PA Woods and Waters: Cherry Run

Here is the most important news of the day: we have a new toad in the iris bed! My husband saw the toad and brought it to my attention. It is an absolutely beautiful toad, and we gave it both a toad house and a swimming pool (my husband's idea - a little saucer of fresh water, not too deep). But you're going to have to wait to see a photo of the toad until tomorrow! Yes, a little patience, please!

So after a significant toad-finding morning, we packed our gear into the car and set out for Cherry Run, not far from Lamar. We had walked about three miles on Wednesday and around five on Thursday in Quehanna, so we kept this day's hike pretty short. We walked in, crossed two of the wooden bridges over the creek, and set up our chairs by a little stream. This photo above is the spot where we spent our afternoon.

The temperature was in the mid-60s, with low humidity and light breezes; which is to say, very comfy. The main creek is a bit out of scene to the left, and we put our water shoes on and waded in. The water was clear and clean and bone-chillingly cold, and I didn't last as long as I did back in March. Soon I was out of the creek and changing out of my wet water shoes, and toweling off my chilly toesies.

I spent a fair amount of time sitting in my chair by this little bit of water in the photo, and I can tell you that it is an absolute PARADISE for water skippers. I saw quite a few of them, and they made many concentric ripples on the surface. Just when you thought you saw one, it would jump, and away it went!

There are lots of rhododendrons in this area, and you may see some of them in this photo. They are not blooming yet out in the woods like they are in town, but I'm sure all of that will be coming soon! There is also quite a bit of dwarf ginseng growing in this area, which is pretty neat to see.

For my soundtrack song, I was thinking of something with the word cherry in it. There is a song by Lou Gramm (former lead singer of Foreigner from 1977 to 1990) with lyrics that go like this: "Life is simple. It's either cherry red . . . or midnight blue." So that's my song for this image. Lou Gramm, with Midnight Blue.