Each year, The Scott Conservancy sponsors one or more special outings - be sure to check our calendar for updates.  Whether it be bird-watching, fishing, camping, hiking, or boating, it is sure to be fun.  Sometimes the outings are on our land or in our watershed, and sometimes we take a trip outside the area for some regional flavor.  

 HIKING

With 56 acres of forest, consider a weekend hike of the Kane Woods Nature Area in Scott Township. Enter the woods from the valley or the hill at one of four trailheads 

Bottom of the hill:  Whiskey Point Trailhead on the corner of Scrubgrass & Main Streets, Scrubgrass Run Trailhead.

Top of the hill:  JCC Trailhead located at the rear of the Jewish Community Center parking lot on Kane Blvd., or the Providence Point Trailhead that's conveniently located for the residents of Providence Point.  

Kane Woods Trailhead entrances are open to anyone wanting to walk the trails.  Explore our trails on your own or with a group of friends.  The trails are color-coded and named, with colored metal signs on wooden posts clearly marking trail intersections. Trail maps are available at the trailheads. If you've never been on a Conservancy hike, consider joining us this year.  We have a few guided hikes each year.  

 BIKING

Come out to the Panhandle Trail for a few miles of biking.  

Join the Ramblers at Walker's Mill station for a Panhandle Trail hike/bike 

You'll ride by quaint towns and scenic bridges as Robinson Run, a tributary of Chartiers Creek, snakes along the Panhandle Trail.  A trail feasibility study has identified a potential new route through Scott Township and adjacent municipalities (map) that could eventually link up with the Panhandle Trail to improve and increase the region's hiking and biking opportunities.   

 CANOE CHARTIERS CREEK

Float beneath quaint bridges that span stretches of tree-lined banks as you navigate on Chartiers Creek toward the Ohio River.  Churn your way through exciting rapids below Canonsburg one moment, then round the bend to discover an immense great blue heron rookery nested across 5 large sycamores. 

Stop off and explore  Allegheny Land Trust's Wingfield Pines Conservation Area and Upper St. Clair's Mayview Wetlands.  Indulge in a journey of contrasts as the primordial wilderness snakes through an urban setting.  Spring wildflowers splash steeply forested hillsides while towns perch on creek banks overhead.

The upper watershed run is 12 miles and the lower watershed run is 12 miles, for a total of 24 miles of navigable run on Chartiers Creek.  Although the conservancy no longer sponsors canoe trips due to insurance costs, some of our members like to organize their own excursions.  There are several put-in and take-out points along the way for boaters that want a short, quick run after work or on the weekend.  

The upper watershed creek access points include Canonsburg at Southpointe (put-in), ALT's Wingfield Pines (put-in/take-out), Chartiers Park in Bridgeville (take-out above dam).  The lower watershed creek access points include Chem Tech building off Washington Pike in Collier Township (put-in below dam)  Carnegie between Main St. and Mansfield Bridges (put-in/take out) Sharp Edge Creekhouse in Crafton (put-in/take out),  McKees Rocks (take-out). You can also put-in at McKees Rocks for a float on the Ohio River.  

For a little over ten years now the Scott Conservancy has been putting to flight the notion that the spirit of volunteerism is dead and we have all become a nation of self-centered couch potatoes.   Whether it's been landscaping a barren traffic island, helping to clean our water of mine pollution, or leading hikes in the Kane Woods, Conservancy members are making a difference in Scott Township. 

One of those members, Judge John Brosky stepped up recently to volunteer his time and considerable organizational and people skills to help preserve, refurbish, and move to a new location a neglected, and deteriorating memorial to the World War II veterans from Bower Hill.
  

After reading about the neglected memorial in the "Scott Conservationist", and seeing that his good friend and tipstaff Harry Volkhart was one of the names listed on the memorial, the Judge sent a donation to the Conservancy to help with the restoration. But he didn't stop there. He arranged with the County to have the memorial moved to a better location on Kane Boulevard. He worked with Roger Gaydos of the Gaydos Memorial Company to have the memorial refurbished and repolished. 

Another of the Judge's friends, Richard Thomas of the Richard L. Thomas Body Shop, furnished a crane and the manpower to move the 2,300 pound memorial to its new site. 

And he did this all in about two months, in time to have the memorial rededicated on Veteran's Day, November 11th. 

Over a hundred people gathered on that day, making the rededication ceremony that the Judge organized one of the most memorable in some time. 

Many of those present were  World War II veterans who came to remember their friends who served this country so bravely and so well 60 years ago.

Their courage preserved our freedom, and as we well know, Americans are still serving today to preserve that freedom. 

One of them, Air Force Colonel Alan Thompson, who attended the re-dedication with the University of Pittsburgh color guard, was himself headed overseas after the ceremony. 

Patty's Park is a traffic island on the corner of Hope Hollow and Route 50 across from Flynn's Tire.  Although the Scott Conservancy doesn't sponsor this garden, conservancy members work together with township volunteers and commissioners each spring to help with the spring planting.  

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June 29, 2010

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