Doorway Into Autumn

It was a spectacular week for foliage. Sunday and Monday, we backpacked into the Hammersley Wild Area, the second-largest wild area in the state. On Thursday, we hiked and leaf-peeped all around the Quehanna Wild Area, the state's largest wild area. The autumn colors in both areas were at or near peak. (The foliage at Black Moshannon on Saturday was also pretty amazing.) What a show!

We had rain Tuesday and Wednesday, with additional showers expected Friday. So we seized the day on Thursday, and we decided to turn what we had initially hoped would be another overnighter in the wilderness into a mere day trip instead. We drove around the Quehanna Wild Area, pulling over everywhere just to look at things, and hiking in several different locations; in the end, I put about six or seven miles on my hiking boots.

Our last walk of the day was down a neat, gated side road we eye up often but hardly ever stop at. There are actually two little side roads not far apart that go back to test cell bunkers that were built in the 1950s and used by the airplane manufacturer Curtiss-Wright to conduct jet engine trials.

Funding for the project was made available under a 1953 federal initiative called "Atoms for Peace," which "made funding accessible to anyone who had the imagination, if not the ability, to harness the atom's power for peaceful purposes." (Those who are curious about this area's history may read more on Wikipedia, under the section heading "Atoms for Peace.")

The bunkers have long since been abandoned. The south bunker on a nearby road is nearly covered over in dirt, but the north bunker (where I took this photo) is still open and you can actually walk inside it. There is lots of graffiti inside, and between the graffiti and the way the light comes through the doorway, it is a fun photo op.

The bunker is surrounded by small trees with tiny golden leaves, and they fairly make music when the wind blows. As I was standing inside the structure, I realized I could frame some of the little trees with their dancing, golden leaves through the door frame. One tiny leaf even obliged me by clinging to the door; after this shot, the tiny golden leaf fell. I admit I liked the door better bedecked with the tiny leaf.

The afternoon sky alternated between clouds and light, and when the sun shone brightly, it provided a neat little shaft of golden light that angled through that open door. I felt, standing there, like a little girl who had stumbled into a wardrobe and found inside it a door to a magic land.

I posted the photo online and a friend who saw it offered me this lovely poem, which I am including here because I think it goes so well with this image. The poem, "Do Not Fear the Darkness," was written by the Swedish poet, Erik Blomberg, and the translation is original, by my friend. (Thank you, my friend, A-R M.)

"Do not fear the darkness
as the light rests within
How would we see the stars
if they had no night to shine in

In your iris ring of light
you carry the darkest pupil
For darkness is the everything
that light ever longs for

Do not fear the darkness
as the light rests within
Do not fear the darkness
carried in the heart of light"

My husband and I spent this day together and some of the photos I took of this door were of him standing in it. He asked that I consider using a Pink Floyd song to go along with this image. So here is one of their songs (performed with a full orchestra!) that I thought fitting to accompany this image of golden foliage, as viewed through the remains of a building constructed for the peaceful application of atomic research: Pink Floyd, with Atom Heart Mother.