Nip in the Air and Color All Around

Kristy and I (and Layla) spent the weekend camping with our friends Scott and Doris (and Murphy) at Yellow River State Forest. We both pulled our campers to the forest, but it must be understood that we did not camp as we usually do. Yellow River State Forest is primitive camping only – no running water and no electricity. We could run our camper heaters enough to take the chill out of the air, but everything was dependent on our camper batteries. We did not want to run out of battery power so we lived very conservatively as far as ordinary luxuries of life were considered. We camped primitive other than a little heat to break the chill on the 27-degree mornings. The runs to the latrine were chilly and darkness came quickly each night.

My completely unscientific assessment of the fall colors is we were exploring slightly after the peak of colors. Still, I found much to photograph when we enjoyed a hike on the Mud Hen and Mississippi Trails. And early this morning I watched as the sun came up over the Paint Creek valley. For a few minutes I even shared the view with a drone pilot who also recognized how pretty the area was. He had been trying for years to capture what we both experienced this morning.

Following are some of the images recorded this weekend.