Black Moshannon, Late September

The autumn foliage show in Pennsylvania is absolutely not to be missed. The timing of it can be variable. Sometimes it starts as early as mid-September, with just a few pastel colors beginning to show. And then the color starts to mount - just five percent here, fifty percent there. By early to mid-October (and in some years, not until late October), it turns into a full riot of color, enough to make your eyeballs pop out! (But in a good way.)

On this particular day - another spectacular sunny and beautiful September day in a row of them - we made our way through Black Moshannon State Park, to go wading in nearby Six Mile Run. And we had a good time checking out the status of the autumn foliage change as we drove through the park and the surrounding areas.

This particular area, right along Beaver Road, caught my eye on our initial drive through. There is a little cabin nearby, which is tiny and cute. And I observed that the colors were among the best I've seen anywhere so far. So while we didn't stop at first, I made note of it, and thought we might stop on the way back through at the end of our day.

So we went and had a lovely wade in Six Mile Run. I wore my new water shoes, purchased just this past spring and worn at the very same spot on what may have been our first wade of the season, back in May. The water was cold and clear and refreshing. And I tucked an orange leaf into my shoelace, my autumn talisman. Amphibious Girl, out and about on another wild woods and waters adventure!

Then we drove back through Black Moshannon, and we stopped so I could take a few pictures. The sky wasn't quite as clear and blue as it had been in the morning, but in some ways, the clouds that had started to infiltrate the sky may have made for an even more interesting reflection shot.

Black Moshannon, sitting on a high plateau, is "the largest reconstituted bog/wetland complex" in Pennsylvania. The scenery is not really typical of central Pennsylvania, and in fact much more resembles parts of Maine, and/or the Dolly Sods wilderness area in West Virginia. The water is dark, full of tannin, and it can be quite stinky in spots. That doesn't bother the newts at all, whom we discovered frolicking and playing on a rock in the water just a few steps from where I stood to take this photo.

I love the wild colors of a Pennsylvania autumn, and if you can believe it, this is just the start of the show. I enjoy the yellows and the oranges, of course, but it's the crimsons that really set my heart on fire. So the song to accompany this photo of Pennsylvania's foliage, as September slides into October, is the awesome Tommy James and the Shondells tune, Crimson and Clover. I'm also including another favorite version of the same song, performed by 1980s rockers Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.