Hike #1095; Mauch Chunk Switchback Gravity Railroad

Hike #1095; Mauch Chunk Switchback Gravity

12/3/17 Jim Thorpe/Mauch Chunk and Summit Hill Loop with Tea Biscuit (Scott Helbing), Amanda Lance, Jim “Uncle Soup” Campbell, Jack Lowry, Sarah Jones, Michele Valerio, James Quinn, Ken ?, Sy P. Deunom (Martyn), Robin Deitz, Mr. Buckett (Jim Mathews), Eric Pace, Craig Craig, Danni Sue Masteller, Dan Asnis, and Waffles the Dog

Our next hike would be a loop, this time the 22nd in my 911 Memorial Trail series, and partially the designated route, partially historic route.
I’ve been immensely interested in the Mauch Chunk area ever since my first time seeing it, and it’s the point of some of the greatest anthracite coal history.

Twining Park

The official 911 Memorial Trail route, which will connect the three 911 sites, takes to a combination of the two sections of the Switchback Gravity Railroad, now a popular, but amazingly under-developed trail between Jim Thorpe (Mauch Chunk) and Summit Hill.
From Summit Hill, it takes to back roads, and I’ve put together a pretty exciting set of hikes along the route which will eliminate much of the road walking sections. The section for this hike would be one of my favorite in the Pennsylvania section.

New Lehigh Bridge

I met the group in the morning at Jim Thorpe Market, as we had on the previous one. This would not be our start point, because we couldn’t leave cars there. Instead, we’d shuttle them up hill into the neighborhoods and then start walking from right where we left off the previous time, just above Twining Park, a triangle of park land on the hill.
I got the group together above the park to talk about our route for the day, and about some of the history of the area. One of the things I started on was my dislike for the name “Jim Thorpe” for the town of “Mauch Chunk”.
Mawsch Unk , meaning “Bear Place” in the Lenape language was the given name to the town when it started as an interchange between the gravity railroad and the Lehigh Canal.

Jim Thorpe

I am of the opinion that Jim Thorpe was one of the greatest athletes in the history of the country, but the events that led to his final resting place being the town named for him sounds far more than corrupt.
Thorpe’s third wife, upon his death, struck some kind of deal with the towns of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk, which unified together and took the name of the late athlete, with a grave site set on the hill on the east side. It was thought that his interment in town would bolster local economy.
Thorpe’s children had already begun plans to bury him on his native home lands in Oklahoma, but felt his body was “stolen”. Over the years, they’ve tried to get his body brought back to where they thought it belonged, but Pennsylvania apparently fought to keep it, and somehow won when the town itself was considered a “museum”. It was found years later that a town can not in fact be a museum, but it was still decided to keep him buried where he is.

The Lehigh crossing in Mauch Chunk

I am of the opinion that Thorpe should have been buried on his native lands. Not only that, I feel that it’s a dishonor rather than an honor to bury a man in a town and take away it’s original native American name, especially since Thorpe never once in his life visited his namesake town. The closest he ever got was Lehighton.
Because of these feelings, I try more often to refer to the name of the town as Mauch Chunk, or when I’m talking to James or some other friends, we sometimes call it “Jim Throw Up”.
I went on to detail the history of the coal, how it was first found, how the Lehigh Canal got it’s start under Josiah White and Erskine Hazard who started the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, and how the Mauch Chunk Railroad started in 1829 to bring coal from where it was first discovered in Summit Hill to the Lehigh at Mauch Chunk.

Historic view of Mauch Chunk

Originally, the coal was loaded onto rail cars and brought by gravity to Mauch Chunk on the track through the valley. This lasted until 1844, when the second “unloaded track” was built to bring the empty cars, or maybe farm goods and such, back to Summit Hill.

Lehigh Canal boats loaded at Mauch Chunk

There were two inclined planes in Mauch Chunk; one was down to the river, and the other was up the steep incline to Mt. Pisgah. It was driven by a stationary steam engine.

