gray and red squirrels, and wild turkeys. Other animals present in the park and forest include chipmunks, minks, raccoons, porcupines, groundhogs, and the occasional bobcat, as well as frogs, beetles, and moths. A branch of Hopper House Run rises within the park, and flows east and then north into the West Branch Pine Creek. West Branch Road (or Branch Road) follows the valleys of the run and creek from Pennsylvania Route 44 east to Galeton. PA 44 roughly follows the line dividing the Pine Creek watershed to the north and the Sinnemahoning Creek watershed to the south. East Fork Road leaves PA 44 in the park and follows the East Fork Sinnemahoning Creek valley southwest to the village of Conrad. Both creeks are approved trout streams for fishing, which means they are stocked with trout in season. Recreation Dark skies Astronomers and stargazers appreciate Cherry Springs State Park for the darkness and clarity of its skies, which make it "perhaps the last best refuge of the natural night sky" in the eastern half of the United States. The sky at Cherry Springs has been classified as a 2 on the Bortle Dark-Sky Scale, meaning it has almost no light pollution. Such "truly dark, starry skies are unavailable to two-thirds of the world's population, including 99 percent of people in the continental U.S. and Western Europe". With optimum conditions, 10,000 stars are visible with the naked eye at the park, clouds appear only as black holes in the starry sky, and the Milky Way is so bright that it casts a discernible shadow. In contrast, big city residents can see a few dozen stars at best, and even those in rural areas can typically only see 2,000–3,000 stars. The Milky Way cannot be seen by most in the eastern US, even when there is no moonlight to obscure it. The quality of the night skies at the park and its growing popularity for stargazing are the result of several factors. Cherry Springs is in the midst of the largely undeveloped Susquehannock State Forest, and is on a summit above sea level. Because it is on the Allegheny Plateau, there are no mountain peaks to block the sky, and the Astronomy Field offers a 360 degree unobstructed view. The closest city is Williamsport, to the southeast. Surrounding communities sit in deep valleys, so the intervening terrain screens much of the light they