Wild Teaberry in the forest

We took advantage of a beautiful spring day by taking a nice hike in Forest County.  It is so refreshing to see the buds opening up and to see the hills transform from the drab winter brown to a pastel green.  The sounds of spring surrounded us.  As we stood along the trail absorbing the warm rays of the sun we couldn't help but notice the wild teaberry at our feet.  We picked a few and crushed them in our fingertips so we could enjoy that delicious aroma.

Allow us to share Buttermilk Falls with you.

If my rambling makes your eyes heavy let me give you fair warning right now.  SHUT THE PC DOWN AND WALK AWAY IMMEDIATELY!  I say this because this entry will ramble and will use up a lot of space and say very little of any importance to anyone.  In fact, I am tiring as I type away. 


Okay, for those of you that have decided to be kind and bear with me, I thank you.  I would hope that the advance warning will prevent any personal attacks or hate mail sent my way. Here we go!  Are you still there?


Thirty eight years ago on this date I slipped a band of gold on the finger of my best friend and companion for life.  I remember this day like it was yesterday because it happened to be the first day of fishing season and the creeks were perfect and loaded with brookies, brownies and rainbows.  Instead of fishing vests and waders, my best man and I wore suits and no fishing hats.  Instead of holding a fishing pole, I held the hand of the girl that would walk with me through adventures far more numerous than she had ever anticipated.


From that day on I think she became frighteningly aware of the true definition of spontaneity and unplanned adventures.  I say that because after the wedding we took off on our honeymoon with zero plans and never having thought much about where we might go.  This would become our mode of operation and continues to this day as we have proven time and time again that our best times are those with no advance plans, schedules or itineraries. So with no plans we headed down the highway and ended up in Orlando.  Disney World was so much fun.  Sure we spent one night sleeping in a 1970 Mustang in a Rest Area, but that's part of the adventure.  To this day, it is common for us to head down the road and make our decisions at each crossroad.  These trips have yet to disappoint!


So let's briefly look back at 1973.  Richard Nixon was President, I think you remember Tricky Dicky.  Life expectancy was 71.4 years.  Hey now we are expected to live past 78 years.  A gallon of milk was $1.30 and a dozen of eggs was 78 cents.  You could lick a stamp that only cost 8 cents and send that letter across the country.  Now they are shutting down Post Offices.  Median income was a tad over $10K and a new home would set you back $35,000.  I was making $3.10 per hour.  I got the extra 10 cents because I was educated. hehe  When we drove to Florida, a gallon of gas only cost us 39 cents.  We also stayed at a real nice place called the Days Inn which at that time had a big (8) in the sunburst on the lighted sign because you could get a room for $8.00 a night and you could keep the paperback Bible from the room.  Our dining on our honeymoon was at McDonalds and the Waffle House.  We had a great time.


So now that you are bored and confused you may be wondering how the Buttermilk Falls fits into the equation.  Well, allow me to clear the fog and explain that.  Every year on our anniversary we do something special.  One year it was hiking 11 miles on the steepest section of the Appalachian Trail to get to an awesome spot called Pinnacle Rock.  Every year is an adventure and every year was memorable.  This year we decided to visit a beautiful waterfalls just east of Parker Pa.  So you probably wondering where the heck is Parker Pa.  It's just south of Emlenton and then just south of Foxburg.  I can tell you exactly how to get there.  Just drive down the west side of the Allegheny River below Foxburg until you see a bridge that crosses the river.  The bridge is blueish green and tilts upward at about 20 degrees.  It's definitely an uphill bridge.  Once you cross the bridge you need to hang a quick left turn on a dirt road and you'll see Old Glory waving on a nearby rock formation.  It's a cool spot, by the way!  Now you drive under the uphill bridge and then veer left again.  Then you drive past there and pass the old rock quarry.  After that you keep going and then turn right on a road that ends with "willinger" or something like that.  Then you drive a couple miles along there until you see a big pipe spewing nice refreshing water out of a rock wall on your left.  After that you watch for a barnyard with 10 chickens and one real happy rooster on your right. 


