Lehigh Gorge Trail ReDux - fall 2008
We made another trip to the Lehigh Gorge in 2008, this time
on a cold autumn day. In contrast to the coolness found along the trail in the
summer, the mountain peaks that cast the welcoming shadows during July instead
blotted the warming rays from the cloudless sky above. On some stretches of the
trail we found ourselves hurriedly pedaling through the dark chill along the
canyon wall towards the next
river bend in hope of finding a
sun soaked length of trail to leisurely meander and absorb the warmth of
the midday sun.
The song "Just around the river bend" from Disney's Pocahontas
became our running theme song for the day.
Perhaps because the trees were shedding their summer canopies we discovered
and explored two additional locks that we hadn't seen on our first two trips. I
also made the short detour to
see the ruins of the old tannery across the bridge at the one and only
road crossing you encounter at the beginning of the ride .
This trip we used
Pocono Whitewater for
shuttle services. Since our last trip Pocono Whitewater has set up a
rental base at the Whitehaven trailhead where, on the weekends, you start your
trip on your own schedule, this saves considerable time in that you no longer
need to be shuttled to the trailhead, plus this trailhead is easily accessible
just off of I80. Here's a tip to remember: It takes almost an hour from your
pick-up time to be shuttled back to the Whitehaven trailhead. For us we arrived
around noon, which meant would not make the 2:30 pick-up at the end, and we
ended up waiting for the 5:00 shuttle, we should have packed a lunch, as there
are plenty of picnic tables and places along the trail to stop and eat.
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