Lehigh Gap Nature Center

It's Black Friday and time for another exciting adventure with Future Steve.  That's right!  We won't be going shopping on this trip, but rather out to the Lehigh Gap Nature Center near Slatington, PA.

As you may know, the Appalachian Mountains are composed of a series of ridges.  Over time, various forces, including rivers, cut "gaps" through these ridges.  This is especially apparent in many parts of Pennsylvania.  In this case, the Lehigh River cuts a gap through the Kittatinny Ridge, which extends from the Delaware Water Gap in the northeast to the Mason-Dixon line west of Harrisburg.  Much of this ridge is also known as Blue Mountain along its length.  In fact, the Kittatinny and Blue Mountain Tunnels on the PA Turnpike (I-76) also bore through this ridge in Franklin County.   In addition, the Appalachian Trail (AT) also runs along the summit of this ridge for a good portion of its path through this state.

After I get boots and backpack on, I depart from the nature center around 10:56am. 
You can clearly see "the gap" in this blue sky photo. 

I will be climbing up this way.  The trail runs just above those rocks.

I start out along the Prairie Warbler and Woodpecker Trail and finally make it to the AT. 
The contour lines are not particularly prominent in the map at top, so

take a look at them on the official trail map below to see the climb I had to do.

Up on the AT, there's a nice shelter, but it's only available to through-hikers.  This couple were just two of the many others I met today who would rather be outside hiking than shopping.

This photo was taken at the top of the ridge, but you can see that there's not much of a view.

Starting to head down, the town of Palmerton is in the distance.

Along the river there are railroad lines and an old zinc plant, which is now an EPA Superfund site.

The trail surface varied widely from easy wooded
footpath to more challenging rock slabs.

Atop the red shale hill is the old Marshall Mansion,
built by a Civil War general and thought to be haunted.

Time for a lunch break.  However, at this table, your food will stay dry and shaded but you won't.

Here's the hill I just came down ...

... and the Lehigh River below me.

Is it a good day to go fishing?  I never realized how shallow the river was at this point.

The abutment in foreground is part of an old railroad bridge that crossed the river.  
The highway on the far bank was built in a lane-over-lane style to accommodate this bridge.
However, after all that work, the railroad bridge was not in use for all that long anyway.

This hike was advertised as 4.4 miles, which I thought was reasonable as I am recovering from a knee injury.  However, in the end, it was only 3.84 miles.  Nonetheless, I still would up climbing 1282'.  You can see it was pretty much straight up, then straight back down from the ViewRanger graphic, below.

I look forward to more fun hikes here in the future.

Pawtuckaway State Park

Happy Birthday Steve!  Time to get out of state before another round of travel restrictions go into effect.

It is a cool, gray day today, but we dress warmly and won't have any problems.  After a stop at the LL Bean Outlet in Nashua, we head east to stay ahead of the rain.  We decide to visit Pawtuckaway State Park in southern New Hampshire, a popular camping destination I have often seen on the AMC Activities web site.  We're not camping today, but there's plenty of interesting hiking to be had.

You may notice there's no map on this entry.  That's because I forgot to turn the tracker on.  My bad.  Instead, I get the low-down from the lone park ranger and the park's main entrance.  I get the feeling this place gets really busy in season.

 

Here are some big trees down.  Perhaps, some came down in the recent high winds.

Some interesting sights on this trail, including remnants of an old structure.

The trail is nice and wide, and as you can see behind me well maintained.  That bridge looks like it was just built this season.

We skirt a marsh that displays a winter beauty.

I pull out the tripod for a "group" shot,  but clearly I need more practice with it.

I forgot to turn on the tracker today.  However, I was able to reconstruct the walk we did on ViewRanger.  We hiked in about a mile then turned around for a total of about 2 miles.

Lava cake - Happy Birthday to me!

NOTES:  Jan 31, 2021

It turns out, I did have the tracker on and I am pasting it here.  It turns out my approximations were pretty accurate.  The tracker recorded 2.08 miles.

Royalston/Athol Hiking

I have not always had off for Veterans Day, so today was another opportunity to get out.  But not too far from home because the weather is kind of "iffy" - overcast skies and intermittent sprinkles.  

We are still exploring Trustees properties and it's been a while since we've been up to Royalston Falls.  What I remember is that this was a consistent descent from the road down to the Falls Brook to view the 45' waterfall.  I also recall a shelter on the way down.  The shelter is available for those hiking the 22 mile Tully Trail that this trail is a part of.   

We didn't wind up walking too far due to a) the steepness of the trail going down to the river, b) my continuing struggle to nurse a recent knee injury, and c) the rain that seemed like it was going to get worse.  In any event, it always a good idea to stop for some sustenance before heading out to the trail.

