Sweet Potato standing on the bank of the Lehigh River.

Dog Mountain Road Trip – Day Six (June 4, 2022)

The trail suggestion for last night had been to visit the Lehigh Gorge State Park, but I didn’t spot the signs for the access points until we were headed back to the hotel after a short hike in the Hickory Point park.

Today’s plan was to meet Phil and Evon for lunch and then head back to Maryland. We had a few hours to spare in the morning, so after checking out of the hotel, we headed back to the Lehigh Gorge. A first attraction there was the Lehigh Tannery historic site. According to the signs in the area, the area was heavily deforested in order to obtain tree bark for use in the tanning process. Naturalist John Audubon lamented that this could eventually leave the entire area devoid of trees. Several years after Audubon’s visit, a fire spread among the felled trees and destroyed the tannery.

After looking around the tannery site for twenty minutes or so, the realization came that the actual trailhead might be on the other side of the bridge. (There weren’t a lot of signs about trails, more about not launching boats from this location.)

Sure enough, the actual Delaware and Lehigh trail was on the other side of the river!

An odd thing to find along a bike/hiking trail
Support for a former bridge?

Around 11:30, Sweet Potato and I got back in the car and headed off to meet up with Phil and Evon. It was a pleasant lunch and a fun time catching up with friends I usually only see once or twice a year at conventions.

Lunch was at a local park, providing Sweet Potato a chance to get out and stretch her legs for a bit. Afterward, we went for a stroll around the park and spotted Mother and Father Goose swimming with this year’s goslings.

Afterward, it was time to part ways and Sweet Potato and I at last headed to Maryland, arriving home around 6:30. When we pulled up in front of the house, Sweet Potato immediately recognized her surroundings and made a beeline (dogline?) for the front door and, once inside, immediately ran upstairs to find her Mama.

After dinner, Sweet Potato availed herself of the opportunity to engage in one of her favorite activities and burrowed into the sofa for the first time in nearly a week.