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Saturday, October 14th 2000
Mid State Trail
Happy Valley Vista and Rock Tower
Fall foliage a bit past peak

This is also the first trip I took using my new eTrex summit :-) The path is the same as the October 7th hike, except I went a little further to the Roman 'rock' Tower.

This was the inaugural hike of the Engineering Science and Mechanics Hiking Club (where I work) and two students, Charles Randow and Ravi Bollina joined me on the way.

The rock tower is pretty neat when you first come across it. I didn't know of its existence until I stumbled on to it, so it was a real treat after my first hike through this area. See my hike from August 5th for more details, or the trail description here.

Here is the info I collected with the eTrex:

Altitude, start: 2078'
Altitude, max: 2273'

Latitude and Longitude of waypoints, 1 is start of hike, 6 is end:

1. 40 44' 53.76" - 77 46' 33.42"
2078' altitude

2. 40 44' 48.48" - 77 47' 15.24"
2208' altitude

3. 40 44' 48.48" - 77 47' 59.94"
2262' altitude
Happy Valley Vista

4. 40 44' 47.88" - 77 48' 3.18"
2273' altitude

5. 40 44' 45.66" - 77 48' 48.12"
2199' altitude
Roman Tower

6. 40 44' 53.76" - 77 46' 33.36"
2218' altitude

Here is a map of GPS data derived from Microsoft Streets mapping software. Click for the full size image.
Tussey Ridge - Roman Tower.GIF (24902 bytes)

Same map imposed on USGS topo
tussey_topo.gif (142513 bytes)

The third 'flag' from the left is the Happy Valley vista, waypoint 3, above, and the flag all the way to the left is the Roman tower, or waypoint 5.

Image1.jpg (255748 bytes)  Image2.jpg (227062 bytes)  Image3.jpg (238674 bytes)  Image4.jpg (360752 bytes)

Image7.jpg (598746 bytes)  Image8.jpg (275672 bytes)  Image11.jpg (406815 bytes)  Image13.jpg (425428 bytes)

Image14.jpg (891888 bytes)  Image15.jpg (446711 bytes)  Image19.jpg (377720 bytes)  Image20.jpg (361962 bytes)

Image23.jpg (311460 bytes)  Image26.jpg (393498 bytes)

From the top, first row, starting from the left:
Telephoto shot from top of rock tower (waypoint 5)
Wide angle view from rock tower
Ravi Bollina looks to Mount Nittany
Charles Randow's dog, used for hunting lions

Second row:
View of rock tower with Mt. Nittany in the background
Same view, horizontal
About 100m from the rock tower, heading back to the car
30m from the Happy Valley Vista, approaching from the west

Third row
Leaves
More leaves
Sign pointing off-trail to the Happy Valley Vista (waypoint 4)
Sign for junction with '1-2 Link' Trail (waypoint 3)

Fourth row:
Nice view through trees, about 30m east of Happy Valley Vista
About 30m west of Shingletown Fire Road

 

 

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