s'more walking (and eating)

 

Today was the first hike in the Get Out For Wellness program sponsored by the Wildlands Conservancy and LVH. It was held at Riverside Park in Palmerton. Well within the 45 minutes "before the roomie starts bitching about wasting gas" away.

I left an hour for travel. It took 35 minutes. I was really early. The event was advertised as

"Explore the Three Ponds at Lehigh Gap Nature Center with the option to add mileage in good weather. Beginning at Riverview Park, we’ll walk about 2.5 miles on easy terrain. When we return to the park, enjoy some gourmet s’mores!"

 

They had me at s'mores. I totally missed the part about gourmet. Thirty+ other people were tempted with s'mores as well.

I've walked this stretch of the D&L before and it is easy and flat. Never hear of Three Ponds. We walked about a mile on the D&L, past the new dog park, and into Lehigh Gap Nature Center property.

 

We continued a bit further and turned on the Three Pond Trail.  I almost didn't take the hiking stick I bought in Eagles Mere, but the email last night said "expect trails to be muddy". Where there is mud there is potential for Gayle to fall. (The last time I did this walk with the group here in 2020 I went splat taking a picture.) I was not taking chances. When we turned onto the trail I was happy I took it. This is where the "easy terrain" disappeared. It was rocks, roots, and hilly. Not steep hills but with all the mud not easy either.

The three ponds.

After circling the three ponds, we headed back to the D&L and back to the park for s'mores. The fire wastoo hot, It needed an hour. The first people back lit it. Therefore the marshmallows charred but didn't heat through, so the chocolate didn't melt.

These people watch too much Tic/Tok or spend too much time on Pinterest. The spread for the s'mores was intense. There was even a menu.

There were regular and chocolate stuffed marshmallows. Four kinds of chocolate including Hershey, caramel, sea salt milk, and dark. There were Resees', banana's, strawberries, pretzels, cookies, and I don't remember what was in the pink bag. Clearly they do this a lot because there were boxes that said s'more station, and little signs for under the items.

I didn't stick around. I made my very traditional s'more and took it to go.

Miles/Steps:    2.5 miles
Weather:          high 30s at start. Sunny.
Bathrooms:      L-3.5.
Extra:                In 2014 I developed the "bathroom scale". There is is L for Latrine/outhouse, I for indoor, and P for Port-o-potty. The toilets today technically would be an L. They were outdoors in a comfort station. No running water, but the toilets were composting. Do I need another category?