Please bring your flashlights and meet at the Park Office for an evening driving tour to owling hotspots in Cook Forest. Explore the old growth forest and National Wild & Scenic Clarion River at night for Pennsylvania’s secretive owls. Barred, great horned, screech, and saw-whet owls have been known to make an appearance. (3 hrs)
Please bring your spotlights and meet at the Park Office Conference Room for an evening driving tour as we car-pool to Cook Forest’s white-tail hotspots. Come learn about the natural history of our Commonwealth’s state mammal, as we cruise the park searching for this elusive animal. (3 hrs)
Join the Friends of Cook Forest and celebrate the New Year with a hike on the iconic Longfellow Trail. We’ll meet at the Log Cabin Inn for a 2-mile hike through some of the finest old growth forest in the Northeastern U.S. We’ll also see remnants of the tallest tree in the northeast which fell in a windstorm 7 years ago. Please be prepared for the weather. Leashed, people-friendly pets welcome. (2 hrs)
Please meet at the Park Office where we will conduct a driving “battlefield tour” to historic lumber sites on the Clarion River. See where the community 40ft long dugout canoe was likely kept, recollect about the great Ol’ Copper Still on Whiskey Run, recount “Wash” Dunkle’s epic fist fight, contemplate the Maze Gap drowning, and view remnants of the Bartley Mill. (3 hrs)
Please bring your cross country skis and headlamps and meet at the Nuthole Cabin, located at the entrance to Ridge Camp, for an evening candlelit interpretive cross country ski trip in the old growth forests within and surrounding our family campground. If snow conditions aren’t good, we’ll snowshoe or hike instead. Hot chocolate and a cozy cabin will be available to warm us up! (2.5hrs)
Please bring your binoculars and spotting scopes to the Park Office for a driving tour to otter hotspots along the National Wild & Scenic Clarion River. This is the prime time of the year to witness otter activity. Chances are good to observe otter sign such as slides, tracks, and latrines along the banks of the river. Hot chocolate and coffee will be available at the Park Office to warm us up. Maybe we’ll even get a chance to see a river otter romp in action!
