Stephen Sebestyen  Publish date: Aug 1, 2017

The bright orange blaze on the tree a few meters in front of me was a welcome sight, and all the reassurance I needed to know I was going the right direction. I hadn’t seen another person since I left my car in the dirt parking lot a few hours prior and began my hike along the Black Forest Trail in central, upstate Pennsylvania, and the single colorful stripe on the towering Oak before me beckoned me on like a guide in an impressive forest. No doubt that the trail was well marked, it was operator error that I had missed the last few flags as I had been looking at the spectacular scenery rather than the trail markers. With the peace of mind that I was where I needed to be, I broke out a fresh granola bar and pushed farther into the forest ahead.

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