Explore the Wonders of PA With Tory Mather

Tory @torytalkstrails (00:00)
And I was just sort of like walking along the road, trying to take some pictures there. And you can walk along, like along the side of the road and there’s the bog right there. And I was just kind of standing with my camera and I saw an otter in real life, which was like the coolest thing I have ever seen. It was amazing.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (00:16)
No, I’m so jealous.

Tory @torytalkstrails (00:19)
and I was totally alone and so I’m just like freaking out in my mind of how excited I am then like trying to be quiet and then like trying to figure out where it’s gonna come up so I can take the picture and yeah it was so cool.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (00:38)
This episode, I’m excited to welcome back Tory Mather. Tory spoke

me in season one about the Rachel Carson Trail Challenge. That is a mouthful. But she’s here now to talk about her brand new book, Scenic Natural Wonders of Pennsylvania.

She talks about why she chose to write the book, the effort and time it took into researching, and also she shares some of her favorite places in Pennsylvania.

I’m excited about the book, I can’t wait to check it out, and I’m happy to have Tory here to share it with you. So let’s get into it.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (01:05)
Hi Tory, welcome back. I’m so glad to have you here and now to talk about your brand new book. How’s everything going?

Tory @torytalkstrails (01:13)
Everything’s going great. Thank you so much for having me again, Lauren. It was so fun to talk to you last time.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (01:16)
Yes,

you are my first repeat interview. So I’m just, know, you win the prize for that. Woohoo. I just want to recap because last time we talked and I know you did this trip, you were planning a backpacking trip to England. Do you want to share just like a little bit about that and how that went?

Tory @torytalkstrails (01:21)
Wow! So exciting!

Yes!

Absolutely.

So we did, it’s a trail called the Cumbria Way and it’s in the Lake District of England. It is 70, it is 70 trail miles long. My Garmin clocked it at 78. So we did it over five days and it was super awesome. We did it like end of May, early June. It did

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (01:50)
That’s long. Nice.

Tory @torytalkstrails (02:01)
rain a lot. like we had wet feet for probably like 70 miles of the 78 miles we hiked, but it was worth it. The scenery was amazing. It’s like not too popular of a trail. So we it wasn’t crowded. You like go in and out of all these very cute towns. ⁓ So yeah, it was great. I saw like I hiked my

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (02:06)
Yeah.

That sounds so fun.

Tory @torytalkstrails (02:26)
probably like a pound and a half of camera gear. And I think most of my photos were of like baby sheep. Like I some landscape photos, but I was just so obsessed with how cute the baby sheep are. They are so cute. my goodness. Yeah. So it was great. And I feel like that’s one that I would really recommend for like, if you’re looking to get into backpacking and you’re comfortable doing something international, like

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (02:32)
You

But they are so cute and photogenic, so I don’t blame you.

Tory @torytalkstrails (02:55)
This wasn’t a trail where we camped, so we did like a hostel or an inn or an Airbnb every night.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (03:06)
Okay, so you had a warm place to dry off your wet feet.

Tory @torytalkstrails (03:10)
Yes, which was ⁓

much needed. You can camp. You have to be a little more strategic about, I mean, we had to be strategic about it anyway, because like we had to book stuff in advance, so you know your mileage every day. It’s not just one of those like, we’ll see how far we get and then we’ll pitch the tent. ⁓ So you did have to plan it a lot, but I feel like it would be great if you’re like, okay, I love hiking. I would love to do multi-day hiking. I don’t know how I feel about sleeping outside. You can get like the hot meal, the shower, the bed.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (03:18)
Mm-hmm.

Tory @torytalkstrails (03:37)
but also hike, you know, I think every day was 12 to 18 miles a day. So yes, I agree. And ⁓ my husband does not love sleeping on the ground. So this is like our compromise of like, okay, we’re both good with hiking multi double digit days back to back to back, but he wants like a pint and a meat pie and a shower at night. And I’m like, okay, you know, hard sell.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (03:43)
The best of both worlds.

I don’t blame them. don’t blame them. I’d be the same way. So that’s

good to know, though. And then I know you have another adventure coming up where you headed soon, right?

