Hike #811; Archbald and Carbondale Loop

Hike #811: Archbald and Carbondale Area Loop

11/9/14 Archbald and Carbondale Loop with Matt Davis, Ron Phelps, Julie Strohmaier, Jason Kumpas, Amanda Murphy, Tim Kovich, Seth Gollhardt, Michele Valerio, Jennifer Grove, Paul K, and Saqib ?.

Group shot north of Archbald on Moosic Mountain.

Our next hike would be a loop between Archbald and Carbondale area, through the Lackawanna Valley and on Moosic Mountain. We'd follow abandoned rail lines, the Lackawanna Heritage Trail, back streets, and woods roads and ATV paths to close in the loop.
We last hiked the Lackawanna  Heritage Trail to Archbald in 2012, and despite meaning to return, I never got around to planning another trip because we were branching into different directions from here. Now, partially because I had done an unconnected hike in Hancock NY, I need to connect it. Including t his hike, four remained to connect to where I left off there.
The hike would go absolutely fantastic. We had an excellent group that moved along at a great speed, not too fast but no dilly dallying around. We'd finish before dark and cover a lot of interesting ground. I picked up Matt, Ron, and Julie in Washington to head northbound. It was great to have Matt out with us again after a long hiatus. His family is from the Carbondale area, and in his youth the family would take trips north and pass by the old family residence. His grandfather started work in the coal industry at a very young age, and Matt grew up hearing the stories. We bonded over this history and became friends based on the appreciation of the industry and it's effect on transportation in the form of rail and canals. It was also cool to have Ron and Julie around, both of whom had been missing from the trips for some time, but had recently come back.
We arrived in Archbald, at the municipal offices in town along the Lackawanna River. Our three newcomers, Jennifer, Paul, and Saqib all were positive people and strong hikers. The hikes in this area bring out a crowd I don't always get in the other areas. Jason, Amanda, and Tim often show up for them, and Tim's hours at his job had just changed which will hopefully free him up to do more with us again after a long hiatus. Seth was also back out, as he lives quite close by as well.
I first parked at a church parking lot, having passed the municipal one, and saw Michele waving after a little bit. She came looking for us, and we moved to the other lot. Jason and Amanda were running a few minutes late. Seth brought some Krispy Kreme donuts for everyone, so I pigged out big time on them while waiting.
I decided to do a little loop to start out, connecting with what I'd done on the previous hike. Matt, Tim, and I were the only ones to check out the first section, down Laurel Street to the south. We got to the parking lot where we'd finished the last hike there, and picked up the Lackawanna Heritage Trail. I had run this section in the dark at the end of the last hike to the bar and grill on the other side, but didn't get to see a lot.
The trail follows most closely the former New York, Ontario, and Western Railroad's Scranton Division in this section. The line was completed in 1890 by the

by the wholly-owned subsidiary Ontario, Carbondale and Scranton Railroad. Just past an interpretive sign, there was an abutment of where the "O&W" as it was referred crossed the river. The line was apparently up on a fill at this point, but most of it had now been removed. We skirted the north side of a ball field along the Lackawanna River heading up stream, then into a wooded section. The Delaware and Hudson Gravity Railroad, which operated from the end of the Delaware and Hudson Canal in Honesdale, crossed the river here earlier than the other lines. It utilized gravity and stationary engines at inclined planes to carry loaded and unloaded cars between the canal and the mines.
At the parking lot, Jason and Amanda joined us. Jason brought even more Krispy Kreme donuts to share. These ones were quite hot when he arrived, so I ate two more, stuffing myself! Jason brought a bag of his old hats he'd gotten from his mom's house. He was wearing an old Weis Market hat, with some funny pins on it that said some funny stuff.

D&H Gravity Railroad map

The old gravity railroad lines are quite interesting, and somewhat forgotten except by a few trail advocates who want to see it developed as such and rail fans. We'd follow more of these historic lines later on as well. No apparent sign of the line was here, though it was the site of Inclined Plane #21.

The line took us to Monroe Street where we had to turn right, then left on Laurel again. The O&W line went out behind the houses next to the river, and is much developed over in the form of back yards and such. When we got back to the lot, everyone was waiting, looking somewhat tired. Behind the lot were the abutments of an old O&W bridge over a tributary that flowed out from under a concrete underpass.

Lackawanna Heritage Trail on the old O&W Line, Archbald.

We walked up Laurel to a left on Gilmartin Street. Just before the river bridge, we turned right onto the Lackawanna Heritage Trail, now following the right of way of the O&W beside the river.

