Hike #1090; Slatington to Jim Thorpe

Hike #1090; Slatington to Jim Thorpe

11/13/17 Slatington to Jim Thorpe with Robin Deitz, Jake ?, Diane Reider, Mr. Buckett (Jim Mathews), Kellie Kegan, Pete G. Wilcox, Timothy Kovich, James De Lotto, Danni Sue Masteller , Craig Craig, James Quinn, and Jim “Uncle Soup” Campbell

Our next big hike would be a point to point, the 21st that fits in with the 911 Memorial Trail series. At this point, it really hardly feels like part of that series because, unlike New Jersey, no one out that way seems to have heard anything about it, and it’s more about the local history than anything else along the way.

Lehigh Gap view from the bridge.

On the previous hike, we started in Slatington and hiked to Lehigh Gap on the D&L Trail formerly the Lehigh Valley Railroad. This is the official D&L Trail route, but the other side of the river has a section of the Lehigh Canal, an alternate. We had hiked most of the Lehigh Canal as alternates in this series along the way, and were only missing the leg of it from north of Northampton/Siegfried to Walnutport, so I figured we would do the section on the other side of the river as far as Lehigh Gap so that it would work well to Jim Thorpe. After that, the next hike would be a loop on the Switchback Gravity Railroad.

Lehigh Canal in Walnutport

We met in the morning at Jim Thorpe Market, and shuttled with as few cars as possible south to Slatington, where we had begun the other previous one.
I was somewhat disappointed that we had such a small group for this one. The 911 series has brought some pretty big crowds across NJ, and in a lot of PA too, but it has been dwindling. It’s a shame because the sections have really been quite excellent.

Historic image of Anchor Hotel

When we got to the parking lot in Slatington, the hot dog guy was there, and of course I had to have some hot dogs again, like I’d done the previous time.
It was probably too early in the morning for it, because the cheese and condiments on it were a bit too cold, and the hot dog’s heat wasn’t enough to heat it up. It was alright though.
We headed from the lot across the Lehigh River on the road bridge, and turned to the left on the Lehigh Canal towpath on the other side. The historic Anchor Hotel, built in 1834 for canal boaters, is still standing and in good condition. The canal itself is well cared for here and looks authentic to the days of the canal’s operation.

Historic Slatington image

It was kind of a chilly day; I was glad that I wore my suit. The weather had been so hot for Autumn, I’d typically been wearing shorts and tee shirts for the past few weeks save for the most recent ones, and that was probably just because I was further north.

Historic image with Anchor Hotel, Walnutport

The town of Slatington owned it’s existence to the slate industry, and the canal helped to move that along when it arrived on the scene in 1829. Walnutport was a small settlement already when the canal was built, but it’s development led to the growth of that town too.

Historic Walnutport image

We started heading north on the canal, which stayed rather close to the buildings of town, separated only by the water. There was a foot bridge after a short bit where we saw people crossing over to walk on the towpath.

Historic Lehigh Canal image in Walnutport

There were a good amount of walkers near the crossing at Walnutport, because it’s so accessible, but as we moved further away there were less and less people.

Historic image of Lehigh Canal at Walnutport

There was a jogger, and then a couple fishing along the way, but after that no one else. We continued as the canal got wider, and soon approached the historic site of Lock #22.

Historic image of Lock #23 in Walnutport

Lock #23 is in the town of Walnutport, but 22 was rather secluded and a good distance up stream. It was a rather curious area, because the canal seems to be well out onto a flood plain that seems like it would be very much more prone to flooding.

Historic image of Lock #22

Note that when I hiked this section of the canal and read the book, and even when I started writing this journal, I was unaware of the Lock House location. I have since discovered the tru location based on this historic imagery.

Lock #22

I waited for everyone to catch up to give them a little historic dissertation on the canal and it’s lock. This particular lock raised boats 7.8 feet.

Lock 22.

I tried to explain how the ends of the locks used masonry and mortar, and the dry laid stone in the middle section had grooves for wood, because the inner lock was lined with it. Obviously, boats would be bumping up against these lock walls, so they needed protection.
I pointed out some of the metal hardware still in place in the lock walls, and then we went across the canal trench to look for remnants of where the lock house used to be. I noted some masonry in the up stream side, which could possibly have been a sort of tender’s house, but it may have also been party of the water bypass flume.