Tory @torytalkstrails (04:12)
⁓ I am headed to Scotland to do the West Highland way. So similar, similar type of thing. ⁓ we’re going to do it. It’s about a hundred miles and we’re doing it over six days. ⁓ and we are potentially adding in right now, the plan is to add in a side quest to hike the UK is highest peak. we, we, yeah. we.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (04:23)
Okay.

Well that’s cool. Now how

tall is their highest peak though? ⁓ I’m just curious, yeah.

Tory @torytalkstrails (04:35)
I don’t know. We

did it once before, but we got kind of fogged out at the top. So we’re like, okay, we want to go back and try to see if we can get the views. But it was a great hike when we did it. Then I’m interested to see how I’ll feel on like day six of seven trying to do it.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (04:45)
Gotcha.

Now, you

might have just said it and I interrupted you. don’t know. Is this going to be similar to what you did before where you’ll stay at the hostels, the inn, stuff like that? Yeah, that’s nice.

Tory @torytalkstrails (05:02)
Yeah. Yeah.

And what’s fun about that is that like, I mean, you’ll meet people in campgrounds and stuff if you do camping, but it’s, it’s cool to like talk to the locals. And a lot of the time, like when we were on the Cumbria way, there was like a couple we saw at breakfast that then we saw at dinner and like hearing how everybody’s day was. it’s just like fun. Yeah. It’s fun to meet people from like all over the world that are doing the same thing as you. So.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (05:13)
Yeah.

You’re kind of on the same schedule.

That’s so cool. Well, enjoy that. That sounds like so fun. I might have to have you back on so you can talk about it. But the reason I actually do have you on here is because you wrote, researched and wrote a brand new book all about Pennsylvania scenic natural wonders of Pennsylvania. So give me like the elevator pitch real quick about the book.

Tory @torytalkstrails (05:33)
Thanks.

Love too.

Yes.

Sure. So Scenic Natural Wonders of Pennsylvania is, it showcases 84 different spots in Pennsylvania to get outside. So there’s waterfalls, which I think are my personal favorite. There’s a scenic overlooks, there’s caves, both show and wild caves. And there’s like natural areas, rock formations. So there’s really something for everyone in the book. There are trails that are like

or features that are like road sides, you can literally just like pull off the road and see it, or there’s ⁓ stuff that’s like, this is a six mile super hard hike or a nine mile super hard hike. So there’s something for everyone, I think, no matter what your level of adventuring is or what your accessibility is, like you can find something to do in the book.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (06:44)
So you live in Pennsylvania, but you didn’t grow up here, but you’ve lived here for a while now.

Tory @torytalkstrails (06:46)
Yes. No.

Yes. So I lived on the east side of the state in Philadelphia for six years. And then I moved to, I moved around a little bit, but then we came to Pittsburgh in 2021. So I have now lived here for four and a half years. So total like over 10 years in Pennsylvania on both sides of the state now.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (06:54)
Yes. Yes.

So you’ve been able to explore the state, really find all the gems that you have in your book. What about Pennsylvania made you or why are we writing this book? Did someone approach you or were you like, I love this state, I wanna showcase it.

Tory @torytalkstrails (07:26)
So ⁓ I feel like I got a little bit lucky in my journey. So I have always wanted to write a book. was an English major in college. I have all of these notebooks from when I was like six on, journaling my life. ⁓ So I have been writing for a very long time. ⁓ And I actually had pitched this publisher, Reedy Press, with a different idea. And they were like, ⁓

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (07:42)
Love that.

Tory @torytalkstrails (07:54)
We’re not super into that idea, but we’re restarting this series, ⁓ like the Scenic Natural Wonders series. They had only released one book and so they wanted to like actually make it a state series and then ⁓ do a bunch of different states. So they were like, well, do you want to write the Pennsylvania one? ⁓ And so I was like, ⁓ okay, yeah, great. Yeah, so it actually worked out. It worked out very well for me. feel like, you know, that’s one of the questions I get asked the most is like,

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (08:12)
⁓ nice. Like I can handle that.

Tory @torytalkstrails (08:24)
How did you end up getting published? And I did objectively get pretty lucky in that journey.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (08:32)
No, but that’s awesome. But you know, that’s the if you don’t ask, you know, you you won’t ever get the S right. So yeah. So you said how many places did you include in the book? You said 80. 84. Now, I think some people might be like, there’s not 84 cool places in Pennsylvania, but you know, but we we know better. We know better when you explore the state enough. You definitely can find some really cool gems. How many of the places?