The town of Archbald was originally known as White Oak Run after a prominent tributary, but was re-named after James Archbald who was the first mayor of Carbondale, further to the north. The town was settled by Irish-Catholics who fled from Ireland during the Potato Famine between 1845 and 1852, which in many ways was a genocide because the country was able to sustain itself on existing crops, but shiploads of food were sent to Britain from Ireland. Approximately one million Irish perished, and another equal amount fled to places such as America for better opportunity.

Historic Archbald

We continued on the trail to the north, which was very wide and paved. Matt said it was a rougher stone the last time he hiked this, on a Metrotrails trip he arranged in my absence. Paul told us that this had only been paved recently.

To the right of the rail bed was former Delaware and Hudson Railroad's Pennsylvania Division Main Line, now used for heavy freight. Next to that was another right of way, the earlier D&H Gravity Railroad we'd seen earlier. This would have been the "light track", where empty cars were moved, and the "loaded track" was above.

We could see old bridge abutments of where a road once crossed the river, and there were other stone remnants as well. Some sort of marker was to the right of the trail too. We followed the trail beyond a galvanized steel farm gate, after which the trail doubled as a low usage road to access a sewage treatment plant we passed on the left.

After a while, we reached the Powder Mill Dam Preserve on the left. A side trail led down toward the river here in the property of Lackawanna Valley Conservancy. At this site, there was a large dam that powered the Moosic Powder Mill, constructed in the 1860s, and from the 1880s on part of Dupont. After abandonment of the mill, the dam was purged out and today only a bit of it remains in the middle of the river, as well as the sections now well out of the water. Inspection of the dam remains on the side of the river reveal how substantial this dam really was. It was much higher than I'd anticipated it would have been.

Moosic Powder Mill Dam ruins

We took the side trip down to the river to check out what was there. It was a beautiful bend in the river. Just below the former dam, there was a structure that still had a roof on it, undoubtedly a former part of the paper mill site judging by it's antiquity. I walked up stream from here to check out the dam, then to check out the river at a lovely rock outcropping. Paul mentioned that the river was quite low in this area. We talked about how safe it would be to swim in, and the consensus was that once we get above Carbondale it would probably be pretty safe.

Ruins at the powder mill dam site

We headed back up to the trail to continue. Julie and Jennifer had gotten a bit ahead and missed the turn, but came back and were waiting. The trail continued from here along the paved access road section. We came soon to cross the Aylesworth Creek, a tributary to the Lackawanna River. Soon, someone told us there were two Bald Eagles ahead. There was a guy kneeling in the trail looking off as we approached. Sure enough, there they were, very close to the trail.

Bald Eagles

One eagle was tearing apart and eating a trout, which it was stepping on along the branch of a tree. The other was just watching and looking around. Every few minutes, the eagle would let out a loud noise that sounded similar to that of a Laughing Gull at the shore, not really what I'd have expected. We stood to watch the eagles for a good while, as there are not many opportunities to get this close to them.

We actually stood long enough to watch the one eating take a massive projectile shit! I had to make it a facebook status immediately, because how often can one claim "watching bald eagles shit"? We continued to watch for a little while longer before moving on.

We soon reached Delaware Street, and the end of the trail section. In order to continue, we had to turn left here and cross the Lackawanna River. The O&W Railroad bed ahead was not clear or on public land. We soon entered the town of Jermyn. Signs read "Birthplace of First Aid". The name on the town is the same, spelling and all, of my friends the Jermyns from Washington. I commented "Before Brandan's family arrived, everyone died", though he had funnier comments for this.

We turned left on Delaware Street, then right on Bridge Street. There was an historic marker on the right, some sort of war memorial, then right on Washington Ave. The old O&W line is now on private land on the other side of Lackawanna River, and was inaccessible. It once crossed the river just to the north of here anyway. We continued up the street and stopped at a convenience store, which had a laundromat next to it called "Soap Opera". We got some snacks and moved on up the street. After not long, there were rails sticking out from the grass on the left side where the O&W used to cross the road. The right of way was somewhat recognizable behind homes on the left side of the road as we continued north. Washington became Main Street as we continued north to Poplar Street.

O&W Tracks

At Poplar, which was now the town of Mayfield, we could see where the tracks used to cross to the north of us. We turned left, then right on Railroad Street. This was a dead end road which I thought might take us through to the right of way, but it did not. We had to head back out, back down Poplar, and continue to the dead end on Main Street from which there was a path leading up hill to the railroad bed. We headed up to it, which was nice and right along the shore of the Lackawanna River, but just a head there was prominently signed "private property" that I didn't dare go into. The right of way beyond this spot was really nice and clear looking, but it didn't really make sense to try to go through and chance having a problem. It was far too visible from many angles.

