Hike #1148; Quakertown to Bethlehem

Hike #1148; Quakertown to Bethlehem

8/9/18 Quakertown to Bethlehem with Celeste Fondaco Martin and Dan Asnis

Our next hike would be a point to point, on one of the nights of Musikfest. In the past, these hikes were incredibly popular, but this one was surprisingly not so much.

Sculptures in Quakertown

I posted the meeting point as Iqor in Bethlehem on the south side. The Martin Tower on the north is shut down to public parking now, so I had to come up with something different and we had used Iqor with success in the past.
My plan was to shuttle south, and we would follow the old Bethlehem Branch of the Reading Railroad back to Bethlehem.
I had an idea of starting in the area of Coopersburg before heading north. This was a hike I had done last year with Red Sean, Lowell, and Gina, and it was great.

Abandoned spur in Quakertown

It was kind of disappointing that more people didn’t want to show up for this one, because it turned out to be quite an interesting time to be following the route, and it was actually the easiest time I’d ever had following most of it.
I’ve traced the route of this line continuously between Sellersville and Perkasie to the south, all the way to Bethlehem. The first time I’d walked much of it was back in 2007. I used some of the route for my celebratory 300th hike on a section I’d never done before, and it was a mess. We repeated much of that.

Abandoned spur

The line started out in the late 1800s as the North Pennsylvania Railroad, and was absorbed into the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad system. The Reading continued to operate commuter service between Lansdale area and Bethlehem well into the twentieth century.
As if by some miracle, the line survived the Conrail era around 1976, but commuter service ended in 1981 when SEPTA made the decision to give up with diesel commuter trains altogether. Service ended to Bethlehem in July of that year.

Overgrown spur

The closure of the commuter line ended 124 years of service.
Freight continued to run on the until 1984. At that point, the section between Quakertown and Hellertown was taken out of service. It began to grow over badly.
When I first encountered the section, it was nearly impassable. Walking was very tough. A year after my hike through on it, SEPTA issued a two million dollar contract to remove the rails and ties. A year later, a 30 year lease to the towns and boroughs on the route created a trail.

Train

The entire line had been double tracked. This particular route would have been an excellent one for doing a rail WITH trail rather than complete removal of the railroad altogether.
It seems to me a real idiot move to take up this line because it was a direct connection between Philadelphia and Bethlehem.
Bethlehem has incredibly well attended events such as Musikfest, Celtic Fest, and their Christmas celebrations, and even when the trail was being developed, the plans for the Sands Casino were already under way. The rail line only would have complimented it.

Choo choo

Instead of a practical railroad, they have an abomination of a trail that is wider than many of the back roads it crosses!
I must say, that as far as rail trails go, it is very well used, but I think a railroad would have been too.
We shuttled in Dan’s car from our meeting point down to Quakertown. I would have taken my van, but I figured that we might have people meet up late, and if we ended up with more, we’d need to have the vehicle that held more at the end rather than the beginning.

Choo choo

We ended up taking a wrong turn along the way, and so it took us a lot longer to get to Quakertown than anticipated. When we were finally close, we ended up driving around for a while because I didn’t know where we should leave Dan’s car. I wanted to be close to the railroad tracks, but not in an area where there’d be a chance of getting towed.
We eventually just parked at Tennis Zone Fitness Club near some sort of industrial center on the north side of town. I was just thankful people showed up, and anxious to get walking.
We started across wide open fields at the complex, and passed some giant metal art things. My friend Steph Statler says that the artist’s name is Steve Toben.
We walked a little further north from there, and soon came to an abandoned railroad spur. The tracks were clear, and led out across California Road to the west, and there was a single car on the siding.

Trains

I was at first ready to continue straight, but then figured we could follow the spur to the right. Aerial images showed that it should lead out to the main line, and I thought it was a good idea.
This turned out to be a rough idea. It was fine at first, and we could see at least two other spur lines heading toward the main line, all out of service.
The tracks went into deep woods, and then into a cut. We headed down hill to the right to get on it. I think the more recently active spur cut to the north a bit, and we ended up following an abandoned one that’s been out of service for much longer. It was not connected to the main line physically any more, but the tracks are all in.
I bullied through first, and made my way out to the tracks before Celeste and Dan did.

