However, after going to college here at Lock Haven and having my life shift to Clinton County, it became significantly harder to find the time to head out to the Endless Mountains.

Fortunately, one of my best friends invited me along to an outing at Bald Eagle State Park. It was a tradition in his family to camp once or twice a year out there, usually in one of the yurts.

I’d never camped anywhere — my family wasn’t the biggest on outdoor recreation beyond the occasional hike, so this was a new experience for me.

Now, I’m going to use the word “camped” and its variations here. I am absolutely aware that for a lot of die-hard outdoorsy folk, describing something like staying in a yurt at Bald Eagle as camping may be… suspect. I know these days that “glamping” may be a more correct term, but I also refuse to use that word a bunch more times in this column, so I’m going to stick with the original.

ARIANNA McKEE/THE EXPRESS A picture from December 2021 shows Arianna McKee’s “Yurtsmas” tree and surrounding wrapped gifts.

But, I digress. Where was I?

So, this was a new thing for me. We ended up playing a bunch of board games — I am a die-hard board gamer, and I’m talking crunchy stuff, not like Monopoly or other family games — making a bunch of good food both on the fire and off, watching some spooky movies, doing some short hikes, and I got possibly the best sleep I have ever gotten in my life.

I’ve never looked back.

It’s been probably at least a decade now — time moves weirdly as you get older, plus with the disruptions of COVID and everything else — and my friends and I still try to make it out to the yurts at Bald Eagle at least once a year. We’ve established a whole set of traditions, favorite activities and foods to make, and taking a whole week out there gives us ample time to work through a lot of backlogged projects while hiding away from the stresses of modern life. It’s weird — despite having electricity and wifi signals, we are more able and willing to separate ourselves from the hustle and bustle and actually disconnect for a while. As someone in journalism, it’s particularly difficult for me to pull myself away from the news cycle and the endless need to know what’s happening — but, even if just for a week, it’s so good for my heart and soul.

We’ve even done holidays out there a few times, ranging from Easter to Halloween to Thanksgiving to even Christmas… and we tend to portmanteau yurt into the holiday (Yurtsmas, for example). That year, we had the yurt reserved up to the final day it was open for the season, which would have been around mid-December. We did our gift exchange that weekend, and even had put up a small Christmas tree.

ARIANNA McKEE/THE EXPRESS Fog rolls in off the lake during a stay at the yurt in fall 2025.

A few years ago, my friend who had introduced us to the yurt experience fell and broke both of his legs. Needless to say, we didn’t make it out that year. In the time since he was under strict doctor’s orders to keep walking every day to help with physical therapy, and this parlayed into an increased focus on the hiking trails at Bald Eagle in the camping trips since. While he still can’t manage the more difficult and steeper trails, we have gotten far more adventurous than we used to, and it’s common for us to now include lengthy hikes every day while at the yurt, as opposed to treating it solely as a staycation-away-from-home.

We don’t tend to handle the heat as well as the cold — plus there’s just something about being bundled up in blankets at the yurt that’s relaxing — so we usually aim for very early in the season or very late. While we haven’t gotten snowed in yet from an early season storm, we have definitely been there in a wide range of other weather conditions. We’ve also had a lot of wildlife encounters, including one year when a skunk got particularly friendly with our yurt. It’s always an interesting challenge to see what we will need to overcome and adapt to while we are out there. But, since it’s not “real camping,” it’s never anything more than we can handle.

If you’re camping at Bald Eagle early or late in the year, there’s a good chance you’ll see me there for as many years as we can continue to manage. I’d say hi, but honestly, that isn’t what I’m out there for — the relative solitude recharges me. If anything, just give me a friendly head nod and we’ll both go about our way, content in the placid silence of the moment.

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Arianna McKee is Design Editor and Editorial Page Editor for The Express.

ARIANNA McKEE/THE EXPRESS The view of the mountainside in fall color is seen when cresting a hilltop hiking trail at Bald Eagle State Park in fall 2025.

ARIANNA McKEE/THE EXPRESS Fall color brackets the water at Bald Eagle State Park in fall 2025.

ARIANNA McKEE/THE EXPRESS A gorgeous fall tree is pictured amidst other trees which hadn't yet turned in fall 2025.