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We camped along Rondout Creek in the Catskills.

The weather was ideal, an unsettled combination of sun and rain.

Though I ran out of dry clothes after Sunday night’s impressive thunderstorm,

the anticipated rain cleared out the campground and left this entire paradise empty for us on Sunday and Monday.

The video features several waterfalls and a close encounter with a deer.

I loved the worn shapes of the stones in and along the side of the creek.

It is extremely humid in the forest, moss and lichen grow everywhere.

Each cluster of moss fronds is about one half inch across.

The Blue Hole, very deep and cold.  It is spring fed and supposedly a constant 56 degrees F., year round. The locals say that the water is usually blue and clear enough to see the bottom, but the recent rain must have stirred up a bit of silt.  I had the pleasure of falling off a slippery ledge into the refreshing water and causing a whole lot of fuss over nothing, people flapping their arms and running around like I needed rescue.  I would have more appreciated an advanced warning about that slippery ledge I was exploring.  But it gave them a funny story,  and me damp dollars in my wallet. I’m glad I had the foresight to not be holding my camera on the ledge.

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A charming little yellow bird that persistently chirped its territory in a tree.  Giving me time to zoom in on him or her.

Looks like a Photoshop filter effect, but it’s not.

On the flood plain around the creek, trees grow in all sorts of weird shapes, grasping their roots around and into rocks to hold fast.

This one looks like it is about to take a walk.

A little cave near our campsite.

Cave critters.

Despite the humidity and abundant pools of water, there are surprisingly few mosquitoes or other biting insects.

Looks like a mountain lion to me, a small seasonal waterfall near our camp.

Another one near our camp.

I hear that the deer are smart enough to become wary of humans and go deeper into the woods during hunting season. But this one let me get very close, and looking into its eyes I did not sense great intelligence.

We didn’t do this with our food. I ended up trekking it back to the car each night.