three vans, three waterfalls, 200 stairs, and a golden buddha

 

Back in July the Pocono Environmental Education Center offered a waterfall tour at the Water Gap. I had hope to go, but things did not turn out the way I planned. A few weeks ago they posted it again. I clicked that I was interested and invited the teen and Angel. But I couldn't get tickets ... I called within 24 hours of the posting and they were already out.  About two weeks ago they called there was now room. Did I still want the tickets? I said yes. Angel confirmed that she and the teen could still come.

Meanwhile in Allentown Pam scored tickets for her family. Then Lisa scored hers. I think I knew half of the 11-person group. We should have taken a full group photo.

Before C19 they would have taken us in one or two vans. But now only 4 people could be in a 8-person van. We scored the red one. The naturalist told us the trail was "flat and easy". 

Our first two falls were at Dingman's Ferry. It was 9:15 on a Sunday morning and the lot was half-full when we arrived. The park would be packed by the time we left. Like all parks they are having an issue with overcrowding. Angel noted that few plates were from Pennsylvania. That is also a consistent issue.

We followed a road -- which surprised me -- to very stinky comfort stations and a restored chalet and it was uphill all the way. What happened to easy and flat? I guess compared to the rest of the Gap this was flat. But I'm awful on hills. At the beginning I was walking behind Angel and Eva and Pam was next to me. Soon everyone was very far ahead. It reached a point where I could no longer see anyone in front of me. Then I saw something. It was the teen. She came back for me. She probably did this 6 times thru the course of the hike. I know sometimes she drives them nuts, but Angel and Darrell did good with that kid.

This was the actual trailhead but it was closed off because of all the over crowding.  That's the real reason we had to walk in the road.

We then entered a more traditional path thru the woods which quickly turned into a boardwalk and our first falls -- the Silver Thread Falls.

Tall and thin, it cut thru the shale like a knife. And it really did look like a thread falling down the rocks. 

 

The boardwalk continued to Dingman's Ferry. The view from the base was nice, but I noticed some stairs. I thought maybe they went to the top. I was trying to get Angels attention when the naturalist announced there were stairs to go to the top. 

 

I counted them as I climbed. Angel added them. There was ± 200. I waited till the end of the group because I didn't want people stuck behind me. When did stairs get so hard? I love climbing stairs. I used to do stair climbs. If only I had my body from 10 years ago. (There is a certain irony that once I started exercising, my body fell apart.) In my next life I'm taking care of my knees. Halfway up the stairs the view was great. The top not so much.

I saw Angel standing on some rocks and climbed up. And then she was gone. I turned around and started coming back. Angel and Pam offered their hands. I said no. I did not want to crush them when I fell. Pam then offered her walking stick. I took that and with the two I managed to get down again. And Angel was gone again. This became a recurring theme. I was beginning to think it was me, but it turns out that her back/hip was bothering her and moving was better than standing. Either that or she was shape shifting in the woods. It was quick. My money is on shape shifting.

While we were at the falls the naturalist told us that many of the falls they go to on this hike are dry. I was beginning to think these were the only two that we'd see. When we returned to the parking lot they offered us another falls. We'd come back late if we went. We all said let's do it. Angel and I both tripped getting back in the van.

 

The second trail to Hornbeck Falls was much more rustic and had multiple bridges often made from fallen trees with rails. Again, the teen acted as my personal assistant. And damn I was grateful. It was uphill again, but not as bad as the first one. But still I lagged behind. The front group got to rest and when we caught up they started again. No break for us. These falls were wide and falling like a sheet of rain down a shear drop.

We turned around, and came back out and headed back to the vans and back to the PEEC. As we approached I asked if the dome was some sort of lights. It's actually a sculpture made from soda bottles and is a dandelion. They also had a giant chair that was low enough for me to get into.

The naturalist told us about another falls trail on their property that's supposed to have incredible views. There are also cabins to stay in if you want to explore more of the Gap. Yes please.  I want to look into renting a cabin so we can spend two days exploring in the area without the huge drive.

We drove on Route 209 to go to the Water Gap. Many things have changed. Many have not. One obvious difference is the giant gold Buddha at the old Fernwood Resort. It's now the Buddhist World Peace Center. Angel got this shot from a moving car. You can never get a red light when you want one. If I go this way again, I'll park across the street at the Wawa and get a proper picture.

