saucon valley rail trail

Lydia sitting on a throne made from a tree stump.

Today Lydia and I did 10.5 miles on the Saucon Valley Rail Trail. Basically we walked from Hellertown to Southern Lehigh and back.

I've never walked the whole thing. Some things I noticed. When you change towns, the stripe color on the posts changes. Full mile posts are tall. Half mile on a little shorter. And quarter miles posts are short.

New things—the Hellertown section now has interpretive signs to read. The Lower Saucon section had a small lot and a port-o-potty. Now it has a large lot, picnic tables, and two port-o-potties. The Upper Saucon section has dog poop bags, recycle bins and trash cans. Overall, great improvements. There are also benches now along of of the trail.

 Railroad spikes and other debris, as yard art, on the trail.

Lydia did well the first half. Then the cramps kicked in. Then some odd hip pain. I knew she was in trouble. She only spoke when spoken too. That's not her. We got to the lot and I said, "if I knew where this was I'd pick you up". It turns out it was off Bingen Road.

Then I said "When we get to Meadow Road, you can wait and I'll walk back and get the car".

"At Meadow Road, we'll only be a mile away from the car. I'm not giving up". Secretly I was doing a happy dance. The old Lydia would not have said that. Not only did she not give up, but she went to the farmers market with me afterwards.

We always find butterflies on these walks. Lydia says they are her mom watching out for her. I guess there are a lot worse things to be reincarnated as.

Also a fawn near Meadow Road.

Thursday we leave for Erie. The half is on Saturday. Normal length walks resume after the half.