I ran up hill to another dead end road above, which I thought we might use, but no one followed me. They all turned back. When I realized I was by myself up there I ran back down and headed back out to Poplar. I got everyone to turn left, south across the Lackawana River on a bridge here. The river was held back by flood protection berms and diversion devices visible from the bridge. Matt and Ron had gone off on a different direction because he wanted to walk by some of his family sites. I kept the rest of the group more closely following the former O&W right of way as best I could.

We got across the river and turned left on Penn Avenue. We followed this to Pine Street and turned left, where there was a mowed path leading to the top of the flood protection berm on the east side of the river. We ascended to a good view of the river. The old O&W line was just across from us and clearly visible. A nice stone box culvert was also visible along the line.

We continued along the berm, which led us out to Chestnut Street. The railroad used to cross here, and there was a rather expensive looking home with large metal gates at the entrance just above it. I figured this might be the land owner, or one of the land owners responsible for the signage we'd seen. Across the road, the railroad bed was completely unrecognisable. We opted to continue on Chestnut the very short distance to Plank Road and turn right. We crossed Plank and walked through the lower end of a cemetery on a hillside here for a bit, then passed a Russian Orthodox Cemetery just after that with nice iron gates.

Not far past the cemeteries was the entrance to more of the Lackawanna Heritage Trail. Matt had described it well to me that the path simply ends at a strange cul de sac thing, with a tiny foot path leading to it from the road. We turned to follow it on from here. The path was not always on the historic O&W right of way, but for a time it was, and if not was very closely parallel with it. The trail went out and around a large building, probably offices or something, built over top of the railroad right of way. We headed to the right around the building, and then checked out a wooden deck over the Lackawanna River. They had a narrow crushed stone pathway in a grassy area parallel with the river, probably for employees or something. We headed from here back to the main trail and continued through a woods section before coming out to Meredeth Street. The trail ended here.

Rather than continue to follow roads, there was an ATV path and woods roads leading into a sort of junk yard area straight ahead. This was on or right next to the old O&W right of way as well. Because there were no "no trespassing" signs, we just continued across the road to explore this section.

We immediately passed one of the most screwed up looking abandoned cars we've ever seen, mutilated to some crazy degree, then followed the road as it weaved around a bit among countless piles of mangled metal and discarded tires. Other than black cinder dirt, which is prevalent everywhere in the Lackawanna Valley, the sole  remnant of the rail line we came across were the old concrete shelters that often sat along the rights of way. Jason ran into one and put on some freaky mask, then appeared in the window of it.

Tim came across a fork lift he rather liked, and got inside for a photo. The big machine had been discarded there for quite some time. We continued on the ATV path which weaved a bit more than the railroad would have, and passed by a giant metal talk. The path soon entered woods, then ascended to Carbondale Highway. Where we exited the property, we did see some no trespassing signs. We turned right on the road and continued northeast. We soon passed the sign stating we were entering Carbondale. Tim brought up way back that locals often pronounce it in the hispanic way (Car Bon Da Lay), and when we stopped at the store earlier a girl thought it was quite funny that I was doing so.

A fork in the road was ahead, and rather than walk down into Carbondale proper, I wanted to stick with the historic right of way of the O&W line. This would have been directly along the left side of the road as I saw it on the maps. We continued walking, and I watched closely for clues of the railroad's presence. When we got to the intersection with Birch Street, I saw what appeared to be some sort of rail fill on the left. According to a Google Earth KMZ file I had been studying to a great extent, showing all old rail lines in the Scranton/Wilkes Barre area, the line would have crossed a little further northeast of this point, but there's definitely the possibility that it could be a bit off. I opted to climb up and have a look around anyway. I wore a brown suit that I got for only a few bucks at Family Thrift, and it was rather beat so I wasn't worried about ruining it.

At the top, I found a rather definite former railroad right of way. There were a few ties, and a concrete structure that would have held some sort of signal tower. The road most certainly would have had an underpass. I bet this was the former O&W crossing, but that the KMZ file is a bit off. It can't be easily recognized on aerial images, so would probably not have been marked accurately. I didn't go right back to the group; I walked ahead to make certain that this would be a route the group could handle. It seemed to be quite good, so I went back and motioned them to join me.