Tory @torytalkstrails (08:39)
Yeah, that’s true.

about 84 in

you

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (09:02)
Did you visit prior to researching the book? Like, did you know about you’d been there firsthand? About how many?

Tory @torytalkstrails (09:10)
Probably, I would bet like 20 to 30 % I had been there, or it was places where like, I knew was amazing. And I just hadn’t been there yet. So like Ricketts Glen, I had never been to until I researched for the book. like, everybody knows that Ricketts Glen is like amazing. And Pennsylvania Grand Canyon, same thing like that that had been on my bucket list.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (09:15)
Good, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Tory @torytalkstrails (09:35)
And then when it was time to write the book, was like, okay, well, I was going to go here anyway. And I obviously know that it’s amazing. And so I would say I probably had been to like, yeah, probably 20 to 20 to 30%. And then throughout the research process, so like, I’m a spreadsheet person, like anyone who knows me knows that I am I like love a good spreadsheet. And so yeah, so when I first started researching, I kind of like, brain dumped all of the places that I thought would be good.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (09:53)
Love a good spreadsheet, yes.

Tory @torytalkstrails (10:03)
⁓ and then I tried to kind of map them out by like region accessibility, like what type of feature they were, because, ⁓ like as a kind of a project manager background, it’s like, have to treat the book a little bit, like a balanced portfolio where like, okay, I love waterfalls and I love like seven mile hikes. But if I just wrote a book that was seven mile hikes to waterfalls, like that’s obviously very limiting. ⁓ so trying to balance.

Like what do I like and what do I like to do versus what do I think would be, you know, appealing for a larger audience? Yeah. So I’m sure there are places where I’m sure there are things where people will be like, Oh my God, I can’t believe you didn’t include insert this place here. it’s. Yeah. Um, and I, I think part of it is like, I made very deliberate decisions on like what to include versus what not to include, um, based on.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (10:37)
A universal, yeah.

Yes, there’s always a place that you’re missing.

Tory @torytalkstrails (11:01)
Kind of like mapping everything out, trying to make sure every county in the state had a place that was like close enough that people could get to. So yeah, it was a pretty interesting process. I think I started my spreadsheet with like 150 or 175 potential ideas and then kind of like knocked them down as a, yeah, as I either visited and was like, I don’t know if this is like quite good enough or as I was like, ⁓ cool, I have.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (11:18)
wow. We had an errat down here.

Tory @torytalkstrails (11:28)
eight waterfalls in the Poconos, like I need to pick like three or four. As much as I would love to have all of them in. Yeah. Yeah.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (11:34)
Yes. Well, that could be another book, Waterfalls of the Poconos.

Now, so you did say how you came up with a list like you you did some research now, the research was it like friends and family saying, Tory, you need to include this or was it like online Instagram, social media kind of stuff? where did you find these places?

Tory @torytalkstrails (11:54)
Yeah.

So I am a blog person. I looked at blogs, I would say for the most part, I did ask around, know, like people who have lived here for a long time, kind of was like, Hey, I’m starting this project. Like, is there anywhere cool near you, especially places that I had not spent a lot of times like, is there anything cool near you that you think like, I wouldn’t be able to find? ⁓ I also reached out to a bunch of different

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (11:59)
Mm-hmm.

Tory @torytalkstrails (12:22)
DMOs. So for listeners as a destination marketing organization, so that’s like your, your visit Pittsburgh, your visit Philadelphia, your visit the PA wilds it was really nice to be able to have like, I think it opened the door to more conversation sometimes to be like, Hey, I’m doing this research. Like, what are your thoughts? What do you think is good? So that was nice to have conversations with, like destination marketing professionals who live in the place and like,

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (12:50)
Yes, and

they know their region, they know what’s good.

Tory @torytalkstrails (12:52)
Yeah,

yeah. And I would say like every person I’ve talked to at a DMO, like the amount of facts that they can just spout off the top of their head is so impressive. Like every single person I talked to was great. that was also, I think something that I would not have even known existed if it wasn’t for like the content creation aspect ⁓ of my work.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (13:18)
Mm-hmm.