Either tender's house or bypass flume ruin

I can’t find a lot of details on this area; even my guide to the remnants of the Lehigh Canal by David Barber really doesn’t go into much detail about a tender’s house in the area, but I know there should have been one.
We continued on along the canal up from the lock site. The canal prism was more silted in with stuff growing all in it for a bit. The cleared path moved to the left a bit, away from the canal, so we knew it probably wasn’t all the towpath. At one point, I noted a low area and saw rounded cobble type of rocks. I recognized this as a former spillway for when canal waters got too high.

Historic image of Lehigh Canal, likely Guard Lock 3

The towpath weaved around a corner until the east side of Lehigh Gap came into view. It wasn’t far from there until we reached the former Guard Lock #3. Dam #3 was an interesting one that spanned the river with an angle in it at this point.

Guard Lock #3 site

We could clearly see where the boats pulled from the lock; there used to be a cribbing out into the slack water that guided boats to the lock, some of which was still visible. The towpath crossed the canal lock here, and navigation continued in the river up stream.

Historic view to the Chain Bridge

The towpath is not all that clear ahead. Hiking it along the river edge would prove difficult, and that’s why the official D&L Trail was put on the other side.

Slack water at Lehigh Gap

Fortunately, I knew how to continue on. The first time I’d done this section was a while back, and I think I first went with Rich Pace. There is a ladder up a wooden retaining wall along the former Central Railroad of NJ, and we could climb that to get up to the tracks, then go a short distance up stream along the Lehigh and get to the bridge in Lehigh Gap.

Historic Lehigh Gap postcard image

The dam that spanned the river at this point was only five and a half feet high, one of the smaller ones, which leads me to believe it probably purged by itself rather than someone intentionally destroying it.

Historic Lehigh Gap image

We crossed the base of Guard Lock #3 and headed up hill, and sure enough found the ladder. It was pretty loose compared with how it used to be, so we had to hold on tight to pull ourselves up to the tracks of the former Jersey Central line.

Historic Chain Bridge image

There was an etching on the metal vertical post at the top that read “down here” for those coming from the edge of the tracks down.
This is sort of a sketchy spot; it wasn’t really an “official” trail, but in the early days of the D&L Trail, this was where it was thought the trail would go. I recall once meeting people putting in official trail mileage posts on this section.
We walked along the tracks with pretty ice formed on the rocks to the right, and then reached the former east end of the Chain Bridge, which spanned the Lehigh River before the current bridge. Some of the historic photos call it “Finsley’s Bridge”.

Historic Chain Bridge image

From the 1820s until 1933, “Chain Bridge” was the main crossing of the Lehigh River at this point, replaced by the more modern bridges. It was clearly too low for floods.Notations suggest that the bridge was torn down in 1930, but it certainly had some other problems, and was apparently destroyed before that in 1926.

Historic Chain Bridge image

The old road is now a driveway down to a house and the river. The railroad crossing at the bridge was reportedly called Weider’s Crossing, and made me wonder if it was some distant relative of our friend Brittany, because she has a long local lineage.

Old toll house

The toll house that served the Chain Bridge is also standing and in well restored condition. We walked over to have a closer look at the site.
The east abutment was in fine shape, and it was evident that work had gone into the repointing and replacement of collapsed stone from the walls on the edge of the abutment. One of the pieces of metal from which the suspension “chain” was attacked was still in the edge of the stone work in the abutment.
I didn’t see any date stones, but the bridge was supposedly opened in 1826. It reportedly had it’s share of problems, with flood damage to an abutment in 1841, flood damage in 1857, a broken dam damaged it in 1886, and a fire destroyed much of it in 1926.

Bridge abutment

The bridge was very low to the river, which means it probably got lots of flood damage beyond what I’ve even read about. It was finally replaced because it had become a traffic burden. Indeed, it was a one lane bridge.

Old anchor for the chain suspension

I went to the edge of where the bridge once stood and looked down to see if I could see any remnants of the Lehigh Canal towpath. There wasn’t much to see in terms of rip rap rock or anything, which surprised me because the bridge was built about the same time as the canal, so it would have certainly had room for it below.
We continued from here along the driveway/former road, past a house and onto Rt 248.
We crossed the Lehigh on the “new” bridge that replaced the Chain Bridge, and could see the remnants of the abutments still in the river just down stream.

Historic bridge construction scene over the Lehigh

Just to the north of us, we could see the former site of the Lehigh and New England Railraod trestle that once spanned the gap. This was a behemoth of a bridge, which has fascinated me since my first time ever riding through Lehigh Gap.

