I wanted to make one more visit to the Mt. Anonymous area before it gets too cold (and, worse, dark too early for me to complete a lengthy afternoon run). Today offered the perfect opportunity. It was reasonably warm, very sunny and calm, and I had some free time this afternoon. Perfect!

Today’s run consisted of the mile-long stretch from the parking lot to the entrance to Ore Mine Road, which I followed until the point where it makes a relatively sharp turn to the east and goes straight uphill. This roads turns out to follow the boundary line of the Pinchot State Forest. It was a challenging run due to the steep ascent, but mercifully short before I reached the ridge, where the road leveled out a bit.

Along the ridge, the beauty of the season became most evident. The rainbow of colors was as saturated in reality as it appears in the photos, and I was only wishing that I had more time to savor all of the views, and explore areas farther away from the road. I’m sure there were even better views of the landscape from other positions.

But I had to keep moving, and eventually I swung around, still on the ridge road, heading toward Williams Bridge Reservoir and the areas I’d hiked previously.

I passed the stone wall switchbacks and the overlook from the postcard before eventually making my way back to emerge on Lake Scranton Road near the small dam.

The road around the lake has been periodically closed for maintenance throughout the summer, but today it was actually open all the way around. If I’d had time and energy I probably would have considered completing the loop around the lake too, in addition to my trail run. But it was already getting too late, and my fingers were frozen.