The Road to Kintnersville

 

Nockamixon State Park

We made our convoluted way from Horsham to Kintnersville yesterday. If we'd taken the rapid route, it would have been an hour's drive, but we decided to go through New Hope, Lambertville, and a ton of small, cute colonial towns, walking along the canal along the way. Oh. And getting Ice Cream. We were still early for check in at our next AirBnb, so we stopped by Nochimixon State Park for a picnic. 

It was hot, but we found a shady spot by the lake. Jasper is not made for this hot humid weather, though he seems to be acclimating admirably. He has also responded incredibly well to all sorts of new people. When the three dogs who live here barked and barked (and barked!), he walked up to the fence, tried to sniff them, glanced at me, and walked away. Dude. Way to go.

One of the striking things about being in these Eastern forests is the differences in birdsong. I made a couple of audio files, but can't figure out how to upload them to blogspot. It involves HTML, which is way above my pay grade. But if you want to hear birdsong from the Horsham woods and the Kintnersville woods, shoot me an email.

The Conservancy in Kintnersville

This morning Jasper and I made for the Heritage Conservancy Jere Knight Nature Trail, about 6 minutes from our lodging. It was really a sweet find. Because we've been pushing Jasper, and it was already pretty hot at 9a, I opted for a shorter loop. . .about 1.25 miles. There was some climbing, but not a lot, and there was a creek toward the end of the hike. Perfect.

 Wild raspberries were growing all along the trail. . . some ripe. Yum. Just a little tart, but with throw-you-against-the-wall raspberry flavor. A quick note: Harvested raspberries leave the receptacle on the bush when you harvest them, resulting in a cavity at the base of the berry. Blackberries retain that white tissue at their core. It's a big reason why blackberries keep better than raspberries.

The woods were lovely, and Jasper has gotten the hang of going into creeks for a long drink. We headed back, and plan on staying in the cool of our beautiful AirBnb for the afternoon. Cooler weather is coming, though John has another day of conferencing before we head out of Pennsylvania.

Native Raspberries

Raspberries, close up

Forest Canopy

My favorite subject, slaking thirst