Lehigh Canal at "Bear Mountain" at Mauch Chunk

Once at the top of the Pisgah Plane, the rail cars could follow a gravity route back to Summit Hill, with a smaller inclined plane at Mt. Jefferson at the far end.

Loading at Mauch Chunk, 1873 engraving from "Harpers Weekly"

Some accounts claim the rail service began as early as 1827. The loaded track in the valley was before rail a horse and wagon road at gradual grade from mines to the Lehigh.

Early Switchback Railroad signage

The line continued as a coal carrier until it was replaced by the Panther Creek Railroad in 1872. The Central Railroad of New Jersey purchased the line in 1874, and leased it to Theodore and H. L. Mumford who re-purposed the line into a tourist ride.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ipic6XyHf_8

We started walking from Twining Park to the east for a bit, on East Front Street to the north, toward the newer bridge over the Lehigh River. This replaced older ones there.

New ped bridge pieces

I had never walked across the new bridge before. The old one was just to the south, and now a driveway with blocked off old abutments. Just below there, another earlier bridge used to stand. Even before that, a truss bridge used to cross over near Lock #1 and Dam #1 of the Lehigh Canal.
The new bridge was very modern looking and provided some views of the river. From it we could also see the new pedestrian bridge that was supposed to already have been installed over the Lehigh.

Bridge parts

I had planned the previous hike in this series specifically so that it would take us across the Lehigh on the new foot bridge as soon as it opened, but they were of course behind on schedule. The thing was still in at least six pieces we could see along the tracks.
We got across the bridge and turned to the left, gradually down hill on the side walk toward the down town area. It had a low chain link fence that had some sketchy spots, and plastic fencing covering some holes in it.
We soon reached the old Central Railroad of New Jersey train station at the bottom.

CNJ station

We tried going in the station but it was locked up. We then turned to the right, and headed to the steps that go up to Packer Hill Ave and the Asa Packer Mansion.
Asa Packer was a Connecticut born business man who settled in Mauch Chunk and owned a canal boat. His business grew to building these boats and first urged the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company to use steam driven locomotives. He eventually became the sort of father of Lehigh Valley Railroad, and completed the line from Mauch Chunk to Easton.

Kleckner, M. A. -- Photographer - Original source: Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views.

In addition to his coal transportation businesses, he was also a member of Pennsylvania House of Representatives, a Carbon County Judge, and founder of Lehigh University.

Asa Packer Mansion today

The Asa Packer Mansion, built in 1861, is an Italianate Villa with it’s three stories and seventee rooms sits on the hill overlooking the Lehigh just above the road. We walked through it, but didn’t take a tour. I’d really like to do that one day.

Harry Packer Mansion

Just up the hill from here and on the same road is the Harry Packer Mansion.
This Italianate brick structure was built in 1874, a wedding gift from Asa Packer to his son. It now serves as a bed and breakfast.
We continued a bit further up hill from this point, and passed a mirror we could do a little group shot in. We then headed just a little further on to the crest, where the old Switchback Railroad used to cross. We turned to the right here. Some woman who was walking along on the road in the other direction asked if it was a trail. We said yes, and I think Uncle Soup invited her to come along.

Switchback Gravity line

We walked the rigth fo way to the east, and I watched the view to the right, trying to figure out where abouts the plane was that led down to the Lehigh River and canal.
I also tried to spot where the old bridge used to be. It’s kind of hard to pick out where they were, even though it hasn’t been gone all that long.
I watched to the right, and then looked for the old Lehigh Canal Upper Division Lock #1 and Dam #1 site. The lock was not in bad shape the last time I’d seen it, from above like this.

The old bridge from my previous visit

I was rather surprised to see that the new bridge was almost directly over the old lock, which in the past I had an almost un-obscured view of . It doesn’t look like the bridge construction undermined any of the old lock walls from what I could see, fortunately.
One of the interesting things I think I found was that the Lock #1 and Dam #1 of Upper Division was probably the site of the inclined plane and interchange between canal boats and the rail line. It really couldn’t have been Lock #1 of the Lower Division because that’s in a more secluded and less convenient spot to the south.

