Early Autumn Backpack Into the Valley of the Elk

Autumn officially arrived several days ago, and we've had a few lovely, really crisp days already, with beautiful weather and the bluest of skies. You know the kind. It's chilly when the day begins, but it's almost too warm later on. Autumn in the morning; summer in the afternoon.

The forecast for the weekend looked just delightful: a bit cooler than it has been, with clearing skies Saturday morning and possibly an actual COLD night on Saturday night. So my husband and I agreed it was time to check out the start of the colors in the Quehanna Wild Area, and go backpacking into the Valley of the Elk.

We packed in the morning, and just before noon, we were on our way. The walk in was a bit toastier in the early afternoon than we expected, more summer than fall. The foliage colors in Quehanna are at about 5 to 10%, just getting started really, but you begin to get a sense of the coming show.

When we arrived at our back-country site, I immediately set up my tent because it was the only "work" I had left to do. It took me all of about seven minutes. These days, the instructions are attached to the tent bag, so you can't possibly lose them. And then it was all about relaxing and enjoying the day. I'm down with that!

Later in the afternoon, I was walking around taking some pictures while my husband sat reading in his chair, and the light was really gorgeous. I snapped the fun photo in the extras of my husband giving me "jazz-hands," as viewed through my tent. You can also see how spacious and airy my tent is, with the stargazer panels. I can almost stand up in it, and there are zipper-doors on each side.

We were jamming to some tunes, of course, as our life is accompanied by a (mostly) rock 'n roll soundtrack. The Rolling Stones were telling it like it is, about how you can't always get what you want, but sometimes . . . you get what you need. My husband's joyful hand motions accompanied the tune, as he boogied in place in his chair.

After it cooled down a bit, we went out to the big rock overlooking the valley and sat on it and enjoyed the view.  I walked down to the creek and was stunned by the huge number of hoof prints on the sand bar: white-tailed deer or elk? Hmm. LOTS of tracks, and I was standing in them to take this reflection shot of the start of colors. (Additional evidence of note: several huge piles of elk poo behind my tent!)

As the sunlight began to leave, a flicker came by to bid us good evening. The forecast had predicted the temps would drop overnight, but as twilight fell, they hadn't dropped yet, and we began to wonder if they would at all. "It'll have to drop 25 degrees overnight to get as cold as they predicted," my husband said, shaking his head.

We moved back into our campsite and started getting ready for the night, lighting a little LED lantern and placing it like a beacon in the middle of the woods between our tents: our little home away from home.

The soundtrack: it's gotta be Mick and the crew with the song I referenced earlier. Because it's true, you know:

You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you might find
You get what you need*


*Note: You just might need to walk a little ways to find it.  :-)