We took Route 33 home and on to Route 22 and exited at 25th street. There was a commotion ahead at the old KMart. The Trumpsters were having a rally. They had signs about stopping Communism and Socialism, but none about Fascism. I think they need a new dictionary. Or maybe a history book. Driving to her house we played a new game. Which Republican president -- living, dead, convicted, disgraced -- would you vote for before you voted for Trump. The list was glorious.

Miles/Steps:    6.5 for both walks

Weather:         low 70s, sun and clouds 

PPE Found:      1 mask 

Bathrooms:     I-3.5 at PEEC

Wildlife:          1 blue heron

Extra:              I picked up Angel and the teen and we headed to Dunkin. It was the wrong one so we headed to a second one. Pulling out from DD1 I did not see the car coming. Angel shouts "car". I slam on the brakes just in time to see another car round the corner and head toward us. Not knowing what to do I just pulled out. It wasn't until then that I saw the first car. Thankfully nothing happened. Car 1 & 2 were probably cussing me out. I deserved it.

Extra:             I had barely gotten home and my knees were stiff. My thighs hurt. Driving just left everything relax and freeze up. I was willing myself to go take a shower and do a tick check when Pat says: "Are we going to do my exercises now?" WTF? And yes we did.

Photos:           Angel Ackerman, Pam Lott, Lisa Massey

aside from Tuesday, it was a no-walk week.

For awhile now I've had a really part-time job doing personal care assistance for someone in Allentown. She's my age, and has a host of issues. She will not recover. Actually, they told her she had 6 months to live three years ago. They miscalculated. Her next move will be to a body farm in Tennessee to have forensic scientist watch her decompose. She has no control over what they do to her.

I rarely work during the school year. But her husband works at Dorney Park during the summer, so I've been working a Saturday or Sunday two, maybe three times a month. Even if he is home, it gives him a chance to mow the lawn and get poop done.

They have two spoiled dogs. Benni, the big old man, and Holly, an 8-year-old spaniel of some sort. Holly is an attention whore. Benni only cares about you if you're in the bathroom. No cooking gets done without their supervision, and dropping things on the floor is expected.

And we cooked a lot this week. My Fitbit said I walked about 3000 steps each day. I should have had it on my arm. I was exhausted from all the cutting, chopping, and cooking. And trying to avoid dogs under my feet. She had so much food that was spoiling. I felt like it was the summer of 69 and Nana was on her pretzel can in the kitchen barking orders to all of us worker bee's. I even had the client peeling apples.

They don't have a compost bin so I ended up generating two tall kitchen bags full of organic waste.

They ate well this week. And a lot of food made it to the freezer for another day.  I am not so lucky.

We also tackled an exploding closet. Now there is room to spare. I needed a shower when I was done. But alas, only the client gets a shower.

Sometimes I'm dense. Things present themselves and I can't see what's really happening. Especially when I spend a week doing physical work. Remember I'm a desk job person.

Sunday Pat went out and came home with 3/4 of a Frosty and put it in the little freezer (on top of fridge.) Tuesday, when I came home from walking with Pam she tells me she had her Frosty for lunch, and it wasn't rock hard. It was Frosty consistency. (Hmmmm ... when I pulled the ice out of the trays for my water bottles they just dumped out... hmmm.)

Wednesday I go to make french toast. The milk was big time sour with lumps. I just bought it and the sell by date was 3 days out. Should be good for a week. I curse out the store.

It took till Thursday for my brain to kick in. I noticed that the fridge just isn't cold like normal. I put the oven thermometer in because it goes that low and went to work. I gave me no reading.

Friday I buy a fridge thermometer and stick it in. Three hours later I look and it is 60 degrees. Poop. The freezer is 40.

Thankfully the contents of little freezer is mostly frozen (by me) veg and things like french fries. All went into the compost/trash, Now instead of thinking about the money I just wasted, I had two thoughts.

1. OMG look at the food waste.

2. All that work for nothing. Thankfully I had so much left over from 19 that I didn't do any this year.

Coolers packed. I actually put the eggs and butter in the freezer compartment since it's the correct temp. (Which is now down to 32. I might need a plan B.) Fridge was 3/4 empty. Thank goodness I hadn't shopped.