Old Lehigh and New England trestle

It was tempting to go up to the grade of the LNE track, but we didn’t because I wanted to actually keep with the 911 Trail route for this series. I’d done the LNE anyway, and not much has changed there, whereas the old Lehigh Valley Railroad, which is the D&L and 911 Trails, has changed quite a lot since the last time I had walked through on it.
As soon as we got across the road bridge, which is the route of the Appalachian Trail, we cut to the right, on an informal path we’re not supposed to use, down to the level of the old Lehigh Valley Railroad, and turned left for a short while to the Lehigh Gap Nature Center.

Lehigh Valley Railroad freight station site in Jan 2007

The rail bed was now separated by an access road to the nature center, with a wooden fence and access points along the way. When I first walkd this, it was just a cinder road.

LV Railroad freight station site in Oct 2017

We headed up to the nature center in order to use the restrooms and get some maps and such, but unfortunately no one was manning the building. I found that surprising on such a nice weekend day. We hung out in the front for a bit for a break in case someone showed.

Devil's Pulpit

We headed back down to the rail grade, and then turned left to follow it north through Lehigh Gap itself. There were some nice views of The Devil’s Pulpit, an amazing rock outcropping to the left, as we walked on through.
This rail bed was wide and clear now, much different than the first couple of times I had walked it. My first time was in January of 2007, and not much had changed by my second visit in October of 2008. It was a simple rail bed with the railroad ties still in place, and lots of grass and weeds. Scrubby little trees, probably ones that had come in during the efforts to re-plant the mountain after the zinc smelting in Palmerton denuded the gap of trees, took over much of it.

Lehigh Valley Railroad bed in 2007

Now, it was much clearer, with most of the trees removed from the right of way and immediate adjacent areas. It was much stranger for me than everyone else in the group because I had seen the metamorphosis of the area firsthand.

D&L Trail on LV grade now

We continued along a nice long stretch below the mountain, and then out to the trail head at Riverview Road. The road was built mostly over the old Lehigh Valley Railroad.
The trail head and parking has changed quite a lot since my first time hiking through over ten years ago. It’s really something to see the difference.

Riverview Road trail head in 2007

We continued ahead, as the trail now had a designated route next ot Riverview Road. It was nice to see a pathway parallel rather than having to walk the pavement.

Riverview Road trail head, 2017

There was a little park to the right, which I thought to go down into and walk parallel with the road further, but didn’t really want to take the time. There aren’t really many features left of Lehigh Canal on the other side to see anyway. Locks 20, 19, and 18 are in reasonable shape, and I’ve visited them in the gap, but Lock 17 was completely flooded away apparently, and Locks 16, 15, and Guard Lock 2 are mostly covered by Route 248.

Lehigh Canal in Lehigh Gap

We did, however, check out another new park area that was on the left side of Riverview Drive. This seemed like a pretty recent development with a parking area and nice wooden steps descending to a picnic area.

Orange trail area

Some of the group stayed above while a few of us checked it out. There were picnic benches, grills, and a fake train thing for kids. I noted a sign that showed that there was an orange trail that went up into the meadows above. This was some kind of an Eagle Scout project.
While everyone else waited, I went up to the orange trail to see what it was about. It led me up hill through a grassy area, with sticks in the ground and some sort of orange stuff tied around the top of it to mark the way. This was clearly done by someone without a clue about trails. It also wasn’t done with sustainability in mind.

Uncle Soup's mean ride

The path reached what was probably an intersection for the loop. I turned right on it, following those orange ribbon type things and continued into a wooded section. The trail had stuff growing all through it, and then too many fallen trees because I had a rougher time going over them. I figured this must not be the trail; it must have been a loop just in the meadow area, but inappropriate blazing and not keeping it at all clear made it impossible to figure out where to go. I just backtracked and got out of there.
Scout projects are supposed to have sustainability written into them. They usually don’t do trail projects any more because no one maintains them after they’re built.

Approaching Lizard Creek Junction site

We continued along the road ahead; the pathway that paralleled the right side had ended, and we just had signs on the road stating to “share the road”. The former rail line went through two cuts utilized by the road which were pretty nice, and we passed the former site of Lizard Creek Junction. It was here that the Pottsville Branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad broke off to the west. I’d hiked some of that in the past, but never finished it. It closely paralleled the Lehigh and New England for a while, and I switched between two.

