ABOUT THE PARK:
Trail Section: Slatington – Cove Road - Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor
DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 40.73439, -75.53874
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| Cove Road parking at 7:30 AM on July Fourth holiday. |
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| Cove Road parking at 1 PM - the cars go well beyond what in in this photo and this is only 1 of 2 lots. There is river access from here also so that accounts for a lot of the cars although the trail also gets very busy. |
TRAIL MAP:
Trail Section: Slatington – Cove Road - Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor
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HIKE DISTANCE: 11 miles (5.5 miles each way)
THE HIKE:
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| Heading to the trail from the end of the parking lot and turning leftt. |
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| After going under Route 145, it's all woods. |
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| That would be rain in the Lehigh River to the right. Forecast was for partly sunny - it poured the minute I pulled into the lot. Fortunately it did not last long. |
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| Rock cliffs on the left. |
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| Shawnee walked the first 1.25 miles on her own. I didn't bother with the wheelchair this time. |
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| Old railroad parts throughout. |
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| Concrete Phone Booth |
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| It's busy on this trail even early on a holiday. |
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| Bad, bad dog. She fought me tooth and nail getting into the stroller but once in you would never know. |
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| Waiting for me (like she has a choice) while I check out a path that turned out not to provide much in the way of a river view. |
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| From a distance with the zoom lens, I could see birds coming and going. |
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| But once I came up along with row of whimsical birdhouses, you would have thought they were all vacant. Nothing moved. Nothing. |
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| But I know there were in there because I saw them. |
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| Flowers growing in a stack of old railroad ties. |
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| She actually fell asleep. |
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| Picnic tables along the way. |
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| The only road crossings are driveways when there are residences on the right between the trail and the river. |
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| Rhododendron in bloom on the rock cliffs. |
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| A clear view of the Lehigh River at the top of a rock slab. |
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| Most of the time the Lehigh River is just to the right of the trail. |
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| This cedar waxwing sat so nicely on a branch over the river that I got several poses from him. |
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| How festive since it's the Fourth of July. |
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| Gray Catbird - I think I have one from every hike so far this summer. |
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| Indigo Bunting |
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| When the trail passes through a residential area, somebody placed water bowls for passing dogs. |
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| Shortly after arriving at the Slatington parking lot and that would be a restroom building on the left. Yay! |
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| It has a nice shaded stroller parking area. |
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| I had accidentally dumped Shawnee's water and spilled most of it so I was able to refill here. |
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| Heading back, lots of people floating down the Lehigh River. |
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| Tree Swallow |
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| Old bridge abutments... |
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| ... all the way across the Lehigh River. |
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| Another nap. Must be awfully comfortable in there. So why the big fight to get her in? |
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| The entire length of the section we did is shaded. |
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| Back at Route 145 ... |
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| ... and the insanely busy parking lots. |
