A Celebration of American Woods and Waters

A special note: this photo marks my 1000th consecutive, not-a-single-day-missed Blip posting. Thank you to Blipcentral for making this place for us to share our photos, stories, and comments. Thank you so much to my regular visitors, who come here every day and offer their kind words of encouragement. And welcome and thanks to any new visitors who may be coming by just for this special day: have a look around, and I hope you enjoy the pictures. I had a wonderful time taking them.

The weather for Sunday and Monday was predicted to be absolutely gorgeous: cool in the mornings; sunny and warm in the afternoons; chilly, moon-lit nights. So my husband and I did as we used to do when we were younger, and as the first signs of autumn weather began to arrive, we loaded up our camping gear and lit out for the wild woods and waters of Pennsylvania.

This was no backpacking trip, but a car-camp, like we used to do in the old days. Not really knowing for sure where we might end up, but knowing that we would be prepared for whatever we might find. The gear: tents and ground sheets, sleeping bags and pads and blankets, chairs and coolers and daysacks, hiking boots and jackets, and a sense of great old American adventure!

Our plans included heading for the Quehanna Wild Area and taking the right turn toward Wykoff Run, then looping around to explore some parts of Cameron and Elk Counties that we aren't as familiar with, possibly driving through Benezette to check out the new visitor center and look for elk, and then circling back through Quehanna, before heading home.

It's funny how places are. There are places that you go, all the time, and then suddenly you stop going there, and you're not really sure why. It's not like you decide it: on this day, we will no longer to go this place! No, it's not like that at all. How it happens is this: you just look back and think of a favorite place, and you suddenly realize - perhaps with some surprise - that it's been several years since you've been there. Where did the time go? When did we stop coming to this place? Why haven't we been here lately?

And so it was with Wykoff Run, shown in this picture. This is a place that we used to go frequently in what we now refer to as "the early years." My husband and I have spent many happy hours wading and even sort of swimming in the deeper water below the falls when the water was high enough to permit it. Even on a hot day, the area around the creek is cool and comfortable, and it's convenient to get to the water - just a hop, skip, and a jump from the road to the stream.

It was a warm afternoon, and the water looked clean and clear and inviting, as always. But we had just begun our journey, and we had other places to explore and only so many hours of daylight, so we didn't have a lot of time to linger. But we stopped and walked around and I jumped from rock to rock and took photos looking up and down the stream. And then we got back into the car and continued our adventure, heading north and west, into the land of the endless mountains. (The story of our outdoor adventure will be continued in tomorrow's posting . . . )

It is my custom to include for each Blip posting one photo, one story, and one song link. Some of you who have come by frequently know that I am a big fan of Bruce Springsteen, and so it's only appropriate that one of his tunes accompany this anniversary Blip. I wanted a song that celebrates the beauty and the wild glories of America, and I think this one will do the trick. So here is Bruce Springsteen, with the Woody Guthrie classic, This Land Is Your Land.

And I'll conclude this Blip milestone posting with a wish for all who stop by to help me celebrate. In the words of the Boss (and you can hear him say it himself at 1:42 in the video, just before he starts singing): "Here's to you! Wishing you the longest life and the best of everything . . . "

All the best to you, from this GirlWithACamera. :-)