Hike #1141; Blue Mountain to Tamaqua

Hike #1141; Blue Mountain to Tamaqua

7/12/18 Blue Mountain to Tamaqua with Pete G. Wilcox, Justin Gurbisz, Brittany Audrey, Daniel Trump, James Quinn, and James DeLotto

This next hike would be another of the week day fill in things, a Thursday because I had worked the previous weekend, which necessitated a night hike on Saturday.

Abandoned bit of Ridge Road

Pete had started talking to me about the Lehigh and New England Railroad, and that really struck a chord. I have been extremely interested in this railroad since before I started the group that was to become Metrotrails. It dated back to my early hikes with my grandfather, and a chance meeting with an ATV rider in New Jersey.
One day with my grandfather, we were hiking the old railroad grade that was to become Paulins Kill Valley Trail in Hainesburg New Jersey.

Abandoned Ridge Road section

I would be a fly on the wall on countless conversations with my grandfather, and we had been hiking the old right of way up there in sections. The ATV rider told him it was two railroads together, which were of course the New York, Susquehanna, and Western, and the Lehigh and New England. As a younger boy, “Lehigh and New England” stuck out in my head more. The concept of “New England”, and feeling so much farther away from home was attractive to me. It gave me the feeling that following that line would lead me to a faraway land or something. At that time, I suppose “New England” sounded exotic.

Ridge Road

We had continued on the NYS&W to the north, and also the L&NE as far as Washingtonville NJ. To the west, we followed both lines to split points. We followed the L&NE as far as just the other side of Portland PA, and we assumed that it just joined with the old Bangor and Portland Railroad outside of town. I didn’t think much more on it until my grandfather gave me a map years later that showed it continuing on.

View off Ridge Road

As I continued with the hikes, I followed the Lehigh and New England to the NY state line to the north, and I followed it further into Pennsylvania.
The railroad has an incredible history. It started with the plan of connecting Harrisburg PA across the Delaware and the Hudson to Boston. The company was the South Mountain and Boston Railroad, and work began on the bridge over the Hudson at Poughkeepsie. It was halted during the Panic of 1873, and work didn’t resume until 1879, by which the South Mountain and Boston was defunct. This too collapsed, and the successor was the Pennsylvania, Poughkeepsie, and New England Railroad.

Ridge Road view

Railroad companies collapsed, there were successors, and limited work done here and there. A mile of track was laid under one company name, which fell apart, and grading continued under another from the late 1870s through early 1880s.

View to former Lehigh Valley crossing

The Pennsylvania, Poughkeepsie, and Boston operated much of the railroad through the area I was most familiar with until it was reorganized as the Lehigh and New England in 1895. Mergers with other lines, and taking over of some trackage led to much of the main line I’d follow throughout the years.
The Lehigh and New England was the second major railroad to entirely abandon it’s entire system on one day, October 31st, 1961. Although it was still a profitable line, they saw the end coming for anthracite business.

Possible former rail grade?

I first decided to start trying to follow the abandonment to the west in April of 2002 on a miserably rainy day.
It was fascinating how much of it was still there and walkable, but we ended up having people call the police on us all day long.
I suppose it didn’t help that we were wearing white lab coats for that entire hike, but the fact remained that this line had been gone so long, people were not accustomed to anyone walking it. I continued with the series, in sections, regularly through May of 2008.

Possible old Lehigh Valley grade?

The Lehigh Valley Railroad and Lehigh and New England paralleled each other on the north side of the Blue Mountain, and I made several of the hikes loops with the railroad bed. I also followed most all of the L&NE branch lines in the series.
For whatever reason, after the May 2008 hike, I never returned to the L&NE westward, even though so little of it remained from where I left off, just west of Andreas Station, all the way to Tamaqua and Summit Hill. I could finish it all in probably two hikes.

LNE grade

Some of the exploring as we had headed west got to be a little easier, because toward the end was after I’d gotten a good home computer, and Google Earth was getting to be a handy tool.
Some sections we’d have to do as road walks, but others were quite good for walking, and we could watch for where houses were and avoid them. We’d know where we could walk a section and where it’d have to be a road walk. Still, I was getting a little leary of that stuff, and I started moving away from it. Where I left off, the Appalachian Trail no longer worked as a loop with the Lehigh and New England, because the railroad went north.

