hidden neighborhood gem

Yesterday Lydia wanted to walk. I didn't want to drive. So we picked Dodson Street Park in Fountain Hill. Or is that Salisbury. Who knows.

Until December I didn't even know that this park existed. As a child, Dodson Street ended with woods. Those woods extend behind the cemetery and the hospital. In the woods behind the hospital are the ruins of a holistic water cure facility in the 19th-century. Back there also is the Fountain Hill Reservoir, but the park closed decades ago. We picnicked there as kids. I broke my collarbone there.  It's been on lockdown since just after September 11th, 2001. (Really, there is a huge sign that say No Trespassing Federal Critical Infrastructure Area.)

It turns out that Dodson Street Park is a trailhead for Walking Purchase Park. I knew where Walking Purchase Park was. And the part I knew about its mostly for bikers. Bonnie and I climbed that hill a couple of times. Again, I had no idea they two were joined. Some days you should just explore the 'hood. A friend was always looking for a place to walk Vivi when they lived in town. This would have been perfect.

I was going to pick her up around noon and head out. But first I needed to download the trail map and Map My Walk ... I was headed into unfamiliar territory. I wanted to be able to get back to the car. Or the hospital. Or the river. Anywhere I knew where I was.

When you arrive at the park it looks like Athletic Fields. There is no signage that talks about trails. Oddly there are no bathrooms either. Maybe during the summer when the teams are playing they bring some in.

Because I had my trusty map I knew if we headed east toward the hospital we would find the yellow "super delight" trail.  This area was really well marked and it loops back. I'm guessing this is where parents hike while their children are playing sports. How many soccer matches can you watch in a week?

Trees had fallen in the storms this winter. The trails hadn't been cleaned up yet. However, the trails are actually very well maintained. The trees fall and they chain saw and opening in them to walk or bike thru.

It was really windy and the trees were all creeking. Actually it sounded like small animals screaming. It was not peaceful.

As we got deeper into the woods it was not as well marked as I would like, but we never got lost. We even found a painted rock that we moved elsewhere.  I said to Lydia, what does the double marker mean? She didn't know. We figured it pretty quickly. The red "Lenni" trail was meeting us. We took that trail and continued heading east. From the map I thought it looked like that is where the lookout was.

We were pretty much walking along on near the ridge line. On the red trail we started going downhill. Ut oh. That means coming back would be uphill. It started to get a lot more rocky as well. 

Finally, we found the orange "roller toaster" trail, which would take us to what I thought was the lookout. (Why do they always put orange and red together. They look alike! If it didn't have words we would have been screwed.)

We finally get to what I thought was the lookout and all you could see was Reeb Millwork. We went down a little further and the tree cover was still pretty thick. If you stare hard you can see the river. So we turned around and headed back.

Today, I found out that the lookout is actually on the red trail. It's created by the powerline.  If we would have stayed on red we would have found it. Next time. Maybe I'll bring the girls here. Or Angel's family. We'll explore together.

52-week hike challenge:  9/52 
Miles/Steps:                     3.68 miles
Bathrooms:                      none
Wildlife:                            A flock of birds, but they flew so fast I couldn't see what they were. The underside of the tails were white.
Weather:                          34°, cold, very windy. Extra:                               It was also the first big test of my phone battery strength since it was replaced a month ago.  (100% charge was lasting about 100 minutes if I took no photos.) It would always crap out about half-way thru a hike. When we returned to the car, much to my surprise, (1 hour and 37 minutes later, running Map My Walk the entire time) I was still at 89%. Whoo Hoo.  

walking purchase park

Bonnie came before her tax appointment to walk 3-5 miles.  I wanted to do hills to build my stamina for the 100K.  So we headed up Bishopthorpe, then Graham into Salisbury. When we reached the top of the hill I had planned to go down one block and come back Jeter, then down Dodson and cross Broadway and up Dorothy.

Bonnie said, where does that street go. I said Walking Purchase Park, and before you knew it we headed down there. All the way down to the river and the railroad tracks. Then we had to come back up one heck of a hill.

So we changed the walk and went down Dotson, out Smiley/Stanley, down Lynn, across Broadway and home. It came out to 5 miles, and Bonnie was late for her tax appointment. Oops.

