother. We have a shared-ownership 8” Meade Dobsonian-style scope and he built a very slick little tracking platform for it. We’ve not had it out for a few years and it’s time to either use it or sell it. We had been thinking of a trip up to Cherry Springs for the Black Forest Star Party in September 2005 but the weather forecast called for overcast skies so we called it off. Given that Cherry Springs lies in one of the darkest areas east of the Rockies, the view on a clear night should be fantastic whether you have a scope or not.
Today, I left Cherry Springs and continued down Route 44 to Little Pine State Park, passing some very intriguing trailheads along the way; I need to come back here and explore. I had been to Little Pine just a few weeks ago but my purpose today was to spend some time on the shooting range. I found another fellow there but he was shooting at the longest-range targets and I at the shortest-range target and it was nice to chat with him a bit about problems he was having with his reloaded shells. I only shot 25 rounds before cleaning and oiling the pistol and putting it safely away but that gave me a good start. I now need to do some reading on the owner’s group for this particular model to (hopefully) improve my shooting and safety skills with it.
I then drove over to the campground and registered for the night, then went fishing. I returned to the dam outlet I had fished a few weeks ago because I had seem some nice trout there. Today the waterflow volume was quite different than last time and the water coming out of the outlet was now circulating counter-clockwise where last time it was a clockwise pattern. I didn’t catch any fish but once again got a good look at a nice-size trout following the lure in. This one took a lunge at the spinner and missed. Later, I had two hard hits on the lures- but I missed them.
That night I watched the extras on the ‘Nine Souls’ DVD. After watching the interviews with the director, I again watched the feature and now it made sense.