Trough Creek State Park



We've been to most of the State Parks close to home, so now we have to spend valuable hiking time, driving farther away to see something new. This past Wednesday, we went to Trough Creek State Park near Altoona. It's about a two hour drive from our home in Greensburg.

The park is known for having a suspension bridge, waterfall and a geologic feature called Balanced Rock. There are also 12 miles of trails to explore, all of which led to our choosing this park

Starting at the Balanced Rock parking area, it is only a few hundred feet down a well marked trail to the suspension bridge, which leads to both Rainbow Falls and the Rock. Krissy was not as big of a fan of the bridge as I was!

A slight climb after the bridge leads to Rainbow Falls. Unfortunately, the water level was really low, so I (appropriately too I think) renamed it Rainbow Trickle. I'm certain that earlier in the Spring, after some winter snowmelt, it would be more impressive.

Rainbow Falls

Continuing up the trail, we reached Balanced Rock, which is...a rock balanced on the side of a cliff. Softer sandstone rock has been worn away underneath it for more than a couple years leaving it perched on the cliff, looking like it could fall at any minute. I of course pictured myself leaning on it and knocking it off! What you'll notice from the pictures, and from the graffiti, that many idiots have also visited the park.

We returned to the parking area by back-tracking the trail. The trailhead for Boulder Trail is directly across from the bridge trail. The trail is appropriately named, as it is littered with large and small rocks. It is only 1.05 miles in length, but gains 400 feet of elevation in half its length. There are several switchbacks to keep the grade more manageable, but it was still quite a workout. It crosses an old logging road just before leveling out at the top of the ridge. Then down about 300 feet ending up at the Ice Mine. Trail blazes are red circles, which were badly faded, but the trail is easy to follow. My wife and I e-mailed the park to inquire about returning to hike the trail again to help by repainting the blazes. I'll let you know when we do this.

This is what the majority of the trail looks like.

One of the namesake boulders. This one was actually in the shape of a boat.
 

The reason we chose this trail was because it leads to another park feature called the Ice Mine. Not really any ice, or anything I would call a mine, it was a welcome destination after hiking the trail. 

The mine is just a small hole dug into the side of the mountain. Krissy seemed disappointed and said to me, "that's it?!!!". Bear in mind, it was 84 degrees out with about 138% humidity when we did this hike. When you go down the 10 or 12 steps into the mine, the temperature drops probably 25 or 30 degrees. It felt like air conditioning! You can see your breath when talking. What causes it is the cooler air sinking through the cracked rocks of the mountain and flowing out like an air duct. Pretty cool actually.

Krissy talked me into retuning to our Jeep by following Boulder Trail back, instead of walking back on the relatively flat road, and I'm glad she did. Like I said, short hike but it will get your heart beating.
I'll be sure to update you when we do some volunteer work at the park.

Next up....?????