Tory @torytalkstrails (13:20)
But knowing that it existed, like it’s such a good resource. And I would recommend to like anyone planning a trip anywhere, like whether it’s in Pennsylvania or Michigan or California, like go to the DMO website first because they have put a lot of time and energy into researching and like providing guidance for their region.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (13:29)
Anyway, yeah.

So how long did this take? Usually books take a while. Is this like a couple year process for you?

Tory @torytalkstrails (13:47)
Um, so I signed my, I signed my contract, I think in June or July of 2024, and then really started like planning out all my trips in August of that year. Um, and then finished the first draft, um, August 15th of 2025. So it was basically like a full, a full year end to end, I would say.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (14:10)
you work full time. This isn’t your full time gig. So like how often were you out and about? you like every weekend you were somewhere else in the state?

Tory @torytalkstrails (14:18)
Yeah,

it was it was a lot. I actually this was another spreadsheet that I kept track of that I want to do again this year is like how many days I was away from home and like where I was for each of those days. Like was I on a press trip? Was I on a research trip? Like did I go stay with my parents? Was I visiting a friend? And so I was actually away from home 101 days last year. So it was a lot of time away from home. Yeah,

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (14:42)
my goodness, that’s a lot!

Tory @torytalkstrails (14:45)
my dog was definitely like, ma’am, like please come home. ⁓ And I also would like to get a little more like value out of my mortgage this year. Cause it was like, cool, I’m paying my mortgage and I’m not even sleeping at home for most of the year.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (14:55)
Yeah.

that’s, mean, it’s awesome that you’re able to do that, that you had the time and flexibility to go to all these places, not just to research the book, but also see friends and family and stuff like that. So maybe this year, maybe we’re a little bit more home based this year.

Tory @torytalkstrails (15:05)
Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it’s like, love Pittsburgh and I feel like there’s so much to do here. And so like, it was hard to, you know, like have, I mean, we’ve, we’ve been here for four years. I feel like we have a good friend group, but it’s, you know, it’s not a friend group that’s been around for 20 years. It’s like a, you know, two to three year old friend group. And so someone would be like, it’s, know, it’s someone’s birthday this weekend. Like, here’s what we’re going to do. And I’m like, I’m in Allegheny national forest or I’m at Ricketts Glen or. Yeah. So it was like.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (15:21)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

You’re like, five hours away, sorry.

Tory @torytalkstrails (15:46)
As much as I loved the process and I would absolutely do it again, I did miss out on a lot of my life ⁓ from being gone so much. So I’m hopeful this year that I will be able to spend more time with my friends and family. Yeah.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (15:54)
Yeah.

That’s a good goal. That’s a good goal.

So while you were researching and visiting these places, did you learn any like new and interesting facts about Pennsylvania that you were like, oh, I had no idea.

Tory @torytalkstrails (16:14)
Yeah, so I think one of the coolest things for me was the caves. So I knew that I wanted to include caves because like, you know, they’re very cool, very unique. I one didn’t really know anything about caves when I first started researching and two, like, was kind of like ⁓ caves, like, you know, I’d rather be outside, you know, like, how cool can this really be? And the first cave I went to, yeah.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (16:41)
Very cool.

Tory @torytalkstrails (16:42)
Yes, I learned that they’re

very cool. I went to Lincoln Caverns in Huntington County ⁓ and was chatting with the owner and there and like her wealth of knowledge about like I learned in our I think was like 45 minute or hour long conversation like I learned more about caves than I knew in my entire life and like it was fascinating and then I went on the tour and I was like this is so cool and so I feel like that completely like now I’m like

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (17:08)
Mm-hmm.

Tory @torytalkstrails (17:12)
Anytime someone asks me for something cool to do in a region with a cave, I’ll be like, yeah, you should go to that cave. And they’re like, what do you mean a cave? So I think that was very cool for me and something I didn’t expect. I think also like the role of caves in bat conservation, super fascinating. Like that’s something I didn’t really know about. ⁓ And so that was something where like my publisher wanted me to get photos that were like pretty.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (17:29)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Tory @torytalkstrails (17:42)
And so unfortunately, Pennsylvania from like November to April, depending on where you are in the state, not always. And so I was like, well, I’ll just do the caves during the winter so that I can like still do stuff and research and write. And then I’ll try to, you know, save everything else for like fall or summer or spring or like when there’s snow on the ground, which is a little unpredictable. ⁓ But a lot of the caves in Pennsylvania, like

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (17:47)
Yeah, a little grey.