I did not call a repair person. The fridge is well over 30 and is an energy hog. It runs constantly. Time for an upgrade. But guess what? The supply chain for appliances is also impacted by C19. Thankfully I wanted a bare bones basic old fashioned fridge. The fancy new ones have a 6-8 week wait.

 The new fridge arrives Wednesday.

hottest walk yet (29/44)

Today was supposed to be the first day of school. But because of C19 they cancelled fall break and delayed the start a week. We decided to do a longer, further away walk while we could.

Since Pam's daughter returned to Boston, we had to take two cars and meet at the southern parking lot. My GPS took me right there. Pam's took her to Washington Crossing State Park. But in Jersey. Oops. It was a comedy of errors getting the two f us connected. Then we needed to find the Pennsylvania visitor center. We needed a bathroom. But it wasn't open so we hiked to the comfort station.

Then it was off to New Hope. We probably searched for at least 15 minutes for free parking. There was none to be found. Thankfully Pam brought money. We parked and headed for the trail. We headed up Bridge street, and then climbed down the stairs for trail access. The canal was filled with a yellow water flower.

Quite quickly we reached a lock and lock tenders house. It wasn't open due to C19. This section of the trail is narrow and there was spots that were very sunny.

There is a large amount of a teen water plant with yellow flowers in this section of the canal. Other sections are filled with cat tails. Others are filled with stagnant water and duck weed.

There were several spillways on this section of the trail. A few that looked like draw bridges. One, near the outside edge of town looked much more complicated even as ruins. It turned out to be a split for the boats going to New York.

When we reached the Bowman's Tower entrance to the park we saw a sign that said soldiers graves. We went exploring ... the memorial cemetery where "an unknown number of Continental soldiers who died during the December 1776 encampment in Bucks County are buried.

Although no Americans were killed during the Crossing and the First Battle of Trenton, others did succumb to exposure, disease or previous injuries. James Moore, a 24-year-old artillery captain from Alexander Hamilton’s New York company of artillery, is the only veteran buried in this plot whose identity is known. .”

Remember "Miles of Mules"? It was a 2013 public art project designed to portray the history along the Delaware and Lehigh canals. A mule appeared on our route. S/he looks none the worse for ear.

We also came across this sign. I don't quite know what to make of it. I am, however, glad they preserved it.

As with the Morristown-Yardley section there were a lot of estates of very wealthy people. Many had waterfront landscaping.  Some were traditional. Others look like they were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright wannabes.  As we got closer to Washingtons Crossing we found this one which I am calling Seussical. There is nothing square about it.

There were a lot oof bikes on the trail, and quite a few were electric. My question is how is the person riding it getting any exercise? The were also a few runners and walkers. And also several fisher people. We think this young man caught a sunny. He was quite proud of it. Pam was impressed with how he pulled it out and unhooked it.

It's hard walking this section of the trail because there are no mile markers. You don't know how far you went or how far it is to go. You're walking mileage-blind. We did not see a single mile marker from New Hope to Washington Crossing. Finally we found this one. We were 100 feet from finishing. 

The end of the road. We made it back. The intense sun and humidity didn't kill us.

Then it was time for cold water and some food. Neither of us brought a sandwich. We brought finger food.

I thought I was taking 413/611 home but I was on 202 and the GPS told me to turn. I took a tour of Montgomery County farm country and was rewarded with a covered bridge.

The only reason to go this way is to stop at Owowocow. I was being handed my ice cream when Pam walked in the door. The GPS sent her an entirely different direction.

Miles/Steps:    Almost 9, that includes the ice cream stop and walks to the rest rooms. 

Weather:         93, sunny, humidbreeze 

PPE Found:      1 mask 

Bathrooms:     I-3.5 comfort station, 1-4.5 visitor center though the energy efficient toilets were three inches off the ground. I think I twisted my knee getting up. It hurts.

Wildlife:          Turtles were abundant and of various sizes. There were a lot of geese in one section. Fish. Heard bull frogs croaking. Ducks of various species.

walking with pat

 

 

Nearly every morning since my sister returned from rehab we go for a walk. The first day we barely made it to the corner and back. But slowly the length grows a little. We walk in our neighborhood, around stores during old lady hour, and twice now in other neighborhoods. One near Dr. Hart's office and the other near the DAR house.

