Wednesday, October 14, 2009

(Back) With the Photographer!

The title of this post is borrowed (shamelessly) from Stephen Leacock. But the experience recorded here bears a sharp contrast to the trauma Leacock goes through in his hilarious short story.

I'm back on the East Coast! Naturally, Arun and I wasted no time before beginning to travel together again. Even as
we drove out of the airport, we got busy discussing must-visit places to catch Fall colors. After 4 long months of living on different coasts, we were both extremely excited as we decided to hike the 4 mile Falls Trail in Ricketts Glen State Park, 2 hours North of Philadelphia. The drive up there was a riot of colors in itself. Every bend in the road held a new hue, surprises galore for the eye! Burning red, sunset orange, yellow turning to brown and splotches of green, even pink at times. We loved it as we sped through mile after variegated mile.

We got there a little after noon and we set off on the hike. Within minutes we came to the first of the 22 water falls that dotted the trail. And the photographer took over. I stood there watching Arun go crazy with his camera and tripod, trying his damnedest to fit everything- the cascading falls, the shiny rocks and the bursting color, into his camera's display. We spent 15-30 minutes at each Waterfall. I must admit it was well worth it, going by some of the pictures he managed to click.



The flip side is that we took over 4 hours to do the 4 mile hike. The overcast sky did not prevent people from arriving at the trail in large numbers. It was the first time we've ever hiked in a line, behind unknown people. Maybe everyone trusts weather.com when it predicts no rain, even more than they fear the hanging gray clouds. Maybe everyone wanted to get their share of Fall colors before the trees go bald. Whatever be the case, in hindsight, it was a great idea to pack cheese sandwiches and fruits, which we ate sitting at the foot of Ganoga Falls, the tallest one on the trail. Carrying the food gave us the luxury of lingering around at every stop, waiting for the throngs of people
and their dogs to clear away after taking their gazillion group photographs. Many of them with the camera flash on, in broad daylight.



We walked the last mile back to the car totally satisfied, playfully trying to trip each other while it sank in that this was only the first of many such trips to come. This blog will see a lot more action from now on.

Watch out for the travelogue from our Vermont and New Hampshire trip this upcoming weekend.

4 comments:

Jayaprakash said...

Good to see the duo back in ECR:-)
Have fun.

Narendra shenoy said...

Super!

I'm getting all MY fall colors in Inorbit mall, Malad West, Mumbai 64. And yes, sometimes, we too have to hike in a line behind unknown people.

Yours sounds a bit more fun than ours :(

Kavitha said...

JP: Join us for the next trip?

Narenji: You should visit us here. I guarantee you more skin than colors at the mall :D

Alan Smithee said...

The only missing aspect of the photos are corny positive attitude lines. How about "The pleasures in life are better enjoyed when someone else pays" or something like that?