A Farewell Fall Hike Close To Home.

Sorry I haven’t been keeping up with my blog, but a lot going on, including my preparation for my trip to Africa tomorrow.  I am excited and hope to share some blog post on my adventures and lots of photographs. I am pretty much packed now and so have some time to share some photographs from my last hike hear in Northeastern Pennsylvania, earlier today, at Community park. 

It was a dry and warm summer, and it has stayed warm, so the colors of Fall are late this year. Some years we have already had killing frosts and freezes here in the mountains of Northeastern Pennsylvania, but not this year. 

The leaves are just beginning to take on their autumn coats. As usually, it is the red maple and sassafras that start the show. 

It was cloudy today, and that made for a reflective walk along the shores of Lake Irena.  It seems I was just out here on the first day of fishing season on a cold April morning. 

Most of the song birds are gone,  as are the many geese that summered here, but I did see a hawk, a few crows and a lot of mallard ducks enjoying the cool autumn weather. 

I also saw this bird diving under the water, I think it was a loon that has been here all summer. The lake will freeze over in the winter so these birds will have to start heading south for warmer climes in the near future. 

In addition to the absence of songbirds there were no wild flowers in bloom around the lake.  However, the  fading ferns, having taken on their fall colors are just as beautiful. 

I have to admit, Fall is a pretty season, it’s what comes next that I do not look forward to anymore. I have seen enough snow and cold and Winter is not as much fun for me as it used to be. But we still have a lot of Fall left, and I will be in the much warmer jungles of central Africa, hoping to find mountain gorillas in their native habitat.  I hope to post plenty of photographs, so stay tuned!!! Here is a link to some more photographs from my hike today. https://keepyoureyespeeled.net/photographs-page-2/nggallery/photographs-page-two-blog/Community-Park-October-8-2016-

“Listen! The wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves,
We have had our summer evenings, now for October eves!”
― Humbert Wolfe