On our way to hike at Lackawanna State Park this morning, we first took a quick look for a chiseled square survey mark in the area. It’s a U.E. (useful elevation) on Line 13 in the Dundaff quad:

U.E., Wallsville, 1.0 mi NE. of, along rd. to East Benton; 75 ft SE. of junction of rd. S.; 48 ft SW. of powerline pole 1411; in field; on large boulder; chiseled square. 1013.90 ft.

From the description it sounded likely enough that we’d be able to find something—the boulder, at least, if not the mark. But as is often the case, once at the site things were different from what we expected. The “field” is now completely overgrown, and we had no chance of getting through it without a machete and some major tick protection.

Our hike took us along the Bassett Trail descending to the Abington Trail—a short loop to check out an area where we’d never hiked before and to see if we could scout out a few squirrels. There weren’t any squirrels evident today, but we discovered some peaceful hemlock groves where we thought we might eventually encounter some red squirrels.

For November it was a lovely day, not too cold, but increasingly windy by the end of the hike. Near the lake we encountered one very mucky section of the Abington Trail. Two telephone poles were placed there as a bridge, and it was a fun balancing challenge to cross them! Just a bit further on, we came to a second area with similar poles, but they were much lower to the ground and less intimidating. Today’s adventure was a relaxing hike on a beautiful day that nevertheless reminded us that winter is on the way.