Out There: Stories from the Woods

By Christopher Miller

My wife and I went camping at Hyner Run State Park last weekend. We saw it as a great way to usher in the 2021 triumphant return of the Flaming Foliage Festival in Renovo! We hadn’t been camping in more than a year, so this past weekend’s event was something that was more than special to us.

You see, in 2017 and 2018 my wife and I were very fortunate to be able to take 2 cross-country vacations. Friends and family grew accustomed to following our travels on Facebook and would “live it vicariously through us.”

In 2019 we took a similar trip, but it was rolled into a 2 week excursion and a plane ride (we normally drive) that was made up of our wedding and honeymoon in Montana.

For 2020 we stayed Pennsylvania-local, taking many local road trip “staycations” and just adventuring in our backyard. We had planned to get out to Kansas for a friend’s wedding, but our conscience told us to stay put and forever miss a friend’s big day.

Because of the missed trip to Kansas, we ended up with 2 flight credits through Southwest Airlines to use until September 2022, you know, unless the weather gets bad randomly again and they decide to cancel thousands of flights. It happens…

Back to this past weekend – we invited friends from the Montgomery County area out to join us for the festival and camping weekend. Theresa is a native of Souderton, PA but is currently living in Silver Spring, Maryland and her boyfriend, Mark…or was it Matt? Mike? Eh, one of them (I kept messing up his name), anyway, Mark lives in the Perkasie, PA area and neither of them had been out to “our neck of the woods.” They prepared themselves for the mountains here by looking at pictures of Hyner View and the surrounding foliage.

It was a pretty eventful trip – our friends arrived early in the afternoon and we drove up to Hyner Run and set up camp. Through the years I have perfected the art of cooking meals over a fire. Kitchen ovens can be controlled but campfires cannot be – I love the challenge.

Meals consisted of pork chops, burgers, pancakes, vegetable foil packs, chicken, and eggs. Of course, not all at the same time!

I frequently tell people that I sleep better in a tent than my own bed, which I think is very true today. The key to this is the use of our air mattress in the tent. I sleep so well outside, even past 8am this way!

Eventually we want to invest in a pop-up camper, and then a small tow-behind but for now, our tent works just fine for our excursions.

Our friends were amazed at the amount of community love and pride there is in Clinton County, and how close-knit the town of Renovo truly is. There is just something special about coming to a small town, rural area that you don’t get “back home” in Lehigh or Montgomery Counties. I can’t put my finger on it, but I enjoy it.

Sunday morning saw a short rainstorm float over the western end of the county, so our tent and belongings got a little wet. You can’t always have the best weather or temperatures when camping!

Theresa and Mark went back to Montgomery County later Sunday afternoon with a feeling of rejuvenation excitement for their next campaign excursion with us. Will it be to Benezette? Wellsboro and the PA Grand Canyon? Cherry Springs?

Only time will tell.