We followed the right of way for a ways, until there was a giant culm pile on the left that had been dumped completely over the rail bed. We were told that culm is a term used to describe Anthracite coal refuse. The piles consist of a shale material dug out around the mines as well as the fine coal refuse. We had to carefully climb part of the pile ahead in order to get through.

The area ahead was the site of the famous Carbondale Mine Fire, which began in 1943 or 1946, and was contained by around 1972. The fire caused the destruction of the entire west side of the city, and claimed some 500 buildings. I would assume if what we had been walking was the original O&W railroad bed, the piles of rock and coal may have been placed there during the attempts to contain the mine fire, and therefore would have covered the rail bed because it of course would no longer be usable during the time it was burning.

From near the top, we got a good view of eastern Carbondale. Once we got to where we could see what appeared to be a right of way, we descended one more, and entered a meadow area. I figure the mine fire in the area must have caused so much damage and other changes to the land that the entire O&W right of way would be gone or unrecognizable at this time. Matt had had a map on him from way back that showed the rail lines being elevated through town, but now all evidence of some of the O&W cut and fill project seemed to be gone.

We headed through the meadow area to the northwest, then cut into the woods to the right. There were no signs of old rail line in the area. We had to descend over a ditch, then up to a ball field adjacent to the Carbondale area Junion and Senior High Schools. There was a chain link fence with barbed wire facing out going around one of their main fields. I figured that was pretty crazy for a high school up in this area. We walked behind the buildings and saw an historic marker that mentioned the mine fire that was in this area, the former west side of town, now gone. We headed beyond the lot and onto a paved pathway that led to where Fall Brook passes beneath Brooklyn Street, at the intersection of Westside Drive. I saw some stone along the creek as I recall, but didn't think much into it. I figured it might have been a rail line or an old road. It turns out this was probably another piece of the D&H Gravity Railroad, this time the loaded track from the mine. Very interesting.

Kumpas and an ironic sign

We walked on past the shopping center where there was a Weis Market. Jason used to work at one, and for the whole hike had been wearing his "vintage" Weis deli hat. There was a Burger King here, and I thought to stop. When the girls wanted to use the restroom, we took the opportunity to get some food and have a nicer lunch stop. Matt and Ron re-joined us here. I didn't know it at the time, but Matt pointed out that the Lackawanna Heritage Trail goes right across the parking lot.

Historic Carbondale showing D&H Gravity RR.

After eating some delicious food, we got back on the trail, heading into Carbondale. The short section of trail was probably never a rail right of way at all, but rather made to look like one parallel with all of the buildings, placed at a convenient spot. It only went a short distance to Clidco Drive. The short section crossed what was once a stretch of D&H Gravity Railroad Plane #28, on the loaded track. We turned right to cross the regular D&H line, still active freight.

There was also a monument at this corner, for it was the exact location where in 1831 was opened the first underground Anthracite mine. The sign mentioned that an historic marker placed in 1901, on the 50th anniversary of Carbondale's incorporation as a city, had been moved to town when the mine fires started. This of course had changed and the stone marker was at it's rightful place since the mine fires are long gone. The marker mentions the Delaware and Hudson Canal, for which the D&H Gravity Railroad served as the main connection between Honesdale and the Lackawanna Valley. We continued from here east on 7th Ave.

As we crossed the later regular grade D&H line, there was a replica of a station just up the tracks. We continued through town. I was just waiting for something crazy to happen, because a trip Matt had led substituting for me one weekend a year or so ago was met with an array of angry and mean people. People came out asking what they were taking pictures up, glaring at them, and even the mannequins in windows were off. Fortunately, this time we had a much better experience with Carbondale and everyone we interacted with seemed friendly enough, or at least normal.

We headed up hill on the road, then right on Wayne Street, gradually climbing the side of Moosic Mountain. Some of the streets we passed still had paver surfaces. I would love to just walk through historic Carbondale in the near future. It seems to be an amazing town. There were views across the Lackawanna Valley of the mountains beyond as we continued to ascend.

On the way up, we crossed Cortland Street, which was beside the abandoned Delaware and Hudson Railroad's Racket Brook Branch, formerly the Honesdale Branch and also formerly gravity railroad. It looked good to walk. We'll have to do it in the near future I think. We continued up hill on Wayne Street, and at a bend in the road there was a woods road to the right that led to some sort of cleared area. This looked like it could have been a rail bed. I would say it probably was even though it was not on my  KMZ file. It had a nice little view out to the Lackawanna Valley. We were able to walk below the road on this for a bit, then climbed back to it as it started to turn more to the east.

