Pennsylvania Woods and Waters, Late April

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves." - John Muir

With the arrival of spring, I've been trying to schedule some Fridays as vacation days. When the weather's good, we pack up our daysacks and our hiking boots and a cooler, and head for the woods.

This is a little stream that we found a little more than a month ago. I showed you one of its many green, mossy waterfalls in my March 22 blip.

The last time we were there, we only had time to explore the lower part of the stream. This time we resolved to walk further upstream to discover if there was a cut-over to the next stream and hollow.

We walked for several hours, the stream burbling along beside us, each enchanting turn and waterfall leading to another. It was cool and partly sunny and breezy, perfect for hiking.

We were heading uphill, but after the initial steeper hill or two, the path leveled off and flattened out: a relatively easy hike up, and when we turned around for the trip back to our car, downhill was even easier. I admit that my legs were tired, though, after what turned out to be a seven- or eight-mile (11 to 12 kilometers) day.

This photo shows a view of the creek on our return trip back down the hollow. The path is to the left, and runs quite close to the stream nearly all the way up the hollow; and in just a few places, the path and the stream become one.