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Fifteen scouts from Cub Scout Pack 67 joined together on a beautiful spring afternoon to complete a Leave No Trace service project and learn more about frontcountry guidelines. Scouts and family members met at the trailhead to talk about the basic rules to follow when hiking, especially sticking to the trails and with your buddy, respecting other visitors, and trashing all trash. We chose to hike the popular White Trail to the Mike Lynch Overlook and keep an eye out for trail issues, litter, and campfire sites.
The Mount Nittany Conservancy would like to thank all the scouts from Cub Scout Pack 67 and their leaders for their efforts.
On the walk up the mountain, we found several types of litter from cigarette butts and old gum to broken bottles, cans, and paper wrappers. About .1 mile from the Mike Lynch Overlook, we stopped to clean up two old campfire sites.
The group picked up a lot of broken glass, paper and foil wrappers, and several pieces of burnt fire wood. At the second fire site (located about 50 ft. to the SE of the first), there is a leaning tree that has a large cut mark toward the bottom.
After cleaning these two sites, we hiked the last part of the trail to the Mike Lynch Overlook. We found more small pieces of litter and a plastic bottle at the Overlook. We noted that as you step down to the lower part of the Overlook, one of the logs is showing signs of wear and the dirt is very loose there creating a hole between the ground and log.
Finally, we stopped to take a break and enjoy the beautiful view of Happy Valley –which was extremely clear that day. We listened to the quiet sounds of nature. Before we left, the boys took a picture with some of the bags of trash we collected. We collected about 13 gallons of trash on that .7 mile trail. And we have educated a new group of people on the importance of Leave No Trace and respecting the environment.