Today we had nail appointments. Not one minute to soon. My toenails were so long that I sliced my big toe open walking on Tuesday. My sock was drenched in blood and my shoe was crunchy when I put it on again. I guess I should have rinsed it out.

Since we were in Easton I suggested we walk at the Palmer Mall. It has always been a low volume mall. People would go to Boscov's or Bon Ton and skip everything in between. We were greeted by this sign. So we made believe we were window shopping. Nothing was open yet at 10:45. What could they say. We did about half the mall. We entered at the center door, walked up the hall, turned left and went to Bon Ton and came back. She did not want to do the other half.

The rent-a-cop never said a word.

 

 

rita's has flights!

I go to Rita's Water Ice maybe twice a season. It was a regional company but as with everything else someone bought it, and then it was bought again and now they are all over like horse flies. Sadly, I still think of it as a local chain.

This was my first visit for 2020. The pandemic changes everything. I went after my walk. As with  the other restaurants Rita's now puts calories on the menu. I guess I need to call this lunch.

Normally People are packed against the window and I don't read the sign boards. I have no idea what the new cool thing is for the summer. I don't really care. I get a kid's size root beer or cherry. Period. I've often wanted to taste flavors, and they will give you a baby spoonful, but I never ask.

Today I was forced to stay behind the 6 foot line. I could read the entire board and there it was "ice flights". Flights, if you aren't aware are little samples of x-amount of flavors. Craft breweries have 6. Sometimes distillery tastings have them. I've never seen them for ice cream or water ice. I started studying the menu board.

If I was with someone I might have gotten three new flavors. Or maybe even four. But I chickened out. I got the root beer (brown) and cherry (red), The root beer tastes like a root beer Slurpee and the red tastes like maraschino cherries. Super sweet.

The yellow is mango pineapple. The pineapple overpowered the mango, but it was delicious and not super sweet. It might be my new favorite. Sorry root beer. The pink is passion fruit. It too was a bit tart. The flavor really wasn't too unique. It was good, just not memorable.

This tray of ice was heavy and only 30c more than the "large" ice. There was at least as much ice as the large. If not more. I ate two square and had to force the third one in. I picked at the cherry and ultimately threw it away. It was just too much.

I suggest getting some friends or family members together and buying a flight or two and sharing. I know, sharing isn't allowed during C19. But you have to sit in the car anyway. How can they stop you?

My friend Angel loves scoring free food with apps. Angel, Rita has an app.

the new neighbor has to go

Meet my new neighbor. I feel as though I am a open minded person and I embrace anyone that moves into the neighborhood. The more diversity the better. So far I've only campaigned to have the skunks relocated. They were living under my deck rent free. I just won't have that.

This neighbor must go and take the colony and the queen with him. Yesterday.

keeping it local

In today's Morning Call there was an article about improving the D&L in the Lehigh Valley. If you haven't seen it, click here. Their description of the unfinished part is a little exaggerated. There's only a short passage that you're walking on roads or on narrow trails. I think the rustic trail in Catty is quite nice.

Pam's daughter is home from college and do an internship and studying/taking graduate school exams. Pam had to monitor the house today because she was not allow to be disturbed by anything while taking this test. Everyone knows that's when the door bell or phone rings and the dogs want to go out. So we didn't do the D&L, we kept local and walked at Wildlands Conservancy in Emmaus.

The conservancy was quite busy today. Lots of moms, grandparents, and children. One of the other hikers told us that the Parkway was crazy busy. It's C19. Nobody wants to travel far and they think "outside" is safer. Sadly, few were wearing masks.

We took the Backyard Trail, always turning left until we found these stairs. We thought about going down, but they seemed to lead to a house. When we returned and looked at the map there was a parking lot down there.

This time we turned right and went past some teepees the camp kids built. There was a lot of storm damage. The frog pond had no frogs, and it was really low on water

. 

Like many other places there was evidence of gypsy moth activity. (Does gypsy get capitalized?) But this one was cool with the sun streaming thru it. We'll pretend that they aren't ruining the forest.

Some trails were one way because of storm damage, and maybe because of overcrowding, There's no way to tell.