Lackawanna Valley view from upper Carbondale

We went up hill and soon crossed Casey Highway, Rt 6. There were more good Lackawanna Valley views from the bridge. Just as we walked by, someone was firing a gun off to the left of the road in an open area. This was a little disheartening. It was Sunday, and I figured we wouldn't have to worry about hunters. Tim commented that things worked a little bit different than that around here. We went up and over 6, and then on the right a utility right of way road. We followed the road on or next to the power lines for a couple of miles heading south, somewhat parallel with 6.

Lackawanna Valley View from above 6

The woods road took a sweeping turn away from the power line to avoid a big dip, returned to it, then remained on it for a long time. It was beautiful; we were on it long enough that it was relaxing and pretty, with regular views but never too long so that we got too bored with it.

We passed a group of ATV riders where there were side paths. These, to the right, would have led to the historic site of the Keystone Breaker, a coal breaker that would process coal chunks into manageable pieces. I know of only one coal breaker still intact in the region, St. Nicks to the south. None of the riders gave us any trouble, and in fact hid off in the woods until we passed the first time we saw them. I probably came across looking like some official in my brown suit walking at the head of the pack.

A few other paths descended to the left, which I thought to do, but we stayed on the power line a little longer, until we reached a weird flood control reservoir thing. It had a stone dam along a dry creek, apparently just to accept run off in case of a flood below. I didn't know it at the time, but the level grade we descended to from the power line, before crossing the dam, was the old loaded track of the D&H gravity railroad. As I reached the bottom, I looked to the left and saw several pickup trucks parked at the far side, a giant bonfire blazing away, and an American Flag flying near them. This scared me. I told everyone to move along quickly from here.

We hurried over the dam and continued on a narrow ATV path that none of the pickup trucks would be able to follow. Of course, none of them followed us. We continued on the power line on the other side for a short time, then headed down a side path to the left. I first explored a side thing to the right that led to an open area that looked cleared and dug out for flood control as well. As we went down to the right, another ATV came by us. At first I was nervous, but he just waved with his girlfriend and went by. We continued down the path to a cinder based road which I assumed at first was the gravity railroad. It turned out to be the connection to Hudson Street. We turned right here and followed it out to Aylesworth Creek, where the old road crossed at a fording site.

Aylesworth Creek Crossing.

We were now in part of Aylesworth Park. The park focuses around a reservoir constructed in 1970 to provide flood control to the Archbald area below. The reservoir functions in much the way of a funnel. The dam has a pipe through the bottom of it, so that during times of normal water capacity, water will simply flow out at unregulated levels. In flood conditions, when water inundates the pipe, the level of the reservoir will go up and eventually flow over a nearby spillway if needed. The reservoir acts as a holding unit until normal creek capacity is restored. We crossed the stream on rocks, but did not explore the other official trails in the area this time. We did see a map of them though it was rather hard to read. We continued out into the parking lot to the place, and there was a guy driving around with his dog chasing after him. He was an older, rather feeble man in the car named Hank Robinson.

Hank Robinson and his dog

Mr. Robinson first pulled up to us asking if there were any good movies playing in town. Seth recommended a sci fi film. He said he might go see that one, and continued to drive around the lot with his dog running behind. We stopped for people to use the restrooms at a nearby pavilion, and Mr. Robinson swung back around slowly for another lap. At some point, he pulled up to us and asked if we'd like to see a magic trick.

Robinson pulled out a deck of cards, and offered to have anyone shuffle it if we wanted. I said it was alright, and so he put them together to get them out of order a bit. He then instructed me to take any card out of the deck, facing down so he couldn't see it. His dog was on his lap, and the card was held outside of the car so he couldn't have used a mirror. He then was able to pick the card I had, the Queen of Clubs. I figured there must be some sort of trick.

We tried it again, and again he was able to pick correctly, Ace of Diamonds. He smiled, looking very entertained because by this time we were looking for how he could do it. He then told me to take a pile of them out of the deck. "Just take out a few, five or so" he told me. I pulled out a wad of cards, and he said the one he thought should be on the end, and he made an incorrect guess. I felt a bit let down at first, but then he said "Well, that's the wrong end, the one on the other side should be right!". Sure enough, Mr. Robinson had given me the name of the card on the opposite side of the one I turned around. He then went on to read off the names of each card in my hand. Even after I had given him the last card I was holding, he was rattling off the names of the next cards that should have been in my hand before I told him I had no more! We said goodbye to him, and I don't think any of us could figure out how he could do it.