Lehigh and New England grade

In the beginning of 2018, we did one of the little remaining sections of Lehigh and New England as part of the 911 Trail series. We were barely on it, but it got me thinking about it a bit, and Pete started looking at it very closely.
Pete and I discussed the line one of the last times we’d seen each other, and he started to spark my interest in it again. I hadn’t looked at the aerial images for the remaining section of the line between Tamaqua and Andreas, so I started having a look. The idea came to mind that this would be a perfect Thursday hike.

LNE grade

The last time I did this series, we did a loop on the Appalachian Trail with the L&NE and the Lehigh Valley Railroad, which were side by side for a bit. They split at a station stop known as Snyders. I had done another loop to the east where we followed both these lines between Lehigh Furnace Gap and PA Rt 309, but that was even earlier, May of 2007. So technically, I had not really done an L&NE hike in the series for over 11 years.

Lizard Creek

I decided to make the meeting/end point of the hike the town of Tamaqua, where we had touched the grade last in early 2018. We could then shuttle to the Appalachian Trail lot on top of the Blue Mountain off of PA Rt 309, which would give us good parking.
On the previous hike, we had walked down hill on the abandoned section of Ridge Road to where it’s still vehicle accessible, and reached the L&NE at the bottom. We could do the same this time, and head the other direction to continue onward.

Lizard Creek

We shuttled from the meeting point down to the AT lot, and met a guy there who was doing some hiking of his own, and was rather interested in what we were doing. Delotto is now a native to the area, living in Summit Hill, and chatted with him for a bit.
There was a path from the state game lands parking lot to the north, away from the AT route, and we decided to follow that first. It took us into the woods a bit, but was going the wrong way for us, so we had to bushwhack a bit to the west to get onto the abandoned road.

Lizard Creek

Ridge Road used to continue right on through from 309, but it’s barely recognizable where it first breaks away. It’s terribly washed out, way more than it was ten years ago too. When we finally did reach it, we had to walk well off to the side of it because the foot way was so difficult.
After the washout section went off to the left on a slope, it was a more recognizable road and much easier to walk. We continued down hill on it, and it emerged at a private house. When we did this before, we chatted with the people, but I didn’t really want to engage anyone this time coming through. There were a lot of signs.

LNE grade

The road was dirt when it became drivable, and passed the first couple of houses. I don’t even think there were more than two or so on it. We passed a farmer and helper in a field to the right and gave a wave. He looked at us cautiously before acknowledging.
We continued to a shady spot beyond the houses where we could take a break. There were some excellent views to the south. The road at this point was after all still on the slope of the Blue Mountain, and provided some nice scenery. From here, we continued gradually down to the next right turn, on Ridge Road heading toward Lizard Creek.

LNE grade

We headed down hill with more nice views, and when we neared the bottom, there was what I had originally thought was the former Lehigh Valley Railroad grade crossing the road.
There were driveways on both sides of the road, and both seemed to be graded and worked out so that they were even with one another. It seemed obvious.
Still, when I looked at maps later, the Lehigh Valley Railroad should have crossed over the road a bit further to the north from this spot. But it looked like a grade.

LNE grade

I think I saw where the actual Lehigh Valley line used to cross ahead, which raises the question: what was this other grade?
One of the answers could be that it was another railroad entirely, which one of the previous lines was a successor to. West of Wind Gap, there were actually separate rail grades parallel with Lehigh and New England, which were some of the original Pennsylvania, Poughkeepsie, and New England, or part of the Lehigh and Susquehanna. When the mergers or whatever took place, one was abandoned.

LNE grade

Some of those rights of way west of Wind Gap have been abandoned since 1905. Maybe some of what I was seeing was a different grade with some sort of similar history, or maybe it was a graded route that was never used.
Regardless, it is a curiosity.
We continued down hill a bit more, and soon came to where the Lehigh and New England had crossed. To the right, it was a path into the woods, but to the left it was a driveway.

LNE grade

I was thinking we’d have to go out and around and avoid this section altogether, but it was so enticing with the aerials showing that there was a beautiful, undeveloped section in the woods just beyond. Then, I figured we could walk in the Lizard Creek, just parallel, and get to it.
I figured we could just hurry on by, get in the creek, and then walk up stream on that until we were beyond the private home. There was a guy mowing grass just ahead, and I didn’t want to look too suspicious there, so we waited for him to disappear.

LNE grade

When mowing man was out of sight, we hurried on by, and then soon cut off of the railroad grade into the woods along the Lizard Creek. Some of the group didn’t want to walk in the creek, so they just went ahead, while Pete, Brittany, and I continued through it.
This was actually a really beautiful, relaxing section. At least for me it was! We wandered up stream on the creek, which got surprisingly deep at times.

