quarter mile short

Today was my walk from the Forks of the Delaware trail head to Wi Hit Tuk park, downstream in Williams Township.

When I looked it up on line it said it was 2.3 miles. When I arrived at the trail head the story was much different. The trail marker say 4.8. That's nearly 10 miles round trip. I'm not training for a half marathon!

I decided to head 45 minutes in one direction then turn around and come back.

Since I was alone I took a lot of pictures. It helped pass the time.

This section of the trail just reopened. It was hit hard with a storm a couple of years ago. I don't think it was Sandy. It was before.

Everything was lush and green and in the shade until I arrived at the reconstruction site.

Then it was sunny with little growth except for some weed trees. Reforestation will take time.  The water in the canal was clear and moving or stopped and green with alge. No middle ground.

There are many locks at the trail head. This one is on the actual trail. One of the places water was stopped.

When I first saw this hitching post I thought what a dumb place to camp. Canal on one side, incline on another. Then when I blew the cobwebs out of my head I realized that they lived on the boat. Duh. I'm guessing the boat was tied to the middle on the canal side. The horses to the rings on the trail side. The difference between water and trail was slight, so it would be easy to fetch water in buckets. They did look a little like horse shoes.

 I didn't realize at first that this was route 78. About 5 minutes before I had reached the 45 minute mark. Yes, I stopped a lot. Nobody to yell keep it moving! I decided to go to the bridge. Little did I know that Wi Hit Tuk park was .3 miles away.

Coming back I saw this piece of yellow metal hanging in the tree. I'm guessing it's from the same storm damage that washed out the trail. It's two ply metal, yellow, with holes along the bottom. Like perforation marks. It is stamped City of Easton in black paint. I'm thinking guard rail?

When I returned to the trail head, my car was no longer in the shade. It had gone. But the car next to me was. I should have chosen one spot in!

I wanted to know how close I was. Was this trail 2.3 or 4.8? So I took Rt 611 to the park. Exactly 2.3. Rte. 78 was at exactly the 2 mile mark. I should have gone further. I was so close. Damn it.