He is? Where?

They were having kind of a tough time getting through. The main line, which is closed off to the north, is now used as storage for a huge amount of rail cars. I decided while waiting that I would climb to the top of some of them.
I got a really nice view from the top of a big dark brown tanker car, and I remained up there until they came out of the woods.
Once we were ready to go, we climbed under the rail cars and started following the tracks to the north.
The cars continued on these lines all the way along the double tracks for the most part, and we had to walk between them.
There were rail cars being stored on the entire stretch except the short bit where the tracks go across East Pumping Station Road.
It was starting to get a bit more overgrown in this section as well. Veterans Park is on the east side of the tracks there, with walking paths, and I considered following that instead.

Pumping Station bridge

I decided we’d just stay on the tracks heading north from here, and more tanker cars were on the track to the left as we continued beyond the bridge.
Larger plants were growing between the cars beyond this point. It got less and less used as we walked ahead.
When we reached the end of the train, the weeds got even worse. I remembered the first time we ever walked this section, my friend Guillermo said that walking through it felt like being a Rhino going through the high grasses.

Getting overgrown

We headed into the weeds at the end of it, and it was just like it had been in the past.

Weedy

We only had to bully through a little bit, and we were soon at the crossing of California Road.
California is the name of a small settlement to the north of Quakertown. I’m not sure how it was given it’s name.
Looking ahead from the crossing, I was shocked to see that the rails of both tracks had been removed, and that it was done very recently.
Shane Blische had told me that the rails were scheduled to be removed, and that he was having a look at them somewhat recently as well.

Into the weeds

As it turned out, we arrived on site the very day the rails had been removed. If we had been to this point in the morning, we would have been walking tracks.
The ties were still in place, and it looked as though some sort of very large machine came through to rip everything up. The ties, particularly on the track to the left, were so beat up that they were sort of disintegrating. It made them a bit easier to walk on.
I wasn’t sure if a trail was being built on the section or not at the time, but saw an article on line later. It’s something like “Upper Bucks Greenway” or something they call it.

Weeds

It was shown on something as part of the “Pennsylvania Highlands Trail Network”.
The Appalachian Mountain Club is taking the lead on this plan, and it seems they are going the way of more multi use trail than walking path. There is no definitive route for it. In New Jersey, we decided on an exact route that the Highlands Trail would take and marketed it as a “simple foot path”, and “last of the old time trails”. Pennsylvania is taking a different approach and seems to have the Highlands Trail markers going rather haphazardly all over the place on different trails.

Weeds!

For now, the PA extension to the Highlands Trail will have to go up the Delaware Canal to the Lehigh Canal to Bethlehem, and then take the Saucon Rail Trail to the south. They have blazes for the Highlands Trail though on the connection from Delaware Canal to Ringing Rocks in Bucks County, so it’s really a confusing mess. Throughout New York and New Jersey, the Highlands Trail markers are found only on the main route to keep it less confusing. I just wish AMC would hammer down where the main route will go and mark it.

End of the rails...

The walk ahead didn’t seem like the place I had been before. I realized while we were walking it that if I took a lot of photos, I would have a lot more for my then and now presentations to put on the facebook page.
Without even trying hard, I ended up having several of them.
We continued on the line through a cut, and we came close to a western branch of the Tohickon Creek along the right side. It cascaded nicely over rocks.

Recently removed rails

The creek is the main feeder to Lake Nockamixon, and passes down through Bucks County to hit the Delaware at Point Pleasant. We had just hiked a bit of it on one of the recent hikes, so it was cool to see it closer to it’s head waters. I really never noticed it the previous time I was out here.
The creek passed beneath the railroad at a bridge, and Celeste took Benny down to get a drink of water. It was pretty hot and humid out, and it was regularly going form sunny to raining, which made that even worse.

The Reading line in August 2007

There was a guy standing at one of the culverts fishing or something as we went by.

The rail bed in 2018

I got far ahead of Celeste and Dan, and so I chatted with the guy a bit while they were catching up. He asked about our hiking, and I told him that we were going to Bethlehem.

