Blue Mountain Eagle Climbing Club

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Blue Mountain Eagle Climbing Club

A hiking club responsible for maintaining 65 miles of the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania.

09/04/2026

Wildflowers in the Woods: pitcher plants. The leaves of this plant give it its name: four to ten inches long, they are shaped like pitchers, heavily veined with purple streaks, half-filled with water, and lined with bristles that trap insects. A sweet substance secreted by nectar glands along the leaf edges attracts insects, while downward-pointing hairs encourage them to descend further and prevent them from climbing back out. Sticky cells on the inside of the leaves adhere to their feet, making it even harder to move. Eventually, they slide down, exhausted, into a pool of liquid at the bottom, where digestive enzymes and bacteria break them down.

Surprisingly, some insects make their homes in or on the pitcher plant, including mosquitoes that spend the winter there and a fly species whose larvae feed on the remains of other insects that fall into the plant. Spiders spin webs across its mouth, and tree frogs sit on the lip, waiting for unsuspecting prey.

Source: Wildflowers of the Appalachian Trail by Leonard M. Adkins, p. 178

09/03/2026

Hiking Your Berks Backyard: Governor Dick Hill near Lebanon. Sadly, disrespect for and vandalism of public and private property is not just a problem in our current society; it was a problem even in the middle of the 20th century. Soon after Clarence Schock and his wife bought "Governor Dick" mountain in the late 1930s, he opened it to the public for their enjoyment, building several wooden structures on top of the hill so that people could see the surrounding countryside. Then, in the 1940s and 50s, vandals hit. Schock could have simply torn the structures down, but instead he had a 66-foot-tall tower built at his own expense in their place in 1954. From there, he wrote in the Elizabethtown Chronicle, "Those who climb this tower will be able to overlook surrounding trees . . . and obtain the magnificent view which is there obtainable."

Source: https://www.parkatgovernordick.org/?fbclid=IwY2xjawTzpkFwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMUd2Tm93bzlZc0VCSUtZVDBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe4olzA5T7xkM_368FKhhHMgZpzs_INpPnghCXWHMVU9qTRIiQWQK66hPlFO0_aem_X_NciY9fgres2sFT7KDClg -information

09/02/2026

Hiking PA Trails: The Thousand Steps in Huntingdon County. On March 17, 1936, during what has since become known as the Great Flood of 1936 (or the St. Patrick's Day Flood), the "dinkey bridge" over the Juniata River between Jacks Mountain and Mount Union was destroyed. (A "dinkey" was a narrow-gauge train that transported ganister, also known as Tuscarora quartzite, a type of sandstone used to line furnaces where steel, iron, and glass were manufactured.) With output at the brick factory and quarry slowed, the quarry workers were given a new task in the meantime: to build a safer route to and from the Ledge Quarry while the bridge was being repaired. The Thousand Steps was the "new and improved" path they built. Thanks to their hard work, we have this wonderful section of the Standing Stone Trail to enjoy today.

Source: https://pabucketlist.com/hiking-the-1000-steps-in-huntingdon-county/?fbclid=IwY2xjawUEyUxwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMXBaczR3YnM0R0ZGWTdDV0ZzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe3YY1ymDS-SbMYSgWrNGigs7ubC8ThSIdw6sJ9e7f1y5N_OjNxnXeXayxwCI_aem_Rv09Q1TrKRDtrS19s_8f2w

09/01/2026

Exploring Your PA State Parks: Trough Creek SP in south-central Pennsylvania. Another trail in Trough Creek SP that covers only a short distance within the park boundaries but extends beyond them is the Laurel Run Trail. Starting along Trough Creek Drive, it's 0.12 miles within the park and 1.8 miles total. Blue-blazed and rated "more difficult," it crisscrosses Laurel Run several times on rustic bridges between two mountain ridges and into state forest land. After crossing Terrace Mountain Road, it ends with a slight uphill trek to Boulder Trail. You can make a loop hike by continuing on to Boulder Trail and taking it to Trough Creek Drive, where you can turn left and walk back to your car.

