Postcards from the Enchanted Woods

"Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons."
- Jim Bishop

October just might be our favorite month of the year. We love to watch the foliage change, and in the whole month of October, we seize every opportunity to get out and enjoy it. The original weekend forecast called for clearing skies and sunshine for Sunday, and so we had considered camping out over the weekend. Possibly overnight Saturday into Sunday; if not, maybe Sunday night into Monday.

However, when the weekend actually arrived, the rain didn't move out very quickly on Saturday; there were still green spots representing showers on the weather radar, even in late afternoon. It became blustery and cold and overcast. And then the forecast for Monday began to include showers arriving in the early morning. We cancelled our plans to camp out overnight and contented ourselves instead with a day of hiking.

So on Sunday morning, we headed into the woods above Black Moshannon. Actually, we ended up hiking in several different spots in the woods above the park. This spot - a trail just off Beaver Road near the top of the mountain - was the first one. The gravel road you see in the photo leads down to a group of cabins, and it used to be open to general traffic. But it has been gated in the past year, and it is now in the process of going back to the wild. A local hiking trail, the Allegheny Front Trail, passes through nearby.

And so we took our daysacks and chairs and we hiked down the hill and through the colors, and then down along a little stream. We discovered the smoldering remains of a campfire in a popular camping spot that somebody had left from the night before, and I used a cup that I carry in my daysack to get water from the nearby stream to douse it until I was sure that it was out. (For shame, backpackers! This is how forest fires start. Please be more careful next time!)

Then we crossed the road and walked back up through the trees and set up our chairs in a little spot we know where the colors are always nice. And there, amid the autumn glories, we read our Sunday paper, and ate a snack of cheese and peanuts. How civilized: a Sunday newspaper in the woods! And then, with several more short hikes on our agenda for the day, we knew it was time to move on. So we hiked back up the hill to my car on a pathway covered in fallen leaves, with scents of autumn in the air.

And on our way, we startled a pair of white-tailed deer. Tawny colored, the deer crashed through the bushes and ran across the graveled road not far from where I stood to take this picture. Their bounding forms and startlingly white tails were a refreshing sight: a glimpse of the wild, these native creatures of the enchanted woods.

The colors of autumn are variable from year to year, with the yellows and oranges and reds arriving at their own pace. The ferns get into the act, turning shades of gold, burnished copper, and brown. When the colors come, the woods are startlingly beautiful, even on what turned out to be a mostly cloudy and overcast day, with just a few glimpses of sun.

In October, the air itself almost seems to have been changed: shot through with color, the very edges of everything tinged with gold. So the song to accompany this image is John Stewart, with Gold. And yes, those are indeed background vocals by Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham that you hear. Enjoy!