Going to the Wildlands I saw this house. I made sure to stop and take the picture. This is America today in one house. One street. One borough. I wonder which one went up first. The one on the King side also have BLM signs in their window. Their sign says "Hate can­not dri­ve out hate; only love can do that."

**UPDATE 9/1:  These aren’t gypsy moths or tent caterpillars, both of which can kill trees. These are fall webworms, whose nest are ugly but almost never a real problem.

Miles/Steps:    About 2. Also walked around the perimeter of Target with Pat. We walk everyday. 

Weather:         77, sunny, breeze 

PPE Found:      1 mask 
Extra:              OMG I have a comment on a post. First time since July 21, 2018. And people have started reading my blog again. I'm starting to get hits. One day it was 12. Usually it's 2 or 3 or 5 but after months of 0 I'll take it.

mauch chunk (27/44)

After today we are thirty miles short of finishing the anthracite section of the D&L. By gosh I think we're going to do this.

I met Pam at her house and we took her husbands car to Weissport. There we were met by her sister-in-law who took us to the Glen Oko falls trailhead. Then we headed back, on foot, to Weissport.

The first section runs next to the railroad tracks. It was a fairly boring walk. It was sunny, yet shady. We also discovered that we had entered our final county when we saw this entering Carbon County sign. The other side does not say entering Luzerne County.  We have now finished Carbon, Northampton, and Lehigh Counties.

When we arrived in Jim Thorpe the sidewalk/trail was painted on the macadam in the parking lot. We crossed the railroad tracks and went into the train station. The excitement was building, I would finally get to cross the Mansion House Bridge. I've been waiting to do this since they broke ground maybe five years ago.

This is a hilly section of the trail. There are canal ruins on both the left and the right. Then it levels out. It's fairly shady and the canal in this area is dry. For a while you lose the river.

And then it returns.  And then it goes again

Pam counted 9 locks on this section of the trail. It makes sense. The canal is coming down/up the mountain. Some of the ruins looked like bridges. Most of the locks had wooden bridges over them so you could get close up and look at them.

There was also an observation tower. 

Once we reached Lehighton, the river turned and we kept going straight with the canal on our left. We knew we were close to the finish.

When we got to the parking lot, the first thing I do is pull off my sneakers. And my sock was covered in blood. I pulled it off and my foot was covered in blood. I dumped water on it before I took the picture. Thankfully my sock came clean. It turns out I had a long toenail that poked into the big toe. That's what made the mess.

Afterwards, we went for lunch at Pam's sister-in-laws. She lives in suburban Lehighton on the mountain on three acres. It was like we never left the trail. We social distanced and ate and walked the property, and it was lovely.

Miles/Steps:    6.5

Weather:         sunny, high 70s.
Wildlife:          Monarch & swallowtail butterflies, at least a gaggle of geese in Weissport, 1 white duck, about 6 American Black Ducks (what we thought was a wood duck), and these two friendly fellows. They were larger than the Mallards. And they looked soft. And friendly. They almost came right up to Pam and the other couple on the trail as they were taking pictures. Turns out they aren't wild. The appear to be male Khaki Campbell ducks and they are domestic, barnyard ducks. That's why they are large. They are food. Someone must have dumped them in the canal.

     At lunch we saw two cool bugs. One was a very large spider. I took a pic but you can't see him. The other was black with yellow spots.

Bathrooms:      I-4.5 at the train station. The soap was stinky.

PPE Found:      1 disponible, 1 reusable mask

manic monday

Today I planned on walking with Angel. The teen was a band camp. 

The plan was to drop her car off at Young's Volkswagon at 33 and Hecktown Road, then go down the street to Louise Moore Park. If the name sounds familiar, her husband also has a park in Easton. This was their home, Slate Post Farm, and donated to the county as a passive park in 1973. The road runs down the middle of it. So it's kind of like two parks instead of one.

I know where the car dealers are at this intersection. I thought there would be no issues. I found a half dozen others, but no VW. I finally pulled over and texted her. 

"I can't find the dealer. I see Buick, Ford, Brown Daub, AAA".

"You should have gone straight at the Hecktown Ramp"

"So I get back on 33 and get off at Target?"

"No. Let me think."

