RALPH’S PRETTY GOOD VIEW

Christy took another family day on Friday. The weather forecast was for sunny conditions, so I decided to head over to Black Moshannon State Park for a view hike.

My first stop was at Black Moshannon Lake to check out the fall color. I drove down the road along the west side of the lake and stopped at a couple of pull offs. There was some really nice color across the lake, but the morning light was poor for photos. I ended up returning after my hike to get better photos.

From there I drove out Rattlesnake Road to the east side of the park. I stopped at a small trailhead parking area just past the intersection with Underwood Road. My plan was to hike the Allegheny Front Trail to where it crosses Underwood Road, and then follow the road back to make a loop.

There were two women in the parking lot when I arrived. They had just made a brief attempt at mountain biking the trail, but gave up due to the rocky tread. They were the only people I saw during my hike.

I hiked across the road and followed the trail as it wandered up and down through wooded hills and ravines. It was maybe a mile or so to the first view, which is probably the best one along this stretch of trail. From the overlook, there is a nice view east over the expansive valley below. There was just a little bit of fall color there, too.

I had lunch and then attempted to resume the hike. Initially I had trouble finding the continuing trail. Eventually I realized that I needed to backtrack a short distance from the overlook to regain it.

The next couple of miles took me to three more overlooks. All of them were similar to the first one, looking east from the edge of the plateau. Two of the overlooks had signs. One is named “Ralph’s Pretty Good View” and another is “Ralph’s Magnificent Vista”. Don’t get too excited about that second one – it is remarkably similar to the first one.

From the last overlook I followed the trail uphill, away from the edge of the escarpment. I passed through a neat rocky area before hitting Underwood Road. I followed the dirt road back to the north, before turning off on the Stagecoach Trail. That provided a bit of a shortcut back to the Allegheny Front Trail, which I followed a short distance back to the car.

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