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Pennsylvania Cabin Trip One — Buzzard Swamp
So, if you are wondering where I was last week — I was on vacation! We rented a cabin for a week just outside Cook Forest State Park in northwestern Pennsylvania, close to Allegheny National Forest. I don’t tend to talk about vacation trips before or during in the tiny chance that somebody will work out our apartment is empty.
This part of Pennsylvania is very rural and quite, quite Republican (disturbing number of Trump signs and nobody was wearing masks, but nobody hassled us for wearing masks in the grocery store, so it wasn’t too bad).
The first full day we decided, as it was Sunday and things were likely to be a little busy, to find a quiet tucked away trailhead in Allegheny National Forest. Like most National Forests, Allegheny is relatively undeveloped.
The ranger station was closed, but had leaflets so we picked out Buzzard Swamp for our first destination.
What is Buzzard Swamp?
Buzzard Swamp is a wetland and forest hiking system south of Marienville, PA. Marienville is the western gateway community for Allegheny and is a fairly respectable sized place for this very rural area. There is no use fee.
We didn’t see any buzzards…or beavers, who had built a lodge in the human dammed pond, because why not let the humans build…