The third park I visited was Trough Creek State Park. I arrived at around 4:47 PM on May 23, 2003. I was not going to visit the park, since I had left my friend's place a little later than I wanted to. The previous day we had gone to Reed's Gap State Park, but since I didn't have my camera or notebook with me, I didn't count it as an
official visit. When I left, the weather was still pretty ugly but by the time I got to US Route 22, I had convinced myself that a trip to Trough Creek could still be done. I turned onto the southbound portion of State Route 26 and drove for about 30 minutes. Trough Creek also is surrounded by the Rothrock State forest, in addition to being close to Lake Raystown, which is operated by the Army Corps of Engineers. State Route 26 was full of camper and RV traffic heading to Lake Raystown. When I got to the intersection of State Route 994, I made a left, and drove for about 10 minutes, following the signs to
Trough Creek.
This is an older park. The access road is pretty narrow and I had to go over at least 3 one lane bridges. At the end of the access road is a picnic area and parking lot. I parked here and walked to the Ice Mine. I didn't take my camera. I then walked out on the bridge over the Trough Creek and took 3 pictures. The main feature of the park is the Balanced Rock, but since it was getting late and I was unsure how far back the narrow path, the Rock was located, I decided to skip it and head home. The park is very secluded and has a campground for overnight use. Saw at least 5 people fishing in the creek itself. The map shows a dam further downstream but the speed of the water and the fact that Trough Creek empties into Raystown lake, suggests that the dam is either just to slow the water down, or was semi-removed when Raystown River was flooded for the Lake. I spent about 20 minutes at the park.
