Twin Lakes Park wasn’t far from home, located right in Greensburg, PA. When I tried to research Twin Lakes Park, all I could find was where it was located and what main attractions were there. There was nothing else noting what exactly was on the few trials they had for hiking or any other interesting spots for me to adventure to. So, I just printed out the map and decided we would see what we could find. It wasn’t hard to find. The GPS actually took us on a back road through some farmland. That’s always a great site to see for me. Once we arrived, we started out on Little Crabtree Creek Trail. It wasn’t anything fancy. It was a gravel road actually. It was a nice walking trail, but there wasn’t much to see besides some houses through the trees and spider webs clinging to plants in the wind. Rusty enjoyed saying hello to every dog that passed us. Next, we adventured onto the Trail Head Wilderness Trail. Again, nothing that stood out quite to my interest. It was a nice windy trail. The pathway wasn’t the best, so if someone was looking for a relaxing normal hike they wouldn’t want to walk that trail. Most of the time we had to dodge branches and climb over fallen trees. The most interesting part of our hike would have to be our next stop.

At the one end of the lower lake there was a gazebo built across the water, reaching both sides. People could walk across it or stand on it to fish. When we came up to the gazebo I was excited to see a heron walking in the water. I followed him for quite sometime. It didn’t seem to bother him. He actually posed quite well for most of my pictures and when I would turn away he would walk closer. The trails around the lake were buzzing with people. People were having picnics, fishing, just relaxing, and any other activity on such a beautiful day. Once we crossed the gazebo’s walkway we spotted two geese with their babies. I rushed over and tried to capture any photo I could of the cute little fuzzy babies. Of course I kept my distance, respecting the wildlife. Some people didn’t, which upset me because seeing the geese get stressed out is not a pleasing site. Especially when they have young ones. Please be considerate to wildlife when you visit parks, or are walking anywhere close to nature. It’s their home too. When I finished photographing the geese, right behind me was a small waterfall. After capturing some photos of that we decided to try the last trail.

The Tamarack Self-Guided Nature Trail was very short. Although, on this trail I actually found some piece of background on the park. Not too much though. It read: “These rows of tress are a hint to their history. Before it became a County Park, this land was owned by The Jamison Coal Company. In the 1940s, Red Pine seedlings were planted here to help hold the soil and control erosion. The coal company received a special tax break for their conservation effort and we received a peaceful Red Pine plantation.” As we walked this trial we stumbled upon what looked to have been maybe an old bridge area as Brian quoted. For me, it looked like something where monkey bars would have stood for a fitness trail. We talked about it the remainder of the hike on that trail. After finishing that trail we stopped by the lake to take in the site. A lot of people were fishing while their kids played on the nearby playground. Overall, the park wasn’t my favorite for hiking, but it was still a really nice park to just relax at. Brian and I plan to head back sometime for a visit to walk along the lakes and maybe even rent a paddleboat to take for a spin.