The Reading line in 2007 facing the California Road crossing

The guy said he had walked all the way there from Kentucky and did so in a couple of days or something ridiculous. I told him he’d have to have had way more than a couple days.

Looking to the same road crossing, Aug 2018

He back pedaled a bit and said that he had hitch hiked a lot of it and made it to Pittsburg, and then had his mom pick him up and bring him the rest of the way to Quakertown.

Old tower

There was a strong smell of weed coming off of him as I approached, so he was probably not quite with it.
Once Dan and Celeste caught up, we continued ahead. There were some old signal towers along the way, as well as boxes and such that I’m really not sure what they did.
We continued ahead, and some of the Tohickon head waters apparently flow out of old quarries. There were a few old quarry pits to the right side of the rail bed as we continued to the north.
I got pretty far ahead again, and we paralleled Nice Road on the right of the rail bed, and homes could be seen on the left side. We were coming into the little settlement of Shelly.
The railroad bed came out to East Cherry Road, and I was shocked to see the equipment used to rip the rails up parked right there.
The forks for the machine were sitting right there, and it was obvious the work was done just hours before we got there, at least at this point.

Signal tower

There was a Pennsylvania Northeastern truck parked along the tracks, which was fitted for travel on rails. The forks were just behind it on the ground.

Cherry Road crossing in 2007

The site looks totally different than it once did. I took several photos of the site.

The crossing in 2018

I had to wait here for a little bit for Dan and Celeste to catch up with me.

Big rock

Somewhere in this area, Dan must have stepped on a yellow jacket’s nest in the old railroad ties and got stung a few times.
We were ready to move on, but then Dan started feeling sick. He had never thought he was allergic to bees, but he had a similar reaction to this once before in Musconetcong Gorge, which resulted in him being hospitalized. They had said that he was showing signs of dehydration that time, but he had been drinking tons of water. We theorized that it was because of an effect of the yellow jacket stings.

Quarry pond

We had to sit and wait it out for a while. I think Celeste had something like Ibuprofen or something to give him, which seemed to help. After sitting still for a while and eating some Pringles, he was doing much better and we were able to continue on.
We walked up the road a short bit and soon passed a Mennonite Church property followed by a propane place. I have a photo looking this direction from the road that I’d taken in 2007 and the propane building is the only still recognizable thing.

The rail bed

There was an access road to the right of the tracks, which still had a set of rails in it not removed. I don’t think they’ll be taking that out due to difficulty.

Rail bed

There was another large machine, I’m assuming part of the track moving operation, sitting along the rail bed near the business. We continued up the road for easier walking, and then cut back to the railroad when the road started to turn away.
We continued through woods and crossed a power line clearing, then went back into more woods. At different times, we wold come closer to Route 309 and then move away from it again.

Rail bed

We came near to it again, and then crossed Mine Road at grade before entering another wooded section. We crossed another power line and then entered a cut.
When I first hiked this section, it was just getting too tough to get through, so the group ended up bushwhacking to the right and climbing up into an industrial site. We walked through that and then out to the next road to get out to Route 309. So, there was a short section of this right of way I had never walked until this particular hike.

The rail bed

When we did the hike last year, we actually started off of 309 closer to here, and climbed down to the rail bed at Springfield Street. We continued on it to that underpass, and this was the end of the work when it came to rail removal. One of the sets of tracks to the left was still in place, probably because it’s too muddy in the cut to get it out.
This is the deepest cut we passed through on the line, and it is the divide between the watershed of the Lehigh River and the Delaware River (yes, the Lehigh is a tributary to the Delaware, but later!).

Signal

The last time we did this section, we walked on the rails, which were just barely buried in the muck. This time, much of those were gone. We just had to keep walking through the mess heading very slightly down hill, now entering the Saucon Creek watershed. The Tohickon finds it’s headwaters in the swamps near the previous power line crossing.
This time, it was only really bad for a little bit, and then someone had been taking an ATV through. There was a pretty good two track heading down it from here.

