A nice fire Tuesday morning, early morning.  Woke at 5am.  The birds were singing beautifully.  Wish I had a way to add those sounds to the blog.

After hiking for two miles I got to the top of the ridge and looked up and saw the beautiful blue sky. I climbed from 1400ft to 1600 ft in about a mile and a half. A nice steady incline. Gave me a good workout.

After hiking for an hour and a half I stopped here to dip my feet in the ice cold water, eat lunch, lay down and read and soak up the sounds of nature--the rippling water, the birds.

I want to buy a cabin in the woods and live there.  Nature soothes my soul.  Cook Forest is absolutely gorgeous.  The trails are well maintained and marked.  There are trees over 300 years old.

I star gazed one night.  I thought about moving my cot out to the open field to sleep.  I should have.  I found the big dipper.  The stars were abundant.  I saw a shooting star.

I've been trying to id birds by their call and by sight.  A little chipping sparrow kept visiting my campsite looking for food.  Learning bird calls is like learning a foreign language.   I hope with time it will get easier.  I have a CD with over 100 birds calls, which accompanies a PA bird book.  A bluejay also visited my sight a few times.  They are beautiful birds, but can be aggressive.  Robins were abundant also.  There is one bird call I want to learn what bird makes it.  It is a beautiful call.  I can hear it in my memory.