Lake Arthur Adventure
After our recent stretch of beastly hot and humid weather, my husband, Ray, and I were thrilled to have a day to escape to the lush, green coolness of nearby Moraine State Park. (Moraine is about a 50-minute drive from Rachel Carson Ecovillage at Providence Heights). We opted to go for a bike ride along the North Shore of Lake Arthur and to take our dogs along in their Burley “tail wagon”.
Moraine is one of the state parks created through the efforts of Maurice K. “Doc” Goddard, known as the “Patriarch of the Pennsylvania State Park System”. Although he never quite achieved his goal of establishing a state park within 25 minutes of every resident of the Commonwealth, he did create 45 new parks and added 130,000 acres of parkland during his tenure as cabinet officer for 6 governors (1955-1979).
He first served as the Secretary of Forests and Waters and later as the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources. In addition to the eponymous Goddard State Park there is an historical marker placed outside the Rachel Carson State Office Building in Harrisburg, HQ for the Departments of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Department of Environmental Protection.
In creating Lake Arthur, workers from the former Pennsylvania departments of Forests and Waters and Mines and Mineral Industries helped to reclaim the abused land by:
- Sealing deep mines
- Backfilling and grading strip mines
- Plugging 422 gas and oil wells
- Fertilizing the soil
- Planting thousands of trees, shrubs, grasses, and clovers
- Damming Muddy Creek
The damming of Muddy Creek was completed by November of 1968, and, during 1970, Lake Arthur reached its full level. Moraine State Park was dedicated on May 23, 1970.
The bike trail is an out-and-back total of 14-miles. The trail is paved asphalt and is beautifully shaded and closely follows the lake shoreline. There are some short, steep hills that add some thrills. The 7 miles out ends at the Davis Hollow Marina.
At the 5-mile point there is a beach and picnic area. This shorter ride would be perfect for a future RCE social event! The trail is heavily used on the weekends and is one of the reasons we chose a weekday for our adventure.
Along the way, we saw Eastern bluebirds, Towhees, Indigo buntings and Purple Martins. The flora is varied depending on the season. We have also seen Turk’s-cap lilies, Joe-Pye weed, Golden-rod, Elderberry and Smooth oxeye. We also saw Checkerspot, Duskywing and Swallowtail butterflies! We strongly encourage others to make this trip in any season.
– Mary Jo Geyer, Founding member & future resident of RCE, July 5, 2024