rail to trails

I spent the better part of the morning researching hiking/biking trails. It happens every once in a while. It's usually spurred on by a conversation, or seeing something that looks like a trail.

And that's exactly what happened this week. Twice.

My niece had gastric bypass surgery last week and her dad lives with her. He's not in the best of health,, and she couldn't lift more than 5 pounds. So she needed a team of people cooking for him, checking up on him, and doing basic daily tasks. I was part of the team. One of my jobs was finding sugar-free freeze pops. Walmart in Whitehall was about my 10th stop. So I called her from the lot and asked the easiest way to get to her place from there. She lives in "Northampton". Yeah, sure. She's west of the middle of nowhere.  As I was driving up 145, I saw a sign "IRT" and a path. Hmm, wonder if that means Ironton Rail Trail. Kind of forgot about it.

Yesterday I was driving up Weaversville road to head to her place and there was lots of bikes. Thought that was odd. Then, on the way home I saw the yellow bike crossing sign. My second hmmmm in five days.

So this morning I looked it up. The one crossing Weaversville road is part of the Nor-Bath Rail Trail. It's a straight line. Not sure how the parking is at each end.

The other was indeed the Ironton Rail Trail. It's shaped like a six. Again, I have to figure out where it goes and how long it is.

I also checked out the full trail thru Lehigh Parkway and Trexler park.

New places to explore. And since they are in wooded areas, maybe even a little cooler.

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Update on my niece: She lost  20 lbs the first week, and is back to having some foods and most of the restrictions have been lifted, so she doesn't need the "team" anymore.