PoconoMtnMan's Blog

This post encompasses 5 thru 7 Feb.---Monday the 5th of Feb. was and will alway's be a special day for me, my birthday +. I wanted to revisit a serene and calm place today so I walked the Lehigh Tannery walk.I'm finally getting "it" and taking my camera with.On the outset I met a older(than me) couple, they got ahead but I quickly caught up. We started to talk and ended up walking the whole way together.On the walk previously,I had passed a small frozen/snowcovered waterfall.We stopped there and listened to how quiet it was now. Last night it was -5 below zero and today topped out at 8ish.This is hard to say for me,it's still an emotional thing. Today I am the same age as my Dad was when he passed on. It was very strange but,appreciated that I had someone to walk with.It felt to me like they were sent. They have a second house here and they were both teacher's from the Neshaminy area. They prevented me from getting to introspective and for that I was thankful.The path we walked on look's down on the quickly freezing Lehigh River.A few day's ago when I was here there was virtually no ice. I don't have too many more thought's on that day. My Fox29 weather buddie's wished me Happy Birthday and one in particular touched my heart(Thank You, SnowBunny)! Tues. broke similar to yesterday,-3 and we climbed again to 8 for a high. Today Duke and I went down into the beaucolic little town of Jim Thorpe.PA. The entrance to Lehigh Gorge S.P. is there. We went in to where a active train tressel run's alongside a converted to car's and pedestrian one. From here you can view the top waterfall of Glen Onoko Falls. These fall's are named after a young Indian maiden. The legend goes that after being spurned by her chosen warrior she chose to throw herself off the top,highest fall's.In my younger day's  I'd climb to the top. If you listen carefully you can hear her plaintive wail's echo off the steep side's of the ravine.After taking some pic.'s I walked a bit further up the river by some rapid's. At a sign that say's "Warning Beware of Black Bear's Crossing" we turned around. NO,I'm not afraid of bear's and I do have the pic.'s to prove that,it was just getting late. The park closes it's gate's at dusk and if your in,your stuck! Today(Wed.) I awoke to a little surprise,sort of. We picked up at least .5 of new snow,report's from neighbor's said 1". When I go to bed I alway's check the radar. I noticed that little southern clipper was throwing moisture all the way to the N.Y. state line. I didn't even check outside though I thought ,snowway,it was 2 dg.'s at the time. I'm not a sound sleeper,thank you mr.pain,so I did notice it went up to 4dg.'s. Next time I awoke it was 0 again. The last 4 night's it's been -0.5,-5,-3 and -0.2 I can't remember the last time for that, it used to be a common occurence up here.(multiple subzero's). Today I walked at the main access point for the rafting companie's,Rockport,PA. In a little over a month this will be a bustling place,today just me and Duke. It really pain's me not to take my Husky(Kylee) with but, she's 13.11 and she know's as well as I she can't go. I walk her on Kylee's own path around my property. I digress: the river here is narrower and deeper. It was  well over 50% frozen.I'll never forget my 1st time here. A friend and I stopped from Mtn.Biking and sat on a huge rock then,BAM, a beaver slapped it's tail as if to say ,this is my place,hit the road. Also there is one spectacular, steep and close waterfall,frozen stiff. There's also a rockwall that in summer constantly drip's water. Now it's like a huge canvas that someone painted a hanging ice seen on. Again I've got pic.'s. Please be patient I've asked the FoxWebTeam for help getting some on here. Good Thing's come to those who wait!!!               

