During most of the year, you can only tell where Windy City was located by the tall pines that still line its two streets. If you look closely, you'll see that the clearings on either side of the roadway are about the size and shape of residential lawns. There are derelict electric lines, too.
A nice time to come to this abandoned town site is in the early summer. If you come in June, you'll see the foxglove blooming among the gravel heaps and rusting derricks, as in this photo.
I actually think Windy City is the creepiest of our ghost towns. It's at the end of a series of twisting dirt roads. The derricks pump oil out of the old front yards, and beer cans litter the back yards. The place feels exposed, somehow. And as you travel the roads in this part of the forest, you almost always encounter slow-moving, unsavory-looking characters in ragged vehicles.
If you Google "Windy City, PA" you'll get a map to the eerie old town site. It's still listed as a populated place in Elk County, and our outdated forest maps still show six or eight structures standing in town. In reality, those buildings have been gone since the 70s. I know I said I wouldn't be describing any treks for a while, but I got to come back to Kane just for the day, and ended up doing some unexpected bushwacking in some beautiful country west of Windy City. Can you believe I got lost in the forest again? Seriously lost. Maybe I need to take up a more sedentary hobby, like--I dunno--drinking, or toy trains, or origami.
There's always fishing. At least you have a stream as a bearing.
ReplyDeleteFunny, I got lost out there too once and came out a couple of miles away on a different road. One of the only times I can honestly say I didn't know where I was.
The roads back there are really confusing, and there are new drilling roads going in all the time. It was surprising to find some beautiful, remote spots, too. Fishing sounds tempting!
ReplyDelete