Mad Orange Sunset ...

 “Meanwhile the sunsets are mad orange fools raging in the gloom....”

    ~ Jack Kerouac

        ~ 1922-1969

It’s a mad orange sunset as an early spring sundown in late March creates silhouetted beauty surrounding the rooftop observation area of Trexler Environmental Center.

The solar panels seen in the foreground provide a significant portion of the energy needs of the building.

Located in the Central Range of Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, the center is at one of the preserve’s highest elevations and one of the spots that offer spectacular views at the 1,100 acre preserve.

When the late General Harry Clay Trexler (1854-1933) 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.

Flares On The Water ...

“It’s almost impossible to watch a sunset and not dream.”

                 ~ Sir Bernard Williams

                     ~1929-2003

Early April shows off its flare for sunset over Grouse Hall Pond on a beautiful evening along the Ironton Rail Trail, which loops more than nine miles through Whitehall Township, the Borough of Coplay and North Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania.

The pond, the property of the Grouse Hall Fish and Game Association, Coplay, can be glimpsed from the trail.

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.

 

Beguiling Bluebells ...

“The bluebell is the sweetest flower

That waves in summer air

Its blossoms have the mightiest power

To soothe my spirits care.”

                   ~ “The Bluebell”

                         ~ Emily Bronte

                                ~ 1818-1848

                               ~ published 1846

The focus is on the beguiling bluebells blooming in early April near the banks of the Swabia Creek at Lock Ridge Park and Furnace Museum, Alburtis, Pennsylvania in this shot I captured on a beautiful spring afternoon.

The blooming of the multitude of Lock Ridge bluebells – also called grape hyacinth – is a clarion call of spring in the Lehigh Valley, drawing many people to photograph and glimpse their beauty in the span of the few weeks they bloom.

 

Lock Ridge Park is a park built around an historic iron ore blast furnace just outside Alburtis, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley. The park preserves portions of the former Lock Ridge Iron Works, which dates back to 1868. The 59-acre park was opened in August 1976.