Today I am visiting # 4 on my 50 before 50 list. Visit 90 PA State parks- (note: we have 124 and I am currently at 60 plus) Three weeks ago, my family and I visited 9 state parks! That’s right…9! And as impressive as that may sound…a lot of these were smaller parks that didn’t require much hiking. But still, 9 in one weekend was still a record for me and we were in 5 different State Forests!

Our weekend started off on Friday,May 2nd and we traveled to Northwest Pennsylvania. Our camping cottage in Chapman State Park was home for two nights. We made many incredible stops on the way! We stopped at SB Elliot and Parker Dam on our way to Chapman. These are both smaller parks located in the Moshannon State Forest. Saturday we went to Kinzua Bridge, Elk State Park and Bendigo. And Sunday on our trip home we stopped by Hyner Run, Hyner View and drove through BuckTail! I could write and write for hours and hours on everything we saw but I will keep it to a few short highlights.

SB Elliott – Xavier got to check out a real working payphone. And the CCC sites.

Parker Dam- The Dam.

Chapman- We went fishing, Xavier caught a salamander with hands. Cute Camping cottage but it rained most of the time and we couldn’t cook out over the fire.

Kinzua Bridge- The Bridge is impressive, but closed for repairs. We will be back!

Bendigo- Nice Lake

Elk State Park- Good fishing spots

Hyner View- The view is magnificent!

Hyner Run- Good fishing spots.

Bucktail- Nice drive through the natural Area.

We also went to the Kinzua Dam (picture below) which might have been my favorite stop.

Overall, we had an amazing long weekend making great memories, AND as of my last count I am at 75 State Parks. 49 to go. I think I will easily this goal before I turn 50!

cheers! -B