The content of this post was a joint effort of Rich and Zhanna.
Rich and I spent today on a day-trip with my father. Dad has been wanting to visit and hike at Hawk Mountain for several months already. He’s finally retired from his job as a systems analyst, but he is now a part-time bus driver. At first it was only Saturdays and Sundays. He was usually “on call” and was only occasionally called to drive. Now it seems like the reverse, and he has a hard time turning down anything, especially on Fridays, when I’m off. Well, he finally got an opportunity for a trip to Hawk Mountain, as well as some great weather to enjoy it. Along the way, we planned on checking out the Yuengling Brewery in Pottsville
We met up with Dad at his house around 7:00am. Dad was driving. We arrived at Pottsville, our first destination, around 9:00am and stopped at a Dunkin’ Donuts for a quick pre-breakfast of coffee, juice, and a few bagels.
Would any day-trip be complete without a search for a survey mark? I didn’t have much time to research other marks in the area, and it’s just as well because I knew we wouldn’t have time to do a serious hunt for a tri-station or anything else difficult. But there is a bench mark disk, POTTSVILLE, set into the base of the Civil War monument (Soldiers’ Monument of Schuylkill County). We found it easily, took a few photos, and then hiked up the hill toward the brewery.
The tour at the Yuengling Brewery started at 10:00am and lasted about 45 minutes. We thought it was really interesting to see the original building and all the old equipment that is still used to brew and bottle the six different varieties that they sell. Of course, their two newer breweries (one only a couple of miles away, and the other in Tampa, Florida) are more modern and produce greater quantities. After the tour was done, there was a sampling session in the little pub by their visitor gift shop. Hence, beer for breakfast!!! Yummy.
After the brewery tour and our boozy breakfast, we headed directly for the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, bought our trail passes and commenced to hike to the south and then the north lookouts, stopping at various overlooks along the way. It wasn’t too crowded for such a lovely Friday. There were maybe a dozen or so people at each very scenic location.
We hung around at the north lookout hoping to see some raptors on their return from winter migration in the south. It must have been a slow day; most likely we missed the peak. All we saw were the usual turkey vultures soaring gracefully around the ridgelines.
We snacked on trail mix and a couple of apples, and hydrated ourselves for the next part of our hike: the River of Rocks trail. This was a very hilly, rocky and rugged 4½-mile loop that circles a portion of several large boulder fields, similar to but much smaller than the more famous huge boulder field at Hickory Run State Park.
Rich claims that I bounced around the rugged trail like a chipmunk while he and my father were both feeling a little whipped. (Truth be told, I think we were all just a bit relieved when we got back to the car!) But there’s no better way to spend a beautiful spring day. The conditions were really gorgeous, with temperatures in the mid 70s. It was mostly sunny and dry and just a little breezy. Simply ideal for being outdoors!
And because it’s April, I was surrounded by wildflowers to identify and attempt to photograph. The Virginia bluebells in the native plant garden near the entrance to the sanctuary did not want their photo taken. Despite all efforts and over a dozen photos taken, not one photo of the bluebells was in proper focus.
Total hike length: 4.54 miles. Elevation Loss/Gain: 1265′.
