PA Woods and Waters, Summer Edition: Hyner Run

We had a couple of glorious sunny summer days in a row, and on Friday morning, we made a short list of places we might want to go. My husband pulled the Kentucky Fried Chicken card (no, we don't have one in State College anymore), and suggested we go swimming at the pool at Hyner Run, and then stop for supper at the KFC in Lock Haven. It was a deal!

But on the drive up, we decided we were already hungry, and so we did the KFC stop first, and it was awesome. Amazing how fried chicken, cole slaw, and mashed potatoes and gravy can perk up a person's day. And then we were off to Hyner Run.

The picnic and swimming areas looked somewhat different, more open and sunny than before. And we shortly discovered why. A windstorm came through a couple of weeks ago and took down a number of their large trees. Clean-up progress has been made, but there was still plenty of tree mess on the ground.

We swam in the swimming pool for a long time. Then we heard the kids yelling Hey, come see the snake, or snakes. So a couple of us walked over and looked down into the creek, and indeed there was a small water snake sitting on the rocks next to a shed snakeskin. I wondered to myself if the skin belonged to the same snake: there the reptile sat, just chillin' with its old self!

When I walked over, my husband was already there, and he was talking to the kids about snakes. No, I don't like snakes, the one kid said. And then they talked about how snakes do good things, like eat rodents.

My husband walked back over and got in the pool, and shortly, I saw two of the kids picking stuff up and throwing it in the snake's direction. "STOP!" I heard someone shout, and then I realized that person was me.

Don't they know that state parks are these animals' homes, and where they belong? Where are the adults, teaching respect and courtesy to wild creatures? Where, indeed? The wild is where the creatures live; this is their home.

Eventually the snake left, much to my relief; and the kids got bored and they left too. I was relieved not because I fear snakes, but because I knew I'd have to intervene if necessary. I can't help myself; it's who I am. Protector of the small, wild things.

Deep in the Pennsylvania woods, years and years ago, I made my husband pull the car over so I could rescue a timber rattler from the road. No, I'm no holy-roller-snake-grabber crazy person; I simply used the stick as a tool, gently lifted the rattler, and put it down safely off the road. (These days, I'd have taken at least one picture first; you know, to blip it.)

Two local yokels came by in a beat-up pick-up truck as I was down on the ground, nose to nose with the snake, finishing up my rescue. They laughed and pointed at me and asked why anyone would bother rescuing a snake. I told them simply this: Because it matters. Because it matters TO ME. But that's all old history, and I digress: so, let's get back to Hyner Run.

We talked with the lifeguards at the pool and they told us a story about a frog that they pull out of the swimming pool every morning, and how every day they take it back down to the run, but every night the frog comes back to the pool. What kind of amphibian party might be going on at the pool when nobody is looking?, one wonders. I can only guess.

And then just before we left for home, there was time for a short walk along the trail by the stream. I put my water shoes on and went right in. The photo above was taken, of course, from the very middle of the stream.

The water was cool and clear and refreshing and marvelous, and it was beautiful and green there, and I felt completely at home. And so here are some reflections of Pennsylvania's woods and waters on another perfect summer day, at Hyner Run.

Here's a song for those of us who just can't help ourselves, we just have to go down to the water and walk right in: Dire Straits, Down to the Waterline.

For the lovers of woods and waters, here are some additional blip photos from Hyner Run and nearby Young Woman's Creek:

Hyner Run
Wade in the Water (July 2014)
Stream Sitting: Me, in my Native Habitat (June 2015)
Shimmers of Green, Shimmers of Blue (July 2017)


Young Woman's Creek
Scenes from the PA Woods: Young Woman's Creek (August 2013)
The Swimming Hole on Young Woman's Creek (August 2015)