This post encompasses the better part of 3 days(2 thru 4 Feb). Fri.the 2nd, I went back to the Walter dam. The last time I was up here it brought me snowluck,so I thought I'd give it another try.As I pulled up to the gate it was snowing lightly and very fine.As Duke and I got further along the snowfall picked up rapidly. Since there was already a snowcover here it got incredibly beautiful quickly.As I turned around I was just lost in the atmosphere of the place and time.After I cleaned the car I proceeded to the main road. I wasn't prepared for what I saw. There were car's slipping and sliding all over. I made it to the lone traffic light on this stretch. If you turn left it's into Jack Frost ski area, turn right your into Lake Harmony then past Big Boulder ski area. It was quite a ride home.Snowstorm's are fickle thing's. This one looked like a big clipper and it was but,it flew thru my area like it had all sheet's to the wind.We picked up a fast 2.25".Then a much slower .25= 2.5 total. Sat. was a gorgeous sunny day albeit cold,just like I like it.I took 2 camera's with to take some snap's of the "yellow brick road" in the daytime.By the time I got to where I wanted my pic.'s I found both of my camera's had froze up,literally. I put my good one in my inner pocket and continued on.Coming back to the same spot as before I tenatively pulled it out,it worked.(Hope to have some help from Fox soon to post some pic.'s). Later on the leading edge of the real cold front came thru and we got a quick .5 of windriven snow.Overnight we must've had more. I had broomed off the first.5 and there was just under another .5 out there.When I signed off the weather blog we had dropped 2 deg.'s in a hour,then it got serious; seriously cold that is.When I awoke this morning it was a big gooseegg, 0 dg.'s. Today was much like yesterday except colder with a windchill on top.I walked at boomerrang today.I went a bit further in and found snowmobile track's.I do understand but,they're not supposed to be in here.I walked to one of my favorite spot's,EVER! I call Lehigh Point. From here it's a close to 1000ft. dropoff with a view of the Lehigh River and it's gorge,a.k.a,Lehigh Gorge State Park. This is a truly mesmerizing view. There's a huge bend in the river and you can see the whole thing.There is another bend after that and the one side of my view then cut's back out of view and "that's" the Great Oxbow Bend of the Lehigh River.Hopefully the FoxWeb team can help me out. I'm confident they can and will so you all can see what I see/saw.

This post encompasses 2 day's also.Tues.30 Jan and Wed 31.Today(Tues.)I walked at the Francis E. Walter dam,NW of where I live. This is the dam the Army Corp. built to hold back the rambunctious Lehigh River. It was just a walk into some land that go's into state game land's. I had been highly anticipatory, the "call" was for a Alberta Clipper to sail thru in the afternoon. On my walk it did snow off and on at varying rate's but,again due to the sun angle, it didn't stick to manmade surface's. So I figured another bust and headed home. No sooner did I get near home and I could see the wall coming down and at me.It was a very fine snow, temp.'s at 22 to start.After an hour we had maybe .25/.5. I wasn't in a measuring mood.At dusk the intensity picked up we were down to 20. Looking at the radar I wasn't impressed but,it still was snowing.I saw a band off to the west heading toward's me. It looked like a finger extended out from a hand and it touched me(my area).Thing's really started to pick up now,the fine snow had gotten bigger and heavier. I watched as my Husky(Kylee) got frosted,than covered,she never moved. I finally had to bring her in,she's an old girl and I'm highly protective of her.As I sat and stood and "talked" to my weather buddie's I'd take a peek out,mainly up into a light. I decided I'd check and I was amazed but smilin.We had almost 2" by that time.I did something then I was denied earlier,I took a walk in the snow. I could here the state plow's and county doin there thing. Off in the distance I could hear snowmobile's, those guy's were desperate. I "used" to own them myself,I would have been desperate with them. In all it snowed steady for 7 hr.'s and we had 3.9" by my bedtime.We topped 4" over night. So to me, yesterday was like finding the "prize" in the candy coated popcorn. You never quite know till you know.