Just beyond there you will see a road on your right that "Y's" off next to a plowed field.  I think there was taters planted there!  Turn there and just swerve to avoid the deeper mud holes.  Continue on this road until all resemblance of a road seems to be diminishing.  Look for two deer on the left, although they may have run off.  You are getting close!  As you approach the destination you will see a dead possum on your left which for now is making kind of a neat little pool of water in the ditch.  Isn't nature amazing?  At this point you will need to slip the vehicle into the offroad or 4 wheel drive mode.  Also it's good to remind yourself that a few more scratches in the paint adds character.  Navigate your way down into there and then you'll only have to walk or should I say climb a short ways.  It will be worth it though.  See how easy it was to get here.


Buttermilk Falls is an awesome waterfalls that drops maybe 30 feet in a roaring cascade.  This particular day it was difficult to get a good picture due to the late afternoon sun illuminating the falls and making a balanced time exposure difficult.  I did the best I could but nothing beats being there with the girl you married 38 years ago.  By the way, we've been here several times and always enjoy it.  The last time we were here we had just won 1st Place in the Tandem Kayak Division of the Allegheny/Clarion Valley Classic Kayak Race.  Yup, the adventures continue!

This was taken just below Buttermilk Falls.  Looks like it's washing away my signature!

Never realized these Canadians were so feisty!

Tonight the nasty weather broke for a short time giving us a calm evening with no rain.  Although this break only lasted a couple hours we took advantage of it and converged on a nearby pond in hopes of capturing some images of the resident ducks.  Apparently we weren't as stealthy as we should have been because we kicked out a handful of Woodies before we could even get in camera range.  All was not lost though. 

Typically we don't get too excited about watching Canadian Geese because they are so abundant and usually easy subjects.  Tonight was an exception.  As we watched a pair of mates, suddenly they erupted in a flurry of honking and carrying on.  We weren't sure what was going on until we observed two others circling and looking for a spot to come in for a landing.  They no sooner landed and the other two headed directly at them and the fighting immediately ensued.  We had never witnessed such aggressive fighting among two separate pairs of geese.  The water erupted into an explosive spray and the honking broke the silence of the evening.  They were absolutely doing battle and bit at each other violently until the second pair realized they were outgunned and took to the air.  Apparently the first pair were protecting their nesting area and they were prepared to do whatever necessary to keep others away.  It was absolutely spectacular to watch.

 The battle begins!

 And the fighting continues......

Looks like these two admitted defeat and headed for the sky.  They honked as they went by!

These Redheads sure are shy!

In our search for all the ducks that inhabit our area we ran across a couple Redheads.  For now, this is the best picture we got but bear with us, this case hasn't been quacked quite yet.  The Redhead is really an awesome duck.  It's a diving duck and can dive up to 30 feet in search of food.  This species of duck will often lay their eggs in other ducks nests.  How's that for a lazy duck!  This picture was taken from quite a distance which is my excuse for a not so good picture.  We're on a mission to get a better picture and will add to this when we get one.  In this picture there are two Male Redheads and one Female.  Oddly enough, the male doesn't quack but the female does.  The male has a sound that is more similar to a cat. The other quacker wouldn't turn his head but we think it's a Male Ringneck Duck.  Quack, quack, quack!

Cascading Beauty

I know what you're thinking about now, "oh no, not another waterfalls".  Please bear with us and we promise to not bore you with another waterfalls for at least a few days or perhaps even a week or two.  Of course I do have my fingers crossed because if we discover another natural falls you can be sure it will end up on this Blog.  After all, it's my Blog! hehehe  Okay, it's your Blog too but you have no say!

Alright, on a more serious note let's once again discuss the topic of waterfalls.  Did you know that waterfalls are classified by types?  There are Cascade, Plunge, Cataract, Horsetail, Sheet, Block and Punchbowl to name a few.  The falls that is shown in the image is a Cascade.  I bet you can figure out why it's classified as a cascade.  This falls also has a name and is known as Pigeon Run Falls not because pigeons run the place but possibly because it's located on Pigeon Run which is not far from Marienville.   It was running quite well on this January afternoon.