Historic station image at Lizard Creek Junction

We continued beyond the site for a bit, and then I saw yet another new parking area to the right of the road. I decided we’d take a brief side trip to check it out.

Lehigh scene from the side path

Lovely stone steps led down hill from here to the Lehigh River, with a great view. It looked pretty deep, and would have been a great swim spot in the Summer.
We continued on from here into the town of West Bowmans. The railroad used to cross the original road here on a bridge, but it’s been gone a good long while. The original bridge over the Lehigh here was a through truss structure that had been replaced by the current one.
The towns of West Bowmans and Bowmanstown on the other side were named for Henry Bowman who started a paint pigment industry using a rock from nearby Stone Ridge.

LV grade in West Bowmans in 2007

The first time I’d walked through West Bowmans, the former bridge site over the original road route to bridge site looked like just that, a former bridge site with a cut out path to the railroad bed. This time, we arrived to find a paved pathway leading to the left and past a veterans memorial, then down to the right before ascending yet again to the former railroad bed.
It’s a very nice section through the woods with steep slopes on the left and the Lehigh River on the right. The Lehigh Canal’s Guard Lock #2 was across the river in this section, but it’s covered over by Rt 248.

Drainage

We came to a runoff point that wasn’t there the previous time I hiked this. The Pennsylvania Turnpike had been reworked with a new bridge constructed just ahead, and so the drainage appeared to have been improved. I think it was Kellie that egged me on to go and check out a drainage culvert that went up and beneath the highway.
I climbed down behind the fence and went into the culvert, which was walkable without having to duck very much. I followed it up under both lanes of the superhighway, and found a horrific dead deer on the other side. There was however a nice little waterfall.

We soon apprached the new PA Turnpike bridge over the Lehigh, a behemoth of a structure. When they were building it, I started and drove some super large piece of equipement that was parked on the Lehigh Canal towpath on the other side during a hike.
In this area were the former Lehigh Canal locks numbered 15, 14, 13, 12, and 11. This is a strange area, not only because the canal was refurbished and locks apparently eliminated. Lock #15 had a lift of 16.2 feet, and Lock #13 had a lift of 12.5. There are now apparently no Locks 12 and 14. We continued on and eventually came to a water treatment facility on the left.

LV rail grade in 2007

There were always buildings there from the first time I started walking this, but they were more covered over by weed growth between the rail bed and the fence.

LV rail grade 2017

Across from this area on the other side of the Lehigh is the town of Parryville. This area grew much thanks to the Carbon Iron Company, which started about 1855 as teh Poho Poco Iron Company. There wre three furnaces where, at their peak, three hundred tons of iron was made per week.

Carbon Iron and Steel Company

From the sewerage building, the trail again followed a road that was built on the rail grade to access the building. We followed it out across the Mahoning Creek, and I went down to check out some of the bridge. It appeared to be original.

Carbon Iron Company/ Barry and Brad Haupt Collection

There was apparently a covered bridge that once crossed the Lehigh from the Carbon Iron Company, and I remember seeing some kind of abutment but didn't think too much into it at the time.

Carbon Iron Company

We made our way from here into the south side of Lehighton, where I noticed the bridge at East Bridge Street, which carries Rt 209, still used some of the historic stone piers capped with modern concrete ones. I thought that was really pretty cool.

Lehighton Station

Soon, we reached the other Bridge Street, where the D&L Trail officially turns off of the Lehigh Valley Railroad grade and heads across the river to return to the Lehigh Canal towpath.
Jim Delotto called me up and ordered pizzas for everyone ahead of time (which I still owe him for!) at a place called Mario's over in Weissport.

Lehigh Canal in Weissport

The original name of Weissport was “Gnadenhuetten”, attributed to the Moravian settlers in the 1760s, meaning “new cabins of peace”.

Historic view of Weissport

The town was also the site of Fort Allen, a frontier stronghold built by Benjamin Franklin during the French and Indian War.

The same view today

Interestingly, the town's name of Weissport predates the arrival of the Lehigh Canal or even the earlier navigation to the Lehigh. Colonel Jacob Weiss purchased the land from the Moravians in 1783 and moved his family to the area shortly after. He named the settlement Weissport in 1793.