Historic plane image with Lock 1, Dam 1

Today, much of the lock site and plane site would be obscured by the newest bridge built at the site, but the lock would be our point of reference to be sure.

Lehigh Canal Lock 1 Dam 1

Historic images show the development of the area over the time, such as the home in the photo from what appears to be later than the first one. Lock #1 of the Upper Division of the Lehigh Canal could be seen, and still can be seen from the top.

Plane to the Lehigh

The rail bed continued near the end of a couple of streets, then hit Liberty Road, where we had to turn to the left. I didn’t remember having to go out and around the last time walking this, but this time the bottom of the plane was not reachable because it appeared to go through some private property.

Mt. Pisgah Plane

We had to turn left to where Liberty became Walnut Street, and turned to the right on North Avenue to get to a ball field built over the base of Mt. Pisgah Plane.

Mt Pisgah Plane

It must have been amazing to see in it’s heyday. The incline doesn’t look as big as it really is until going up it. Some of the base of it is filled over for the ball field, and I hear they want to try to rebuild at least the plane section of it.

Mt Pisgah Plane

The loaded track below is actually the second oldest permanent railroad in US history.
The funicular system created for the unloaded track was later employed many other places in coal country as a means of moving the product.

Mt Pisgah Plane

"Pennsylvania's first railroad and first anthracite carrier opened on Saturday, May 5th, 1827, when seven cars of coal passed from the Summit Hill mines of the L.C.&N. Company to their canal at Mauch Chunk, descending 936 feet in the nine-mile trip."
— Earl J. Heydinger

Mt Pisgah Plane

The Mount Pisgah Plane rises 664 feet from it’s base to the top, and is a difficult hike because it’s just a non stop up. Little switchbacks on other mountains make a huge difference in climbs that we don’t even realize until doing something like this.

Mt. Pisgah Plane

Before heading up the plane, there was a nice old playground which still had metal slides and such. Usually these things all disappear in favor of homogenized boring playgrounds.

Playground

They also had one of those metal merry go round things, which are also disappearing. I spun Martyn and Sarah around on it for a bit before we started our climb of the inclined plane.
We started up, and Ken and I were in the front. This one really took the wind out of me too. I need to do more inclines for certain.
Craig was right behind me, and soon surpassed me because I was stopping to take a lot of photos. I have so many “then and now” things I can put together just from this plane.

Climbing the plane

Dan Asnis called me up earlier and told me he was going to be about an hour late. This was a bit of a concern to me because I knew that this hike would have really no access along the way until we got to around the half way point at Summit Hill. Additionally, Mr. Buckett and Eric were coming to meet up, but they had gone to Summit Hill in the morning.
I had originally intended for the hike to start and end in Summit Hill, but I realized it would be much smarter to get the Mount Pisgah Plane out of the way earlier.

Mt Pisgah Plane

Because we had met on the east side of the Lehigh, this bought some time for them to be able to catch up with us. Also, there was a lot to see at the top that would take even more time.
I told Dan to meet at the ball field, and if we were already beyond there he could then climb the Pisgah Plane to catch up with us.
I got the call from him about when I was half way up the plane, and directed him to where he could start the ascent.
Mr. Buckett and Eric were on their way back, and Eric knew of the more gradual switch back trail that also led to the top of Mt. Pisgah without having to climb the plane, so he and Mr. Buckett would do that.
Craig, Ken, and I reached the top and surveyed the ruins of the power house just beyond the top, which originally employed some kind of strung metal because the weight of the cars could not be held with hemp rope or chain, and cables had not yet been invented. The block bases of it were there, but it was once a more substantial structure.