Intact insulators

We walked through the remainder of the cut and all rails ended. It was much like it was last year for the remainder of the distance out toward the Coopersburg Station. We continued walking from the ct onto a little fill and out to the former station site.
This would be our only real pit stop for the entire hike.
I turned left on Station Ave and out to Rt 309. I waited up just a bit down the street to make sure Celeste and Dan could see.

Rail bed

I got to the cross walk, which took an annoying amount of time, and walked across and over to Link Beverages. I had stopped there on the hike the last year and was impressed by their selection, so I figured I’d have a look at what else they had.
They did have some good beers including my favorite Weyerbacher beers.
They also had something by Evil Twin brewing, first introduced to me by Craig Craig.

Rail bed

This one was called “Molotov Surprise”, which apparently is one of several different flavors they make, and it doesn’t say which it is on the can, but that it is 12 or so percent ABV.
I tried my Molotov Surprise first, which was good.
We headed from this point back up Station Street to the rail bed and turned left. This next section was just newly developed as a rail trail. It had not been a trail yet the last time I was here.

Surprise!

We continued walking on the new trail section. I was kind of surprised no one was walking anything to the south except that one kid on the bridge and one other guy just before that.
We continued to Landis Street, beyond which the trail was already done when we were on it before. There is a side trail to the left that goes to Living Memorial Park, and we started seeing a whole lot of people out on it.
We continued walking and skirted the Tumblebrook Golf Course on the right.
The amount of fencing on this trail is totally obnoxious. There is split rail fence almost the entire distance, which is a serious waste of money. To mow and weed whack around all of this is an insane amount of work. Vegetation makes for a natural buffer and this was absolutely pointless. They must have had extra grand money to spend.

Rail bed

We crossed the Tumble Brook and Jacoby Road on a high fill, then the parking lots for Lutron Electronics. We crossed over Passer Road next, followed by Flint Hill Road. The trail remained pretty busy through this whole section.
We moved ahead and crossed over another Station Road. This was the little community of Center Valley, or “Centre Valley” depending on what you read. There was indeed a station here that looked similar to the other ones along the line, now long gone.

The truck for removing the rails

We continued north from here away from the settlement through some woods.

Forks for rail removal

We soon approached Upper Saucon Township Community Park.
The trail leaves the railroad bed at this point, and there are some foreboding signs about the “trail ahead closed”. The trail turns a hard left out to where there is one of those kiosks with a natural roof of plants. It then cuts to the riht along the park fields heading to the north. I waited at the trail junction for Celeste and Dan, and then warned them that there are probably rangers coming through and making sure the park is empty for closing.

Crossing and current removal spot

Dan was still behind a bit, and Celeste and I were out along the edge of the park. I saw the vehicle coming first.

Rail bed

I told her to follow me back into the woods on the regular rail bed section, and sure enough, a police car cruised on up the trail and turned on the section within the open part of the park. He didn’t come to where we were.
Once he was around and Dan was caught up, we continued back out into the park and turned right along the edge of the open fields, which is somewhat parallel with the railroad bed. The sun was just going down at this point.

Rail bed

We headed along the weaving trail and passed the community library. The trail skirted the edge of the parking lot, then descended to pass beneath Preston Lane by way of a tunnel.

Mine Road crossing

Once we were through the other side, we could hear music, and the parking lot was full. It turns out they had some sort of Summer concert series going on, and it was a live performer.
I can’t remember what song we heard them playing when we were going by, but I do recall thinking that they were doing a rather good job of it. At one point I thought it was a professional live recording that we were hearing. Although I don’t recall the one I was impressed with, I know they folowed with “Simple Kind of Man” by Lynard Skynard.

Rail bed.

I do like Lynard Skynard, but I get sick of it because it gets played on the country station and has become part of the redneck chic, which I don’t like.
We continued walking out across a little stream tributary which flows into Laurel Run, a tributary to the Saucon Creek.
The trail continued on and ascended gradually to the rail bed again, now officially the Saucon Rail Trail. It was pretty dark at this point, but still easy.

Railroad removal

The next road we crossed was Landis Mill Road. I think this is the one that’s way overdone, with light up cross walks and such. It just seems way over the top.

