First I want to say thank you so much for the incredible response to the “On a Crisp Autumn Morning” post I made last week! I find it so wonderful how sometimes when I share a photograph that, albeit special to me, isn’t necessarily something I think will be as special to you all as some other moments I think will be. It is a true testament to how uniquely different we all are.
That being said, although I had really been hoping to share part 3 of my “Just Be Here” story this week, I have simply not had the proper time to get my journal entries and pictures in order to do so… but I do promise soon!
In the meantime, let me take you peacefully into the weekend with this image I very seldomly highlight but holds a special place in my heart…
It is, after all, the first photograph I exposed during my first ever Autumn backpacking experience (and only second backpack period) from a place that I so dearly love, Shenandoah National Park, VA.
It was late October 2012. My brother had just introduced me to backpacking about 6 months prior that previous April and asked me to plan an Autumn adventure for the two of us. Having driven through Shenandoah for the first time and being my very first ever National Park experience while en route for that April excursion with him, and having a strong desire to begin visiting National Parks, I chose a 4 day immersion into Autumn in Shenandoah…
In the long run, it ended up being not only an incredible test of my endurance and will, but also one of the most eye opening, soul quenching and serenely peaceful experiences that has driven me to further love, explore and adventure in our National Park system ever since!
This photograph I composed early in the new dawning day after the first night out. I hiked back maybe 1/2 mile from where we made camp having loved this particular area along the flowing creek on the hike in the previous day. This image isn’t about mind-boggling color. It is, however, a brilliant representation of what an Autumn forest in Federally Designated Wilderness is like…
As you trek downward from almost 4,000 feet to 1,800 feet, the mountains change from Oaks to Hickory, Beech, Poplar, and Red and Striped Maple in every shade of Autumn back to still Summer green at the lower. Somewhere in the middle, the tall trees of the wood are bare at this point in the season, yet smaller trees still blaze with fire while the forest floor is a bountiful carpet of delicious smelling leaves and gurgling downward with you is the ever so soothingly peaceful sound of the babbling brook while a gentle breeze blows and Fall leaves float down.
Need I say more?