Pisgah Plane

The others moved along reasonably fast. Robin was next to make it up after the three of us, followed I think by Tea Biscuit.
We all just hung out at the top, which was a pretty cool spot. I had a drink and we sat near the old power house. James was feeling pretty sick; he hadn’t been doing nearly as much hiking with us, so this was quite a tough way to start back into things. He made it more than three quarters of the way to the top before having to sit down. Fortunately, after we’d reached the top, and it was gradual down hill for a while, he started feeling much better.
As James was reaching the top, I could see Dan working his way up, so we held back and waited for him as well as Mr. Buckett and Eric a bit more.
The latter two were not showing up yet, so we started moving on along the top once everyone was together.
There would have been a bridge at the top of the plane to carry the rail cars over the power house and to the next section of grade, and so trails lead down and around.

Pisgah Plane

There are interpretive signs all along this, but they’re many years old at this point, and very faded and hard to read.
There are no real good trail markers. They split at the top and there’s never a sign saying “go this way” or whatever, but I kind of like the rustic look and lack of signage. It’s kind of obvious where to go anyway, and it feels more like an adventure looking for these things using my book rather than it being force fed.
We walked around the power house ruin, then climbed a slope to the rail grade beyond.

Power house ruins

The grade took us to an outstanding overlook to the north, really one of my favorites in Pennsylvania. Dan caught up to everyone here.
Looking to the north we could see the Nesquehoning Trestle, which carried the Lehigh Valley Railroad beyond a junction north into the Lehigh Gorge. The bright white decking of the D&L Trail on part of the bridge is abundantly visible from up above. We could see Lock #2 of the Lehigh Canal’s Upper Division below, which raised canal boats seventeen feet.

View from Mt. Pisgah

Nesquehoning Junction, where another Lehigh Valley Railroad branch went ot the west, had some sort of construction going on which looked like the footing to a new bridge. It seems like that would be overkill with a new one going in downstream and the fact that they already put a walkway on the existing railroad bridge though.

View from top of Pisgah Plane into the gorge

When I had everyone’s attention giving my historic dissertation, I guided everyone to train their eyes on the bend in the river and the eroded cut in Broad Mountain known as Glen Onoko.
One of my favorite things about this point is that you can see the sixty foot high Onoko Falls all the way across the valley. It’s always seemed to me like something out of another country, the ability to see such an amazing falls so many miles away. It’s no wonder the area of Mauch Chunk used to be known as “Little Switzerland”.

Onoko Falls in view

The name “Mt. Pisgah”, taken from the biblical mountain name where Moses is said to have seen the Promised Land, seems all that much more appropriate from here.

View from Mt. Pisgah. Lock #2 is visible below left

We moved on along the railroad bed from here, heading west, and soon reached the spot for the water reservoir for the boiler associated with the inclined plane.

The source for this was a spring on the right side of the path known as Indian Spring. The water originally was used from the Lehigh River, but some time prior to 1862, wooden pipes were installed to bring water from Indian Spring to a wooden reservoir. In 1862, the wooden pipes were replace with cast iron ones, as the earlier ones were prone to breaking. This probably coincided with the flood that destroyed the Upper Division of the Lehigh Canal once and for all.

Old reservoir site

Some time after that, probably around 1900, the original wooden reservoir was replaced by a concrete one. While we walked to the west, we could see the remains of the concrete reservoir below the rail bed to the left.
The next point of interest we reached was the site of the "Bridge in the Clouds" as some knew it during the tourist railroad days. It was also known as the Mt. Pisgah Trestle. We walked right up to the abutment to the bridge’s east side, then had to follow a path down to the bottom and along the footings.

Mt Pisgah Trestle site

The original 475 foot long wooden trestle was built in 1845 to span this gully in the Pisgah Ridge from the engine house and the next part of the ridge. The footings to the bridge were attached to bases that still exist, set at an angle.Joy riders heading up the plane had quite a thrill when they were released at the top of the incline, and were let go by gravity down hill and across this bridge. It didn't always have a hand rail, and could be disconcerting to those looking off from the high elevation east and west, as the mountains were more denuded of trees in those days.