Weiss played a major role in the start of the Anthracite industry.
Anthracite was known of, but not widely used during this point in history. Anthracite was accidentally discovered in Summit Hill by hunter Philip Ginder in 1791. Ginder brought his find to Colonel Weiss asking if this was possibly the rumored hot burning coal. Not knowing for sure himself, Weiss took the rock to Philadelphia for further inspection, and he offered Ginder three hundred acres of land if he'd show him the spot it had been discovered.
Weiss never gave Ginder the promised land, and instead formed the Lehigh Coal Mining Company with some of his Philadelphia friends. It would seem that karma worked well in this instance, because Weiss had no success with his mining business.

Lehigh Canal Lock #8

The coal mine sat idle for years until it was eventually purchased by Josiah White and Erskine Hazard, who created the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. The Lehigh Canal opened in Weissport in 1829, and Colonel Weiss's son Lewis made a living making canal boats. Weissport became a thriving industrial center during the early years of the canal. Pretty much everyone in Weissport relied on the canal to live. The Central Railroad of New Jersey, originally Lehigh and Susquehanna, came in later and added to the industry.

Historic postcard image at Lehighton

Delotto was waiting for us along the edge of Weissport Borough Park, where Mariot's sits on the end of Park Street along White Street, at the southeast corner of the park. The rest of the group was not far behind me, but some of them went into Dunkin Donuts on the other side of the bridge to use the restrooms.

Historic Lehigh Canal image, Weissport area

We all went in, and pizza was served almost immediately. It was a great idea and very sweet of Delotto to organize this for us ahead of time. Mario's was right along the route we needed to walk anway, and so it worked perfectly.

Once we were all done eating, we headed on our way, across the tracks and to the Lehigh Canal, which was in nice shape and had sone lined access points in a park setting.
We headed up stream, with some historic buildings still lining the east shore. It wasn't too long before we got to Lock #8, with it's stone work still in pretty good condition. Across the lock was an old house which was probably the lock tender's house back in the day. Lock #8 had a lift of 7.9 feet.
We continued up stream from this point, and came to a point with a little causeway over the canal, unrelated to any locks.

Berm across the canal

The canal came close to the Lehigh River, and a flood protection berm joined the towpath to the left. We could see clearly the deck girder bridge that carries the former Central Railroad of New Jersey across the Lehigh just a short distance away.
When the river started to turn away to the left, we reached Lock #7. This lock had a lift of 9.1 feet, and had similar look to the previous locks, with the dry laid walls in surprisingly nice condition.
An earthen dike was across the upper end which apparently keeps the water levels in the secions of the canal above the locks and controls the flow a bit.

Lock #7

To the left of us, there were mountain biking trails going off into the woods. I'd love to do a hike through the area just following a lot of these, because the work that went into them is amazing. They have giant wooden bridges and decks unlike I've seen any other group do, all made out of sticks and such. Jillane and I followed some backpacking once, and we never got to go back to have a closer look.
The cliffs beside the canal in the section ahead were amazing. I couldn't believe such effort went into this section; it seems like canal builders would have been more inclined to dam the river for navigation in this lower end of the Lehigh Gorge, like what was done in the Upper Division, but instead they cut right into the cliffs.

Lehigh Canal

Some of the locks of the canal were a bit confusing in this area because my guide book seems to be somewhat incorrect regarding where each of the locks are. Lock #7 had a small parking area on the other side of it, and it appears in the wrong spot in the book, as does the next one.

Lock #6

The canal remained wide and had sections of cliffs and such along the way, as well as simpler slopes. We saw less and less people the further we moved away from Weissport. The occasional cyclist going through was all we saw.
The trail is not yet officially complete yet. The reason I had scheduled this hike for November was because the new pedestrian bridge in Jim Thorpe was to be completed. I figured we'd be there for the first time crossing it, but it's now way behind. Trail users are officially supposed to turn back when they get to the sewarage treatment facility, and the site of Guard Lock #1, but I've always just gone through by following the tracks a short bit to Jim Thorpe Market.

Lock #5

Because there is no real good, official route, hardly anyone uses this section. The Lehigh Gorge Trail section, north of Jim Thorpe, is very heavily used and you'd see someone at least once every five minutes following that. This quiet, hidden little area is a real gem, at least until the connection is made.
We soon reached Lock #6, which was in a little bit rougher shape than the previous ones, but overall still good. It had a lift of 7.7 feet.
It wasn't very much further to Lock #5. It had a lift of 7.2 feet. The lock tender's house, like at most locks, is gone here, but foundations appear on the other side.

