[GaliWalker]

Laurel Highlands, southwestern Pennsylvania (Oct 29, 2016) My go to location for conditioning hikes near Pittsburgh is the Laurel Highlands Trail. The LHT rollercoasters its way for 70mi from Ohiopyle to Johnstown, so long mileage hikes are easily available. Even better, the numerous hills provide ample opportunities to tuck in some elevation gain (e.g. I'm able to get in around 6,000-7,000ft of gain by doing laps on some of the hills). While I've hiked this trail in almost all conditions, curiously enough I've always looked for other options during peak fall. I guess I've never wanted to 'waste' the precious fall foliage weeks on old faithful. This morning, I finally decided to give the Laurel Highlands Trail a go. I hiked the first 7.5mi in almost prime fall conditions. After a cool start, it ended up being a gorgeous, sunny, warm day. I spent about an hour at the 2.3mi mark, at my favorite viewpoint of the hike, enjoying the sunrise. The rest of the walk was a mix of put-my-head-down-and-hike and the occasional photo session. The best part was encountering one of the largest black bears I've seen, as it crossed the trail about 50yds from me. This was the second bear I've run into on the Laurel Highlands Trail, but the only one I've ever managed to capture on camera. Hiking/photography stats: 15mi, 4000ft elevation gain, 7.5hrs

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14- Bear Crossing

[Brushbuffalo]

Nice colors and cool bear sighting! I haven't seen one all year....a rarity in the Cascades ( usually see one or two a year).

[williswall]

Ah, my old stomping grounds....used to live in North Park, very pleasant area. Cool bear.

[GaliWalker]

Thanks guys. A few words about the bear encounter: This was the third black bear encounter I've had on trail, here on the east coast, although I've seen a few from the car in the Smokies. Both of the other two bears were about half the size of this one, and bolted into the woods as soon as they saw me. This one was moving through the woods below the trail, when I came upon it. It chose that moment to climb up to the trail, huffing and puffing under the excess weight it had packed on for winter, then ambled for a bit along the trail, away from me. I stayed put and managed to fire off a few photos, before it exited stage left to climb up the hillside. I typically have my wide angle lens mounted on the camera, with my tele-zoom in the backpack. Thankfully, this time I was only carting a single 24-70mm lens, that was mounted on the camera. That allowed me to take my first ever photo of a bear in the wild. Yeah, it's not a super impressive photo, but I'm thrilled with it.

[CC]

Nice pictures. I still get a little nostalgic for PA this time of year. PA claims to have the largest variety of deciduous trees, and hence the largest variety of colors, of any state, but there may be some puffery there.

[GaliWalker]

[Malachai Constant]

Vermont is amazing as is Ontario camped at Mt Mansfield and in Algonquin PP in leafing season and both were like a calendar photo. Hotel prices and traffic were crazy at Smugglers Notch.

[mustang sal]

Try going to the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania...around Wellsboro, PA. Lots of hikes in remote area where there are more deer than people.

[natural_log]