Sam Lewis State Park

The weather was fine this past weekend, and I ventured out and across the mighty Susquehanna River to Sam Lewis State Park in York County. The best feature of the park is the open area of Mt. Pisgah that affords great views of the river and surrounding countryside, but there are also some wooded areas and an aging arboretum that are fun to explore.

A lot of leaves had already fallen, but this patch of pawpaw saplings was still hanging on:

I love the way they get so tattered this late in the season:

Leaves like these were the inspiration for my November Pawpaw:

I spotted other past sources of inspiration, like these sweetgum leaves:

I like the way the sweetgum leaves are so variable from tree to tree, and include a wide range of hues. Here's my Sweetgum in Autumn, where I used Mysore silks from India to get spectrum of colors:

Along the edge of an evergreen forest, I spotted this sumac in full blaze:

And my eponymously named Sumac quilt:

I left Sam Lewis and drove a short distance to the Highpoint Heritage Trail, a new park that was rescued from a planned luxury home development. The walking path goes to a summit with a large inlaid stone compass rose, roughhewn boulder seating, and spectacular 360 degree views. In this shot you can see Rt. 3o bridge crossing the river in the background, and a few arches of the Veteran's Memorial Bridge in the foreground.

I am very fond of this beautiful bridge--you can walk across it--and featured it in The Old Bridge: