Back to Salmon Creek

We returned to Salmon Creek in the Allegheny National Forest for Labor Day weekend.  That makes our third family camping trip there this summer, and my fourth in total.  It was quieter this time around; the forest more subdued, as if the initial enthusiasm of May had all worn off and a sort of autumnal resignation had set in.  The leaves, still green, are sparser and tinted with a pale shade of yellow.  Drought and cold northern nights are leading them toward the fall.

There are so many apple trees up there.  The North Country Trail passes through an old apple orchard, and trees full of ripe apples stand along the 7-mile dirt road.  My daughter and I picked about forty of them, some of which I made into an apple pie.  The pie wasn't great, but that was more my fault than the apples'.  

Water levels are low in the streams.  It's been a dry summer after a few crazy wet ones.  When the rain was coming down in torrents all winter long, and the basement was flooding, and the cliffs along the interstates were crumbling in mudslides, I swore I would never complain of another drought.  I would welcome a drought.  I lied.