Historic postcard image of Mt. Pisgah trestle

The infrastructure from plain to gravity line and trestle became the inspiration for the world's first roller coasters. The ratchet system employed on the inclined planes to keep cars from rolling back evolved into the anti-roll back mechanism on modern roller coasters.

Mt Pisgah trestle site today

We passed through the gully, and saw an abandoned car sitting at the base near the other bridge abutment. We then followed a path back up to the other side.

View from High Point to Mauch Chunk

Near the top is a view to Mauch Chunk to the southeast. The overlook in railroad days was known as High Point, and it had an observation platform where trains would stop and visitors could enjoy the view. There's nothing left of any facilities now, but some of the view is still really good.

Mauch Chunk from High Point

We continued on the rail grade ahead, and reached a siding that used to go to Mt. Pisgah Pavilion, a little garden and recreation area built in 1872. There was a fountain, refreshment stand, summer houses, and an observatory.
The facilities at this site were very short lived. In 1878, a storm damaged them badly and they were abandoned. Moonlight galas once took place there, and special closed railroad cars would serve the place at night.
We continued on along the railroad bed to the west, in a section that was a bit longer than I'd remembered. There were some nice rock cuts along the way.

The next point of interest was another former railroad bridge site and the Hacklebernie Tunnel.
The Hacklebernie Tunnel is a coal mine that predates the constructed of the unloaded track we were walking. It was driven into the mountain in 1824 because it was hoped another supply of coal could be found much closer to the Lehigh River. The mine never produced a reasonable amount of coal, and so it was abandoned in 1827. Interest in the mine was revived however when the "back track" was completed.
The mine was directly below the railroad grade, and so another trestle was constructed to get the line over the top of it. Today, it's necessary to hug the edge of the cliff face to get across, or otherwise climb down to the mine and back up the other side.

The mine was driven 790 feet into the Pisgah Ridge, and coal from the mine was hauled out via a mine spur by mules. The spur connected with the "back track" just a bit to the west. From there, cars would roll down to a crossover to the loaded track at a site known as Five Mile Tree Bridge, and head to Mauch Chunk to be loaded on canal boats.
I reached the missing bridge site first and crossed. It really isn't too hard to go over at all. I waited on the other side for the rest of the group to show up, and then descended via a steep path with slippery dead leaves to the old rail spur and the mouth of the Hacklebernie Mine.
There is a sort of concrete blockage along the entrance to the mine, for purposes unknown. I went in and just beyond there, and was joined by Uncle Soup, Martyn, Tea Biscuit, Craig, and I think James. Maybe others went in, I can't quite remember.
There was mud and water along both edges of the mine, but always a sort of berm in the middle. I'd never followed this all the way back before, so I really wanted to do it.

Hacklebernie Mine

The last time I had been in, the smell was awful and I got a headache, but after a few minutes without that happening, I decided to venture further.
At first, the mine is low and requires ducking to get through, but after a short distance I could stand up perfectly straight with no problem. We moved on until we got to where the mine seemed to collapse. I'm not sure if this was the very end of it or not, but I went to check a bit more.

Hive hat!

Uncle Soup handed me his light, and I climbed up the debris at the end to see down a hole on the other side, to find out if we could get further through. There was no way through the mess, and up above there was an open area that had also been mined out. There was a giant slab of coal in front of us, and above there seemed to be more with wooden mine bracing.
Unable to go further, we all headed back out and climbed back up to the main back track.
We continued along, with often great views to the left. This was rally the best time of year to be doing this hike, because they are quite continuous.

Jack and the hive hat

While walking, someone spotted a busted piece of bee hive stuck to a tree branch at about chest level. I grabbed it to have a closer look and realized it looked a little bit like some kind of turbin. I decided to wear it as a hat for a while.
This turned into many members of the group taking their turn to wear the hive hat for a while. Eventually, Jack ended up with it and wore it for the entire remainder of the hike! When attended his Strikesound Party the following Wednesday, I spotted it sitting on a table in front, so I wouldn't be surprised to see this as part of a stage costume!

