Announcing Susquehanncock Trail Club's 2014 Annual STC Winter Frolic
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Winter 2014 Announcing Susquehanncock Trail Club's 2014 Annual STC Winter Frolic When: Saturday February 15, 2014 Dinner: Beginning at 5:00 PM Price: $13.00 per person Where: The Gold Church Route 449, Village of Gold 9 miles south of Genesee, PA 16923 Menu: Chicken Swedish Meatballs Scalloped Potatoes Baked Beans Cole Slaw Dinner Rolls Dessert Drinks RSVP: Saturday February 8, 2014 Program: Hunting Large Game in South Africa's Retief Game Range Photo by Curt Weinhold Presenter: Art Huber The Susquehannock Trail Club‘s annual Winter Frolic will Retief is a 5,000-acre commercial game farm where several be held Saturday February 15, 2014. Time to enjoy a day big game species are raised specifically as a source of of adventure in Northcentral Pennsylvania!. Winter is off animal protein. The area is dry scrubby brushland known to a good start this year with adequate snow and colder locally as “bush veldt.” As with all managed wildlife temperatures than we’ve seen in several years. One winter populations anywhere in the world, it’s important to hike that day has already been scheduled—a two-mile harvest some of the animals each year to keep the herd circuit of Cherry Springs Park. Meet at the old airport size from exceeding the carrying capacity of the range and parking area at 10 AM. Call hike leader Wayne Baumann degrading the habitat. Hunters pay a fee for the privilege at (814) 274-7725 by February 13th if you plan to attend. of hunting there for a certain number of days. The owners As usual; a short STC business meeting will follow the of the farm butcher the harvested animals, pack the meat, dinner, and the “Big Shoe” award will be presented to and sell it into the domestic South African food market. someone who has performed exceptional service to the Hides and heads are prepared for taxidermy. Susquehannnock Trail System. It was summer in the Southern Hemisphere when Art and The featured speaker this year is our own Art Huber. A his son were there, and temperatures rose into the 90’s year ago, he and his son took the trip of a lifetime for avid during the day. They spent each morning hiking through hunters. They spent a week in the Limpopo region of the thorny brush, and each afternoon still-hunting from the Republic of South Africa. at the Retief Game Range, local counterpart of deer stands. hunting native African big game animals. 1 Printed by the Welfare Hollow Publishing Group, New Florence, PA 15944 across that parallel. In early America, when the boundary Wild Game/Harvest Supper was originally established, surveying instruments were The supper was once again held at the Gold Church in the much cruder than today’s instruments. The only method small Potter County community of Gold, PA. Only 24 early surveyors had to determine how far north or south members and guests were present, the smallest attendance they were was celestial observation—primarily by in several years. Several key members of the club were observing the angular height of the North Star in the sky. absent due to other commitments that fell on the same At the North Pole, the North Star is almost directly date. overhead—90 degrees up. At the Equator, it’s approxi- Once again, the major portion of the fare brought to the mately on the horizon (in flat country or out at sea). At dinner by those in attendance was either wild game, killed latitude 42 north, it is 42° up from the horizontal, which and cooked by club members, wild plants picked in the equals 90° minus 42°, or 48° down from the zenith. woods and fields of Pennsylvania, or in a few cases, home- Pennsylvania many years ago placed monuments at grown garden produce. As usual, the Potter County approximately one-mile intervals along the state line. Mr. favorites, venison and wild leeks, were on the menu. The Wetmore located several of them, and told of interesting selection this year included stinging nettle, a native plant adventures finding some of the monuments. At one point annoying to those hikers who like to venture forth in along the state line, he found a sign that faced north shorts because of the irritating hairs on the leaves which attesting to the fact that everything beyond the sign was in cause an affliction sometimes known as “the seven-minute Pennsylvania. He suspects the sign was placed by a New itch.” Cooking neutralizes the toxin. The exotic invasive York State hunter who once unknowingly strayed across plant, Japanese knotweed, was also on the table, as was the line and was arrested by a PA Wildlife Conservation that pernicious bane of southern Pennsylvania gardens, Officer for hunting