golv--woodland hills preserve.

This is the third time I've been to this preserve. It looks less and less like a golf course each time.

I first went in May of 2016. It still had signs from it's former life as a golf course. The second time I went it was hotter than Hell. Everything was dead and it still looked like an overgrown golf course.

Not so much this time. And there was probably only a dozen people. I guess the cold kept them away.

This nature preserve is the former Woodland Hills golf course. The preserve was pretty much created by letting everything go fallow, and letting nature reclaim it. It's going to be cool in 10 years. Yesterday, you could not tell the rough from the fairway or the turf. Heck, you'd be hard pressed to find the hole. (Someone found a ball!) But some old signs remain. Ones I had seen before are gone, or mostly gone.

Some of the men in the group played golf here when you could, and they explained why there were rows of pine trees.  That shows the old fairways. It basically divided off the golf course in a serpentine fashion. Many, of course, have fallen.

There are two paths—blue trail at 1.1 miles, and green trail at 2.4 miles. So together one can do a bit more than a 5K.  The old plastic tie trail markers have been replaced with 4x4s with blue or green tops. The weeds have filled in a lot, small trees are growing, and the trails are much easier to see. No getting lost this time.

I always thought golf course were relatively flat. No. There was some serious hill happening. We started at the small gravel parking lot and headed left on the trail. (I've always gone right, which I guess means downhill.) Fairly quickly we spotted some trees that the male deers had been using for rutting rubs, and some invasive grasses.

When we reached the former club house we were told that it is now the Baps Swaminarayan Hindu Temple. I didn't know that the Lehigh Valley had two Hindu Temples. Learn something new each day.

As seen in my only picture (phone dead), the trail takes you to all the water hazards from the golf course. They were frozen over. So was the grass at many places was frozen. If you look closely, you can see a huge hornets nest in the center, right above the water.

Today I'll be making Pakistani food with my international students. My brother Dave and his wife are coming to learn to cook it too. I fear it will be hot.

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PS -- Still haven't bought a FitBit. Do I miss it because I'm addicted to it? I don't think so. I think I just like to know how much I did, or didn't do. If I find a "One" for sale somewhere, I will probably buy it.