Kittatinny's Color Cascade ...

“There is something incredibly nostalgic and significant about the annual cascade of autumn leaves.”

           ~ author Joe L. Wheeler

                      ~ born 1936

Travelers crossing the Lehigh Gap Bridge are treated to a view of the cascade of autumn color on display on the Kittatinny Ridge, also called Blue Mountain, on a beautiful October afternoon at Lehigh Gap.

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 National 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 Lehigh Gap Bridge was built in 1930 and rehabilitated in 1984, and spans the Lehigh River.

I Hear The Cottonwoods ...

“I hear the cottonwoods whisperin’ above

Tammy, Tammy, Tammy’s in love

The old hootie owl hootie-hoo’s to the dove

Tammy, Tammy, Tammy’s in love

Does my lover feel what I feel

When he comes near?

My heart beats so joyfully

You’d think he could hear

Wish I knew if he knew what I’m dreaming of

Tammy, Tammy, Tammy’s in love.

Whippoorwill, whippoorwill, you and I know

Tammy, Tammy, can’t let him go

The breeze from the bayou keeps murmuring low

Tammy, Tammy, you love him so

When the night is warm, soft and warm

I long for his charms

I’d sing like a violin

If I were in his arms

Wish I knew if he knew what I’m dreaming of

Tammy, Tammy, Tammy’s in love."

            ~    “Tammy”

    ~ recorded by Debbie Reynolds
 for the 1957 film “Tammy and the Bachelor”

   ~ music by Jay Livingston, lyrics by Ray Evans

I heard the cottonwoods whisperin’ above as a soft late October breeze and golden hour sunlight whisper through the balls of cotton-like fluff and seeds of an Eastern Cottonwood Tree as sunset approaches along the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail) at Lehigh Gap.

And, of course, it reminded me of the “Tammy” song!

The Eastern Cottonwood, also called a necklace poplar, is a cottonwood poplar native to North America.

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.