Chapman State Park | The Beauty Around Us

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Christmas Eve Day Activities

This past Sunday afternoon my friend Skye posted on her Facebook page the picture displayed above. Skye wrote that she saw this picture hanging on the wall at Applebee’s in Warren. She wondered if anyone knew the location of the foot bridge shown in the picture. It didn’t take long until one of Skye’s friends answered her question by sharing a waymarking link. The foot bridge was located at nearby Chapman State Park. I did a little more research and ascertained that the Lowlands Trail would take us across the foot bridge.

Bob and I went for a drive on Christmas Eve day, with the express purpose of finding the foot bridge shown in Skye’s picture. From Warren, PA we took U.S. Route 6 south for about 5 miles turning right (west) onto Chapman Dam Road. We followed this road to Chapman State Park. The Lowlands Trail may be accessed from either side of Chapman Lake, at the end of the roads. We accessed the trail from the north side, as the campground road was closed for Winter. From the north side, access is along a dirt road. We parked the car in the last parking lot. The dirt road was very muddy from a recent rainfall. We walked along the muddy dirt road to the trail head. Thankfully, it was a short walk from the parking lot to the trail head. The trail to the foot bridge was short as well.

Lowlands Trail

Tionesta Creek

The Lowlands Trail runs between the State Game Lands service road (the muddy dirt road at the north side of Chapman Lake) and the railroad grade running from the Chapman State Park campground through the State Game Lands. It is an easy trail across a foot bridge over the West Branch of Tionesta Creek, in and through a wetland area above the lake. The trail is a recommended way for hikers wanting to get from one side of Chapman Lake to the other.

The foot bridge is a suspension bridge, and there is a pronounced swing while crossing the bridge.

Bob walking across the foot bridge.

Chapman State Park is so near to us, but we have not explored much there. This was the first time that either Bob or I have seen this foot bridge.

After taking a few pictures, we returned to our car. We drove to the other side of Chapman Lake and parked in the parking lot closest to the campground entrance.

Bob is checking out the GPS on his mobile phone, trying to determine how far away the foot bridge is from this location. He said that we were about half way around the lake, so the foot bridge is probably a mile from this location.

I would like to walk around Chapman Lake one day. When I was researching how to reach the foot bridge, I learned that there is a trail around the entire circumference of the lake. The trail is 4 miles in length.

I took a few more pictures of Chapman Lake, near where Bob sat.

The Canadian Geese appeared to be enjoying the unseasonably warm Winter weather too.

I handed the camera to Bob, and he took this picture of me.

Behind me is the north end of Chapman Lake, near where we parked before walking that muddy dirt road to the Lowlands Trail.

Before leaving Chapman State Park, I took one more picture.

This is the Chapman Lake Spillway.

Leaving Chapman State Park, we followed Forest Road 437 to Pleasant Drive. We had been on Forest road for only a short distance, when we saw two deer standing in the woods.

I managed to take one picture of the deer,
before they walked deeper into the woods and out of sight.

I exchanged camera lens, my 40-150mm lens for the 12-40mm lens, before continuing our drive. We hoped to see other wildlife along the way, but we didn’t.

Before returning home, we stopped at Slagle’s Speed and Sport. Our friend, Paul, wrote on Facebook: “Christmas Eve Day: Debbie, Shawn, and I will be at our shop until at least 3pm. If you’re in the North Warren area stop by and see us.” We stopped by to see Debbie, Shawn and Paul around 2:30pm. We were happy to find other friends there as well!

We spent an hour visiting with Debbie, Paul and Shawn; John and Carol; Mark; and John and Renate. Paul invited everyone to join Debbie and him at their house for a backyard fire. What strange weather for Christmas! We have no snow and the temperature is unseasonably warm. Imagine being able to have a backyard fire on Christmas Eve in northwest Pennsylvania! Bob and I didn’t join Paul and Debbie for the backyard fire at their house. We will, though, see them and other friends on Sunday when we meet for dinner at a restaurant in Findley Lake, NY.

Photo Walk at Chapman State Park

It was a cold, but sunny, day today. It seemed a good day for a drive. We drove to Chapman State Park. Chapman State Park is located near Clarendon, PA, approximately 15 miles from our house. The park is open for year round recreation. Recreational opportunities include swimming, fishing (including ice fishing), boating, camping, hiking, hunting, ice skating, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, picnicking, and sledding.

This is the Chapman Dam spillway.

According to the State Parks website, Chapman Dam was constructed near the old earthen dam of the Bucher Mill Log Pond, which dates back to Bucher’s Mill that was built about 1849.

Isn’t this a great-looking tree?

The tree creates a natural frame through which to view Chapman Lake. Standing beyond the tree, on the lake, is one of several ice fisherman that we saw today.

Bob, with Chapman Lake in the background

Ice fishermen on Chapman Lake

Do you see the building across the lake? The previous photographs were taken from that side of the lake.

A close-up picture of the ice fishermen

Fisherman carrying a fish in each hand

In addition to seeing ice fishermen on Chapman Lake, we saw activity on the sled riding hill. People of all ages were having a wonderful time riding down the hill on sleds, tubes and snowboards.

Sled Riding Hill

A 65-Mile Ride

Bob and I went for a 65-mile motorcycle ride this morning. We rode alongside the Allegheny Reservoir and visited Chapman State Park. Click here for the route that we rode.

We wanted to get a ride in while it wasn’t raining, at least one time during this weekend. The summer so far has certainly been cool and wet in Northwestern Pennsylvania.

Bob at Overlook of Casey Bridge and Allegheny Reservoir

This spot is one of Bob’s favorite places, locally, to photograph his motorcycle. Unfortunately, the view was not clear today.

It was Youth Field Day at Chapman State Park, an event that we were not aware of when we decided to ride to Chapman State Park. In regards to Youth Field Day a Warren Times Observer newspaper article reported on June 25th that “all youth will receive a t-shirt, lunch and prizes. There will be expert instructors at several stations including shotgun, .22 rimfire, muzzleloader, archery, fishing, canoeing…All equipment is provided. There is no charge to participate.” Photographs of Chapman Lake would have been dull, given the overcast day; however, Youth Field Day added a bit of color to the lackluster background.

Two boys canoeing

Several boys receive fishing instruction

Before returning home we stopped at Perkins Restaurant for a late breakfast. By the way, it started to sprinkle soon after we came home. I haven’t seen any precipitation except for the sprinkles. It looks and feels like it could rain at any moment though. We’ll keep our eyes to the sky (and wunderground.com) and perhaps go for another ride later today or tomorrow.