Rail bed

We continued and were soon parallel with Washington Lane. New homes are all along the right of way at this point, with their lights shining bright along the sides. Some of these properties have the fences along the trail switch to being an opaque privacy fence. I’m certain these are the people who screamed the loudest that they didn’t want the trail.
It’s kind of understandable, because with it being dark, you can see right into the houses.

Rail removal

We paralleled Spring Valley Road and then crossed that one next. The Saucon Valley Country Club was to the left of us. This huge golf course is going to make it’s way to my list for night hikes when it gets dark earlier. It’s a very large one and will be nice to walk across.
We continued on and crossed over Bingen Road at the former site of Bingen Station. From there, a short distance farther took us across the Saucon Creek for the first time. We crossed Old Mill Road, and then more closely paralleled the creek on the right of us.

Rail bed

We crossed over Meadows Road, and then crossed over the Saucon Creek again. Grist Mill Park was then on the left ahead, and just past that was Walnut Street.
When we reached the parking area at Walnut Street, we left the railroad bed and headed west to follow the shore of the Saucon Creek itself. I needed to take a dip in the creek badly.
We found a spot I had never gone in before. I think we might have tried to but there was a fisherman there the last time. It was just off the edge of the park area.

Old equipment...

The temperature was just perfect for me. I felt so much better having cooled off. When I got out of the water, we headed through the grassy fields to the northeast to rejoin the railroad bed.
I had originally planned to take an informal trail along the Saucon Creek more closely, but we had taken so much time and covered more distance the I had expected, so we opted to just return to the railroad bed and take our chances getting through that way.

Some old wire used on the tracks

I had thought the official trail was completed all the way through, but it in fact wasn’t. There was a bit more excitement to be had yet.
The rail trail section ended at Bachman Street. In order to get through, I decided we would go to the left along the Saucon Creek after all. We followed a good trail along the creek near the former site of the Saucon Iron Works, later Thomas Ironworks, and then came out to the Seidersville Road bridge, a closed through style truss bridge over the Saucon Creek. Rather than cross, we turned right.

Removal in progress....

This part of the hike was something I’d never walked before. We followed Seidersville Road up hill just a bit to the intersection with Riviera Street and turned to the right.

Rail removal

This was a quiet little community road heading to the north. We had to walk up hill to get to it, but the route of the street was a nice gradual down hill.
This took us out to Silvex Road, almost directly underneath Interstate 78’s overpass. To the left, it led into Saucon Park. To the right, into Hellertown. Neither would get us back onto the rail bed. I had done the entire thing through, but not recently. I decided we’d try something a little crazier from here and hope for the best. We’d go under 78 looking for a path.

Removal

I really wasn’t finding anthing good at all. At this point, we would either have to go back, or just bushwhack up the hill into one of the yards of an industry to get to the rail bed. For some reason I thought the latter sounded like a good idea, an I started climbing up the slope rather steeply.
This was totally in the dark, and I don’t know why we were doing it.
Still, it worked out, because we emerged on the rail bed in the Crushcrete Industry.

Near Coopersburg

We turned to the left and skirted the property, trying to stay on the rail bed route. We had to move between vehicles and find the best way through without barricades and such. There were a few more weeds and such to deal with in order to get through it.
Fortunately, we were able to pass through without too big a problem, and reached a clear ATV path heading along the grade to the north. Soon, we got to where it turns into newer dedicated rail trail leading into Bethlehem. They had fixed somewhat a big washout too.

New trail section 2017

The section of trail now picks up officially at Auburn Street access to the east side.

New trail section

We crossed the high bridge over the Saucon Creek and Millside Drive, and then continued parallel with the railroad yards heading into Bethlehem.

Rail bed

We passed beneath Lynn Avenue, and then at some point made our way away from the trail and across Daly Avenue. We turned to the right without going to the Sands or anything else to head back to the cars.
I would have taken less time to get there, but I found things to pay on and get in.
It’s amazing sometimes even to me how I can go off by myself and be completely entertained by degrees of mischeif.
Thankfully, Celeste drove Dan back to his car so he didn’t have to wait.
So much of this hike didn’t go as planned, but as usual, that’s what made it so much better.

HAM