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.

A Kittatinny Winter ...

“Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer.”

                       ~ John Muir

                               ~ 1838-1914

The view from the Bobolink Trail, just off the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail) at Lehigh Gap delivers a beautiful vista of both sides of the snow dusted Kittatiny Ridge, also called Blue Mountain, on a winter afternoon.

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.

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. The Bobolink Trail is named for the Bobolink, a representative of the migrant grassland bird species that the Lehigh Gap Nature Center hopes to attract to the refuge’s re-vegetated prairie grasslands.

Leave Nothing But Footprints ...

“Bring nothing but silence

Show nothing but grace

Seek nothing but shelter

From the great human race

Take nothing but pictures

Kill nothing but time

Leave nothing but footprints

To show you came by.”

                                    

            ~ “Nothing But”

               ~ words & music by John Kay

A portion of the Kittattiny Ridge, also called Blue Mountain, seamlessly slopes into the landscape on a serene summer evening at Lehigh Gap in this high contrast monochrome shot.

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 Trail (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, slightly seen at right, was built in 1930 and rehabilitated in 1984, and spans the Lehigh River.

This scene echoes the beautiful chorus of the John Kay song “Nothing But.” The words “Leave Nothing But Footprints” are often seen placed on hiking trails, and in fact can be seen along the Walnutport Canal Towpath Trail a few miles to the south.