12 February 2015 Tuscarora State Forest

It was dicey finding a road-side parking place with all the snow, but a stop in Tuscarora State Forest was my best hope for a short hike on my return to Ohio. Blue skies always improve a winter day. This morning the trail was perfect.

As I was walking the trail, I spotted an unopened Valentine. The address was from the nearby road. I remembered seeing a line of mailboxes at the end of the road. I figured someone stopped for a morning walk and dropped this by accident. I returned it to the correct mailbox at the end of my walk. I hope it was a happy Valentine.

The real star of this 8-10 acre tract of land is a 1300-year old stand of box huckleberry. It's winter, but the plants were still visible under the snow cover. The small shrub is only known in eight states and is rare within those states. This old stand is one of two known to still remain in Pennsylvania.