Bicycling Around Black Moshannon State Park

It was a glorious, sunny April morning and I wasn't even out of bed. My husband asked, "Do you want to hear my plan?" I laughed, smiled, said, "Go ahead!" He says, "Let's put our bikes in the car, grab some hoagies, and go bicycling at one of the local state parks!" Of course, I said "Yes!"

So that's just what we did. About an hour later, we were loaded up and on our way to Black Moshannon State Park. We parked along the lake near a picnic table, and immediately snarfed down our first hoagie despite the amazing winds that tried to blow that hoagie away!!! (I am not joking about this! The wind along the lake was really something -  it kept knocking our chairs over whenever we weren't sitting in them.)

We got the bikes out of the back seat, and started riding around the lake. T. Tiger went with me, of course, and he mostly rode along in my daysack. As he is orange, he thought the bike should be his. His legs were too short to reach the pedals, so I had to pedal for us. No biggie! It was totally flat around the lake and easy pedaling.

We explored a number of areas that we just don't usually get to when we don't have the bikes, including places where there isn't immediate parking nearby. At one point, my husband looked over at me and laughed: "You're smiling!" he said; "You look so happy!" And I was!

We went over to the boardwalk and looked around. No bike or horse riding is permitted on the boardwalk, so we had to walk our bikes through. The bogs are amazingly colorful any time of year, and remind me of the Dolly Sods area in West Virginia. Water birds cavorted on the surface.

We rode over to the swimming area and waded in the water, even though the beach isn't officially open yet, and that's where I took this photo of my bike on the little dock. Strangely enough, for such a pretty day, this shot was not without its perils.

I got off the bike on the dock, put down its kickstand, and stepped back with my camera to get a photo. A big wind came and caught my bike, and it started to fall toward the water!!! Well, I instantly rushed back and grabbed the bike and secured it before it got blown right into the lake. So we got a happy ending, but - Whew!

A thing I love about April is that it's like October in reverse. All of the beautiful foliage colors that we see in October? Well, the trees wear their spring versions of those very same dresses in April, only the colors are a bit lighter. So please enjoy this shot of my bike against the spring foliage on the other side of the lake, near the education center.

We finally put the bicycles back in the car and drove over to the lakeside access for the Star Mill Trail, as we had spotted some picnic tables along the lake there from the other side, and realized we had no familiarity at all with that section. So we went to check it out.

From that shore, we walked a pretty little trail through vegetation that reminded me of the pine forests of northern Florida. (At some point in life, doesn't every place you see remind you of some place else?) From there, we had an awesome view of a beaver lodge, which you may see in the extras.

This was the first time we'd done a bike-around-a-park adventure. By the time we were finished, my knees were exhausted, and so was my posterior, which is (alas) rather somewhere more ample than the bike seat might allow. I think I may need a cushion or something; do they make those? Otherwise, we were tired, but it was the good tired you get after a great day of fresh air and exercise among the fine woods and waters of central PA!

My soundtrack song is this one: Queen, with Bicycle Race.