Days 108-109: On the way back to New England, we met Amy’s sister Ruth at Salt Springs State Park in northern Pennsylvania. We were the only ones in the small rustic campground. This park is owned but not staffed or funded by the state. Instead, it is ably managed by a volunteer organization. The spring the park was named after was initially hidden by the local Native Americans from the early settlers, but later revealed for a large sum of money.
The American settlers built a salt works there, but it wasn’t productive enough to prosper. A woolen mill was built there in 1858.
In 1902, an oil and gas company drilled a well over 2000 feet deep, but abruptly abandoned the project. For many years, the farmhouse next to the site used the methane bubbling up from the well shaft for their lighting and cooking needs. We explored the network of hiking trails in the park, including ones along the scenic Fall Creek gorge.
