Conversation with My Wife (182)

So there’s this creek, see, and it goes where it wants to go…

We have found we like to go wandering along local trails in our retirement.

Conversation with My Wife (180)

The county trail in Lancaster County runs along the Susquehanna River, thanks to the remains of the 19th Century canal and later railroad rights of way. While York County (on the other side of the river) has a hiking trail (The Heritage Rail Trail County Park), the group who established it lacked suitable available land next to the river, so their trail follows the Codorus Creek. Which is lovely, in many places. But eventually the creek wanders through the middle of the City of York.

A nice section of the city part of the trail. Probably delightful in the spring or autumn. All photos by author.

DEB: Canada geese ahead.

ME: Sure. They like the creek.

DEB: Yeah, but they also like the beautiful park and athletic fields on the side of the trail opposite the creek.

ME: So they cross the trail. Yup, I see it! Oh, sh—

DEB: Yup!

Left: bunches (flocks? gaggles?) of geese, enjoying the creek; right: what they leave when they cross the trail. And this wasn’t even the worst stretch, this is where it showed up best in a photo. Also: these are CANADA geese, not CANADIAN geese. The park service folks up in Canada get very testy when Americans blame them for our pooping goose problem. Not their fault, that’s just the name of the goose.

Part of the trail in the city was marked “NOT COMPLETED” on the map. I took this to mean that maybe some of the trail was still gravel? Did not have the final width they intended? Needed some work here and there?

Or, as it so happened, the trail dumped us on the city streets and left occasional bread crumbs, in the form of hard-to-spot signs, to where it resumed. A mile or so (many blocks!) later…

Some scenery from the “trail,” if wandering through an urban landscape can be described as such. Also: the Codorus Creek shows where the US Army Corps of Engineers did a little work after Hurricane Agnes flooded the City of York in the 1970s — why, yes, it DOES look just like a big honkin’ drainage ditch, good eye! Plus we got to enjoy urban renewal in action.

DEB: I think we’re lost.

ME: No no no, there’s another sign!

DEB: “Tour bus parking only”?

ME: On the corner. “Trail this way.” With an arrow.

DEB: And we know that’s our trail?

ME: Sure! Because… um…

Later we shifted from urban to industrial. But there was a real trail again!

Industrial parks on either side. The lovely open area is part of the flood plain (thank you, US Army Corps of Engineers, we’ve always admired your work, understated as it sometimes is).

DEB: There’s an eagle!

ME: Wow! They’re lost!

There’s an eagle nesting area several miles north, in the “you can hear the highway but that’s about it” rural area of the trail. Maybe this eagle was looking for a better fishing spot?

Naturally, by the time I got my phone out, the eagle was well away from us. Left: a warehouse, with a tiny speck on the corner of the roof. Right: My phone camera zoomed to max. That, trust me, is our eagle, not a gargoyle.

Still, it’s kind of neat being able to spot a bald eagle in an industrial park! (Yes, my wife and I are easily amused. We have remarked on this mutual trait.)

And then we turned around and went back. Someday we might have a self-driving car to pick us up. That day is not yet here.

Copyright ©2020 by Jack Herlocker. All rights reserved, including the right to tell you, “The Heritage Trail? It’s a few blocks that way. Can’t miss it” if you piss me off.

Conversations with My Wife (collection)