Tionesta Creek in Winter

This post went up in February 2021 on my current blog:

Tionesta Creek in Winter

It was such a rare pleasure to escape into the sentimental arms of a real winter season in late January.  This was my birthday excursion to a place that is very near to my heart.  It's true that I've discovered new destinations out-of-state, but it was here in the Allegheny National Forest that I first found my sanity and health.

Many of the forest roads were so snowed over that travel was questionable.  I actually got stuck on the Mayburg Road.  Fortunately, a band of six snowmobilers happened along and pulled me out!

See how the stream flows with chunks of ice and the edges of the banks stand frozen.  I've missed winter.  Real winter--like this.  It's a pensive time, a time to be cherished.  I love the way the snow reflects the daylight into windowed rooms when the sun is hid behind clouds.  I call that the snowlight.  O the beauty of this place in January!

The Tidioute Overlook in Winter

There are two scenic overlooks in the Allegheny National Forest near the river town of Tidioute.  There's the "Town Overlook" and the "River Overlook."  The River Overlook is by far the lovelier.

It was a rare return to real winter up there in the national forest, where it's frequently as much as 10 degrees colder than in Pittsburgh.  See how the snowy fields lead down to the water with the Allegheny River wending its narrow course between wooded hills.  The little island in the river is part of the so-called Allegheny Islands Wilderness.

My grandfather used to say that Tidioute was so named because a fur trader once lived here with a Seneca wife who went about topless.

The truth is a lot less colorful.  Apparently it's just an old Seneca word for "crooked stream."