Hike #1092; Forks PA Loop

Hike #1092; Easton/Tatamy/Sandt’s Eddy/Forks Loop

11/22/17 Easton/Tatamy/Sandt's Eddy Loop with Justin Gurbisz, Jennifer Berndt, Ken Zaruni, Celeste Fondaco Martin, and Dan Asnis

This next hike would be a loop in the Easton PA area.
The night hikes in Easton have always been great, but there’s still so much more stuff I haven’t gotten around to exploring yet. I looked over some maps of the area, and concocted a hike that would incorporate some of the places we’ve done in the past, as well as some stuff we’d never done before at all.
My starting point would be the Palmer Park Mall. We’d never hiked through this mall before, even though we have hiked most malls throughout the area (Phillipsburg, Bridgewater, Jersey Gardens, Ledgewood, Hackettstown when it was standing).
I figured we’d walk through the mall and then continue onward with enough light to check out more of a route I’d found over the previous Summer along the ridge out of Upper Hackett Park.
We ended up taking longer than anticipated, and when Jen showed up she realized that she’d forgotten to bring her shoes (she comes to the hikes, like me, straight from work). Fortunately, we were hiking through a mall, and so she’d be able to get something easy.

Palmer Park Mall

We headed into the mall and walked through I think it was Boscov’s first. We then entered the main portion of the mall and made our way to Payless Shoe Source where Jen went in and found herself some shoes. We wiated outside in chairs or whatever.
When she got ones that seemed to fit well, we were on our way through the mall heading to the east. We didn’t stop in any other stores; nothing looked of particular interest to me or anyone else I suppose.
We exited the mall, and then headed out along the road to the south of it, but I’d intended to take Gruver Avenue gradually up hill. We ended up having to backtrack for a bit, then went up across a corner lawn to reach Gruver.

Upper Hackett Park

The road had a nice view from a power line cut, and we followed it over the crest of the hill, then down slightly to the entrance to Upper Hackett Park, where we’d pick up the trail. There wasn’t enough daylight remaining for us to do the route I’d had in mind, across the top of the park and then down to the railroad bed, so we simply remained on the paved trail, which was developed up and over Upper Hackett to Lower Hackett Park to avoid going through an industrial complex on the railroad bed. This took us quickly down to the rail bed just south of the old Binney and Smith place, where Crayola Crayons were made.

The trail down from Upper Hackett

Once at the bottom, we turned left to start following the former Easton and Northern Railroad to the north, part of the Lehigh Valley Railroad system. At Binney and Smith, I pointed out how the old mill that had originally been on the site was incorporated into the newer building. A close look at the painted exterior shows the masonry very easily.
There are still rails in place in the pavement going by the place. We continued past these buildings and headed into the woods, then soon crossed over the Bushkill Creek.

Rails near Binney and Smith

We crossed over Bushkill Park Drive, passed behind some houses, then crossed over Bushkill Creek again parallel with Penn Pump Park. We crossed Northwood Ave above there after that. It went by pretty quickly heading to the north. We crossed Stockers Mill Road, passed by some more homes, and crossed Penn’s Grant Path. I had another hike scaled off and ready to go already to use this path again, and I scheduled it for two weeks off as not to exhaust the Easton area for people too much.
We crossed over Newlins Road, then passed through the development area, and continued north across Bushkill Street and around the farm Co Op buildings which the trail was routed around, because the rail bed had been obliterated through most of it.

Easton and Northern at Binney and Smith

We soon reached Main Street in Tatamy, where we met up with Celeste and went into Tony’s Pizza.
We had gone into this place several times before, and the owner has often remembered us as being trouble for being loud or whatever. Fortunately, this time we didn’t come across as too bad I don’t think.
We each had a slice of pizza before we continued on our way. Like the previous hike, this one would take on an interesting character from here, because it was again a mish mash of stuff I threw together following some other things I was familiar with.

Tony's Pizza in Tatamy

We headed east onto the Main Street and crossed over Bushkill Creek. This was probably the worst part of the entire hike because there was no shoulder to walk on at all. Once we were on the other side, though, we were able to walk through adjacent parking lots on the left side of the road and we were fine.
We continued to the east for a bit, until we got to a storage container rental area. We turned to the left here, skirting the left edge of the fence, with fields to the left and fence to the right, heading north.

Tatamy group shot

We got to the back of the facility and skirted the fence to the right, heading to the east. Railroad tracks came into view to the north. This was the former Uhler Branch, also known as Martins Creek Branch of the Lehigh and New England Railroad. I had first hiked this section with my brother, Tea Biscuit, in October of 2003.
We got out to the main north/south road, Sullivan Trail, and turned slightly left to cross on the railroad tracks. We then followed along them to the northeast a bit.
The tracks closely paralleled Church Lane for a bit, then cut to the southeast. When we reached the crossing of Uhler Road at the intersection of Kesslerville Road, we left the tracks and headed to the east on Uhler.