That walk, in addition to my walk with Sharon this morning, added an additional 165 minutes to my Idita-Walk total. I'm at 902 miles. Won't finish this weekend, unless I double walk again tomorrow. If I would have walked with Betsy Friday, I would have made it.

Wonder what the weather is like in Nome? Hope they are having a mild winter too.

Tomorrow we'll be doing another 3-5 miles.

fitness friday — august walks

 The email went out late. So late that I didn't even include tomorrow.

Welcome to August. I've been going out before work at 6:30 am and it's still hot! Thankfully it has cooled off a bit, for now. But it's Musikfest week so you all know what that means—HHH—hazy hot and humid.

This schedule is a little more varied than previous ones. Hopefully there is something for everyone. All should be stroller friendly.

Let me know if you like earlier or later times. I picked 9 am because it seems to work with most people.

August 9 -- 9 am. We gotta get away from Musikfest. I suggest the Ironton Rail Trail. Close, and out of traffic. We can go on the spur or the loop. The spur is about 2.5 miles. The loop is a 5 mile circle. We can do all or part. It's paved and nice. The spur is gravel. The newer sections might be paved.

August 15 --  Still avoiding MF. We'll meet at my house in South Bethlehem (ask for directions) at 9, and walk to Walking Purchase Park in Salisbury. There is a long steep hill coming back. If you hate hills this is not the walk for you.

August 16 -- 9 am. Forks of the Delaware park (Rt. 611), Easton. We'll walk toward Wh-Hit-Tuck County Park. It's about 2.25 miles, so we'll go round trip.

August 22 -- the Country Run 5K race at Lehigh. It was free. Always a good price. It's been a long time since I've done a 5K. Hopefully I don't finish last.
( http://tinyurl.com/q2mlovj)
     Also, My 11-year old friend is doing her GS Bronze project at the Mary Meuser Library in Wilson. 9-Noon. Me, I'll be helping Friday.

August 23 --9 a.m. West Bethlehem. About a 4 mile loop. There will be hills. It's Bethlehem. Meet under the Hill to Hill bridge on Lehigh Street (Festplatz).

August 29-- Lake Nockamixon. This is a Volkssport walk and registration begins at 9:30. There is a pot luck picnic at 12:30. A great introduction to volkssport walking. Well, the 10k is more of a hike. Two routes to pick from. A 5K on a bicycle trail, paved, or a 10K through the woods on rough terrain. I'm not sure which I'm doing. Registration is at the pavilion at Paking Lot 1. I can send you the brochure if you need it.

August 30 -- Scavanger hunt. If we have enough people we'll break into two teams. Meet in front of the Hotel Bethlehem at 9 am.

Sept. 5-- Volkssport walk, south Bethlehem, 10 am. Another great introduction to volkssport walking. Plus, you get to see, and maybe even explore, the new Hoover Mason Trestle elevated park.

Stay cool. Stay hydrated. Keep walking.

Gayle

may days #28 -- outdoor adventure: forest bathing

A couple of days ago I received an email from Angel -- she's off all week on vacation -- asking if I wanted to do something socially distanced this week. Of course. I was in charge of picking the adventure. Poop. I have a running list of places and things I'd like to try but most aren't open and can't be done socially distanced.

By Tuesday I was actively searching google and other places trying to get ideas. Some of my searches included fun outside activities during self isolation. Most of the usual subjects appeared. Then one mentioned forest bathing. I am not getting naked and bathing in the forest.

Later that day, I was looking at the agenda for a conference I have Friday (via Zoom) and one of the workshops was forest bathing. Okay. Now I am interested. What the hell is forest bathing?  "Forest bathing, or shinrin-yoku, is simply spending time outdoors under the canopy of trees. In Japanese, “shinrin” means forest and “yoku” means bath, or immersing oneself in the forest and soaking in the atmosphere through the senses.  

Basically its meditation in the forest. You find a spot and then turn off the phone, and your brain, and listen to the wind and the rain and the animals and the whatever else is there. If you decide to keep moving, you walk very slow. You notice everything.  You pretty much leave the forest take over. Some of the articles I read said you should practice regularly, and work up to a full two hours. Wowzers. I can't be still for five minutes.

Angel and the teen came to my house after lunch and we went up to Dodson Park in Fountain Hill. The trails are part of Lehigh Counties Walking Purchase Park and are mostly used for mountain biking. I decided to take the yellow "Dodson" trail, and then the red "Beeches" trail. But when we found the red trail it was the "Lenni" trail. We thought they just changed the name, the map was from 2009. 

