Climb That Mountain ...

“Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that … mountain.”

                       ~ Jack Kerouac

                            ~ 1922-1969

While walking on the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail) at Lehigh Gap on a late May evening, I looked across the Lehigh River and spotted this man hiking along the Kittatinny Ridge, also called Blue Mountain.

In the shadow of the Kittatinny Ridge, 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.

Happy Trails ...

“Happy trails to you, until we meet again.

Happy trails to you, keep smilin’ until then.

Who cares about the clouds when we’re together?

Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.

Happy trails to you, ‘till we meet again.

Some trails are happy ones,

Others are blue.

It’s the way you ride the trail that counts,

Here’s a happy one for you.

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.

Happy trails to you, keep smilin’ until then.

Who cares about the clouds when we’re together?

Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.

Happy trails to you, till me meet again.”

               “Happy Trails”

                     ~ by Dale Evans

  ~ theme song for the 1940s & 1950s
   radio program & the 1950s television show

        starring Roy Rogers & Dale Evans

It’s a tale – or perhaps tail – of the trail as this cute little dog enjoys autumn along the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail) riding on this man’s back as he pedals his bicycle through a beautiful October afternoon at Lehigh Gap.

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.

Night Ranger ...

“Everyone should believe in something. I believe I’ll go fishing.”

                      ~ Henry David Thoreau

                          ~ 1817-1862

The colorful sign of the nearby Ranger Rod & Gun Club (Ranger’s Lake), Coplay, Pennsylvania, stands out on an early October evening along the Ironton Rail Trail.

The Ironton Rail Trail loops more than nine miles through Whitehall Township, the Borough of Coplay and North Whitehall Township in Pennsylvania.

The Ironton Railroad was a shortline railroad in Lehigh County. Originally built in 1861 to haul iron ore and limestone to blast furnaces along the Lehigh River, traffic later shifted to carrying Portland Cement when local iron mining declined in the early 20^th century. Much of the railroad had already been abandoned when it became part of Conrail in 1976, and the last of its trackage was removed in 1984.

In 1996, Whitehall Township purchased 9.2 miles of the right-of-way from Conrail, transforming it into the Ironton Rail Trail.