An old spillway

There is also a foot bridge over the lock, with a trail that leads to unknown places. I'd always thought that it led to a religious institution, but aerial images show none close by.
There was a sign reading "Bridge to Nowhere", and another: "Beware of Snakes". A white sign read "Are you going NOWHERE? Or are you NOW HERE? It's a moment in time NOW, so take the bridge of prayer sit on the bench of prayer and talk to God. He wants to talk to you. He listens."
We continued walking from here, and soon passed over a lower area in the towpath with rock; this was an old spillway, which was designed to allow the canal to flow over in times of high water, rather than nature pick it's own spot and breach the canal.

Lock #4

We had a very pleasant walk between the canal and river to Lock #4, which is a great little interpretive site. This one too has a bridge over the old lock, but on the other side is an observation platform with views out across the Lehigh and up along the river into the lower Lehigh Gorge.
The foundation of the lock tender's house is also there, cleared and recognizable on the other side of the lock. There also was some stuff that could be the remnants of a sort of bypass flume as well, or maybe a connection to the house.

Lock tender's house ruin

There were some weird things about this lock; it was unlike the others for several reasons that I'd never noticed until this trip.
First, the lock appeared to be wider than the previous ones. Maybe it's just an optical illusion, but to me it did seem substantially wider. It also seemed to be beefier with it's construction, with large stone blocks fortifying the upstream west side. The most substantial difference between this and other locks was the construction techniques in the inside walls. Although still rough cut, they did not have the feature where boards would be placed to buffer the lock walls.

Lock #4

Except for nearer to Bethlehem and Easton, where most locks were fitted with newer concrete walls, most all of them had the rough dry laid rock on the inside walls, occasionally with some timber still in place. This lock had no such place for the timbers, however a couple of pieces of timber were in place and still affixed to the inside lock walls.
My best guess is that Lock #4 is a refurbished or reconstructed lock. In this narrow bit of the lower gorge, I could see this having been one to suffer from the devastating 1862 flood that destroyed most of the Upper Division. If reconstructed, it's character would of course differ somewhat from the locks built at the same time.

At Lock #4

The lock also was slightly larger in height than the others in the Lower Divison, at about nine feet. It's only slightly higher, but it's still something.
We inspected the lock a bit, and Pete climbed around on a section of the structure on the upper end before we made our way north.
The next section was probably the narrowest section of the entire Lower Division. The canal hugs the cliffside, and has a retaining wall below that has been outfitted with concrete in more recent years. It makes that much more sense that Lock #4 would have washed away having seen this area.

LV Bridge

We had a good view from this point to the former Lehigh Valley Railroad's bridge over the river. Both it and the Jersey Central line were on the opposite side for a time, and Lehigh switched from here up to Glen Onoko where it crosses back over.
We continued up stream and passed beneath the railroad trestle. The section we had followed between Lock 4 and the bridge had reportedly been completely washed out even since the abandonment of the canal, and rebuilt. The area just above Lock #4 has caged rock witholding the towpath.

Lock #3

Soon after passing beneath the railroad, we reached Lock #3, which was full of Birch trees and other shrubs, but still overall in good shape. It had a lift of 8.3 feet. As we walked by, we could see the frame of an antique bicycle hanging from a tree at the far side of the lock. Somene said that's what happens when you forget what tree you locked your bike to.
We continued not too much further, and reached the site of Lock #2 and the Weigh Lock. This was a significant spot, as it is where the canal boats pulled into the weigh lock empty to measure weight, then pulled back in loaded.

Ruins at the Weigh Lock

The lock could be drained of water once the boat was in to use the scale system, and then refilled.
This site was chosen for the weight lock because there was far more room for it than at Lock #1 to the north.
Below the locks on the river side is the ruins of a building that must have been a tender's house or office building associated with the weight lock. We went over to check out what was left of it, and in doing so spotted a small deisel locomotive moving up and down the former tracks of the Central Railroad of New Jersey.

Lock #2

Lock #2 had a lift of 8.3 feet. We wandered around the site a bit to have a closer look. It had obviously been refurbished over time, but it was still obvious that the river side wall once had the rough stone with indentations for the wood facing like the other locks. the other one was completely faced with concrete and the feature was now shown.
The canal below the site of the locks was a large basin, as boaters likely had to wait there turn for a long while at this site.
We headed further along the towpath from here, and soon discovered even more foundations on the river side of the canal.

