Deep Creek Lake

Author's Comments

September is the month I think about most when I think about Deep Creek. Not October, when the foliage is at full shout and the docks are crowded with leaf-peepers, but the quieter weeks before, when the mornings are cold enough to pull fog off the water and the hills have just begun to turn at their edges. The fog moves slowly here, pooling in the coves, and at first light the whole lake can look like it has no bottom, no sky, no shore - just a gray dissolving middle distance with the silhouette of spruce trees rising out of it. I rented a kayak once in late September and paddled to the far end of a cove I had spotted from the road. The reflections there were almost perfectly still. The water was the color of pewter and the tree line above it had gone amber at the tips. That is the image Deep Creek keeps offering if you are willing to leave the main shore behind. October brings depth to the color and drama to the light. Golden hour is generous this far west - the Allegheny ridgeline delays the sunset just enough that the water catches warm light while the sky is still doing interesting things above it. The lake is large and the shoreline is long, which means patience and a willingness to explore will always be rewarded over simply standing at the public beach with a wide lens and hoping.

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