"Okay, I have it in Google Maps. Hopefully will be there is six minutes."

She then sends me a google map.

At the red light I texted her (yes, bad Gayle. Never do that.) I see it. Then I try to find her. I was within spitting distance. The dealer is not really on Hecktown Road, It's behind the Buick place and faces Rt. 33. She had sent me her location and I went there. No Angel. I text her again. (This time I was stopped.) And she tells me shes at the boulders on the road side. I get to the boulders but there's no way to get to the road. We finally give up and she walks to me. I DROVE RIGHT PAST HER.

It probably took 15 minutes to go that .3 miles. I finally pick her up and we head to the park. Basically I had to go around the Buick place and look for the driveway. We parked and headed in.

The park was fairly busy. I usually come here when it's sunny, but today there was nice breaks of shade. We walked both the outer loop and the inner loop while we listen to the hum of giant lawn mowing machines. I can't tell you the last time I walked the inner loop. We usually walk the outer loop because that's where the fitness toys are.

Angel called the dealer when we were done and the car was ready. We headed back to the dealer. I turn onto Hecktown road, I see a road and say to Angel, is this it, she says yes as we both realize that we got on the highway. We decided it was natures way of telling us to go to Dunkin. So we did.

I wanted to take the back way home, but coming out of Dunkin I made a wrong turn. I decided to follow it. That's how I learn new routes. It took me to Greenwood which is exactly what I wanted. I turned. But I picked the wrong direction. Now there are two adults with GPS in the car, do you think we'd use them? Nope. We ended up back at Dunkin. We made a giant circle.

I headed up 25th street to Park Avenue and made the turn to go back up to Hecktown road. We might waste a lot of time and gas but there's never a dull moment. And it's always more of an adventure when Zoom is not involved.

Angel's take.

Miles/Steps:    5500 steps

Weather:         high 70s, sunny.
Wildlife:          swallowtails.

where are we? 24/44

 

Well we are officially at the halfway mark for walking the D&L. At least as far as trailheads go. I haven no idea how many miles we've walked.

Today's walk was in Morrisville, Pennsylvania heading north to the Yardley trailhead and ending at the lower end of Washington's Crossing park. Crossing the park is another four miles. Then it's another 5 to New Hope. That will be another long walk. The D&L website still had the warnings up about storm damage. We saw very little. Yardley to Washington Crossing was muddier than the first section. And there was evidence of tree's that came down.

I was sure this wasn't going to happen today. We drove thru a hell of a downpour on the turnpike to get there. But it cleared up. It was humid, and mostly cloudy but it never rained. At the end we were still drenched ... with sweat.

We began at Morrisville and quickly discovered closed bathrooms. It was 4.2 miles to Yardley. This section of the trail is between a hillside of wealthy people houses, the canal, marshland and the river. At times the highway was on our left and at others on our right.

Looking at rich people houses was fun, and the set ups they had for canoeing and fishing in the canal. But since the storm the canal had a layer of something on it. It reminded me of anti-freeze more than oil. Quite gross. Regardless, wildlife was abundant.

We were walking and walking and saw only two of those slate mile markers in the ground. And then nothing, We passed four locks an two aqueducts and had no idea where we were. This section of the trail has no mile markers. It also has no signs marking what lock you are at. We had no clues how far we walked or where we were at. It was confusing. 

Pam's daughter -- who is visiting her boyfriends family in Yardley -- was picking us up and texted around noon. Where are you? What time should I come. We couldn't tell her anything because we didn't know. And ha no signal to open up a phone map. We stopped at a log so Pam could fix her shoe. Thankfully she had picked up a paper map and while she attended to her shoe, I we could determine that we were almost at Washington Crossing.

There was no trailhead marker in Yardley or Washington Crossing. At least not on the trail. When we arrived we called and picked us up. First stop. The visitor center bathroom. We've been waiting four hours.

Miles/Steps:    9

Weather:         humid, mostly cloudy, 80.
Wildlife:          4 geese, monarch & swallowtail butterflies, 3 blue heron, 6 little wood (?) ducks, mallard couples, heard a lot of bull frogs croaking in the marshland, 3 large turtles, a very thin doe.

Bathrooms:      Morrisville closed for Covid. Visitor center I-4.5