Pipe ruins

These were some of the most substantial ruins we'd seen on the entire hike, and I strangely have no idea what any of them were. I didn't imaging it had anything to do with the weigh lock, because it was just too large. It seems like more railroad era construction with the high walls and such. It does however seem to have a relation to water. There are three giant pipes that lead down to a drop off into the structure of the building ruin. It just makes little sense to have it in this place, so far from the middle of town. Maybe it was an earlier sewer system, maybe it was in fact something to do with the weight lock.

Unknown ruins

We continued up stream from that point along the canal, which at this point is pretty dry on it's floor. The mountain bike trail, which we first saw branching off down in Weissport, continues up to this point as well, weaving back and forth across the towpath, but taking to the higher or lower ground farther and closer to the river. At the point below weight lock, it actually goes into the canal prism for a time. The long stretch of the trail weaved on and off the towpath, and the location of the canal prism didn't always stay obvious.

Historic weight lock image

We soon reached the fence at the end of the sewerage treatment plane, which has completely obliterated the Lehigh Canal for it's length. We had to turn to the left and skirt the facility by following the fence line.

Lock #2 and Weight Lock

It really hasn't had any improvement toward becoming a regular trail, which is surprising because there are these big plans to have the trail come through and cross the river there.
In the past, we were able to walk around the facility, and in doing so reached the railroad tracks with ease. There's a service road to the plant along them which is easy to follow, but this time the whole area was torn up for the work on the new bridge site.

Lock #1

We skirted the site to the left, on the river side instead of going to the railroad tracks, because I think that was blocked off or something. We ended up down in the future bridge construction site, and could see the remnants of Lock #1.
It was disappointing to see that, through the construction, they were doing damage to the remnants of the historic lock. I would think it would be high importance to save these historic structures for the trail, but their million dollar bridge, which honestly is not necessary if they could go up along the tracks for just a bit, is more important than that, clearly.

Lock #1

Lock #1 was a a guard lock, which only had a lift a maximum of 1.5 feet, depending on the level of the Lehigh above it. Slack water navigation was used above Dam #1, which was 12.5 feet high.
Boats could cross the river or remain on the towpath side (east), and utilize coal chutes that were on both sides.
Most Lehigh Canal locks were 100 feet long by 22 feet wide, except for locks 1 through 4. Those were built 130 feet long by 30 feet wide in 1825-26. The reason for this was that the original intention was for steamboats to navigate the canal. When the Delaware Canal, or Pennsylvania Canal Delaware Division was developed at the 22 foot width, it was no longer an advantage to have wider locks, as steamboats would not be able to navigate connecting waters.

Some Lock #1 remnants

There was apparently once a bridge over the Lehigh at or near where the foot bridge is planned to go, so maybe it will be a bit more historically accurate. There was also rip rap at the outlet of the canal below the railroad tracks that appeared to be damaged during construction.
I realized we were stuck when we got down there. The bridge wasn't yet in place. I knew that going into it; Pete had talked to some of the locals about it recently, and there are a lot of people who hate the project because of how much money it was costing. The bridge is there somewhere, but it's laying on the ground in three pieces or something. It wasn't going to help us today.

Historic image of Lock #1 and Dam #1

We started heading up stream a bit through the weeds, following the rip rap walls that used to follow the edge of the canal. When we got right out to above where Dam #1 was, there was no where else to go.

A helping hand

It looked like the only choices were to either turn back and get on the tracks near the treatment plant somehow, or to simply climb up the rip rap walls. These walls were already slanted in construction, so climbing them isn't too terribly difficult. I didn't want to mess my nice pin striped suit up, but figured we could handle this.
I managed to pull myself up using a dead tree, which thankfully did not uproot in the process. Some of the others climbed up at different spots. DeLotto hung back and helped pull everyone up who needed help.

Historic image of Dam #1 and Lock #1 at Mauch Chunk

Once we were up along the tracks, and everyone else that was behind was able to catch back up with us, we continued on to the north.

Former Dam #1 site and future bridge site

We only walked a little bit and realized that we were definitely on the wrong side of the tracks if we wanted to get back to civilization any time soon. Unfortunately, there was a train parked there that we couldn't get past. The cars were backed up all the way to the previous bridge.

