November 1, 1957
Moosic Lake

I got out of work a little later than expected on Saturday.  It was a dull, cloudy day.  I took Pudgy along for the walk.  We left home at 3:00 o’clock in the afternoon.  Hiked up Myrtle Street and saw a chickadee just below Wheeler Ave.  The top of the hill has a sandstone outcrop with quartz sprinkled throughout.  Half way down the hill there is an outcrop of slate on the edges and is rather weathered.  I cut down the back of Schultz’s green house (they never replaced the glass after the last hailstorm).  The Interstate Trucking Co. from New Jersey had several large dump trucks in the area and a large Schlesser’s crane.  I read that the State is going to tear down all of the houses in Little England and make some type of park.  

We cut up Ash Street to the Erie railroad tracks.  I got there at 3:30.  I hit the Moscow telephone cable at 3:40.  Pudgy left me and ran down a road paralleling the railroad tracks but at a higher elevation.  I decided to follow her and came across an old mine dump where I found a nice fossil fern in slate.   The road cuts back to the RR and we followed it across. 

I left the RR tracks at the bend and went on to #7 dam.  I could have followed the road to the building with 1899 carved into a cornerstone. Water pours into #7 through a 4-inch pipe.  The road has a wire cable across it with a lock.  The SSG&W building looks like it added an addition to it in 1911.  There is no glass in the windows.  I saw a downey woodpecker as I crossed over the stream below the dam.  There was very little water in the stream. 

I climbed the hill and followed the path and came out alongside a Sinclair gas station .  The highway separated into north bound and south bound lanes of route 611 at this point.  There are little wedge shaped islands set an angle to the road separating the two lanes.  A little further up the road changes to a continuous strip about 18-inches high and 2-feet wide.   I reached Brizers at 4:15 (1 and ¼ hrs from home).

We went through a little cut and followed it up the hill.  We met a rabbit hound heading toward us as it was bugling until it saw Pudgy.  It then stopped and took off in another direction.  Since there was a road up on top and it was getting late, I decided to follow it instead of following the plain. 

The road turned out to be rough and rocky so we came back to the plain.  I got dark but we were still able to see where the road is.  We met a hunter looking for his dog.  He told me I was headed right for Moosic Lake and he seemed surprised at the route I expected to follow home. 

We reached Dunmore #3 dam at 5:35.  The water level was about a foot below the dam.  As the road starts downhill. we could see lights all up and down the valley to the left.  We reached #4 dam at 5:47.  The road goes over the apron of the dam and around in front of it.  At 6:05 we hit the road to the right pointing south with three posts in the roadway.  We hit the Jessup to Mt. Cobb road (6:20) and  reached the entrance to Moosic Lake (2 hrs and 5 min to Brizers).  We came to a bridge with houses nearby (6:37) and it’s a downhill trek.  We reached Junction 348 at 7:05.  The sign says 10 miles to Scranton and 6 miles to Jessup so I told Pudgy it’s time to get home. 
We passed Davis Elliot’s Poultry Farm and the new location in Mt. Cobb.  The road ahead seems to be higher.  We hit a Y at the entrance to 611 at 8:20, Brizers at 8:47 (4 ½ miles to Hotel Casey).  The north bound lane of 611 is a dandy gradual upgrade and is separated from the older highway by 100 ft in elevation at times.  I didn’t make any more notes and I forgot to check the time when I got home.  I think it was about 9:40.  The sky was cloudy all of the time, but I was able to see Cygnus, Cepheus, and Cassiopea.  I’d like to try this hike again, but I have to start off earlier.  I will also need to take a darker pencil.  I noticed that I wrote over my notes in several places and had a lot of trouble reading them.