illegally. Galinsoga—also called “quickweed” because of its rapid Southwest corner of Tioga County where Tioga, spread and growth. Potter, and Lycoming counties meet Duane Wetmore The evening’s featured speaker was Duane Wetmore of neighbor- ing Tioga County, PA. Mr. Wetmore is a registered surveyor of long experience who entitled his PowerPoint presentation, “Perambulating the Boundaries of Tioga County.” Tioga County adjoins Potter County on Potter’s east Photo provided by Duane Wetmore Photo by Tom Fitzgerald side, and both counties One memorable incident was the finding of the monument border New York State marking the southwest corner of Tioga County where on the north. Mr. Wetmore has located many of the Tioga, Potter, and Lycoming counties meet. A lengthy monuments that mark the corners of boroughs, frustrating search along a tributary of the Francis Branch incorporated villages, townships, and individual properties of Slate Run in the general area of where the monument in several counties in both Pennsylvania and New York. A was supposed to be, turned up no sign of it. Then Mr. few years ago, he participated in a bi-state project to Wetmore and his companion happened to walk around a reestablish the boundary between the two states. He also very large old tree, and there was the monument partly explained why the state line, which was intended to follow engulfed by the other side of the tree! the 42nd. parallel of latitude, actually drifts back and forth 2 Printed by the Welfare Hollow Publishing Group, New Florence, PA 15944 Along The Trail were very well groomed, tracked on one side for ‘classic’ or Nordic skiing and groomed on the other side for the Cross-Country Skiing In Quebec, Canada skating style of skiing which is very popular in Canada. By Wil Ahn Also, in all of the areas, there are warming cabins with When the conditions are right, with a foot or more of wood stoves—or in a few cases, propane heaters—scat- snow on the STS Ridge Trail and adjoining trails, a cross- tered throughout the trail network. We skied about 12 to country skier will experience one of Potter County’s finest 25 km (7 to 16 miles) per day, and planned each route to ski tours. This is what Kathy and Dennis Burkhart are arrive at one of the warming cabins abound lunchtime, so once again looking forward to. For many years they have we could eat our trail lunch there. been coming to the Susquehannock Lodge with the Blue Mountain Eagle Climbing Club from Reading, PA over the “Maybe if I lie down in the trail for awhile, someone three-day Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend. will come along and give me some attention!” A year ago, January 19-21, 2013, the group started at the Northern Gateway of the STS on Route 6, following the Ridge Trail past the STC registration box to Thompson Road. Crossing the road, they continued on the Ridge Trail to the Wil & Betty Ahn Cross-over Trail, which takes you to the old B&S railroad switchbacks, a delight to follow to the head of Brown Hollow. From there, they skied north on the Billy Brown Trail and the challenging Broken Knee Bend, then through the old apple orchard, and finished with a gentle glide to the Susquehannock Lodge. The total trip was about 6½ miles. The snow conditions were very poor for the skiers that weekend. Limited snow and bare spots; hard on the skis and the skiers. They told me their sad story when they visited before heading back to their home, but said they were looking forward to their trip to Quebec a few weeks later. After they returned from Quebec, I inquired of them about their trip, and here is their report: “Our trip to ski in Quebec was fantastic. It was an eleven- hour drive to Lac Delage, about ½ hour north of Quebec Photo by Dennis Burkhart City. What we like about that locality is there are many “The enclosed photos are typical of the countryside and cross-country ski areas within a 20-mile radius so we could the snow conditions. Just beautiful. Miles and miles of go to a different area every day. evergreens. We encountered a baby moose on one of the “The ski conditions were excellent. There were three to trails. He had apparently lost his mother and was found four feet of snow on the ground, and it would snow a wandering around the area in the fall, and just stayed there couple more inches almost every day we were there. through the winter. He was so unafraid of humans that Temperatures ranged from the mid teens to as high as Dennis was able to pet him. The owners of the ski area 32°F. Three of the areas where we skied are within the named him, ‘Moe.’ ” boundaries of the Reserve faunique des Laurentides, a You can tell from this report that they had a great week of huge nature preserve.