LNE Uhler Branch

We were able to walk through some wide parking areas rather than just on the road heading east for a bit. Uhler Road wasn’t super busy, but it was a bigger one. Fortunately, soon after the parking lots ended, we turned to the right on East Braden Boulevard. This road was wide, but hardly any traffic used it. Most of the area around there, adjacent to the Forks Industrial Site, was vacant, though there were signs up saying that it was all for sale. I was glad we walked through this section to really experience it now, before it’s ruined.
Very soon, we turned left on Glover Road. This route was great, because it was narrower than a lot of trails we use, and barely any cars went by.
The road made a ninety degree bend to the south, and we headed toward some of the light coming from the bigger developments to the south. We remained on Glover until we reached a left turn on Padula Road. Both roads really only had a farm house or two on them.
When we came to the intersection with Richmond Road, we turned left. This was a busier road, but not too bad. We weren’t on it for too long before turning right on Frutchey Hill Road.
We continued down Frutchey Hill until we got to the little settlement of Sandt’s Eddy along the Delaware River, where the Lehigh and New England Branch we had just earlier been following used to cross over the road and small creek.
This was the former end of the Forks Township Recreation Trail, which follows the old Lehigh and New England Branch. Where we had left the line it was still active; it continues into Forks Industrial Site, then abruptly ends in a field. It cuts to the south, then weaves back to the north along the Delaware River. It becomes a trail in the developments of Forks Township after a section where it’s farmed out of existence. We cut a corner by walking the roads, and went from following the eastbound line to the westbound (which is actually northbound at this point).

Crossing Sandt's Eddy Bridge in 2003

The train terminated with steps down from the south abutment to the trestle, which is chain link fenced at the top, but the last couple of times we’d been out, the steps and bridge over the tributary below had been damaged and never fixed. I had to find the spot where the bridge used to be, and we all had to go down and hop across, then climb up the other side. We made it up without any problem really, and started following the trail to the south, which at first paralleled a driveway. I guess that’s the way people currently access it now. It’s getting too difficult to continue walking that line to the north, because it goes across back yards and such. It’d be great if the bridge could be rehabilitated.
The section was really nice above the Delaware River. Although it was dark, the river could be seen in a deep blue color below us, and at one point we could see a bend in the river where we were looking up and down stream both through the trees. It’s really the best season to walk this particular section.
The rail bed moved away from the cliffs above the Delaware and into more rural settings. We were surrounded by fields, which was quite pleasant. I held everyone up to make sure that we all entered the next section together, where the rail bed goes into a development.

The rail bed in 2003

When I’d hiked this section in 2003, the development was not even built yet. It was a mess of construction, and a few houses were built to the west side of it. The railroad bed was being used as an access road for construction vehicles.
We crossed over Winchester Drive, and entered the development area. We skirted the backs of houses, and the golf course was off to our left and crossed Broadway Road. We then went into a cut where buildings were on both sides of us. We then crossed Ramblewood Drive, and I could tell exactly where the trail turned and the railroad used to go slightly to the right. I pointed the site out, and we continued on.
The trail turned to paved as soon as we went across Winchester, but remained on the rail bed until just after Ramblewood. From here, we crossed over Brinker Lane, then continued out to Winchester Again. At that point, we turned left on the road for a short bit.

Field searching in 2003

The railroad through this area had long been farmed out of existence. You can kind of trace where it used to go by looking at aerial images, but there’s really nothing left to see on the ground any more. Nevertheless, the first time through we tried to hike it.
We turned left on Scheffield Drive, and just after the intersection with Homestead Drive, another paved path turned to the right. We followed it in, and it cut to the left for a bit. We could hear the sounds of Bob Seger music playing loudly from someone’s home just off the path, which was audible for some time after we’d gotten out of sight of it.
“Against The Wind” almost seemed like an appropriate song for this area. It was really a pleasant temperature all night to be hiking, except when we started there was this wind that just bit through the clothing, but not too hard. That wind died down as soon as we were below the higher levels, and it remained pleasant until we got into this development. It was alright when we were in the tree lines, but other times it was a bit rough.
We turned right on a path that broke off to the northeast. This one went across Vista Court, Lower Way, Middle Way, and Upper Way, then emerged and followed along Winchester Street again. The wind bit again here.
We went by Vista Drive Park and then crossed that road, and soon after crossed over Richmond Road and entered the Meco Fields park land. The trail weaved around nicely through these fields, and then emerged at Meco Road. The trail ended there, so we had to turn to the right for a bit, and cross over Sullivan Trail. Just beyond, another trail crossed Meco, which was where we turned right.
Jen cut out early at this point. The shoes she bought earlier at Palmer Park mall were okay at first, but then turned out to just not be quite the right size, and she was getting terrible foot pains. This was about the best area to quit, because there were businesses everywhere along Sullivan Trail, making pickup pretty easy.
We continued on the trail, and crossed Zucksville Road next, after which we entered Forks Township Community Park, with Forks Community Center along the way. Also, the historic Frace Cabin, built in the 1760s, is located in the park. We stopped and admired the old dwelling.
When Michael Frace moved from the Raritan Valley of New Jersey around 1766, this was the original family home. The rough old cabin served as the main homestead until 1744 when they began constructing a larger homestead on Frost Hollow Road, the original location. The old cabin served other purposes until it was eventually moved to the township park and restored.
We walked around the west side of the park, sometimes on grass, sometimes on the paved paths until we got around the buildings.

