FLT Day 42: Willis Creek leanto, 19 miles

The last full day of the trip, and probably one of the nicest too. It didn't start off very well though. With the reroute through Salamanca, the new trail is not blazed very well, if at all. The first couple of miles were through an Indian reservation on old logging roads. Since there weren't any blazes I had to just wing a couple of the branches. Since I had an interstate downhill from me I decided to err on the downhill side when given a choice. That way I could always just follow the road if need be. It ended up working out pretty well until the end of that section, where the old road I was on just ended, but I just cut through some woods until I got to another side road, and followed that.

After that I was in the Allegheny State Park, so there was lots of nice woods, and a couple of leantos that I passed throughout the day. In the park I ran into an older man who wanted to know where the trail went. He seemed pretty impressed that there was a trail all across the state, but was  a bit annoyed because he was severely lost. Apparently he had been bushwhacking around the park checking out the plants. The park is supposed to be spraying for Gypsy Moths within the month, so he had wanted to see what it looked like before that. When he hit the FLT he decided to just follow it to a road and go from there, except he was going in the wrong direction to get back to his car. I showed him on my maps, and he wandered off grumbling.

The last leanto of the trip was at Willis Creek, complete with a nice series of waterfalls. I really like the long exposure effect, but I can really only do it around dusk, since I don't have a filter to cut out enough light for the middle of the day.