To get credit for this cache, send the answers to the following
questions to the cache owner in email:
- From the coordinates, is any of the bedrock exposed to
view?
- From the coordinates, you can see the expanse of the bog.
Approximately what is the distance across the bog?
- If you walked all the way around the bog, you would not find
any ground water entering or leaving the bog, due to the geology of
the site. Where does the water in the bog come from and where does
it go?
- Impermeable rock below the bog keeps water from draining. What
type of rock is it?
- The unique geology of the bog creates environmental conditions
that only allows certain plant life to exist. Which two plants
returned naturally to the bog after the land was cleared?
- What are the long term prospects for the bog?
Bogs form in depressions with poor drainage, where there is no
fresh water source coming into the area. Forest or meadow plant
life cannot establish itself in the soggy, nutrient poor
conditions.
Many bogs were created by glacial action. Glacial sheets in the
last ice age did not reach this far South into Pennsylvania, but
perhaps a localized ice sheet formed, or the actions of a previous
glacial age created the depression at the summit of the mountain.
Although this area probably was a bog hundreds of years ago, around
the beginning of the 20th century it was a virgin stand of timber.
The timber was harvested, and then shortly after, fire swept
through the area and removed all of the remaining vegetation. The
hard subsurface rock prevented existing groundwater (which
previously was depleted by the trees and other vegetation) from
draining, and allowed the bog-like conditions to form.
The acidic conditions in the bog make it difficult for plant
life to survive. The plant life that does survive has to be very
hardy. The primary plants that you will find growing in the bog are
large cranberries, cotton grass, sundews, and pitcher plants.
Pitcher plants and sundews are carnivorous plants, attracting
insects that get trapped in their sticky secretions and digested.
Since the bog environment lacks nitrogen, these plants get their
nitrogen from the protein in the insects.
The coordinates given for this cache are for the end of the
boardwalk overlooking the bog. Parking coordinates are for Laurel
Summit State Park. From the parking area, walk down the wide grassy
path through the woods past the sign that says Forbes State Forest.
(Do not take the Wolf Rocks Trail or the Picnic Area Trail.) At the
end of this path you will find the boardwalk the goes out a little
way into the bog.
You will need to find more information about the bog to answer
some of the questions. (There is no informational sign at the bog.)
Look for the DCNR Spruce Flats Bog and Wildlife Area brochure at
the Linn Run State Park office or the local Forest District
Headquarter in Laughlintown PA (the Forestry office is not open on
the weekends) for more information about the bog. This brochure is
also easily found online.