Backwoods Backpacking in Moshannon State Forest

Well, here is the news. It is mid-September. We have had a few cooler mornings, and even a chilly day or two, and lately, I have been wearing PANTS on occasion. What does this mean? It's turning into BACKPACKING weather!! Hooray!!!

My husband called it about a week in advance. "Next Thursday night is supposed to be cold," he said; "I think we could get our first night out." And so Wednesday evening found us packing up our gear for the first time in what felt like a very long time. On Thursday morning, we got up, finished the packing, made a couple of bagel sandwiches, packed the cooler, and hopped into the car.

It is not that far to Moshannon State Forest, and we were there by shortly after noon. The place we hiked into is the same site we always use when we are there. The path in starts as an old logging road, turns into a deer path, and eventually dissolves into nothing but rhododendrons and trees and ferns.

Only my husband could find his way, and so we rely on him for directions, for this is not any MARKED trail. We also tie a white Walmart bag to a tree at a key point on the trail (and remove it on our way out), so that we can find our way back OUT. For getting OUT, it seems, is far harder than getting in! (Hotel California and all, you know? You can get in but you can NEVER leave! Ha ha ha!)

As soon as we got there, I started setting up my tent so that it could air out a while. After I'd done that, I put my gear in. Two thin blankets line the floor. On top of that, I place two sleeping pads, a sleeping bag, and a little fleece liner. Later in the afternoon, I pump up Big Agnes, which is a green inflatable pad that goes on top of all that, and place it inside the fleece liner. I also have a small bamboo pillow I bought at the Grange Fair.

I wanted to get all of the "work" of my day out of the way first, so that I could relax. And so after that, we spent the afternoon hanging out at our campsite. It is a far enough walk that we don't take our big bag chairs. Instead, I take one of those little foldable stadium jobbies that's lightweight, easy to attach to my backpack, and can be used inside my tent. My husband takes a tri-leg camp stool.

We'd found some beautiful orange fungi on the way in, and I took T. Tiger and all of his pals over and we did a photo shoot there. We also scattered some of my friend Ellen's ashes. Of all the places she'd never be, this is one of them: far in the backwoods of the central Pennsylvania forest!

We had several bagel sandwiches in our cooler, and we'd cut them in half so we could sort of snack on them. Every couple of hours, we'd eat another one. My husband brought along mayo and one of my father's tomatoes, which I sliced. The bagel-wiches are better than you might expect, but of course, I splurked those tomatoes down over the front of my (pretty) clean shirt! Oh well!

My husband always puts his tent up later in the afternoon, and that was the case again today. In this photo, you may see our campsite in Moshannon State Forest. For once, I've got his tent in the foreground and mine in the back. Yes, there  is my husband in a pink raspberry shirt putting stuff on a clothes line in the common area where we hang out, between our two tents.

As dusk began to fall, my husband got out the LED lanterns that we hang all around our campsite so that we have light. The moon would not be up until around 10 p.m., so it wasn't going to help us much before bedtime, but it would indeed light our sky all night long, providing enough light to see by. Camping out is better with the moon.

But there was something else that happened as the daylight left us. At precisely 7:45 p.m., a pair of whippoorwills began to call to each other across our campsite. The sound was loud, piercing, and magical in the gloaming. I can't even tell you when I last heard a whippoorwill. First the one would call. Then the other would answer.

They only chatted for a few minutes, and then all was silent again, except for the breeze through the trees. Was it friendship? Was it family? Was it true love? We'll never know, but what a gift it was to hear them sing.

Oh, there is more to this tale. There are snorting deer and there is a porcupine invasion, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to read about all of that! In the meantime, be sure to tuck your hiking boots INSIDE your tent overnight so the porcupines around here don't chew on them. This is good advice from someone who has been there and back again!

The haunting calls of the whippoorwills back and forth reminded me of that song, Love Is Strange, by Mickey and Sylvia from the film Dirty Dancing. So let's let that be our soundtrack for part 1 of this backpacking tale!

Bonus: the tale of the last time we stayed at this campsite in springtime.
Day 1.
Day 2.