Historic postcard image

We descended gradually at about forty five degrees to the site of Five Mile Tree Bridge and junction. here, the back track crossed over the original loaded track on a small bridge.

Five Mile Tree Bridge today

The connector track between the two was to the north side, where tourist trains or earlier ore cars that were only traveling from Hacklebernie Mine could turn back to Mauch Chunk with their product.

Five Mile Tree

This was an important spot for me, because in the past I had only ever walked the Switchback Railroad to this point. Everything west to Summit Hill was new and exciting.

The unloaded track approaching the cemetery

We climbed up from Five Mile Tree Bridge, and the right of way was at first overgrown. When it reached the same level as the unloaded track grade, it became clear and easy for a while.
There were a couple more fallen trees on this section, since it's not a through route any more, but it was overall good.
We soon came to some guy's back yard where he'd blocked off the right of way with a metal gate. it was open, and there were no signs saying not to trespass, but we still went to the right into a meadow type area, then cut through woods to the left to regain the right of way on the other side.

At Carbon County Environmental Education Center

Once we were back on it again, we turned right for a while, and we soon reached a cemetery.
The cemetery construction had completely obliterated the old railroad bed for it's length across it. We continued to follow it on the other side, but then it was pretty overgrown on the other.
Aerial images show that there is a short good section just up ahead, but we couldn't get on it to follow it. Instead, we headed down along the cemetery to the road, White Bear Drive.
We walked by the entrance to Carbon County Environmental Education Center on the way, which might have been a cool stop, but we still had a long way to go.

Gravity line in yards

We really didn't miss much of the gravity railroad at all. Just beyond this point, it came down to very closely parallel with the road. At first it was behind some of the private houses, and then it was in the front yards, so we were walking immediately parallel with it anyway. This continued to the base of the Mount Jefferson Plane.
I had seen the Mt. Jefferson Plane once before. Jim DeLotto drove Jillane and I over to his house and showed us where some fo the infrastructure was at one point.

The Summit Hill Historical Society recognized the significance of this plane, and the land was purchased by a man named Bob Gormley, who excavated the barney pit below, with hopes to put a roofed cover over it for protection.
The Mount Pisgah Plane is much longer than the Mt. Jefferson one. Pisgah was 2,250 foot long at a 29% grade, while Jefferson was only 2,070 feet long with a rise of 464 feet at 22% grade.
We looked around a bit at the ruins at the site, and then began walking. Even though the grade wasn't as steep as the previous one, it was still hard enough. I'd been relaxing too much I suppose, because again it really took the wind out of me.
At the base of the incline, the tracks used to go over a small stream, and there are abutments still in place from it. We had to step over to the right, and we climbed by passing a yard on the left. There were people out there, and no one hollered at us, but I'm sure they were annoyed because they had a dog that was going nuts as we went by.

Mt Jefferson Plane

Some of this plane was on more of a fill than the previous one, which gave it a little bit of different character. Also, the other one had some ties in place going up, but I got the idea that those were sometimes added as erosion deterrents on the right of way. This plane, however, I believe had some original ties along the way.
After climbing a ways up the plane, we came to the road crossing of East Holland Street. This was actually the former crossing of the down track again. One abutment is still in place, but the other was removed when the right of way was widened and turned into a road.

Mt Jefferson Plane

We made our way onto the road, which we would be walking later on the return trip, and then climbed up the east side to continue the ascent of the inclined plane.
When we got to the top, we regrouped and let everyone catch up. The top of this one wasn't nearly as interesting as the previous plane because the old engine house was pretty much gone. There was a bit of masonry still visible, but not a lot to see.
The local historical society had installed a bench at the top, so it at least looked like a publicly accessible thing.
Once everyone was caught up, we continued on to the west. The right of way paralleled a yard for a bit, and then emerged along the edge of a nice little cemetery with a stone wall a round the outside. From this point, most of the gravity line was obliterated. There's a construction site we went by, and it seems like some of it must go through the more modern cemetery we approached. We followed this to the west.

