The brilliant colors of Autumn

While looking though our thousands of pictures I ran into this colorful fall picture and thought I'd add it to our Blog.  Hope you like it.

What an awesome bird!!

It seems as though the Eagle population is growing.  We see that as a wonderful thing because it's hard to find a more magnificent bird.  These awesome creatures have incredible eyesight and can spot and identify their next meal from a mile away.  They are very good swimmers but are prone to hypothermia in very cold water so they do avoid a winter swim for their next meal.  Did you know that Eagles can fly to an elevation of 10,000 feet.  While some of them migrate others remain here for the winter.  Eagles mate for life.  Bet you didn't know their wingspan ranges from 72 to 90 inches.

We got very luck on this day and were able to paddle very close to where this majestic bird was perched in a tree scanning for his next meal.. Luckily he felt we were a bit too much to grab in his talons.

We can never have enough of waterfalls

There's loads of things in nature that we look on with fondness and high on that list is waterfalls.  We have many more waterfalls in our area than what people seem to realize.  Some may require a bit of a hike while others are just a stones throw from a road.  Each waterfalls has its own uniqueness and it's own charm.  We like them all and continue to look for new ones.

 This is a beautiful falls that has the final drop of approximately 25-30 feet.  The two criss cross logs are distracting but have been there many years.

 This required a nice 3 or 4 mile hike but was so worth it.  There was a bonus here because not a hundred yards away is an even larger falls that is at least 30 foot tall.  This particular falls is tall but cascades over multi levels as opposed to one long drop.

This is another awesome Quehanna waterfalls that most people are not aware of.

Freedom Falls

Lot's of noise along the Clarion

The Clarion River has so much to offer to all outdoor enthusiasts.  The river itself is so picturesque and as you paddle around each corner you are treated to natures splendor.  Aside from the scenery, there are loads of Gods creatures that make the river their home.  This particular day as we paddled along we would hit certain sections of the river that were particularly noisy.  At first we weren't sure where the noise was coming from so we paddled closer to the banks to investigate.  We quickly realized that all the noise was coming from frogs and I mean lot's of frogs.  We observed them for quite some time as they would fill their neck up with air and then let it all out which results in quite the loud noise.  Now imagine about 50 frogs doing this pretty much continually.  It was really cool to witness this firsthand.

A beautiful day for a hike and observing wildlife!

It's sad to say but so many people either don't realize how beautiful our area is or they just take it for granted.  We take nothing for granted and use every available opportunity to be out there exploring and enjoying all that nature has to offer.  We have explored so many backwoods nooks and crannies and have spent countless hours bumming around because we have this fear that we might be missing something awesome.  Quite honestly that is what keeps our wheels turning.  Without fail,  everytime we are out and about we discover something so fascinating that it drives us to keep exploring.  Certainly we find the animals quite fascinating but even aside from the wildlife, there is so much to see and admire. 

As you look at the pictures below, try to imagine what it is like when you are seeing these things and feeling and hearing nature as it surrounds you.  Perhaps while you are watching a small group of deer there are snowbirds singing away as they fly from branch to branch.  Picture watching a flock of turkey as a Pileated Woodpecker loudly drums away on a hollow beech tree.  The sound is amazing to hear and almost unbelieveable to think that it is the result of a small bird pecking away in search of a little snack. 

For a moment picture a Bobcat running full speed across in front of you as a flock of crows make all kinds of racket overhead.  We find it easier to picture because that pretty much described our Sunday afternoon hike.  Unfortunately the Bobcat was quicker than my camera and the turkey pictures were not as vivid as our memories.  But we captured the moments in our mind and the memories will stay with us for a long time.
Such is life in the beautiful place we get to call home.



This is 2D and he is a bull to keep an eye on this year and hopefully for years to come.

Nice kiln close to Dewey Rd intersection

The love between man and his loyal friend is precious.

Male and female Common Meganser

And we even saw several whitetails.

New and old growth.  This big fella reminds us of Fred. 

Just watch me eat and grow.

See why he reminds us of Fred.  We'd love to find these sheds but they are apparently pretty tightly attached yet.

And we saw a few elk!

While sad to see it is a true testament to the resilience of wildlife.

We think this was a birth defect rather than an injury.