franco farm recreation area | get out lehigh Valley

 I went to edit my original post, and I deleted it. Even Lazarus could save it. I'm typing it over. Clearly, the first one was better.

Yesterday it rained. And it poured. And then it rained cats and dogs. It was a yucky day. I decided I'd go on the Get Out Lehigh Valley walk if the rain was light. The only problem is when I arrived it got heavy. Oops.

Nine other people showed up at this Get Out Lehigh Valley event at Franco Farm Recreation Area in Salisbury. Two of them were the walk leaders—Christine and Noah.

I knew about this place, at least in the back of my mind. Rachel Dietz had her first wedding here. All I remember of that event is the large white tents.  I wish that I knew there were trails here, even if they are only a mile. It's very close to Bonnie's, off Honeysuckle Road, and we could have walked here many times during her recovery periods.

According to the email that came Friday "Franco Farm, a livestock farm since the early 19th century has been a park since 1993. This 83-acre park has several ball fields, and a charming pond with many loud, active red wing black birds."

 Our walk was on "wide, lawn-covered paths through the woods" and if it wasn't pouring we might have had "a spectacular view of downtown Allentown". South Mountain has a reputation for being a great re-fueling spot for migrating warblers at this time of year. We were hoping to see some yesterday. But didn't. The original instructions said to bring binoculars. Last week they saw an American Redstart, a Black and White warbler, and a pair of Common Yellow Throat warblers.

 Instead, we saw a lot of invasive plants in the meadow area including Russian Olive aka Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus Angustifolia) and Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica).  It makes me want to walk up to the old house and see if that was native honeysuckle or not.  We also saw trees wrapped in sticky paper. The sticky paper collects insects and then they go back and count the insects and the varieties. I often wondered how that was done.

When the walk was done, I was soaked. But I really didn't mind. I remembered at the last minute to take a picture of the sign.

Miles/Steps:  1.5 and I am being generous. That includes walking back and forth to the parking lot.
Bathrooms:   Didn't use. There was one, a handicapped port-o-potty
Wildlife:        None. It was pouring. Any animal or bird with a lick of common sense was trying to stay dry.
Weather:       Mid-50s, raining and pouring. I heard no "old men snoring".
$ Found:       None
Extras:          Christine, one of the walk leaders, used to live on Cherokee behind the Broadway Tavern. She even hiked at the FH Reservoir. Small world moment.