Tory @torytalkstrails (18:10)
Woodward Cave and Laurel Caverns are closed over the winter for the bat hibernation. So I learned that very quickly and was like, all right, I need to like, re change my strategy for this. ⁓ But it was interesting.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (18:14)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, think Crystal Cave also closes for the winter. don’t know

if it’s for the bats, but I know they’re also closed. yeah, there was like a couple years ago, there was a big like a white fungus, I think, like the white-nosed fungus that affected bats here. And they had volunteers in like the early spring go into caves and count all the bats. I’m like, I wish I couldn’t do it that weekend or else I would 100 % have done it because I love bats. I think they’re so fun.

Tory @torytalkstrails (18:28)
Yeah.

Yeah.

They are such unique animals. yeah, and that’s like, you know, that disease, the white white nose syndrome is devastating for the bat population and learning about that. And then like how much bats contribute to the ecosystem by eating, you know, it’s like, you should look this up after the podcast, because I’m probably going to butcher it. But it’s something where like a bat can eat like a pound of insects every night they go out or something crazy where you’re like, yeah. And I, you know, as someone who

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (18:56)
Mm-hmm.

They do eat a lot though, yes, yeah.

Tory @torytalkstrails (19:16)
for some reason I’m like very appealing to mosquitoes. I’m like, yes, bats, like please eat all the mosquitoes.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (19:22)
Where we

live, actually do have a lot of active bats, so it’s really nice at dusk. You see them flying around. One, always think they look so silly, because they look like they’re trying so hard to stay up. They’re like, we’re not actually meant to do this. But I’m like, eat all the mosquitoes, please get them all. Well, that’s cool. you did the caves. Now you said you did some showcase and you also did some natural caves. Is that correct?

Tory @torytalkstrails (19:33)
Yeah.

Yes, seriously, yeah, that’s really awesome.

Yeah, so I have one wild cave in the book. ⁓ And that, yeah, and that, that a little bit freaked me out. So you so this cave, you have to get perm, it’s called Tituna cave. And it’s in the western part of the state, I think in in Blair County. ⁓ And you have to get permits from the like, I’m gonna mess up how you say the cave society, but it’s like spelunkical society or something, you have to get these you have to get permits. And when you like,

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (19:53)
Or wild caves They’re all natural. I’m okay.

It’s okay.

Tory @torytalkstrails (20:19)
get the permits, they, you you have to read this waiver that’s basically like, you could die in this cave. And so that freaked me out a little bit. I was not going there alone. But it is a cave that they like tried to make a show cave and then it got taken over by either the Western Conservancy. And then I think like somehow ended up with the Cave Society, but it’s like a natural area and water flows through it. So you can, you can explore it.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (20:24)
Hmm.

Tory @torytalkstrails (20:49)
I if people want to do that, I would recommend that they like have experience in that and be very prepared because yes, people have died there. ⁓ And so like, that’s something where I was, I was also a little bit back and forth about including that one because like, there is obviously a much higher risk if someone who is not prepared, like goes and tries to do this. But I think because of the permit aspect and because you are basically like trespassing on this property, if you

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (20:55)
Mm-hmm.

Tory @torytalkstrails (21:19)
show up and you don’t have a permit. ⁓ I felt okay that people who would go there would be prepared by all the documents that the cave society makes you read and sign. It was really interesting, honestly, and stuff that I didn’t know about before.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (21:20)
Mm-hmm.

That’s really cool. do. mean, just to go back, like I like caves. We’ve we’ve visited several. I’m like, I could never get enough caves because also just like how they’re formed and like, you know, whether there’s water inside or not and what kind of rock, you know, that the caves are made out of. It’s just they’re so fascinating. So I’m glad you included them in your book, because, we do have we have at least like, I think, like five or six in the state, right? Something like that. ⁓ seven.

Tory @torytalkstrails (21:52)
Yes.

Yeah, we have seven show caves,

maybe eight showcase. Now I’m like, was it eight? It’s either eight show caves and nine with Ty Tuna, the Wild Cave or seven and eight. Yeah.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (22:06)
I can’t remember.