The Lenni trail was above the red "Beeches" trail, so when we reached the Powerline trail they didn't see the giant rock formation. They also didn't see the one on the trail. The teen loves rocks and I really wanted to show her the formations. Anyone who knows Mosey Wood think Jacob's Ladder.

On this trail fallen trees were turned into bike obstacles.  The teen did them all. I got all full of myself and tried but the decline at the end of one was steep and I took a flyer off the tree. Landed flat on my stomach. At least it wasn't my knee. I had lots of padding. But that fall didn't stop me from doing the second one. Though this time the teen was close by with a hand, just in case.

It was here that we chose our spots for forest bathing. This is Angel's spot.

This is the teen's spot. I kept walking very slowly. But before I silenced my phone I set the timer for 15 minutes. It was a long 15 minutes. I can't quiet my mind. The stiller my mind became the more I noticed invasive plants and the sheer quantity of them. I also saw litter. But on the upside I could probably hear 20 different birds instead of the usual four or five.

The others could have probably spent an hour.

It was very humid for May and it showered several times. We really didn't get wet because the canopy was so thick. When we returned to the power line, the teen voted to go up. It's a hard hill to walk up, but at least now it's covered with dirt. It's not the huge rocks when Isha and her friends went with me. 

After finishing the walk I drove them to the other end of the park so they could see the steep hill and the turnaround point. Someday I'll walk that side of the trail.

 

Miles/Steps:    2.5

Bathrooms:      removed for C19
Wildlife:           Heard 4 different woodpeckers. Chipmunks. two frogs. Lots of different bird calls
Weather:          70, overcast, showers

Extra:               The May flowers are still not blooming. The wine berries are budding.

Extra 2:            I have done my sister's rehab chair exercises every day since she finally started doing them. 

the rain held off

Yesterday Pam, her friend Lisa, and I hiked around the Dodson Street park. Pam and I hike a lot. Pam also bikes a lot with her family. So for us it wasn't out of the ordinary. But for Lisa--who usually does a loop with her friend in the neighborhood--it was a totally different experience.

Like Pam, Lisa is a photographer. They met while working as photogs at the Bethlehem Globe Times. Lisa only had her phone with her but she was snapping away -- curled bar, moss, tree formations, fungus...you get the idea. After she edits she'll send me the photos and I'll post them here. I'm sure this blog will look like the pages of National Geographic...iPhone edition.

We decided to drive to the park. We took the yellow trail to the red trail, carefully avoiding getting on the orange.  We stopped at the power line lookout and watched the trains and cars, then headed deeper into the woods to the large outcropping. Since I had never gone further than that we turned and came back.

When we reached the yellow trail we took the other side of the loop and became confused at one point. One of the markers must have fallen in the winter. I knew we were close, we were at the top of the tree canopy and could see the light of the athletic fields. We doubled back and found the next rail marker and returned to the car.

Driving home, we went to Walking Purchase park which now has a sign! We found where the red trail came out, so maybe one day we'll park there and head into the woods from that direction.

What adventure does next Wednesday hold? Stay tuned ...

52-hike challenge: 21/52 
Miles/Steps:   3.3 or 3.85 depends on which fitbit you looked at 
Weather:        71 and overcast when we left.  HUMID
Wildlife:          Heard lots of birds.

people have bad taste in tattoos.

 Today I had scheduled a walk to Walking Purchase park. As has been the case the last 6 weeks or so. Nobody came. Shocking, huh? Since the meeting place was my house, I at least didn't have to drive to walk alone. Actually, I just walked in the hood.

This afternoon I went to Slide The City. It was a giant slip and slide down the Ott street hill. It turns out Lydia was registered also.

They gave us an inner tube. I couldn't blow it up. I thought maybe I had weak lungs, but few people were having success. Thank goodness there was someone with an air pump. The line was only about 12 people, but it took a good half hour. Each person had multiple tubes.

The lines everywhere were long. The slide was at the top of the hill. The line went all the way up the hill, and the part way down. The up was a good half hour, the down maybe 10 minutes. The actual ride, maybe a minute.

