My wife and I were back in Central PA several weeks ago, and spent time fishing and hiking along a number of streams. Mrs. TS, having lived her entire life in Kansas, is always impressed with the vast amount of forest lands. I keep reminding her that when we retire it will be easier to hike in the forest shade on rolling mountains than on barren Rockies at 7,000+ feet.
A fishing buddy who lives there confirms that coyotes have really moved into the area. I hadn't heard about the coyote/wolf mix though.
The middle of Pennsylvania is almost totally forest. I love the eastern woodlands and the beautiful trout streams. Watch out for bears though and I've heard mountain lions are making a comeback too. Bald eagles have moved onto the Youghiogheny River Lake. The fishing is good there. Fishing is a great reason to get out to the woods.
Wolf/coyote crosses...yeah I was surprised when I found this out. I always noticed that eastern coyotes don't look like western coyotes but I didn't know why. Turns out genetic testing has been done and that's what found the cross.