Simply Red ...

“All good things are wild and free.”

             ~ Henry David Thoreau

                    ~ 1817-1862

A beautiful red fox pauses to pose in the snow at Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, on a beautiful afternoon in early March.

I spotted this fox in the area where elk live as a herd on the hillsides of the 1,100-acre preserve’s Central Range.

When the late General Harry C. Trexler established the preserve in the early 1900s, he did it to save the American bison, elk and white-tailed deer from extinction and assure the species’ survival.

A conservationist along the lines of Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir, General Trexler understood the importance of nature and preserving wildlife in its natural habitat.

A successful businessman who amassed a fortune in the timber and cement industries and founded the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company, General Trexler began purchasing small farms in the low hills of Lehigh County in 1906. By 1913, he had transported eight bison and 20 Virginia white-tailed deer to the preserve. The elk followed soon after.

When General Trexler died in 1933, he bequeathed the property to the residents of Lehigh County. Today, the Trexler Nature Preserve is open to the public for passive recreation and nature watching.

Snow Covered ...

“What, I sometimes wonder, would it be like if I lived in a country where winter is a matter of a few chilly days and a few weeks’ rain; where the sun is never far away, and the flowers bloom all year long?”

    ~ Anna Neagle

       ~ 1904-1986

Dame Florence Marjorie Wilcox, DBE (Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) known professionally as Anna Neagle, was a popular English stage and film actress, singer and dancer.

The snow covered Geiger’s Covered Bridge paints a peaceful late winter scene on an early March day.

Geiger’s Covered Bridge is an historic wooden covered bridge in North Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania. It is a 112-foot-long Burr Truss bridge, constructed in 1860. It has vertical plank siding and an entry portal of stepped square planks. It crosses the Jordan Creek and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It can be accessed from The Covered Bridge Trail of the Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania.

And A Road Runs Through It ...

“Nothing behind me,

Everything ahead of me,

As is ever so on the road.”

       ~ Jack Kerouac

             ~ 1922-1969

              ~ “On The Road”

                       ~ 1957

Standing near the Lehigh Valley Zoo at Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania offers a beautiful late winter vista overlooking the historic Schlicher Covered Bridge in North Whitehall Township.

Game Preserve Road runs through the bridge, painting a picturesque rural landscape on a March afternoon.

Schlicher’s is an historic wooden covered bridge. It is a 108-foot-long, Burr Truss bridge that crosses the Jordan Creek and was constructed in 1882. It has vertical plank siding and a gable roof. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and was closed for a time for needed renovations.