We walked up along the edge of the spillway area, which someone told us was the "Great Wall of Aylesworth". Matt was already down in it looking around when I got to the edge. We followed it out and back to Hudson Street, then hiked down hill on Hudson Street beneath Rt 6. Just beyond, we turned left on another power line right of way, this one with nice grass and rather new looking towers that must have been recently replaced. The power lines forked, and we kept to the right.

The power line led us out to an intersection of lines, where we turned slightly to the left with a bit of a view of Lackawanna Valley. From here, we would have to leave the power lines and bushwhack a bit to get to our next destination: the old D&H Gravity Railroad's former loaded track.

D&H Gravity Railroad

We descended through the woods, and I soon came upon an old cut. There was a berm beside it, which could have been the gravity railroad, but the section in the cut seemed more likely to be it. This would have been the gravity railroad's Plane #27 out of Archbald. We turned right to descend on the historic route.

The original gravity railroad route started in the late 1920s, but was improved upon many times. The first extension to the line to Archbald and beyond came in 1848. The original loaded track was not here, but rather a bit further to the west. The section we were following was an improvement that came in the following years.

Gravity railroad original alignment

I believe the original right of way did not have planes in the area of current planes 26 and 27. We reached a somewhat level area between the two planes, and Jason and Matt each rolled some old tires we'd found down a hill to the right. We then began descending on the route of Plane #27. It was a really cool area, and it's amazing to think that this huge engineering marvel, which would have operated with stationary steam engines, had become completely obsolete after 1871 when the line was replaced with a standard steam locomotive line further down below. Along the way, someone had stuck a door, complete with hinges, up against a tree. Quite a strange place this was.

D&H Gravity Line plane 26

At the bottom of the plane, we reached the older right of way of the D&H Gravity Railroad, which was now on a shelf right next to the 1871 steam line that is still used for freight. We turned left here to follow the right of way of the earlier line, which was obliterated at some points and we had to descend to the active 1871 tracks to walk in to Archbald. The early gravity right of way did become visible again before leaving the later tracks.

The line we had been following from the planes went across the Lackawanna River where we turned, and went past the site of the Eaton Breaker. I realized that earlier in the day, I pointed out a remnant of an abutment in the Lackawanna River from the heritage trail on the O&W right of way, where at the end of the homes in Archbald there was a bridge site.

Probably original D&H Gravity line trestle pier along Lackawanna River.

That bridge site, which I noted to take a photo of, must have actually been all that remains of the D&H crossing of the river to the Eaton Breaker. These little discoveries and realizations absolutely fascinate me about this area.

We continued on the tracks to Rock Street, which was just north of the historic site of the White Oak Breaker. There were interpretive signs here too about the breakers. We made our way down the road and then on an access back to Lackawanna Heritage Trail for a block to Gilmartin Street. Seth offered to treat us to pizza, but we decided since we had extra time we'd sit down and have a bite at Barret's Pub, where we'd eaten after the last hike in this area. It was good then, and Jason suggested we go back. It was a great idea; we had finished the hike quite early, and were able to sit down and enjoy the meal without worry. It was still well before dark when we'd arrived, probably about 4:30.

Dinner at Barrets Pub

We had some delicious food, and it was great to sit down and talk to everyone, chill out at the end. I didn't eat much for fear that I wouldn't be able to drive without passing out as usual, but I really felt okay this time. A little tired, but I had an Arizona RX energy drink waiting for me to get me through the drive.

We had some pizza (served by the "tray", not the "pie" in this area), and some hot wings, as well as some beer before carrying on. Our cars were parked literally across the Lackawanna River, within sight of Barret's, but there was no longer a bridge leading into the lot, formerly where Salem Street used to cross the river. We could see the site of the former O&W trestle over a tributary on the other side.

We walked around and back to the cars to conclude our trip. I am totally surprised at how smoothly each hike has gone as of late; there'd been not one mishap or issue really to deal with since the Phoenicia to Slide Mountain area trip in the Catskills. Everything has been smooth and outright enjoyable.

This hike again takes me one step closer to my goal of connectivity, with only three planned beyond this to connect with Hancock, NY, and only nine away from connecting all of the long hikes I've ever done. My next two trips as planned would knock that down to seven.

Jason commented on what a great group we had had. Everyone was fun, in shape, ready to goof off but also serious enough to want to see more. We took breaks, we explored everything we wanted to pretty much, and still finished our total mileage in very good time.

I feel so fulfilled, making my dreams come true one step at a time and having fantastic people to share it all with.