8 July 2018 Visiting Van

Van is actually a location on 322 in Pennsylvania. There's not a lot there, but it does have a large state game lands with good trails and geocaches. They are lightly visited, but fun to find. We stopped by this afternoon for a longer walk. We were happy to spot monarda still in bloom as we started on our journey. The monarda was past its peak, but it was a stopping point for butterflies.

We retraced our walk from a prior visit and looked for a trail which would take us to a lightly found higher terrain hide. Eventually Ali spotted a narrow path above a small stream which sent us on our way.

It was a challenging walk back with a little used trail. We eventually reached Turkey Run's shore near the cache. Recent rains had Turkey Run still swelling in its banks. We were able to cross the smaller tributary we need to look for the cache, but we missed the find. The water had overflowed the banks very recently so maybe the cache was swept on.

We made our way back to the main trail and enjoyed spotted a few great spangled fritillary along the way.

Spotted wintergreen in bloom along the trail

Unfurling fungus

This large cluster of orchid leaves was a surprise at our last find.