Base of Mt Jefferson Plane

I followed through the cemetery rather than the pavement for a while, which was nice and comfortable. There was a nice stone structure with a sort of onion dome on it.
I wasn't sure at the time where the railroad used to go, but apparently it was just along the south side of Ludlow Street, and the last station at the turn around was called Ludlow Station. We walked Ludlow Street to the west beyond the cemetery to Pine Street, whre we found the next remnants of the switchback railroad.

Mt Jefferson Power House

There was an abutment on the left side, and this was known as the Pine Street Crossover. Just to the west of here, the railroad looped back at Ludlow Station and cars headed back the loaded track.

Historic view from Mt. Jefferson Plane

There was a small pocket park, and an old rail car full of coal on display, which we had to stop to check out.
I announced to everyone that this would be our turn around point, and we went to find food.

Mt Jefferson Plane today

Two blocks down from the Pine Street Crossover was the "Miner's Market", on the corner of Pine and Amidon Street. Everyone was hungry, but we didn't have the time for a full on lunch like I'd actually wanted to do. They had fried chicken, but not enough for everyone.

Historic image of Pine Street Crossover

I really wanted something to eat, so rather than wait around with everyone else, I chose to walk just a little bit to the east to the Switchback Mini Mart on Amidon Street. Admittedly, I wanted to go there just because it incorporated the historic name into it.

Pine Street Crossover today

I went in to find that they were no longer preparing food for the day. They did however have sandwiches pre-made, which was exactly what I needed anyway. I gave the girl at the counter a hard time about it, because she came across as quite saucy from the start.

Coal car in Summit Hill

I got the sandwich, and she asked if I wanted anything on it. I asked what she recommended, and she said they were kind of dry and really needed some italian dressing. I agreed, and she went to get it for me. Despite searching all over the place, she could not find any italian dressing to save her life. I continued to heckle her, playfully elaborating on my disappointment. This paid off in the end, because she offered free coffee to the entire group when they showed up. It was starting to get late, so I did want to keep moving.

Historic postcard

Holland Street went directly behind the Switchback Mini Mart. This would be our route for a while, as it was the start of where the street had been built over it. The grade was obviously the same as whe we'd been doing along the way.

Mt Jefferson Plane crossing

The loaded cars would cost at about twenty seven miles per hour down from this point, and about the same with later passengers. There was a spur from the line in Summit Hill to different mines including Panther Valley.
Summit Hill had it's firt home built in 1800, and it was the first of the mining "Patch Towns".

Former Mt Jefferson crossover

It wasn't too long until we got back to the former bridge site at Mt. Jefferson Plane that we'd just crossed a bit earlier. We simply continued on the road further down hill from here.

Jefferson Plane bridge

The road continued to descend nicely, through an area that was apparently once known as "Stoney Lonesome". We followed the road section to where it ended, at the home of a rail fan.

The road further east supposedly changes names from East Holland to Stony Lonesome Street. I'd hoped the owner of the house might come out and talk to us, but I suppose it's just as well. We were already running behind a bit, so we needed to move on.

The route returned to the easy kind of path we'd been on before. Because this loaded track right of way is considered the main through section, and the part on which the 911 National Memorial Trail will be superimposed on, it was much clearer and easier to follow than the others.
We passed a nice overlook at a power line cut to the right, and continued to descend with views of Mauch Chunk Lake to the right through the trees.
The lake was created in 1972 in order to handle the flooding issues on the creek into town. I had thought it was just a recreational facility, but apparently had other functionality to it.
We descended to Five Mile Tree Bridge site once more, and continued further down hill.
I got my group shot at that point, because the lighting was nice and I wasn't sure if we'd have the opportunity later on. Mr. Buckett and Eric had spotted a car at the Mauch Chunk Lake parking area, and so they would be cutting out early.