Yes, we have a fair amount. So

not as many as Virginia, I guess, but. of all the places that you got to visit, maybe of the new ones, like even though you’ve been to some before that, did you have anything that stood out as a favorite for you or a couple that were like, I’m so glad I got to finally be here?

Tory @torytalkstrails (22:16)
Yeah.

⁓ I think Ricketts Glen, I mean, was an amazing one. Like I had had that on my list to visit like when I lived out in Philly and then it just like never worked out. ⁓ And so I was happy to finally go and it was, I mean, it was so cool. Like, yeah. I will say like, I think people don’t realize how hard that hike can be. Like it is not a short hike and it has a decent amount of elevation.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (22:47)
So beautiful, yeah, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Tory @torytalkstrails (23:00)
⁓ and so like when we were there, I saw a family with like some pretty young kids descending one of the like very steep staircases next to the waterfall. There’s no railing. And so like, I would not recommend it for people with young kids. ⁓ yeah, like I think probably like a seven or an eight year old that’s like sure-footed and listens and thinks logically, like, ⁓

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (23:11)
Yeah, and there’s no railings.

Yeah, no, I agree.

Yes.

Tory @torytalkstrails (23:27)
and for folks that are comfortable hiking that far, but I mean, it was amazing. It was super cool.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (23:34)
If you want a family-friendly version in Pennsylvania, go to Bushkill instead. They have railings there.

Tory @torytalkstrails (23:39)
that’s yes. Yeah. And

then I also really liked and I had been here, I had been to this place before I wrote the book and knew like, as soon as I was starting to write, I knew I wanted to include it was a black Mo Shannon, like the bog there. That’s in Center County. So that’s a state park in Center County. learning about the like the unique plants.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (23:55)
Okay.

Tory @torytalkstrails (24:03)
and how the bog ecosystem works was very cool. ⁓ And they have a great trail. It’s just called the bog trail and that’s like a mile. It’s wheelchair accessible. Like it’s beautiful. You get views. And so like if you want something family friendly, that’s a good one. They have all these like educational signs so you can learn about all the fun bog things. So.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (24:15)
that’s nice.

I would say like I don’t think about Pennsylvania and having bogs, you know, but.

Tory @torytalkstrails (24:31)
Actually, one of the other places

that I really loved was Tannersville Cranberry Bog. Yeah, and so that’s like up in the Poconos and that is a place where if you want to go like through the bog, you have to go on a tour. It’s like an environmental tour through I think Kettle Creek skate park, environmental education system. ⁓

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (24:38)
⁓

Okay.

Tory @torytalkstrails (25:01)
And that is like so cool.

And I was just sort of like walking along the road, trying to take some pictures there. And you can walk along, like along the side of the road and there’s the bog right there. And I was just kind of standing with my camera and I saw an otter in real life, which was like the coolest thing I have ever seen. It was amazing. I. Yeah.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (25:21)
No, I’m so jealous.

I always say when I die, that’s what I want to come back as, as a River Otter.

Tory @torytalkstrails (25:29)
Yes, and

so like I have wanted to see an odd like I love otters at the zoo and just like I if my entire Instagram feed was otter videos I wouldn’t hate it and so to like see one in real life was and I was totally alone and so I’m just like freaking out in my mind of how excited I am then like trying to be quiet and then like trying to figure out where it’s gonna come up so I can take the picture and yeah it was so cool.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (25:33)
The cutest, yes.

That’s so awesome. Wait, so speaking of pictures, know, you know, talking with other book authors that it’s definitely they they want like the publishers want the nice, the colorful, the really pretty pictures. How hard was it for you to to get all those? I know you kind of put out like an APB to people like, hey, do you have photos? But how hard was it for you to be able to get all the the photos that they wanted that the publisher wanted?

Tory @torytalkstrails (26:14)
Yes.

⁓ I think it was, it was a little bit challenging. And I think part of that was because like, the publisher is based in Missouri and so they don’t like, they don’t know what Pennsylvania looks like or what it is. And so like for, mean, we know that the state is like gray and brown from November to April. And then it’s like brown and green until like September. And then it’s colorful for two months and that’s it. ⁓ and it like,

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (26:30)
Mm-hmm.

Yes.

it

Yeah.

