In the forest of Tioga

There is something special about the way sunlight filters through the trees of the forest. The harshness of the direct sunlight forms patterns on the road that can be almost hypnotizing at times as you wind around the mountains. Blue patches of sky show through the tops of the trees and it is always 10 degrees cooler than outside of the forest.
This weekend the forest hosted the annual car rally. An event that draws more traffic into the forest then it sees then entire rest of the year. It usually rains for this event, but this year the rain held off until late Saturday when it rained lightly. Sunday morning it poured. The water turns a milky brown running down the roads when we get a fast heavy rain There is a delay in the water filling small streams, then to the larger streams and finally to Pine Creek. Pine Creek was at 1.6 ft before the rain this morning and by 3pm was up to1.9 and climbing. Sudden hard rains can leave people stranded in spots on Pine Creek they thought were low and easy to walk across when the water level makes it there. One person told me they had walked across Pine Creek and noticed the water starting to change color. By the time they realized the water level was rising it was too late to go back across. They ended up walking some distance to find a bridge to get back to the other side.
The Mountain Laurel is absolutely beautiful this year and I hope to get a few more pictures of it while it is in full bloom and color. It's not an every year event to have it this nice. If any of you get a chance to come up in the next couple weeks you will get a treat of color. In some places it almost looks like snow between the trees blooming so white.
We had company over the weekend and spend a few days taking care of them and not working so tomorrow it is back to work to feed the mountain girls and their dogs. Mountain girl, Paula, logging off.