Trailing The Delaware In Winter ...

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.”

               ~ Charles Dickens

                       ~ 1812-1870

With the Delaware River to the left and the Delaware Canal to the right, walking the snowy trail along the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L) on a day filled with spring’s warmth in the waning days of winter paints a beautiful scene on an early March afternoon.

I captured this image after starting out from the Forks of the Delaware Trailhead at Delaware Canal State Park, Easton, Pennsylvania.

The trail is positioned between the Delaware River and Delaware Canal, which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978. The site possesses national significance in commemorating the history of the United States of America.

Running from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and Delaware rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.

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.