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November 7, 2024

Jimmy Carter in the PA Wilds

On October 1st, 2024, Jimmy Carter turned one hundred years old. Carter, former president and humanitarian, is respected for plenty of reasons. Many people believe he was a good president, and his work since with Habitat For Humanity has been notable. He served in the Navy, and was governor of Georgia. And in the Pennsylvania Wilds, he is respected for having once stayed in the I-80 Frontier. In fact, he stayed in Clinton County for a short time, and has since said that Lock Haven is one of his favorite places in the world.

November 4, 2024

Hickory Creek Wilderness in ANF celebrates 40th anniversary

Happy 40th anniversary to Hickory Creek Wilderness in the Allegheny National Forest! The USDA Forest Service, which oversees the Allegheny National Forest and other national forest areas throughout the country, announced the 40th anniversary of the designation of Hickory Creek Wilderness as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System on October 30, 1984. Located near Tidioute, Warren County, the wilderness protects 9,337 acres of heavily forested area home to black cherry, oak, beech, birch, and eastern hemlock trees. Two major creeks run through the wilderness, East Hickory and Middle Hickory.

October 31, 2024

Ghosts of the PA Wilds: A Haunted Publication in the Dark Skies

If you’re looking for interesting haunted stories in the Dark Skies landscape of the Pennsylvania Wilds, you should look at the books of Robert Lyman. In the early 1970s, he wrote two books about legends mostly in Potter County: Forbidden Land and Amazing Indeed. Both of them contain multiple chapters with ghosts, UFOs, ancient curses, and other interesting legends. And, evidently, one of the books seems to have been haunted during publication.

October 30, 2024

Nominations for 2025 PA Trail of the Year due by November 1

Pennsylvanians now have the opportunity to nominate their favorite trail for the 2025 Trail of the Year through the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). Nominations are due by November 1, 2024.

October 29, 2024

Nominate your favorite waterway for 2025 River of the Year

Want to show a little extra love to your local river? Pennsylvanians are being asked to nominate their favorite waterway for the 2025 River of the Year! The nomination period is open until November 11.

October 28, 2024

The joy of exploring your hometown on foot

Although I work from home most days and appreciate the stability that comes with working from my house (hey, you can’t beat the commute!), there are just some days that feel more productive elsewhere. On those days, I find myself at the Shaw Public Library in Clearfield. I’m lucky enough to live within about a 15-minute walk to the library, or really to any place in Downtown Clearfield in the southern part of the 13-county Pennsylvania Wilds region, in a landscape known as the I-80 Frontier. When it comes to encouraging people to use their feet instead of always hopping into a car, I try to literally “walk the walk.”

October 25, 2024

Forest Fridays: The working forest

National Forest Products Week is celebrated the third week of October, annually. Today we recognize, while acknowledging their innumerable other values, the benefits of working forests. Seeing a forest tract “at work” can mean different things. The forest is always working to provide habitat and clean water, and mostly does so without human influence. However,
producing a steady yield of timber and recreational opportunities like trails requires human work.

October 24, 2024

Ghosts of the PA Wilds: The Governor and the Ghost in Pine Creek Valley

The Pennsylvania Wilds is home to its share of governors. Many of the governors of Pennsylvania were from the area, largely the I-80 Frontier landscape of the PA Wilds. But there was one from the Pine Creek Valley and the PA Grand Canyon landscape: William Alexis Stone. Stone grew up in Wellsboro, Tioga County. And he was a fan of ghost stories.

October 22, 2024

Pennsylvania Wilds Astronomy Club: Planets more readily visible in fall, winter

Fall and winter are this year’s planet seasons. Saturn, Jupiter and Mars come to opposition in September, December and January, respectively. Also, Venus reaches its greatest evening elongation, angle distance from the sun, in January as well. The further it gets from the sun, the easier it is to observe.

October 17, 2024

Ghosts of the PA Wilds: The Glade Township Ghost near the ANF

The news broke in the Warren Ledger on Friday, August 5, 1881. In Glade Township, Warren County, in what would later become the Allegheny National Forest and Surrounds landscape of the Pennsylvania Wilds, there was a ghost. It had been sighted for the past month on a local farm.