Source: https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dcnr/recreation/where-to-go/state-parks/find-a-park/trough-creek-state-park/hiking
Link for park trails:https://elibrary.dcnr.pa.gov/GetDocument?docId=1737209&DocName=TRCR_ParkMap.pdf

08/31/2026

Nexus's Musings
Chapter 4: In Need, Indeed
“It takes a long time to grow an old friend.” - John Leonard

After breakfast, we packed up camp and journeyed on. Since this was his first AT hiking experience, I planned it as a light-mile weekend. Could he handle more miles? I had guessed so, but we were not really concerned with getting miles under our belt, and more, if he actually liked hiking. We stopped around noon for a long resting lunch. “So, with the exception of the first part of last night, what are your thoughts?” I knew he used to be or will always be a Marine (I’m not sure of the accepted vernacular), but that was ten years ago, give or take. “How are you holding up on the hiking front?” “Not too bad, but man, there are a lot of rocks on the trail.” “Yeah,” I said, “it seems like just before you step down, a pointy one grows up under your foot.” “Exactly,” he said. “Is it always like this?” “Well, I’ve been told by Thru hikers I’ve encountered in my past time on the trail, that Pennsylvania is the rockiest part. It’s where hiking boots go to die.” He smiles, “I guess I'd better look into a pair of new boots myself then; these are already almost dead.” I found that statement quite encouraging. A flicker of hope for a new recruit. “I get most of my gear from the Army/Navy store on 5th street,” I told him. “Great, let’s go check it out next week”, he says. Inwardly, I smile, “Ab-so-lutely!”

We packed up our stuff and continued hiking. All in all, it was relatively uneventful. However, throughout the day, he asked me all kinds of questions: “Is water always available? What about bears… oh, and snakes? Do you get blisters? Is there always a good place to sleep?” And so on, and so on. Here was a 30-year-old man, gobbling up hiking information like a kid in a candy store. I nodded to myself; yep, I think I had found myself a new hiking buddy.

Special Club Author Exclusive: BMECC Eagle's Flight Newsletter (Summer 2026)

08/28/2026

Wildflowers in the Woods: Gray Beardtongue. Consisting of tubular-shaped flowers about an inch long, gray beardtongues have two lips: the lower lip has three lobes sticking straight out, while the upper one has two lobes standing upright. The lower lip is streaked with dark purple lines.

Roger Tory Peterson states that there are well over a dozen different kinds of Beardtongues found in the eastern United States; even experts have trouble telling them apart. Blooming from May to July, the plants themselves can be found from Georgia to Maine, and they can reach as high as four feet.

Source: Wildflowers of the Appalachian Trail by Leonard M. Adkins, p. 176

08/27/2026

Hiking Your Berks Backyard: Governor Dick Hill near Lebanon. The main attraction at Governor Dick Hill is the 66-foot Observation Tower, from which, on a clear day, you can see five counties: Lebanon, Lancaster, Dauphin, Berks, and York. The trail to the tower is only a 1.5-mile hike one way and varies in terrain, from wide and flat to narrow and steep.

To access the trail map for Clarence Schock Memorial Park, go tohttps://www.parkatgovernordick.org/docs/trail_map.pdf

Source: https://uncoveringpa.com/hiking-governor-dick-observation-tower

08/26/2026

Hiking PA Trails: The Thousand Steps in Huntingdon County. Ganister, the hard, fine-grained sandstone used to line furnaces where steel, iron, and glass were manufactured, came from the Ledge Quarry at the top of Jacks Mountain near Mount Union. It was transported from the quarry by a network of narrow-gauge trains (lovingly called "dinkeys") and cable-operated inclined planes. To reach the quarry, the men who worked there used the Thousand Steps on their daily commute, as safety rules prohibited them from riding either the dinkey trains or the rail cars.

Source: https://pabucketlist.com/hiking-the-1000-steps-in-huntingdon-county/?fbclid=IwY2xjawT7m0VwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMXR5Mk5oa2R2VXk1WGF0bWNzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe_xFkDh2CO5AgM2QWOpALcT07RPZfTLg7iW-EJRIQn-qg-WtP1MxIocKURtc_aem_uCtP1prvNqrrnbyowtYDUQ

08/25/2026

Exploring Your PA State Parks: Trough Creek SP in south-central Pennsylvania. Trough Creek has 12 trails spanning 12 miles, so they're all short within the park itself. Many of the trails continue beyond the park's borders. A case in point is the Brumbaugh Trail, which is only 0.1 miles long within the park but continues for another 2.3 miles past that.

Starting at Balanced Rock, this orange-blazed path rises and falls, taking you through spectacular forests along hillsides and ridges and leading to a majestic view of Raystown Lake. It ends at Old Forge Road and the Terrace Mountain Trail, below the old park dam. From there, you can walk back along Old Forge Road to where your car is parked.

Source: https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dcnr/recreation/where-to-go/state-parks/find-a-park/trough-creek-state-park/hiking?fbclid=IwY2xjawT6PYtwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMU13Y2lrRFFXVW5nWnh3em5zcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeE_D4UGZKFIpxi0j2Mii9qwotek5pLHsJkkqEcod8HrnXqye9JvuL1dH0DLU_aem_qiMHZ1keXrfERXgvvcXTDw

Address

P. O. Box 14982
Reading, PA
19604

Website

http://www.bmecc.org/

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