Today we visited Money Rocks Park in Lancaster County Pa. We quickly found out “rocks” was the key word as the trails were consistently covered with softball sized rocks which were difficult to see under the leaves. We both had a few close calls but came through with ankles still intact. Glad we had our hiking poles.
I have to admit, seeing the outcrops and the occasional quartz made me wish my brother and his wife were with us (both are geologists!). I’m sure we would have learned a lot about we what we were walking on. With the leaves off the trees we did have some nice views of the Lancaster countryside.
The large rock outcrop is definitely the highlight of our trip as you can view it from both below and above. It is fairly close to the parking area so after we climbed around a bit we took off to explore some of the other trails. We walked just shy of 5 miles and do plan to go back.
The trails appear to be old logging or mining trails. Most were as wide as a car but a few have grown narrower. One area in particular in the Iron Horse Trail was a bit swampy. We had to abandon the trail and walk on an embankment to avoid the mud for several yards.
As we continue to grow in skill from amateur to intermediate hikers (probably still closer to amateur) we are learning a few things like what to take with us, how to dress and how to read the blazes (they really aren’t just marks on the trees).
There is another “Overlook” that we plan to find on our next trip to Money Rocks Park. Mark this as another of our “would visit again” trails.
