Osio Rock

Carris Hill, Norvin Green State Forest (10/23/2020)

The last time we hiked in Norvin Green was almost exactly a year ago, when we did a fall foliage hike to Wyanokie High Point. Today we returned to hike to Osio Rock. We took this Friday off anticipating a nice, sunny day, free of crowds. But as the day approached, the weather got worse and worse, with rain predicted. Come Friday morning, there was no rain, but another stubborn pea soup fog hanging over the entire area all morning. This is the second time this happened in the last 30 days. So while we hiked to the top of two peaks this morning, we saw no views. But the fog gave everything an other-worldly sense. And the colors inside the forest were astounding, especially the yellow stretches on the red-blazed Tourne trail!

Using this map, we parked in the pull-off on Glenwild Avenue (Route 700 on the map), at Otter Hole. We crossed the road and headed south on the blue-blazed Hewitt-Butler trail climbing immediately on very slippery rocks covered in wet leaves. This hike was quite treacherous. Both Laura and I fell at different points, suffering no injuries thankfully. We followed blue all the way to its southern crossing of the red-blazed Torne trail. We headed south on red to its end, then continued east, then north on blue once again, climbing steeply once again to views hidden by the dense fog. We eventually headed north on red, all the way back to Glenwild Avenue, walking the road a bit east back to the car.

Total distance hiked today was 2.5 miles in three hours, averaging less than 1 MPH! We've done this hike several times in the past, taking usually two hours. But the rocky path, as mentioned, was covered in wet leaves which made the going very slow.

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