I had a three ride pass (it was free) but it wasn't worth the wait to go again. The sun was hot and there was no shade anywhere. I remember why I don't go to water or amusement parks. That fun to wait ratio is way out of whack.

I had a good time. If it was a 15 minute line I would have done it the last two time. Lyd is recovering from a migrane, and had a panic attack at the top. She did not have fun.

Standing in line that long gives you a lot of time to people watch. (And be judgmental and snarky.) Especially somewhere where people are mostly naked. I saw a lot of really bad tattoos today. The worse were the collections that didn't even go together. Body art can be beautiful. But for the most part, this wasn't.

There is also a point where the bikini needs to be replaced by a two-piece. Just saying. If your muffin top is hanging over the bikini bottom, you need more fabric. You'll look sexier too. That's important standing almost naked out on Ott street.

Me, I wore that "stained glass" top I got for the Biggest Loser Half, and the shorts I bought for my nieces pole dancing studio workshop. As covered as possible.

I also wore my new pink water shoes I got at 5 Below. With all the walking I did I understand why I spent much more on my old ones that died last year. They were about 10. These had not even a hint of support. And when I pulled my feet out the innersole came with it. Clearly a case of you get what you  pay for.  But I need them once, twice a year. They'll be fine.

Tomorrow I'm walking form the Forks of the Delaware to Wy Hit Tuk Park and back. Lydia might come. But I won't let myself count on it.

51.32 personal best

Bonnie and I did the Alburtis 5K today in 51.32. A personal best.

The hills were not steep but relentless. The weather was beautiful. Our split times were 16.08/32.38 and Bonnie stopped to take pictures of the lockridge furnace and the guy planning the trombone.

We arrived at the pool in time to see the childrens 1K fun run. Some were tiny, maybe 2 or 3. Others were maybe 10-12. They were so cute. Ferrous, the giraffe neck pig mascot from the Iron Pigs greeted them at the finish line and gave them high fives.

Then it was our turn.

Ferrous lead the race, but he dropped off in 20 steps. He would have been trampled! Then we headed into Alburtis. From what I saw it's a cute town. We then headed into Lock Ridge park. The race always goes thru the park, but the bridge was out, so we had to do the park twice. At the park we were greeted by a man playing a trumpet and little boy scouts handed out water. Later there was another man, on the opposite side of the park playing a trumpet. Why? I have no idea, but it was fun.

Bonnie took the pictures with her phone. They aren't half bad. Don't know how well they will print. There was someone taking pixs at the 2 mile mark. Hopefully they will be available for download or purchase. I saw the camera guy and said to Bonnie heads up, boobs out, shoulders back. If they are taking pix I want to look my best.

We got back too late to go to T'ai Chi.  ):

Last night I signed up for the kidney walk, and started to beg for donations for the Avon walk on my FB page. Deana, a fellow, raised half her money doing that in a week. Beth raised all of hers last year doing that. We'll see what develops.

Oh, I'll be walking over to Musikfest shortly

a pretty good week.

It's been a pretty good walking week. I made my goals every day but Friday.My phone makes quite the fuss when you hit all 5 goals.

I think I stayed on the South side and Fountain Hill Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday I tried several attempts at Geocaching. I am now 2/10. Pathetic record. The one I found was a "virtual" one at the Steel Workers Memorial. You found "Filmore Street", then faced the same direction and counted to 23 to find the correct brick. Then you emailed the person. I met another geocacher there, and he asked me if I was having fun. No. He did tell me it's harder to do with a phone. But I am not buying a $300 GPS.

He also helped me find Daddy's brick. He then hiked over to Sand Island in search of more caches. He couldn't pick up his daughter at Lehigh till 4.

I forgot that I was going to walk to my Vinyl Cutting class at the Fab Lab. It was on my way to that class that I found this phone booth.

I did not find the one on the HMT, 2nd Street, PBS or any other place down at Steel Stacks. I decided to purchase the 3-month membership. If I don't get the hang of it by then, I will stop. It does distract me while walking, which is good.

They were pouring side walks and the plaza at the new museum. It should be opening soon. They were even moving stuff inside.

I can't remember where I walked at all on Wednesday. Clueless. It must have been the hood. Otherwise it would have been memorable.

Thursday, I walked at Monocacy Park, looking for Geocaches. Found the stinging nettles instead. I walked around the wood trail, and the loop in the park. The bridge over the waterfall now has "love locks". Clearly people thing they are in Paris at Point des Arts.  I came up short that day, so I walked again in the evening around the hood.

