The River Wild ...

“Roll forth, my song, like the rushing river.”

             ~ James Clarence Mangan

                  ~ 1803-1849 

The rushing winter rapids of the Lehigh River come to a beautiful crescendo on a January afternoon at Lehigh Gap 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 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.

Where The Peaceful Waters Flow ...

“Peace came as suddenly today as came the storm a day ago.

My soul was drenched in wind and rain, frozen in fear that fell like snow.

Then all was still.

Had someone prayed?

I do not know.”

                      ~ “After The Storm”

                          ~ Ruth Bell Graham

                                  ~ 1920-2007

The peace is palpable as cascading waters flow like silk down the Kittatinny Ridge on a beautiful spring afternoon. I shot this long exposure capture in late May at Lehigh Gap 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 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.

And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind ...

“Listen easy, you can hear God calling

Walking barefoot by the stream …

And the time will be our time

And the grass won’t pay no mind …

The moment we’re living is now

Now now now now now now now…

And the time will be our time

And the grass won’t pay no mind

No the grass won’t pay no mind.”

~ “And The Grass Won’t Pay No Mind”

~ Words & Music by Neil Diamond

~ recorded by the great Elvis Presley

      ~ 1969

And the grass won’t pay no mind on a sweet and warm late spring evening as the light of sunset filters through the lush, tall grass with a tranquil hush in early June at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Spring's Picture Window ...

“To me, every hour of the day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle.”

                   ~ Walt Whitman

                          ~ 1819-1892

A window in the historic Bogert’s Covered Bridge in Lehigh Parkway, Allentown, Pennsylvania, perfectly frames the sweetness of spring on a beautiful May evening as the Little Lehigh Creek flows gently beneath the bridge.

Bogert’s Covered Bridge spans 145 feet over the Little Lehigh Creek.

Built in 1841, its history traces back to the mid-1700s when the Bogert family moved into a log cabin next to the future site of the bridge. It is the oldest covered bridge in Lehigh County and among the oldest in the country. It is open only to pedestrian and bicycle traffic, as well as the occasional rider on horseback.

Bogert’s Covered Bridge is a wooden Burr Truss bridge with vertical plank siding and a gable roof. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.