Two months

if you’re lucky. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Tory @torytalkstrails (26:48)
Well, it depends on where you are. Maybe like, maybe three weeks.

And so they had a, like, they had a number of photos that they wanted to have colors in and that was defined as like not green, brown or gray. ⁓ So when I submitted my photos originally, they came back and they were like, hey, we want to have at least 30 % of these photos have color in them. And so that was, I think I got that email September 29th.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (27:04)
you

Tory @torytalkstrails (27:16)
So I like rearrange my entire fall travel schedule to like try to hit some of the places that I had already been and, you know, asking friends like you or other friends, like if other people had photos because I really wanted to make sure that the book came out in the spring. I didn’t want to delay it at all because I think like this is the best time of year to have it out. People are like, yeah.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (27:19)
Mm.

Yeah.

definitely, because people are ready,

their summer trips ready, they’re going to explore Pennsylvania.

Tory @torytalkstrails (27:45)
Yeah, so was definitely a bit of a scramble ⁓ at the end, but I feel very lucky that I have people in my life that I can, you know, ask for photos like yourself and like some of the other great photographers like Kate, ⁓ Kate Explorers it All, Tiffany Oden from Got Lost on Purpose, Michelle Granara, The Adventures Abound, and then Aliyah from Happily Ever Exploring, like just very grateful that people were like, hey, yeah, I have this photo of this.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (28:01)
yeah.

Tory @torytalkstrails (28:13)
you know, this tree that has color on it and you can use it. So that was, that was awesome. Yes.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (28:18)
It’s good to have a network for sure. But that’s

awesome. Yeah, I was thinking about that because I because I had interviewed another author and she was saying like she had been this was in New England and she had been to, you know, all these different hikes. But she’s like, but I had to go back to them and I had to like run through the trail to get the picture of the waterfall or the swimming hole and then, you know, run to the next trail because she needed it all, you know, the colorful thing. So that’s was wondering.

Tory @torytalkstrails (28:44)
Mm hmm. Yeah, I had a similar experience.

I went back to Harrisburg in the fall to hike Hawk Rock and get like photos in the fall. it was basically like, so thankfully I have I have an office I have to so I have to be in the office three days a week and I can be remote on Monday and Friday. But I had worked out of our office out there.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (29:05)
Okay.

Tory @torytalkstrails (29:10)
And I was like, okay, I’ll do this hike in the morning before work. Cause it’s short, you can get it done. But it was like rainy and disgusting. in the morning, so I was like, okay, well, I’m not gonna like, can’t get photos of that. So I basically had to like text my boss and be like, hey, I have to take two hours of PTO this afternoon. He was like, oh, is everything okay? And I was like, yeah, I just have to do this hike for the, like, I’m really sorry. Like thankfully, yeah, like thankfully he was like, he knew about like the whole deadline and everything.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (29:14)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah

Do a hike.

Yeah.

Tory @torytalkstrails (29:40)
think really like very chill. But I just that’s one of those things where like I do try to keep my worlds very separate in that respect. And so that was the one the one time where I had to like last minute take some time off to get get that that was my last one. And so like, I submitted the book like the next day.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (29:59)
That’s amazing.

It’s good that you were able that you were already there, too. So that’s yeah, that’s good. So speaking of hikes, though, so, you know, it’s a hiking podcast. How many hikes do you have listed in the book then? About.

Tory @torytalkstrails (30:02)
Yeah.

⁓

I would have to look, think like, probably, probably at least half of them have some sort of hike. And I think it probably depends on like, you know, what, what you count as a hike. for example, yeah. Yeah, like Beartown Rocks. that’s not like technically a hike, but you can kind of.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (30:20)
That’s awesome.

Well, you said like the trail at Black Moshan and like that, I would still consider that a hike, whether it’s wheelchair accessible or not. Yeah, so.

No, but you’re

Tory @torytalkstrails (30:35)
around. Yeah, yeah, so maybe,

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (30:36)
scrambling around, you’re doing stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tory @torytalkstrails (30:39)
maybe with that definition, maybe like 70 % of them have like some sort of hike. So

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (30:44)
Did you

include the pothole in your book?

