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.

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.

Red-Tailed Winter ...

“Be inspired by your journeys traveled, and the ones yet to come.”

                ~ Sam Clark

A red-tailed hawk strikes a majestic pose against bright blue skies on a blustery December afternoon at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.