If you like rocks, you’ll love Pennsylvania. I swear half of the state is made up of rocks, especially judging from the back (and front, and side) yard of our property in Fulton County. Some of these rocks are more famous and picaresque than the ones in our yard, however.
Case in point, Trough Creek State Park, home of Balanced Rock. My husband and I hiked up to this geological phenomenon this past weekend, after a false start. Clue, if you go: take a RIGHT after Rainbow Falls, not a left. The trail map is not very helpful, and there is no sign directing you to said Rock. Since you can’t see the Rock for the trees, so to speak, you just have to go on faith.
Once you find it, after a steep (and rocky) climb, the Rock does not disappoint. It is a sizable formation that appears to be teetering precariously over the edge of the cliff, although it has been like that for centuries and presumably will be for centuries more. As impressive as it is, though, the Rock has not made it to the ten most famous balancing rocks in the world, I am sad to report. Nor does it have a cool legend behind it like this rock in Finland.
We took photos of the rock and then retreated to hike along the Ledge Trail, which connects eventually, after much rock hopping and dodging, to the Rhododendron Trail (lots more rocks, but also huge rhododendrons that must be amazing during the spring bloom) and back over the wobbly suspension bridge near where we entered. This bridge put me in mind of the Q’eswachaka suspension bridge, a model of which Peruvian participants built at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 2016 (though that was a lot cooler).
Even if I make it to Peru and that bridge some day, I don’t think I would muster the courage to walk across it. So, this Pennsylvania suspension bridge, maybe built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, was the next best thing. If you fell off this one, you would only tumble into the (rocky) creek below and get scraped up, instead of plunging to certain death in an Andean river gorge.
And, so, to coin a phrase, Trough Creek State Park (and most of the rest of Pennsylvania) Really Rocks.