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.