The Natural Lands Trust is a non-profit organization that owns numerous nature preserves in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Crow’s Nest preserve is one of these, situated on the outskirts of the Hopewell Big Woods, near French Creek State Park and the Hopewell Furnace Historic Site.

For more information on the preserve, check out the official website. The Crow’s Nest Preserve contains many hiking trails, and of them, areas near the parking lot that run by French Creek were by far my favorite. I actually visited twice, so I think I have some pretty stellar photos from both trips.

Here’s a bit of a break from the other content I’ve been posting.

I wrote this song a few months ago when it was much warmer outside, and finally got around to shooting a music video for it.

The music & the video were both entirely written, performed, recorded, filmed, edited etc. by yours truly. I did borrow the tripod from my parents though.

Hope you enjoy.

(I’ve added the full lyrics after the break.)

Mixed-use hiking & biking trails are extremely popular in PA. Many have been constructed upon the vestiges of abandoned railway lines. The Ephrata-Warwick trail is one of these. 

I picked it from the map as a place to visit pretty much at random, other than noting that it crossed over some water, and that it would be a relatively casual/paved walk. I walked about five or six miles if I recall correctly.

It was extremely popular when I visited. Which, to be fair, is probably what I get for visiting what Wikipedia calls “the most populous borough in Lancaster County” during a holiday weekend. This in and of itself isn’t a bad thing, but I should note that I was the only person that I saw engaged in mask wearing. So, I kept my mask on at all times.

There are actually a fair number of interesting and worthwhile sights along this trail.

I’ll let my photographs (mostly) speak for themselves.

Alleghenyville is a census-designated place in Berks County Pennsylvania. It is near a historic Mennonite meeting house, which dates back to 1885, and is on the register of historic places. The town proper is also a short distance away from the popular Maple Grove Speedway.

The historic Alleghany Meeting House was originally built in 1885, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Mennonites, for those who are unaware, are a sect of Christians similar to the Amish. They hold religious services in meetinghouses and have similar beliefs, but unlike the Amish, do make use of modern technologies such as motorized cars.

This meetinghouse is no longer in use and is preserved solely as a historic site.

Apologies for the radio silence and missed Photo of the Week posts.

You’ll find a few updates making their way on to the web in the coming days, which are part of a new series describing some local sights in Pennsylvania, my beautiful home state. There will be plenty of pictures.

I’ve had access to a car, so it is certainly more varied scenery.

Additionally, I have pushed some changes that make some minor tweaks to the site. They’re not 100% tested, and they’re pretty minor.

Probably the most notable change is that posts now have a link to “Leave Feedback” at the very bottom. (Note that this is only visible on a post’s individual page, and not on the main blog.)

I consider it my Web 1.0 way of getting comments.

Stay tuned for further developments and thanks again for reading!

For the last week, I have procured access to a car. This is great, because it gives me the ability to do things other than watch the same flowers grow on the same streets.

One of the places I visited was Hawk Mountain, which I hope to return to later, both as a topic for this blog, and as a place I physically go to.

The highlight of my visit on this Wednesday morning was no bird of prey (alas!), but instead some deer munching on greenery, who were far less spooked by the presence of myself and fellow hikers than I would normally expect.

So, with three or so deer to point my camera at, and a killer telephoto lens (with suboptimal forest lighting) how did I do?