Vacation plans in most families are formulated on compromises. The interests of each member of the family must be taken into consideration. The amount of time available, the season of the year, and the amount of money that has been set aside in the vacation budget envelope, are controlling factors in planning any vacation.

The Labor Day week-end generally marks the close of the summer vacation season. Rates for accommodations are reduced and many desirable locations are available. If your family en joys the mountains, there is no lovlier time of the year out doors’than the golden month of October. Crisp mornings, bril liant sunshine, and warm comfortable afternoons make each day in the wooded wonderland perfect. Gone are the heat and the insect pests that plague one in the summer time. The trees are decked in their gaudiest colors. Flaming reds and orange which an artist despairs of reproducing and which the color camera at its best produces only an approximate imitation are scattered with a lavish hand over the ridges and valleys. Forest trails invite the hiker and the camera enthusiast as well as the bow hunter. Where, during the spring storms, the muddy waters tumbled down the mountain streams, now the speckled trout feeds in the crystal clear pools that dot long stretches of the stream, rising ‘to some unseen aquatic insect and safe from the artificial offering of the trout fisherman.

State and National Parks throughout the main deer range offer wonderful opportunities for vacation-bound families at this time of the year. The crowds with the attendant turmoil and noise that they always create have departed and the woods has once more become a place of solitude and quiet. The facilities afforded the general public in the Pennsylvania State Park System are duplicated over and over again across the nation. Off-season rates for cabins range from $7.50 per week for a small one room cabin with two beds to $15.00 for a three room cabin containing four beds. Cabins are provided with electricity for lighting and a small electric range is standard equipment in several of the parks in the Keystone State. Fire wood is cut and stacked near the cabins for use in the open fireplace. In addition, some of the cabins are equipped with wood burning heating stoves which can be used as an auxilliary cooking unit. A source of pure water is conveniently located and refrigeration space is provided for the preservation of food. The temperatures at night may drop below freezing. Woolen blankets and warm clothing are essential for comfort, although the temperature will probably rise to the 70’s or low 8o’s during the middle of the day unless one is in the higher altitudes of the western states. State parks formerly closed to hunting have in recent years been opened to bow and arrow hunting. In general the parks are located adjacent to large tracts of public lands which are open to hunting. A system of well built forest motor roads is maintained in the park systems and in the state forests. The National Park Service has built miles of ex cellent motor roads throughout the National Park System of the United States. These roads offer exceptional opportunities to explore the forested areas by motor car. A “Public Use Map” of the state and national forest areas, showing the network of forest motor roads and hiking trails is almost always available, and may be secured by writing to the National Park Service in Washington, D. C. or to the Park Service or Forestry Depart ment of the several states. In Pennsylvania, these maps show in addition to the forest road system, the location of fire towers, state game refuges, and scenic lookout stations. Sign posts have been erected at the intersections of forest roads and the mileage to various points and places of scenic interest are indicated on the signs. With a copy of a “Public Use Map” as a guide, an all-day motor trip may be planned through a state forest or in a national forest where it is a common experience to see grouse flush from the road ahead of the car, and grey squirrels scampering up a nearby tree at any time of day, while in the late afternoon one to several deer may be surprised around the next turn in the road on their way from the bed grounds to their favorite food plot. Archery Equipment - Read More.