Friday, my good week crashed and burnt. I had appointments in the morning, and then at 1 met up with my former exchange student Belinda. She was in town for the class reunion. We sat here and talked for four hours. The restaurant didn't throw us out. I did do a quick walk in the evening. In fall she'll be in Ireland, Poland or South Africa for med school. Probably won't see her until the 10th reunion.

On the way home I picked up my niece and she stayed the night. We took a short walk before it was pitch black out.

a different kind of mall walking.

I want to purchase a copy of the Mid-Atlantic AT Trail Guide. Sure the info is online, but there is no internet surface in the woods. If I was ever in trouble I don't know how they'd find me. No thanks, I want paper.

There is an LLBean at the Promenade Lifestyle Center. I decided that I'd go to LLBean and then walk the perimeter of the mall. It's a mile loop. Maybe do it two or three times. Instead I did the perimeter and half way went into Bean.  No books. Then walked another quarter and went into Barnes and Noble. No trail guides. Guess I have to shop online. Finished my first circle and then I decided to walk out the center Main street and up and down the other streets, one side at a time. I was hot and sweaty when I finished so I went into the spray park with the kids.

 

Thursday I walked around the hood including the Fountain Hill recreation trail. I took it uphill. Yesterday I went to a workshop and didn't walk at all. 

Miles/Steps:  About 3
Bathrooms:   None used
Wildlife:        When I was doing the back side of the outside loop there were a lot of birds.
Weather:      Sunny, hot, upper-80s, not as humid       
Extras:          The security person at the splash park asked which kid was mine. None. 

chasing big red balls

This weekend is the Southside Arts and Music Festival. It used to be called Spring on 4th and What's on 3rd and featured a chili cookoff. The chili cookoff is still part of the festival, but now you buy a pass for 10 samples, instead of getting unlimited samples.

It all began on Wednesday with the ball jammed in between the Sun Inn and the building next door. I was on my way to school and couldn't stop. Sharon attempted to take a picture, but failed.

Thursday was the day for the Bethlehem-South walk with the Liberty Bell Wanderers. I couldn't go because I had classes. But between classes (and schools) I stopped at Farrington Square and took the photo. And who do I meet? The walking group. I had a little free time so I walked a little with them, then returned to the car and off to school I went.

Friday, I met Lydia at work and we walked over to the Hoover-Mason Trestle, Friday's location.  Since it was 4 pm, the sun made it difficult to take a picture. on the trestle.

Yesterday after the Volkssport walk, I stopped to see it on New Street across from the entrance to the Greenway. For those of you who are thinking "where the hell is that?", the building on the right is an office building (the old vacant lot at 3rd and New and tbulding with the tile mural) and on the right is a parking deck. Graham street ad the little meter lot are gone. As well as the railroad tracks. When the overpasses are complete, the area below it will be Greenway Park.

I hiked up the seven floors of the parking garage to take pics from above. If you wanted to have your pic taken with the ball you did it on level 5. Since the overpass isn't finished and the rails are just steel wire, children had to hold an adults hand to go out there.

Today Lydia and I signed in for the Bethlehem South volkssport walk and headed down toward the Sands. You could see the ball from the Greenway. Balanced on the I-Beam, and wedged under the awning,  it is almost into 2nd Street.

Lydia has taken a picture with the ball at each location. That's not me. And the ball-sitters are more than happy to take the photo for you. But today I couldn't resist (top picture). After holding that pose for a while I have a whole new appreciation for poor Atlas, stuck holding up the world.

Along the Greenway, there were murals on fabric and plywood being done as part of the festival. They were not set up yet for the festival at ArtsQuest. Cars and Coffee was still leaving out.

Then we headed to Aharts and back home. In May I'm going to put a mark on the calendar for every day I don't have to go to the store. This week -- dispite a freezer and pantry full of food -- I had to stop at the supermarket and purchase a key item, if not all the items, for the meal. The fussy eater is destroying my budget.

Miles/Steps:    about 6000 steps today.
Bathrooms:      None used
Money:            2 cents
Weather:         high 50s. Sunny
Extra:              On the Greenway we passed a jogger with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. A visual oxymoron. Or maybe just a moron. Take your pick.