The trail took us down hill further, and soon we were in back of people's homes on the trail. That switched to where we were soon right in the front yards. The trail took us out to cross over the highway, which had changed names to Lentz Trail, at the entrance to Mauch Chunk Lake. We powered ahead from the road crossing, and Eric and Mr. Buckett cut out. Tea Biscuit and Amanda went with them too, and I'm not sure if anyone else did.
Just a head, the Mauch Chunk Lake destroyed a small section of the right of way, making it necessary to walk around the south side, then to the base of the dam.

Bridge site now

Dan was getting farther behind, but he was still coming, so we kept going along the rail bed to the east. This is a really nice section because it runs directly beside the Mauch Chunk Creek, and through thick Rhododendrons.

Rail fan house

We crossed a couple of nice bridges over creeks, and I noted a few other side trails I'd really love to come back to explore. There is just so much up there I still have never gotten around to.
The trail came closely parallel with Flagstaff Road, and soon emerged at that same road's intersection with Lentz Trail. We crossed over, and there was an old station stop site with steps still in place on the left.
There was once a bridge where the railroad crossed Mauch Chunk Creek again here, but it's long gone. We had to cross over to the left on an access to what might have been a municipal road department or something, and skirted the yard to where it re-enters the woods.

The creek loses elevation fast from here, much faster than the railroad did. We were still walking gradually down hill, but it seems like we're going up in this section because the floor of the valley just keeps getting lower.
As we entered the edge of town, we could see the lights down below pretty clearly. Flashlights weren't really necessary due to all the ambient light around us.
We did make one mistake when we got close to South Avenue; the right of way continued straight, but we ascended to the street because it looked as though we should be going there.

Home Stretch

We continued to Hill Road, which then took us back down to the right of way where we belonged. Unfortunatey, some of the group missed us there and ended up following Dan Asnis back to the ball field where his car was. The rest of us continued along the right of way right to where we picked it up at Packer Hill Ave. We passed another coal car on display along the way just before heading down from the site of the former station.

Home Stretch

James called me and suggested that since he had his car with him, he could get a ride from Dan back to his, and then come back and pick the rest of us up. That sounded like a good idea, but it was also getting cold, so we didn't want to stay put for too long.
We turned right down Packer Hill from the former station site, and the Asa Packer Mansion well beautifully illuminated. We then went the same we we had gone in the morning, and headed onto Rt 209 up to the bridge back over the Lehigh.
We moved along pretty quickly, and I got a call from James who was about ready to pick us up. By that time, we were less than two blocks or so anyway, so it didn't matter.

The depot in Mauch Chunk

It had gotten dark just after we got past Mauch Chunk Lake, so we did have a good amount of this in the dark, but we also had more mileage than I had counted on. Still, it is one of my favorite sections in Pennsylvania, and probably will always be so, even after I complete all of the designated route.

Historic postcard image of Mauch Chunk Switchback Gravity Railroad

Much of the group had to get going; it was getting pretty late for a Sunday night to be out, but a lot of us did go together to Penn's Peak, where there's a restaurant we could eat. We caught them just in time before they were to close the kitchen. It was totally dead; we were the only patrons, which was actually really nice, and the girls were good servers.
James fixed my lap top, and it was a nice little dinner to close the night.
I was happy with the turnout on this hike, and it was great because it was the most new ground for me in this series to day. Certainly, there have been sections totally new to me right from the start. From New York City, the Hudson waterfront, Lenape Trail, Patriot's Path, the Cherry Valley, and more, each have had new sections that have been added since I'd walked them last, so they were by no means boring to me. Still, the January hike, part 22, will be the very first in this series that I have never done a single bit of. In fact, the next four in the series, out through deeper coal country, are all things I have never done. The series will mostly overlap things I've done in the past, and very few involve repetition. Hopefully, I'll build a following as we keep on the trail westward. I'm really looking forward to it.

Historic view of Pisgah Plane