LNE grade

We made a turn in the creek, and then when we could see by the aerials that we were nearly past the house, we made our way up and into the woods more parallel with the creek. Sparse vegetation made walking those woods a bit easier. Thick Rhododendrons blocked us from view.
The rest of the group went right by the house at the end I guess, which apparently was vacant, and we just remained away until we were past it.

LNE grade

We ascended to the railroad bed when we were far enough beyond, and it was quite nice. It wasn’t totally clear, but it was very easily walkable. Tree cover kept weeds from growing through it, and even when the canopy was more sparse, it was only a grassy surface that made it through.
We caught up with the rest of the group a little further ahead, and it was a relief because we would just be in the woods, with a bit of parallel field.

LNE grade

We casually walked onward to the west. The Lehigh Valley Railroad was still just barely to the south of us in this section, as we neared where Snyders Station would have been.

The rail bed

Snyders had stations on both the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Lehigh and New England. I believe they are sometimes called the same as West Penn. I couldn’t find any shots of the station at West Penn for the Lehigh and New England.
We made our way out to where the tracks would have crossed Route 309. The highway probably would have been there the same time as the railroad, but the bridge is long gone today.

Former bridge site

We climbed down and then back up the other side to continue on the grade to the west.
It was in this area that the L&NE started turning to the north, while the parallel Lehigh Valley line continued to the west. The right of way went out onto a high fill. I knew there would be a missing bridge soon ahead, but I wanted to see the grade out there anyway.
We continued out to where it would have crossed over the Lizard Creek.
The bridge was gone, but concrete abutments remained. We would have to wade it.

Lizard Creek bridge site

We climbed down and made our way across. It was not all that bad. I had to figure out where exactly to go up, and it involved a little crawling, but we were okay. Once on the other side, there was a beat up old picnic table on the railroad grade. It was grassy, not used by ATVs, but not too bad to walk. We followed it on a fill to the north, which soon led us out to Rt 895, Summer Valley Road. We were planning to turn right here and parallel the road, but the railroad bed looked just too enticing. Aerials showed that we wouldn’t really be passing any houses if we were to stay on it, and so we decided to do that.

1938 Lehigh and New England system map

This was all going so well, and we were in pretty high spirits. There was a pretty nice cut in the area up ahead. I suppose it’s not all that surprising because this section of the Lehigh and New England wasn’t supposed to be as old as stuff on the east side of the Lehigh.

Aqua!

This was all supposedly part of the Tamaqua Extension which was built around 1911, relatively late for a railroad in the area.
We pushed onward and came to an open area with a deer stand and a trail cam. We kept to the right of that, out of sight, and I was watching for where there was supposed to be a bar and grill below to stop for lunch. There didn’t appear to be a good way down, and Delotto mentioned a place ahead that he thought we would enjoy, and it would be more on our trajectory without having to make a difficult side trip.
We continued on the shelf above the branch of Lizard Creek, not sure the name, and came to where that again split and the LNE line had to cross over it again. This bridge site was also missing, and it was much much higher. I was prepared to walk through the mess. I’m not sure where Dan,Justin and Brittany went, but Pete, Delotto, and I went down the right side and into the stream. We walked through it ahead to it’s confluence, with plans to turn left and then just head back out to Route 309.

Aqua Pete hunger force

I was shocked that this tiny creek, hidden in some of the most dense Japanese Knot Weed you can imagine, got as deep as it did. It was all the way up to our armpits. Delotto took the opportunity to go for a great swim. Pete and I just waded it on through, and enjoyed cooling off for a bit.
We turned left up the creek to the intersection of Rt 309 and Zions Stone Church Road.

Garden center fun

Once all together on the road, we headed north through the village of Leibeyville PA.
It looked like the railroad went across near some houses to the left, but it didn’t. It remained up a bit higher in the woods parallel with 309.
I’m not sure the history of the little settlement, and not much appears online.
We continued up past the Petritsch Garden Center where Delotto got the girl to spray him down with the hose while she was watering plants, to get the river stuff off of him.

Blondies Lunch!

We continued walking up the road just a little bit, and Blondie’s was a drive in on the right side. This was the spot that Delotto had mentioned, and was very familiar with.
It felt kind of back woods classy; they served Haddock mac and cheese which just seemed sort of oxymoronic. Regardless, the food was outstanding. I had a burger to begin with, and I think a hot dog, and then I had someone else’s fries, and then another burger, and Delotto ordered a bit extra from what we thought we would need ahead of time from the rail bed, so there was more. I think I ended up having like three burgers, but they were really outstanding. Somehow, I didn’t feel overly stuffed this time.

