Deepest Darkest Horsham

 

Pennypacker Creek Trail

So what exactly is a "Horsham"? No clue. I'm thinking it was the guy's name who first settled this exurb of Philly. To be fair, it is a town that became a bedroom community to Philadelphia. I think.

It is amazing to me how many green spaces are set aside in the Philadelphia area. Sarah and John-the-Younger live in an area that abuts Fairmount Park; which is sort of the Central Park of Philadelphia. We are about 1 hour 15 minutes Northwest of them now in Horsham, and when I googled "Trails Near Me" this morning, several came up. I chose Pennypacker Creek Trail, and Jasper and I set off while John remoted his conference. Hey. I just made up a new verb!

A dog for all places

It's a great spot. A trail along Pennypacker Creek, which is quite wide and branched. It has that very used feeling that many urban trails have, but there was no trash. No dog poop visible. It was about 15 minutes from our AirBnb, and we arrived at about 10:30am. . .which was too late to be cool. The same would be true in Boise, of course, but the temperature was only in the mid 80's. "It ain't the heat, it's the humidity". Jasper has been slow since his foray into urban life, but I think he's doing ok. I realized today, when he carried his food dish to his bed, that he doesn't like eating from the metal bowl on the slick hardwood surface. So smart, that dog. Now he's trained me on That aspect of his preferences.

The forests here really are different than those along the Boise river, or even those on the west coast. For one thing, there is such a wide variety of trees. I had forgotten that, say, Beech trees are everywhere. In the wild. HIckory. Other deciduous trees hos names I have forgotten. And the trees also are so tall. We think of our Sweet Gums in our yard as being huge, but they are small next to some of the yard trees here. There is also a complex of varieties in the undergrowth. . .in some areas so many species (grasses and dicots) that you can hardly count them. In others, the trees so shade the soil below that you can easily walk without a path. There is abundant poison ivy, but also abundant jewel weed; a purported antidote to the poison ivy toxin. Poison Ivy is Rhus radicans. It's amazing what the aging brain brings forth sometimes. 

It's so hard not to quote Frost on this one

I know I've said this before, but it seems like plants leap out of the ground. No coaxing required. Water, sun, soil.

Tomorrow we leave Horsham early to visit New Hope for a stroll and breakfast (before it gets too hot!), and then head north to another Pennsylvania town: Kintnersville. I am seriously wishing that the next 3 days could be spent in Vermont or New Hampshire, but plans didn't go that way. I may check out making a change. New Hope and Doylestown are incredibly cute, but also quite touristy, suburban feeling, and Too Hot for us. Maybe when I'm really old, I could see myself in a townhouse on the river, but that's not NOW.

The path to. . .

John still needs a strong WiFi for his remaining conference sessions (retired? How did this happen?), but we might be able to swing it.