Fountain at Forks Community Center

We were solely on the path as we got into the field sections heading south. When we got to the south side of these ball fields and such, we were onto more new ground for me. The last time I’d been on this piece, we had gone to the left out to the shopping center. This time, we’d go right out to the west.
The section was first in a bit of a gully, rather tightly between two sets of homes that looks like it might have been intended for a street. We followed this out to Wagon Wheel Drive. The trail continued almost straight across, then tightly hugged the back of private home properties on our left, and some enclosed retention pond or something on our right.
The trail soon crossed Hedgerow Court, and continued immediately parallel with Heather Lane, with white fences lining the way. These were similar to the ones we had at White Lake Natural Resource Area where I used to live. I commented that the posts were like receptacles, and demonstrated taking the top off of one. I then placed a beer bottle inside and referred to it as a time capsule. It’ll be hilarious in twenty years when someone finds it. I should have put a message in it.
The trail continued along the road to cross over Mitman Road ahead.

Da wha?

The development was called “The Preserve”, which is a clever but inappropriate name for such a place. We came out on Deer Path Road, and the trail pretty much ended. We continued straight ahead on the sidewalks along Fox Run Road almost straight across, and followed it to the end.
At the dead end, we cut directly into a field. This was one of the gambles on my list of things to do on this hike, but it worked out just fine. We turned to the right, skirting the north side of the field, and then emerged in the back of the Jehova’s Witness building parking lot. We walked down the lot to Lieb Road and turned left.
We reached the intersection with Arndt Road and turned right, then crossed Bushkill Drive to continue at the bottom. Cop cars went by, and I thought for sure they’d stop and ask what the hell we were doing out there, but none of them did.
Arndt Road took us to Arndts Cemetery. It was gated at first, but we were able to walk through shortly. We cut directly across the graved yard to the southwest corner, where my intention was to simply walk out and follow Church Hill Road down hill. Unfortunately, there was a fence all the way to this point. It was low, so we could get over it without too much difficulty, just a slight pain in the ass. Celeste handed Benny over to me, and she was able to swing over with much more ease than I think she was expecting!
We continued down Church Hill Road, which emerged on Bushkill Park Drive right next to the old Easton and Northern Railroad bridge and crossing we had used before. This time, we just crossed it and then turned right up Bushkill Park Drive. We walked across the grass of historic Bushkill Park heading north.

Historic image of Bushkill Park

Bushkill Park is an historic old style amusement park which operated from 1902 until 2004. It was opened briefly for 2006, but remained closed until 2017.
The park was leased in 1933, then purchased in 1933 by Thomas Long, who operated it with his wife, Mabel “Mom” Long, until his death in 1965. Mom Long operated the park with Melvin Heavener until his death in 1986, and then alone until she passed in 1989. The park was since owned by a few other people, and has suffered from flooding and vandalism. It had only recently opened back up this year for it’s 115th anniversary, which Jillane and I attended. Not many original things are still in place, but it is home to one of America’s oldest fun houses.

Mabel "Mom" Long at the Bushkill Park Carousel

It was really nice to see someone trying to bring back the history of the old park. The opening for the 115th anniversary saw an unprecedented three thousand visitors.
We walked along the edge of the park out to Tatamy Road, where we turned to the left.
This last section was pretty bad also, because it was so much busy traffic and there was no other good way to get past it.
The road was narrow, but we managed to get to Hackett Ave, where the entrance to the Palmer Park Mall is directly across. The sign for the mall lit up a retro red and green switch.

At the end..

Justin commented that we should have parked on the side of the parking lot closer to this entrance. He was right, it did seem like a very long way all the way to the other side of the parking lot.
The mall had just closed, but we still tried to see if we could open doors as we went by them so that we could walk through the warmth of the mall instead of outside. None of them were open, of course, and we were stuck walking back to the cars in the cold.
This was an overall great and diverse hike, much like the previous ones I’d been doing. The night hikes are taking on a great new character as I add even more new things to the mix, and still have the basic format of both distance and points of interest.