Leibeyville

I had some bourbon barrel aged red IPA by Founders brewery that I’d not tried before, which was pretty good. I gave one to Pete, and we both liked it.
We continued walking up 309 from here. Somewhere in this area was the site of Leibeyville Station. I’m not sure what it looked like or exactly where it was, because I couldn’t find a photo of it on line.
We stayed on 309 and passed some road workers doing work, then turned left when we got to a driveway beyond which the right of way was clear. It had been behind houses and businesses before this point.
We got to the right of way, and it was looking good and clear heading to the north.

The rail bed

We had a really nice run of it from here. It was up on a high shelf, and away from houses enough that we couldn’t really be seen. There were about six houses to the right of the grade as we walked, but we just kept it down while walking behind them. It was totally clear and they’re probably used to some people coming through. It didn’t start to get overgrown until we were getting closer to Lumber Lane, where a power line crossed. We tried to fight through it and remain on or next to the right of way, but it was just getting too hard. I turned back, and out along the mowed grass under the power line to get out to Mush Dahl Road.
We kept to the left, and followed Mush Dahl Road to the west. I’ve no clue where that name came from.
The railroad used to cross the road at the intersection with Ridge Cup Road, another weird ass name. We continued heading west, with the rail bed behind houses to the right along fields. The next road to cross that way was called Trestle Lane, but there was no evidence to suggest there was anything but a grade crossing where the railroad was.

The rail bed

Beyond, the railroad bed was farmed out of existence. You can’t even tell there was ever a rail bed there. It’s all cultivated today. I only knew where it went as per maps, and because it would have obviously followed the path of least resistance.
We had gone up hill a bit on the road, and reached probably the highest elevation the railroad reached in the Tamaqua Extension. This height of land is the divide between the Lehigh watershed and the Schuykill watershed. All of the waterways beyond drain into the Schuykill River, by way of the Little Schuykill River first.

Found her sign

It appeared that a couple of ponds had been built on the rail grade below us in the next section. It was rather brutal because there was no shade, so we took a break nearly the first chance we got, with a humorous sign reading “Brittany Crossing”, which we had to get a photo with.
Beyond, and just after a driveway, I spotted an old culvert overpass on the rail grade worked into someone’s back yard area. Another driveway called Frantz Lane after that had an old bridge that carried the railroad over top of it.

Old rail culvert

We walked into a little settlement next that was known simply as “Chain”. There was another railroad underpass on a side road known as Fratz Lane. I checked it out, and even climbed to the top to see if we could walk it without having problems. It was unfortunately worked into someone’s yard area and had dogs on it, so we would have to continue walking Mush Dahl Road.
We were running a bit low on water, and there was a girl out at a house on the right, so we asked if we could refill our water with the hose or something. She took our bottles in and refilled them herself, and then introduced us to her white cat. She told us something about camp or something, I don’t remember what, and we continued on.

Hill fun

There is a great section of the right of way up the slope in this area, and so I didn’t want to continue below for much longer. When I could tell on the aerials that there was a section undeveloped, just past Hilltop Road, we headed up hill very steeply toward the rail bed. That was a bit of a workout. Delotto opted to go ahead and see if he could find his own way up more easily.
We paused at the top, and I couldn’t get a hold of Delotto on the phone. Mine was running a bit dead, and I had poor service anyway. We continued up hill, and found the cut the railroad used to go to, right where it emerged into a shelf. We went down the slope and got on the grade, which was very easy beyond.
We went through a cut, and then onto more shelf in the area ahead, and when we got to another opening followed by a cut, I found one of the drink bottles Delotto was carrying in the middle of the path rather obviously. I’ve known him long enough to know this was a sort of calling card to let us know that he had gone this way. I didn’t worry that he was not ahead much more from here. He knows this area well, and is good enough with maps that he can find his way around well.

Rail bed in a cut

The right of way turned at a relatively hard angle from going west to north along the shelf, then headed east, then north again in a very cool section. We noted what appeared to be another good grade below us. I wondered if it could have been an earlier line, or if it was something else.
When I checked my anthracite railroads KMZ file, I could find nothing to show what this other right of way is, but historic photos do show a road at that point below the grade anyway. I’m not sure if it was a spur from further back or what.

