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Black Moshannon Morning, oil painting, 12 x 16" Details here.

Have you ever been asked to close your eyes and picture yourself in a beautiful place?

Where do you go in your mind?

The place that often pops up for me is Black Moshannon State Park, an endless source of imagery and inspiration.

A Summer Song, oil painting, 16 x 12" Details

Black Moshannon State Park is high in the mountains, on the Allegheny plateau about 20 minutes from State College, PA. Its altitude makes it a great destination for plein air painting. It is usually 10 degrees cooler there than where I live, so I can paint during a heat wave and find snow there even where there is none at home. 

The park has over 3,000 acres of forests and wetlands and is crossed by hiking trails such as the Allegheny Front Trail. You can read more about the park here.

The “black” in "Black Moshannon" comes from the tea-colored waters (caused by tannins). That dark water makes for dramatic lake paintings with deep blue foregrounds. It also makes for exciting swimming; I can’t see the bottom of the lake even where it's only a few feet deep. (There is a beautiful swimming beach there.)

When I explore the the park I often think about the native people who lived in this area. Did they live on the plateau or just come up to hunt? Did they farm in the valleys below? The lake didn't exist then (a stream was dammed in the late 1800s to make the lake for logging) but there must have been good fishing in the stream, and abundant wildlife. According to the Centre County Historical Society website "the early inhabitants of Centre County were Muncy Indians, a tribe of the Delaware Indian Nation whose territory included much of New York and northern Pennsylvania. Other Native American tribes that inhabited Centre County in later years were the Iroquois and Shawnees."

September Reflections, oil painting 8 x 10" Details

I can go to the park for a day, but it’s more rewarding when I stay for a few days. That way I can experience sunrises and sunsets, hear the birds at dawn and dusk, take an early morning walk or swim, and notice stars so close I can practically touch them. There are several ways to stay overnight; you can reserve a campsite, log cabin or modern cabin through this website. The log cabins (depicted below) were built by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) in the 1930s and are part of the park's fascinating history.

CCC Cabins, Black Moshannon State Park, oil painting, 9 x 12" Details

Cabin Weekend, Black Moshannon State Park, oil painting, 12 x 9" Details

Same view of the lake, winter and late summer. Notice the striking difference in the colors and the lone tree in the middle.

Ski Trail, oil painting, 16 x 12" Private Collection.

I enjoy cross-country skiing in the park and when there’s no snow for skiing, a pair of ice skates can allow for another type of exploration, such as watching ice fishing up close. 

Photo of my setup along the Star Mill Trail during my most recent painting trip. This is the same scene depicted in Ski Trail above.

One of my favorite places in the park is the bog trail, a narrow boardwalk where I feel completely away from everyday life. It's only about 10 minutes long, but rich with views to paint. I can easily spend an entire day painting there.

View from Bog Trail in winter and summer (looking west)

The Bog Trail runs between a hemlock forest and a freshwater bog with tufts of old logs and grasses, cranberries, blueberries, sphagnum moss, orchids, carnivorous plants, and even beaver lodges in the distance. I often see birders on the platform that overlooks the bog.

Painted along the bog trail: Winter Marsh, Black Moshannon, oil painting, 9 x 12" Details

In the winter the shrubs take on a reddish color ("alizarin crimson" in painter's language). The distant trees have a warmth to them which accentuates the rhythm of the green pines and hemlock trees.

I could go on and on with stories of the park - the bucket of blueberries I picked from a canoe one summer or the time I got snowed in, but for now I'll leave you with this wish: I hope someday you will visit Black Moshannon State Park and experience the “Allegheny High” (wink to John Denver)!

I have to warn you though - it's a hard place to leave.

Leaving Black Moshannon, oil painting 11 x 14" Details  - one of the views when heading down the mountain.