This post encompasses 2 day's,Sun. into Mon.. Yesterday turned out to be a very weird day. Sleep is a thing that's elusive for me(chronic pain issues) but,the lack thereof afford's me the chance to observe and this is what I saw. At 2 A.M. it was 31 here,that tied the warmest in 2 week's. At 7 A.M. it dropped to 21. At noon it was back to 38 and sunny.The precious little continuos snowcover I had began to miss piece's. I walked my dog back at the place I call the "yellow brick road". It's not yellow,not brick and only a road by name. It's gated and closed to vehicle's.If you've read an earlier post you know why I call it that.Fast forward to last night. No one seemed to really know what last night's event was going to bring,if it brought anything.I watched the radar show precip. all over the area but,not here.Later at night, just past 8 I noticed a batch of snow NW of me coming fast.Unfortunately I live in the shadow of a high spot and it did it's thing.We saw a quick .5 (another.5 later). As I watched this band bank up aginst the Appalachian's just SE an amazing event unfolded.The band stayed put and extended SW till it hit my old stomping ground,the Lehigh Gap area. From there it headed due S,then jumped the Blue Mtn and headed E and just kept growing. This band then migrated to just east of Flemington NJ and stopped,then another formed over and E of Allentown,PA. BOTH just sat and intensified. My FOXPhiily weather friend's weren't paying much attention(a few were,esp.live-to-ski,)since this wasn't affecting them. Gradually as both line's dropped S and continued to blossom I could "hear" the excitement in their post's as the plumes dropped in for a visit. Although I was fascinated it didn't do me snowgood. By midnight we were back to 19dg's.. In 24 Hrs. we dropped 10,rose 17 then dropped 19 again with that 1 in. of snow. Mon. broke clear and 11 at 6A.M.for a total temp drop of 27 in 28hrs.Late A.M. we started getting some Lake Effect(right on Snowlover71),this has continued all day but due to period's of sun between it's only stuck where there was still snow left. I walked today at a little trail I call "Tin Can".This is in Hickory Run S.P.It's not a marked trail and it has this peculiar tin hut along it that look's like a big burning drum. It obviously hasn't been used in a long time. Sooo, that's how 2 day's can feel like many more. Interesting to say the least...

Today I had a another beautiful,history walk. The history part was, I parked in a little town,very little,known as Lehigh Tannery. It sit's around the ruin's and huge foundation's of the historic tannery, that once thrived there.The foundation's now are encompassed in the Lehigh Gorge S.P.,alongside the Lehigh River. On the west side of the river is a rails to trails type walkway. This part is open to snowmobile's so a walk at this time is usually problematic. We've had a snowcover now for 8 day's straight. woohooo!!!It just barely qualifies if you stick to the 2" requirement but,hey this winter, beggar's can't be chooser's.The positive side of this small snowcover is no one was feelin very snowmobily today. I had to drive thru Hickory Run S.P. to get there, and there were car's parked in small bunches all thru. At one spot I saw a 30 person and 2 dog group coming back from a walk. I love to see this. It does create a bit of a dilemma for me. I'm not a loner or antisocial,in fact; quite the opposite. My young dog who now accompanies me is a great walker,if he's not distracted. He's easily distracted,so I go where other's aren't. The walk today had an unexpected "prize" for me.The only times I'd been thru here were in my better(physical)day's,on my mtn. bike.The whole trail run's something like 12 mile's from White Haven,PA to Jim Thorpe,PA. I tended to"not stop to smell the roses" in those day's,so I had totally missed this nice little waterfall. It was an icefall now and with the snow it was pretty. Nowaday's many corrective surgeries later. I walk slower and shorter.I'm just glad to be "able" to walk. Never overlook life's simple pleasure's folk's,it's all so fleeting. I'm gonna go back and take my camera and HOPEFULLY I can figure out how to get some pic's on here...

When I awoke this morning,for the 2nd time actually. (The deck settled in inabling me to fall back asleep),it was still below 0.For 0915 with a limited(4") snowcover and brilliant blue skies this was pretty decent cold.I feel funny saying that because what I had been used to for over a decade here,this was not special.The last 2 winter's,counting this one, has changed my perspective a bit,NO, a lot! I'll never forget the day I moved in here. It was below 0 all day and snizzling at various rates all day. 2 kid's I hired to truck up my stuff were whining the whole time about stopping and coming back the next day, I was loving it. I finally appeased them by turning the heat on and opening and closing the door.That night it was -13. I slept on a mattress in front of the fireplace. I felt like I moved to Alaska. Onto today.Even though it never got above 12,with the sunshine I just kept thinking I was warm but,my feet weren't listening. I went out to start my "dog" car and it was dead as the proverbial doorknob.So I was kinda stuck. I could wait till the Outback came home or throw Duke in my S4 not ideal or my S6,yeah right! My S6 never usually touches snow anymore and the S4 would need to be dog proofed. Beside's my Eagle's,Phil's and extreme weather passion,preferably winter,the car craze was passed down from my Dad.I ended up waiting on the Subb. I walked today at a place I call boomerang. You walk in as far as you like,then turnaround and comeback out.It was sunset till I turned. The turning point was the top of a hill by a gate(this is state game land's) that adjoin's Lehigh Gorge S.P..From this point the road drop's hard so you get a limited but beautiful westward shot toward's White Haven and Hazelton.After I got back and walked Kylee girl(my husky) around my property, I was gassed. My face has got a good windburn and it feel's just fine...