LNE line at mile post 10, south of Tamaqua; westward view, May 16, 1939 - by Richard S. Loane

Dan finally got a hold of Delotto, and he had gone ahead on the grade, then gotten us tables at Leibey’s Ice Cream House restaurant for another nice stop in South Tamaqua.

About at mile post 10 site today

We followed the right of way on a fill as we came into South Tamaqua, and descended to where a bridge used to be over Routes 443 and 309. Just before that, someone had put a horseshoe pit in the middle of the rail bed.

Stonehedge Gardens

I can’t remember what I ordered at Leibey’s, but I think I got something small like an appetizer or something, and I drank a beer out of a cup I poured one into.
I think I ended up eating someone’s leftovers or something.
I ran into a convenience store and got some regular drinks to bring with me the rest of the way, and Delotto led the others ahead on Dairy Road. I hurried to catch back up with them, and he took us to Stonehedge Gardens.
Stonehedge was founded in 1966 by Russel Keich and Russel Herring with the purchase of an old farmhouse and property.

The pond

“My vision is for a center to educate holistic concepts of health, healing, spirituality, environment, awareness of our oneness, respect of our differences, and the joy these differences bring to our lives — a place for peace, quietude, escapes, meditation and communion with nature …” is part of the mission statement by Russel Keich.
Delotto knew the place from having volunteered and attended events there. My buddy Jack and his band Gypsy Funk Squad had recently played at the place as well I understand.

Another old grade

Delotto led us through the lovely gardens and through decorated ponds with little streams and sculptures. He then led us off to the east side where we came to another grade of sorts. I at first thought it was the LNE line, but it wasn’t. I didn’t recognize this, but it was obviously graded and led to a culm pile, or coal refuse.
It had to be a little siding of some sort, but it doesn’t appear on maps. We followed it out to the main grade of the Lehigh and New England again, which at this point is an official rail trail heading north from Dairy Road.

LNE trail

The trail passed through a cut and then came out closely parallel with Route 309. Even though it was so close, it was so surrounded by vegetation it didn’t really feel like it was that close to it. There was nothing more to worry about at this point; we were done with all of the private property sections.
We continued along through the narrows where the highway, rail bed, Little Schuykill River, and the former Reading Railroad on the other side were all tightly together. There was an historic marker on the Shellhamer Ice Dam, and I got a photo of the sign, but then found that I couldn’t read it later on.
Apparently this was an ice lake on the Little Schuykill, and was later on used as a recreation lake, but we couldn’t really see any remnants from the grade this time.

On the rail bed

The nice walk continued with views through the gap, and there was a rock outcrop up to the right as I recall, which I would like to climb up to one of these days.

Crossing Owl Creek Road

We wouldn’t have the time to do that on this hike. We continued on, and the rail bed got closer to the highway yet again, until it totally stopped where it was developed over for a gas station.
The grade would have gone over the Little Schuykill just ahead, but is abandoned to that point. A connection to the former Reading Railroad is still in use just beyond and comes from along the Wabash Creek to the left, and connects to the old LNE grade.
We turned to the left to follow the tracks in that direction to the west side.

An excursion on the LNE near Tamaqua, northwest view - May 16, 1939 - Sam Frederick photo.

We were parked at the library area just beyond Spruce Street, the first road we came to. I had already gotten good fodder for then and now photos, but had one more to get.

The same scene today

I’d had a photo I didn’t quite match up when we were doing the 911 Memorial Trail series to Tamaqua that I didn’t quite line up right for the then and now photos.

Around 1980 view of LNE station in Tamaqua

It was the Schuykill Valley Branch of the Reading Railroad heading west from the station where we had eaten lunch. I walked back up to the station and lined up the photo as best I could, despite the sun going down behind it, and was able to get something at least respectable as a now photo. I could do way better, but who knows when I’ll be in Tamaqua again.
I walked back to the others, and we all headed back down the road, and followed Delotto to the Owl Creek Reservoir to take one last dip before calling it a day. Not many were into going further, but it was good.

Schuykill Valley Branch of the Reading Railroad in Tamaqua PA

It was nice to cool off and feel cleaner to dive back home anyway.

The same view today

With this hike, I had now completed as closely as I could following the Lehigh and New England all the way from the NY state line to Tamaqua. I can probably finish most of it west of there in one hike, and can probably do the section into NY in another two hikes. Who knows how long I’ll put that off for, but at least I can see the end near if I want it to be.

HAM