Historic view of Mauch Chunk

When it got narrower along our edge of the tracks, we decided to just dash under them real quick and get out to a safe access road. From there, we were able to head to the north to Jim Thorpe Market with no problem.

Historic image of a mule and young tender

It was a lot different at Jim Thorpe Market than it was the first time I'd gone there. The bridge used to cross the Lehigh just barely up from the market at South Street.

Lehigh Canal at Mauch Chunk

I had not hiked through Jim Thorpe since probably 2012, and since that time the new bridge was constructed over the Lehigh. The old one, which was only built around 1951, was torn down.
There was another even older bridge, a truss structure, that spanned the Lehigh just barely south of where the 1950s structure was as well. I'll be walking the new bridge on my next hike in this series.
We headed up hill slightly past the old bridge site, and Delotto told us about a friend who loves that the bridge is gone because he gets more private parking, and he also pointed out a long abandoned road heading down hill near the market that had recently been cleared for trail use.

Boats waiting loading at Mauch Chunk

The entire Jim Thorpe area has a great history. We were parked on street in the east side, which grew as the coal industry started to flourish.

The original name for the town is Mauch Chunk, which means "Bear Mountain" in the Lenape language, because the mountain in town resembles the back of a sleeping bear.

Coalport, Mauch Chunk

The Mauch Chunk Railroad, a gravity railroad between Summit Hill where the anthracite was first discovered and the Lehigh River in Mauch Chunk, served to bring the coal to the Lehigh Canal. As more coal mines developed, the Upper Division, with it's grand high locks, traveled all the way to Port Jenkins above White Haven, some twenty five miles further upstream.

Mauch Chunk shipping

When the upper division was mostly destroyed by the flood in 1862, railroads were already taking over. Asa Packer, who's mansion is in town, owned the Lehigh Valley Railroad, which began service at Mauch Chunk in 1855. The Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad took over for the missing Upper Division Canal, and extended east.

When the Mauch Chunk Railroad was no longer needed for coal shipping, it was reused as a thrill ride, and was inspiration for the first roller coasters. Mauch Chunk became a tourist destination, which flourished until the Great Depression.

The Switchback Railroad (former Mauch Chunk Railroad) was abandoned and torn out, and the town declined. As time went by, so too died the coal industry. Mauch Chunk became more of an artery to a dying system.

In 1953, famous Olympic gold medalist Jim Thorpe passed away, and the boroughs of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk merged under the name of the athelete, and apparently paid to have his remains buried in the town.

Shipping at Mauch Chunk

This is an area of much controversy around the town of Jim Thorpe. The late Jim Thorpe's children have long wanted to have his remains brought to their native American homelands in Oklahoma where he was born, and have stated that his third wife had no right to "sell" the remains to the town.

Interchange between the Mauch Chunk Railroad and Lehigh Navigation

Until I hear of something to convince me otherwise, I am, and have been of the opinion that Thorpe's remains should be with those of the rest of his family in Oklahoma.

Climbing up through Twining Park

It, to me, is disgraceful to use the remains of one of America's greatest atheletes as a tourist draw, and even worse that doing so stripped the historic town of it's native American given name. The monument really isn't even a tourist draw, on the hill on the east side of town.
We made our way further up hill from the bridge sites, and I noted a set of steps going off to the right, through what is known as Twining Park. That was a good corner to cut, so we headed up and onto Front Street. For some reason, the group split in two there and followed two different routes back to the street our cars were parked on.

HAM

We finished well before dark, which was great considering the fact we stopped for a good while for lunch.
I really loved this hike a lot, just as I've loved all of them in this series. I only hope that good groups continue to come out on them as we branch out across Pennsylvania. After this hike, we start to head away from the Lehigh Valley, which means it's a farther drive for many. Still, the hikes are so worthwhile. The amount of history along these in particular has been outstanding.
I’m always discovering new things in even these places I’ve already visited, but we are fast coming to places that are completely new, even to me.
Even though it's meaning a farther drive, we have to remember that we're spending at least seven, closer to eight hours on each trip, which makes the drive so much more worth it. We're experiencing places that no other group is posting, and that probably none of us would attempt to navigate solo. I don't expect anyone to get as excited about history and what's around each corner as I do, but do hope that my enthusiasm is at least contagious enough to entice everyone to keep coming out. It's a lot easier for us to talk ourselves out of doing something than to talk ourselves into it, but I know well from experience which is the better choice.

There's so much more to see, and I can't get enough of it.