Only The Summer Knows ...

“The summer smiles, the summer knows

And unashamed, she sheds her clothes

The summer smooths the restless sky

And lovingly she warms the sand on which you lie

The summer knows, the summer’s wise

She sees the doubts within your eyes

And so she takes her summer time

Tells the moon to wait and the sun to linger

Twists the world ‘round her summer finger

Lets you see the wonder of her arm?

And if you’ve learned your lesson well

There’s little more for her to tell

One last caress, it’s time to dress for fall …”

              ~ “The Summer Knows”

               ~ Michel Legrand

                     ~ 1932-2019

     ~ theme from the 1971 film “Summer of '42”

            

Only the summer knows what the hot and humid breeze is whispering through the trees and summer grasses in this sepia capture of the Bobolink Trail, just off the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail), I shot in the early evening in late July at Lehigh Gap.

In the shadow of the Kittatinny Ridge, also called Blue Mountain, the Lehigh Gap in Slatington, Pennsylvania, is a crossroads where the Lehigh Gap Nature Center’s trails connect two historic trails – the Appalachian Trail and D&L Trail.

The Bobolink Trail connects the D&L Trail with the Lehigh and New England (LNE) Trail about 1.2 miles north and west of the Osprey House at Lehigh Gap Nature Center. It is named for the Bobolink, a representative of the migrant grassland bird species that Lehigh Gap Nature Center hopes to attract to the refuge’s re-vegetated prairie grasslands. 

The Appalachian Trail, a foot path, follows the ridge on both sides of the Lehigh Gap, running 1,245 miles south to Georgia and 930 miles north to Maine. Running from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and Delaware rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.

Driving Through Sugar ...

 “The mountains are calling and I must go.”

                ~ John Muir

                  ~ 1838-1914

A vehicle drives on Pennsylvania Route 248 West through the beautiful Kittatinny Ridge, sugar dusted by a recent snowfall, on an early February afternoon at Lehigh Gap.

I shot this high contrast monochrome capture from my vantage point at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center along the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail.)

In the shadow of the Kittatinny Ridge, also called Blue Mountain, the Lehigh Gap in Slatington, Pennsylvania, is a crossroads where the Lehigh Gap Nature Center’s trails connect two historic trails – the Appalachian Trail and the Delaware and Lehigh Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail).

The Appalachian Trail, a foot path, follows the ridge on both sides of the Lehigh Gap, running 1,245 miles south to Georgia and 930 miles north to Maine. Running from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and Delaware rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.

The Sugared Trail ...

“Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature’s darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees …”

                ~ John Muir

                      ~ 1838-1914

The peace of a beautiful winter afternoon is palpable on a January day along the snow sugared trail of the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail) that hugs the Kittatinny Ridge at Lehigh Gap.

In the shadow of the Kittatinny Ridge, also called Blue Mountain, The Lehigh Gap in Slatington, Pennsylvania, is a crossroads where the Lehigh Gap Nature Center’s trails connect two historic trails – the Appalachian Trail and the D&L Trail.

The Appalachian Trail, a foot path, follows the ridge on both sides of the Lehigh Gap, running 1,245 miles south to Georgia and 930 miles north to Maine. Running from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and Delaware rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.