Fall

 It feels like fall.  The green leaves on most trees have a yellowish tint, and some few trees are already in full autumn leaf.  This is my fifth fall back in Pittsburgh, and I'm always reminded that it's not as spectacular down here as it is up in the northern reaches of the state.  In the Pittsburgh region, fall is when the trees are completely overtaken by the blight that they've exhibited all summer.  The leaves turn brown around the edges, then wither and drop without ever providing any kind of autumnal splendor for the aesthete.  There's some hysteria about the hard winter that we're supposed to have this year, though weather reporting has become so sensationalist.  Power outages, people frozen in their homes, snow up to the second floor windows.  I'm not usually into mass hysteria, but I am looking into some heating alternative in case of a long power outage...like temporarily installing a small wood-burning stove and running the stovepipe out a window, like some sort of Jed Clampett.

But it's a lovely time of year, even with the impending winter and the lesser natural beauty of Pittsburgh.  I like the "retraction" of the fall.  Everything is in retreat.  The yard furniture is getting pulled inside.  Parks and beaches are empty.  Campgrounds are still open, but they're spooky for lack of campers.  I'm actually going on a solo camping trip for the first time ever soon.  I reserved an isolated, wooded campsite at Kooser, so my daughters and I would have something to do while my wife was away on business.  Turns out that the kids aren't going to be able to go with me, so I decided to go alone.  It's a little intimidating, the idea of sleeping alone in the woods of an empty campground.

The photos were taken in the remote western half of Raccoon Creek.  I returned there recently, though frequent trips to the Laurel Highlands have spoiled me.  Raccoon can't compare.