Author Archives: SeanO

DATC Newsletter – September 2014

Duncannon AT Community SignTHE JUNE DATC FESTIVAL:  The DATC Festival went pretty well.  We probably had about twice as many people in attendance than we did last year, we had a lot more volunteers, vendors were happier, and everyone seemed to like the location on High Street.  I would say it was a successful collaboration between the Appalachian Trail and the Duncannon community.  We polled the vendors after the festival and we received overwhelmingly positive responses with almost all saying they would return for next year.  We still have plenty of room to grow and look forward to your cooperation and participation next year on Saturday, June 20th.

HAWK ROCK VANDALISM: Some time during Friday, August 1st, a lovestruck loser decided to proclaim his love by setting up a table and chairs at Hawk Rock, painting about 30 red hearts along the Appalachian Trail, painting graffiti on a large rock a third of the way up the mountain, and spray painting a love message across all of Hawk Rock.  You can read more about it here.  We also happen to have a pictue of a guy who might know something about it.

HAWK ROCK CLEANUP – PART 1: On Sunday, August 24th, the DATC, the Mountain Club of Maryland and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy joined together to remove a large amount of the new graffiti and some of the old stuff too.  Hawk Rock is looking better than it has in years but our work is not done yet.

HAWK ROCK CLEANUP – PART 2: We have scheduled another cleanup day for this coming Sunday September 14th, and we are asking volunteers to carry water and help with some light trail maintenance.  We will be at the Duncannon Recycling Center between 10AM and 2PM and you are welcome to come out and help us or just bring some water jugs and get to know us.  Either way, Continue reading

Cleaning Hawk Rock – Part 2

The Hawk Rock Graffiti Removal Team

You, too, could be this cool!

We have scheduled another round of cleaning for Hawk Rock and the Appalachian Trail on Sunday, September 14, 2014 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m at the Duncannon Recycling Center near Little Boston Road.  We need a lot of volunteers to carry 20 gallons of water one third of the way up the mountain (to clean a large rock there) and get another 20 gallons all of the way up to Hawk Rock near the top of the mountain.

We’re asking you to bring as many filled or empty water containers as possible.  We need 1 gallon jugs, 2 liter bottles and 5 gallon buckets.  People with backpacks can carry the 2 liter bottles, people without backpacks can carry 1 gallon jugs, and the 5 gallon buckets can be used to store water near the graffiti removal locations.  Everyone is encouraged to bring water containers even if they can’t carry them up themselves.  Anyone can help, it’s as easy or as challenging as you’d like to make it. Continue reading

Hawk Rock Vandalism

Amazing panoramic view from Duncannon PA's Hawk Rock, summer 2014Nearly every Duncannon resident has been up to Hawk Rock at some point in their life.  The people of Duncannon are lucky to have what is often considered one of the best views in the state of Pennsylvania with its wide open natural vista showing Duncannon Borough, the Susquehanna and Juniata river confluence, and the Clarks Ferry Bridge off to the right.  Shermans Creek is immediately below with Orchard Hill, Dicks Ridge, Mahanoy Ridge, Hickory Ridge, and the Tuscarora Mountain ridges trailing off into the distance.  So why isn’t this beautiful vista more popular among hikers and tourists?

Hawk Rock is a great place to go to enjoy nature’s beauty as it spreads out both far and wide but when seen up close, the rock itself is an ugly mess plagued by layer upon layer of graffiti and the area directly below is littered with years upon years of trash.

Here is how Hawk Rock has looked in the past:

Normally I don’t show pictures of Hawk Rock graffiti because I dislike giving vandals any publicity but the most recent incident was too terrible to ignore.  Some misguided Romeo decided that the best way he could declare his devotion to his beloved “Anna” was by Continue reading