We stop at Pease Orchard in Templeton to pick up some loose apples including some Winesap variety which are hard to find in New England.

So, while we didn't fail in our hiking attempt, we decided to go exploring elsewhere.  We head back down Rt. 32 toward Athol.  We've been up and down this road dozens to times to go kayaking in Lake Tully, but we'd never seen this sign before.  Most likely, it's been there for a while and we've just missed it.  However, today, we decide to explore

Skyfields Arboretum is a small property part of the Mount Grace Land Conservatino Trust.  There are a few trails and a conservation center at the top of the hill.  The "contained" aspect of the property would make it ideal for exploration with young children, as they will feel they've accomplished a lot.  We walked up the hill to the Mount Grace Headquarters (closed) then turned around.  It turns out there's another parking area at that building with more trails behind (see web site).

This short trail walk was only .96 miles in length with a total elevation gain of 187 feet.

Wide easy trails for walking under all the leaves.

Even on the property, there are some significant glacial erratics.

The totals up at Royalston Falls was 1.31 miles and 161 feet of elevation, so all in all not much.
 It turned out to be a day for little adventures, but sometimes that's all you need.

Appleton Farms Grass Rides

On Friday, October 30, we had our first snow of the season.  We got a whole 6" leaving more than a little frost on the pumpkins.  But that won't deter me from getting out of town this weekend.

One more fried seafood run.  That was the pretext for our hiking adventure today.  But our favorite gluten-free fried seafood place is up in Essex near Cape Ann.  I check the Trustees' Special Places book again and find several options.  But hey, as long as we're heading to the North Shore, why not ping our reliable friends in Marblehead.  Their response to my text:  "Where and when?". 

So we're off to Appleton Farms and Grass Rides, a large property in Hamilton, MA.  The "farm" part is pretty self-explanatory, but that said, there is also a farm store and people can own CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares of various crop products.  Other parts of the property include "grass rides", which is an English term for "carriage paths".  These wide trails make for easy hiking to view the open spaces.

You get the idea of the "Grass Rides" as Betsy and Kay walk along.

We take a right turn detour (see map) down this tree-lined "grass ride" to see...

an interesting and uniquely shaped monument of some kind.

There's quite a bit of variety on this property:  wide open farmland and tall trees, too.

We take another detour.  There's a large semi-circular wall here, but no clear indication what this area was used for on the farm.  Perhaps some kind of mill stone structure? 

The farm operations and store are just across the pasture.

Looking back, we could have extended our walk somewhat because we accidentally made a left turn a bit too early.  That was a blessing, however;  had we done that we would have gotten pretty soaked.  As it was, you can see the puddles in the road walking back to the cars.

Our walk was short, only 2.13mi  and 128ft of elevation.  But it wasn't about the distance, it was about having time together.  Afterward, it was about a 14 minute drive to our restaurant

Ahh...

the pièce de résistance:  seafood chowder, gluten- free Flisherman's Platter, and cole slaw (for 2).  A great way to top off the afternoon.

Thanks for the great time, friends.

Late Season Lobster Roll

 A beautiful Saturday morning   in October.  We're thinking   it's  a great day to get out of   town but where to go?

 Betsy just finished reading a   story in Yankee Magazine's   Summer 2020 issue about a   great place to get a lobster
 roll on the Connecticut   shoreline (see photo left or in Yankee Magazine).

 

On this excursion today, we extended an invitation my parents so they could get out of the house for a while.  When I told them the plan - lobster roll and maybe a nature hike - they happily joined us.

The magazine photo was so inspiring that we had to make sure to take the same picture with us in it (see photo below).

This place was great.  Only 4 entrees on the menu,
but the warmed lobster was available with a gluten free bun.  

Better make sure you fuel up now.  This is only our first stop.

Stop #2 is Hammonasett Beach State Park, just a short drive away.  
Let's get out the trekking poles for our nature walk.

A short gravel path leads out to through the salt marsh to an overlook platform on the East Beach.

It's one step at a time under a clear azure sky..

When the walking is done, it's time for stop #3.  Let head out to the sandy part of the beach.  
No chairs?  No problem.

Well, somebody had to test the water.  It wasn't cold, but that wave actually soaked my pants.

The response from the onlookers? -  "No thanks - we'll skip the water play."

It's almost 2 hours back home, so we make one more stop (#4).  
This time for ice cream in nearby Madison.

It was after sunset when we arrived home, as the sun is now setting before 6pm.  Although driving to the Connecticut coast for a lobster roll sounds crazy, we all agreed it was well worth the trip.