My deck just awoke me from a shallow slumber,"how's that"? you say. I've got a large, probably too large wraparound deck and on cold night's with a snowcover it settle's with loud crack's.I'm fairly used to them by now but thinking you just heard a gunshot right outside is still unnerving.Plus it woke me,oh well...One word of wisdom too young folk's or anybody, be "nice" to your back if it doesn't hurt. It's a little known fact but, your back has a brain therefore, it remember's and it can be vindictive .If your not nice to your back,it will not be nice to you. I just checked on Mt Washington & 3:36 it's -26.6 F,NW wind's & 66.9 = -73.1 W.C..It's getting closer to my prediction but,I think now it's all about the wind. I don't see it getting much colder,maybe minus 30!Here at my place it's -1.4 with wind's at about 15 with some higher gust's the W.C. is around -20. I walked both my dog's a little last night, it was brisk. I had decided about 2 week's ago that since we weren't having a real winter I wouldn't get my "real" winter gear out.Tonight I realized that was a mistake. I just had on a heavy coat and my Phil's cap. By the time I got back my ear's were numb and my teeth and lung's hurt.Listen to the expert's; you do lose most of your body heat thru your head. I just hope I didn't lose any brain as well! I really need the little I've got. left.

Couldn't sleep so I thought I'd ruminate.We again are getting a snow freshening,it's starting to feel a little like it should up here and now.That is at least a snow cover with frequent dusting's to coating's. That's all well and good but what I want is something like 2003. After the President's day storm we had 40" on the ground and I don't mean drift's. It was getting to the point it was hard to get around and find place for my snowplow guy to put it. That was a fun problem. Reading Rob's last post got me juiced. I just hope it's not a GFS dream. Last night I had a walk thru a local state forest with my faithful Akita(Duke). This path was built on top of an old stage coach path,yea we had them around here. It's straight, flat and smooth.It wasn't my favorite full moon walk. With that condition it's so bright off the snow the path light's up like the yellow brick road. Last night was spectacular anyway. I had just put new batterie's in my headlamp and due to the snow we have being high fluff factor the light from my lamp made the path look like million's of sparkling diamond's. I had a smile on my face the whole time. A lot of year's the snow's too deep so it's a a gift when these condition's present themselves. It's just like life. There is no such thing as luck. Luck is being in the right place at the right time and knowing what to do with it!

After a couple month's of way to warm and 40 shade's of brown we finally got some snow. I had almost given up and the forecast didn't really give me much hope. Yesterday I took my faithful dog Duke(Akita) up to Hickory Run State Park. For us it's just a 10 minute or less ride. The whole time we were there it snow showered of varying intensitie's but, no big deal. On the way home it got very dark,very quick and we had a good squall, off the end of a lake effect streamer. We had a little over an inch in less than an hour. In normal year's it would have been a,--- no biggie.This year,it was.I watched streamer's dance all over the radar's just west than a fairly strong and persistent one JUST north, all the way thru N.J.to the coast. I finally figured that was as close as it would get and went to bed about 2 A.M.. I awoke this morning to let Duke and Kylee(my Husky)out and I was shocked but,happy to see we added just under another 3 inches while I slept. It was really pretty. All night the Temp.held around 20 so we had a nice fluffy snow.Now it finally look's right up here and a lot of my friend's who work at the ski area's and plow snow are elated to be working. It's been terrible for them. I know it's probably hard for folk's down Philly way to imagine but, up here a lot of people count on these job's to cobble together a living. That's the tradeoff! Life is slower and it's beautiful surrounding's, job's are scarce! Well gotta go I can't even sit without pain and my quota's up.