Fall foliage at Chimney Rock in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson
Secret Vistas –
By Glynn Wilson –
CATOCTIN MOUNTAINS, Md. — It’s about time to hit the MoJo Road one more time in this amazing life journey chasing bliss and enlightenment in nature near the heart of political power in America.
MoJo in this case refers to Mobile Journalism, as well as the Luck and Karma it takes to live this life successfully.
As usual near the end of a stint or stay in a place, there’s a point when I’m about to depart that I feel safe enough to reveal my location for the spring, summer and fall of 2022. Since the first week of May, I’ve been hooked up camping outside the media camper van called Ramsey, a Dodge Roadtrek conversion van, in this fabulous, yet well kept secret, federal park, Catoctin Mountain Park in Maryland. The forest here feels enchanted.
Fall foliage around the campground host site in the Owens Creek Campground in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson
It may not be as well known and famous as Yellowstone, Yosemite or the Grand Canyon. But for my money, this federal park is one of the jewels of the East along with Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee.
I call it the Mason-Dixon Line for global warming, since the actual Mason-Dixon Line is about 15 miles north of here, and anything south of here at lower elevations is hot as blazes all summer long. Sure we had a few hot and humid afternoons here this summer. But it still cools off at night and in the mornings, and the pesky bugs are minimal to non-existent. Mosquitos are just not a problem here, like they are in the land where I come from, the Deep South.
And even on the hottest days — more than 1,000 miles north of the Gulf Coast and an elevation over 1,000 feet above sea level — you can still sit outside in the shade in these enchanting woods, under a canopy with a small fan running, and get by just fine.
In fact, this is the first year I can remember probably since high school in the mid-1970s when I find myself actually regretting the end of summer. I’ve always looked forward to fall as a break from the summer heat. Now I’m dreading the winter cold more. It’s a new perspective.
It’s turning cooler now, so it’s about time to get off this mountain and head back further south to a lower elevation inside the Beltway in D.C. — just in time for the 2022 midterm elections.
But not before enjoying the fall foliage here. The mountain campgrounds in these parts close down for the winter in November.
Fall foliage around the campground host site in the Owens Creek Campground in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson
The Autumn colors began showing up in the fall foliage a few days back, and it’s about to peak. Although due to some dry weather in parts of the latter part of summer, some of the leaves appear a bit dried out, and some of the colors are muted, just like the forecasters predicted.
Related: Feed Your Biophilia by Tracking the Art of Rich Autumn Color
But it’s still beautiful here in the ancient Catoctin Mountains in Maryland, peaks as old as the Himalayas in China yet worn down by millions of years of erosion.
Fall foliage at Chimney Rock in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson
The signature hike in this park leads up to Chimney Rock, with a view of the valley below.
On the route we chose, a 1.9 mile hike there and another 1.9 miles back, about a four hour hike, you head uphill about a half a mile to Thurmont Vista Overlook, with a view of the town of Thurmont, Maryland. Then you continue along the ridge past the mammoth Wolf Rock. It’s a moderate hike with stones in the path for much of the way, so you have to be careful not to step wrong and twist or sprain your ankle and have to be rescued by National Park Service rangers.
Fall foliage at the Thurmont Vista Overlook in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson
We made it there and back safely, me and my friends from College Park, including Maryland Sierra Club board member Lilly Fountain and her husband Richard, who works for the U.S. Geological Survey in the Department of the Interior.
Fall foliage at Wolf Rock, Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Richard Winston
I must say the experience has been amazing, working with the incredibly nice, cohesive and knowledgable staff of this park for such a long stint. Six months is a long run. And the campsite itself is one of the best I’ve ever experienced in my eight years of traveling around and camping out in a camper van.
For the past few days, I’ve been trying my best to capture some fall foliage pics in varied locations around the park. Here are a few of the best shots so far. There will be more to come as we reach the peak of Autumn color this year.
More Photos
Click the individual images for a larger view…
Fall foliage along Owens Creek in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson
Fall foliage along Owens Creek in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson
Fall foliage on the hike to Chimney Rock in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson
Fall foliage along the road by Owens Creek Campground in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson
Fall foliage along Park Central Road in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson
Fall foliage along the road by Owens Creek Campground in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson
Fall foliage by the bridge over Owens Creek in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson
Fall foliage around the National Park Service Visitors Center in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson
New England Asters by the National Park Service Visitors Center in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland. Symphyotrichum novae-angliae is a herbaceous perennial flower native to North America that grows 3-6′ tall in full sun and well-draining soil which blooms as purple-to-pink daisy like flowers for 8 weeks in late summer and early fall: Glynn Wilson
A honey bee pollinating the New England Asters by the National Park Service Visitors Center in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson
Fall foliage along hiking trail to Chimney Rock in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson
Fall foliage and a woodpecker hole in a tree along hiking trail to Chimney Rock in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson
Fall foliage and a woodpecker hole in a tree along hiking trail to Chimney Rock in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson
An invasive lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula, now dead) known for consuming crops of apples, grapes and hops, and destroying native trees such as maple, walnut and willow: Glynn Wilson
Fall foliage on the Maple Run Golf Course in Thurmont, Md.: Glynn Wilson
A panoramic view of the Chimney Rock overlook in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson
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Great photos!
I just drove by that area yesterday, Oct. 26 and it was spectacular!
Stunning nature photography.