Western Pennsylvania Hiking and Waterfalls Trip - Day 2 & 3

Tuesday, 4 June

Tam O’ Shanter golf course is located right off Highway 18, which seems to be a main north-south route.  The photo of Sprinty in yesterday’s blog post was taken by the main entrance, so you can see Sprinty was all of about 150 feet from the highway and the associated noise.  Fortunately, the overnight temperature got down to almost 40 degrees, so being all buttoned up made the noise a little bit more tolerable.  The price (free) was also a positive attribute.

Although we set an alarm (habit), it was unnecessary.  Spending the night at the golf course seemed to be a little like queuing up days in advance to buy concert tickets or something.  Despite the online tee time system showing tee times starting before 7am, there was no one showing up that early.  Maybe because it was 42 degrees when we got up.

Our tee time was 8:20, which we selected as the last tee time before the leagues.  Rechecking this morning, the online system showed no one going off before us.  As the driving range was across the highway, and because it was chilly, we decided to pass on hitting a bucket of balls.  Kris usually does okay without a range warmup, while Darrell struggles.

We spent about 15 minutes working on chipping and putting, then headed out.  We were the first golfers out, and we played at our speed for the first 13 holes when we bumped into the back of the leagues which shotgun started after us.

Kris threw down the gauntlet by making par on the first hole.  Despite Darrell struggling with some of his shots (maybe due to no warmup on the range), he hung in there and at the turn, Kris was up by one shot.  We both made par on the par 5 tenth hole, and Darrell tied it up with a par on the 11th hole.  Kris decided that was enough and proceeded to make par on the remaining 7 holes to finish with an 80 on a par 75 course, and taking honors for the day.  And we finished in about 3 hours, despite having to wait on the league players for the last 5-1/2 holes.

As there was a Starbucks in Hermitage, Sprinty took us there for Kris to pay up.  

We then headed back towards Grove City, PA to the town of Springfield Falls, PA to visit Springfield Falls.  Springfield Falls is located very close to the road, and is another waterfall we visited in August 2005.  Darrell scrambled down to the bottom of the hill to get the photos, while Kris enjoyed the waterfall from the top.

We then headed southeast to Buttermilk Falls located near New Florence, PA.  The falls are actually located in the Buttermilk Falls Natural Area which was once owned by Mr. Rogers maternal grandfather.  

This was our first time to Buttermilk Falls.  While there was limited parking, the trail to the waterfalls was very nicely laid out.  

When we got to the top of the falls, we saw a sign that indicated there was an improvement project in 2017 to improve the access to the falls.  There was a nice viewing platform to see the falls from above, and stairs to go to the base of the falls.

Continuing down the path, Darrell took a picture of the creek feeding the falls.

After crossing a bridge built over the creek at the top of the falls, we went down the stairs to the base of the falls with multiple nooks for looking at the falls.  The walkway even went behind the falls.

Photo of Darrell behind the waterfall:

We both noted how the area reminded us of Swallow Falls at Swallow Falls State Park near Deep Creek Lake in Maryland.

As the weather forecast for tomorrow indicated rain would not start until about noon, we made an early tee time at Chestnut Ridge Golf Resort & Conference Center in Blairsville, PA.  We found the Mirror Lake RV Camping and Fishing campground located about 15 minutes away and headed there to see if we could get a site.  They had lots of sites available, and we elected a full hookup site as we wanted to rinse Sprinty’s black tank.  As campgrounds go, it was pricier than most, but our Passport America membership (50% off) made the rate we paid much better.  And it was the closest place to camp to the golf course in the morning unless we stayed at the Walmart in Blairsville.

Wednesday, 5 June

We enjoyed a very quiet night.  Cellular service was limited - Verizon was unusable without the cell booster, while AT&T was somewhat usable.  The campground had WiFi which worked fairly well.

With a 7:57am tee time and 27 minute drive to the golf course, we were up at 6am.  We woke up to cooler temperatures than forecast, and the rain forecast had changed to have rain starting before 11am.

Chestnut Ridge Golf Resort, Blairsville, PA, consists of two golf courses.  The Chestnut Ridge course is the older one, a bit more open and considered easier of the two.  The Tom’s Run course is newer, and laid out around the Chestnut Ridge course.  From what we could see, it looked to be a nice course.

The golf course was not open when we got there, so we did not get to hit on the range (again).  There were a couple of groups scheduled to tee off behind us, and they were pushy to get started.  We went ahead and started, both of us hitting great tee shots.  Kris started off with a one shot lead after the first hole.  We went back and forth for the rest of the front nine, with Kris up by one stroke at the turn.  But today was Darrell’s turn to get serious on the back nine, and finished ahead by three strokes.

The Chestnut Ridge course was quite nice.  We found the course had character, and was in remarkably good condition for all the rain they have had the last several weeks.  The greens were some of the nicest we have played on in a long time.  Definitely a play again, and to play the Tom’s Run course (which had no one playing on it today)

Just as we finished loading the golf clubs in Sprinty, it started raining, making us glad we scheduled an early start, and got to play at our pace (2-1/2 hours).  With rain forecast for the next 24+ hours and being only about 1-1/2 hours from Deep Creek Lake, we decided to just head back to the lake.

The Google Maps route had us going through Johnstown, PA which was also the location of another waterfall on our list to visit.  Hinkston Run Falls was located a few miles outside of Johnstown and required traveling down a few miles back roads to get to them.  The falls were located by the road.

Johnstown also had a Starbucks for Darrell to pay up for the golf today.  We then traveled down US219 back to Deep Creek Lake.