Within minutes after I launched Fridays last week final clearance came from DCNR for the insert pages for older Passports to capture Park #122, #123, and #124. Share the insert with your friends, or direct them to the blog post I put on the News page of the website to download and print. 

It certainly has been a spectacular fall - the best in years. I would say "the best in recollection" but since my ability to recollect anything these days is somewhat diminished I'll look to all of you to remind me NEXT year how great THIS year was!

Maybe I'll remember to look back at this incredible shot by Johnny Russell at Moraine State Park. Definitely click the pic. It's a vertical and, yep, jigsaw material for sure.

November's paint-by-number design by Melodie Swartz-Higgins is a salute to the benefits of the Clean Water Act for everyone! Based on a photo by Tasha Ferris, our deer friend drinks at Ricketts Glen State Park. Click the pic to grab your download. 

Wilderness Wheels, PPFF’s donor-funded transportation scholarship program (http://ow.ly/hc2G50LqSCZ), recently helped get students and teachers from Newport Elementary school out to Little Buffalo state park. 

The field trip was a part of Newport Elementary's MWEE (Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience) program. Students applied what they learned in class to outdoor experiences that included: testing the quality of the stream, creating water filtration systems, exploring a watershed Enviroscape, and conducting a stormwater simulation using Penn State Extension’s “Rain to Drain: Slow the Flow” lesson plan. 

The students also completed a service project for Little Buffalo State Park, cleaning up the mill area in preparation for the Apple Butter Festival. One student, Mason, echoed his classmate's enthusiasm, saying, "my favorite part was the service project because I liked helping around the park."

Transportation is one of the most significant barriers for both young and old to participate in outdoor recreation. Thank you for your support of Wilderness Wheels and helping us knock down that barrier!

With October behind us, we leave behind also Bat Appreciation Week. I did manage to fool a few - very few - people with my multiple choice on our friend the bat. The correct answer is (e), all of the above. Bats are indeed seed distributors, pest controllers, AND pollinators. As the USDA put it in a 2017 article, bats "work the night shift." "Bats feed on flowers, including those of valuable commercial crops, like figs, dates, mangoes and peaches, which have flowers that only open at night."

As I told him, it's not going to be a $1.5 billion Powerball win but Thomas of Mifflinburg will get a little something as our random October winner.

To kick off November, Little Buffalo State Park boasts a covered bridge on the property, Clay's Bridge. How many other Pennsylvania state parks can make that claim?

Enter each week to increase your chances of a fabulous prize at the end of the month when I'll draw one entry from all correct answers received during the month.

"November," by James Rigg. Wild Flower Lyrics and Other Poems, 1897.

Photo by me - Youghiogheny River just below the dam.