Tory @torytalkstrails (30:47)
I did

include the pothole. It was one of those things where, you know, people had mixed reviews, I will say. Like people were like, oh, get your hopes up. And I’m glad I didn’t. But if you learn about like the geological history of it, like it is actually cool that Pennsylvania has the world’s largest naturally occurring pothole. But then you see it and you’re like, maybe I wouldn’t have taken a separate trip for this.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (30:55)
Is this the big hole in the ground?

No.

You

Tory @torytalkstrails (31:17)
So

⁓ it’s interesting, think. I did include that one. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Don’t drive five hours to go see the pothole, but if you’re in the area, go see.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (31:21)
If you’re in the area, if you’re in the Northeast, maybe check it out. I always think

it’s funny too that we have the world’s largest pothole like naturally occurring because I feel like the second and third largest ones are on our road as well.

Tory @torytalkstrails (31:36)
Yes, 100%.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (31:39)
All right. Back to the book. So when does the book come out for everybody who’s interested in it?

Tory @torytalkstrails (31:44)
It comes out on April 15th, so.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (31:47)
which

this podcast will air the day before, so technically it’ll come out tomorrow. Yay! But April 15th. And then where can everyone find the book?

Tory @torytalkstrails (31:51)
Exciting! It comes out tomorrow, yay!

⁓ So it is available basically anywhere you get books. I would recommend that folks either, if you want an autographed copy, you can buy it directly from me. yeah, I have, if you go to either my website, mytrailsaremany.com, or if you go to my Instagram, at Tory Talks Trails, I have links to buy it directly from me. like you could get an autographed copy, you know, I’ll send it right to your house. ⁓

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (32:11)
Ooh, I like that.

Tory @torytalkstrails (32:28)
You can also buy a direct from my publisher, so readepress.com. They have free shipping, so that’s a benefit there. ⁓ And then it’s also on bookshop.org. So if you want to support your local independent bookstore, ⁓ can buy it online, get a chip to you, and you just pick which bookstore you want to support. It is also on Amazon, but I would recommend that you don’t give your money to billionaires.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (32:52)
Yeah, yeah, we’ll go. Will you,

will the book also be in some of the bookstores around the state?

Tory @torytalkstrails (32:58)
Yeah, so that’s something I am working with my publisher on right now of trying to figure out like who is going to stock it. I mean, ideally we can get it in at some of the attractions as well. some of the, you know, some of the caves have agreed to stock it. So I should have more information by the time that this releases.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (33:03)
Mm-hmm.

Yes.

I

and then you did say where you can be found. So it’s mytrailsaremany.com and then toritalkstrails on Instagram ⁓ and I guess all the social medias, right? That’s what you are.

Tory @torytalkstrails (33:24)
Yep.

Yeah, yeah.

I’m Tory Talks Trails on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (33:37)
Tory, I’m so excited about this book. I can’t wait to read it because I feel like it’s gonna become like my little like Pennsylvania bucket list guide. I’m gonna go through and see like, okay, I have been here. No, I haven’t been here. So I gotta check it off. I’ll make my own spreadsheet.

Tory @torytalkstrails (33:40)
Thank you.

Nice.

I have been thinking about like, okay, should I make a spreadsheet for other people? Because there are I mean, there’s pieces of information that I feel like, like the book has a lot, but it doesn’t have everything. So like, should I put GPS coordinates for people and just, you know, figuring out things that maybe the publisher didn’t want, but like is helpful information if you’re looking so might be working on that.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (34:15)
I mean, that could just be like a fun, like, because you’re going to stay near home this summer. So that could be like a fun project to do when the weather isn’t quite conducive to to get out and about near Pittsburgh. So.

Tory @torytalkstrails (34:19)
Definitely. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

And if you buy the book, the first photo you’ll see is one of Lauren’s photos. So yeah, it’s literally like the first one. So very exciting.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (34:34)
really?

You will. I’m a published photographer. ⁓ No, that’s awesome. Yay. But

well, again, I’m so excited. Thank you for coming on here to share about your new book, Scenic and Natural Wonders of Pennsylvania. And again, when this podcast airs, it’ll be available the next day. So definitely get your orders in people. ⁓ Thanks for hanging out. And I can’t wait to hear about Scotland.

Tory @torytalkstrails (35:03)
Yeah,

thanks for having me. I always enjoy coming to chat with you.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (35:08)
Awesome. Thanks, Tor.