Sunday, November 4th 2001

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Sunday, November 4th 2001
Bald Eagle State Park
Lakeside Trail

This 5.2 mile loop was not the usual hike for me. My main motivation and reward for a good hike is the view at the top of a ridge . . . this trail doesn't go up a ridge at all, rather is follows the shoreline of the lake.

I thought that not being on a ridge would make this a pleasant walk. Far from it! The rockiness of the Lakeside Trail rivals the worst of the Mid State Trail.

I think this would have been a much better hike had I seen it during the peak of the leaves changing color, but it was still nice, swooshing the leaves with my feet. It reminded me of when I was a kid. I was tempted to pile a big bunch of leaves together and jump into it.

The trail is easy enough to find. Simply make your way to Howard, PA on route 26 (near Bellefonte) and after crossing the only bridge in town, look for a brown sign directing you to the boat launch. Once at the launch, head towards the rest facilities, and there's the trailhead.

The trail makes a sort of a loop, with half of it circling to the south of the nearby railroad, and the rest doubling back on itself. You'd have to be an idiot to get lost on the trail near the lake, but when it's time to head up to the railroad, it does get confusing. The trail just sort of stops being blazed right after a big fallen tree. Just before that, there's a trail that heads up the hill to the railway. It's not very obvious, and you've already passed a similar spot about a mile before, so you don't expect it to be the end of the line. What's more confusing is that, except for the lack of blazes and the fallen tree, the trail quite obviously continues.

Once you find the way to go, however, the trail climbs under the rail bed in a tunnel, then goes a few hundred yards into the woods. This is the rockiest part, and no doubt why the trail is described as 'difficult' in the DCNR guide. Personally, I wish I had brought my trekking poles, since I nearly twisted my ankles a number of times.

The trail, once again, is easy to follow on the south side of the tracks, but it curiously comes to a road, with no blazes pointing you in any direction. After a fashion, and consulting my map (which I didn't think I would need!) I found that the trail follows the north side of the road through the primitive camping area, where there are two access points to the Lakeside Trail. This would be a nice place to spend a weekend camping, since there's easy access to the lake, and the sites are a decent distance from each other.

Shortly after finding the trailhead, and passing through another tunnel, I was soon back where I had already been earlier. I decided to eat my dinner down by the lake, and heated up my Thai Chicken MRE with buttered rice. The meal was so good, i took quite a bit of time eating it. By the time I was finished, the sun was going down, and I got some good pictures of the sun setting over the lake.

About 45 minutes after hitting the trail again, I was back at my car, just in time for it to get dark.

Click here for the full photo gallery!