Hike #848; Carbondale/Uniondale Loop

Hike #848; Carbondale/Uniondale Loop

5/3/15 Carbondale and Uniondale Loop with Jillane Becker, Justin Gurbisz, Sarah Jones, Michele Valerio, Serious Sean Dougherty, Gregg Hudis, Marion Barbato, Tim Kovich, John Driscullo, Jim "Mr. Buckett" Mathews, Eric Pace, Dan Asnis, Marcello ?, Tamara Sapilak, Wilma Vargas, and John Huber.

Group shot in Forest City

Our next hike would be a giant loop out of Carbondale PA tracing the former routes of the Delaware and Hudson and New York, Ontario, and Western Railroads to the north. I had planned out this trip quite a while in advance. It was one of a few I had to connect to Hancock NY, one of the few long hikes I'd done that had not connected with all else I'd done. Every time I get close to that goal, I do something a bit further out and then it's not all connected again. I have just enough of that to keep me crazy and pushing.

The southernmost of the connections lent itself well to a loop hike rather than a point to point, but what I didn't realize since I scaled it off so far back was that I had planned two different loop hikes, not one. We'd end up overshooting my first loop and going way too far. I thought maybe I'd just scaled something a bit off and the mileage would be closer, but I failed so epically that we ended up doing closer to two hikes worth of stuff. In the end, those of us who did the entire hike ended up hiking 28 miles!

Things were calming down for me at work, but I still haven't been in the right frame of mind. I couldn't get myself to do more trail work, I would get out of work and just go home, feeling tired and weak. I'd gained tons of weight on the anti inflammatory I was prescribed earlier in the Winter, and just felt overall awful. My stress level had been through the roof, and I was still just waiting for the next thing to come up and make me feel worthless. Still, it hadn't been as bad, the the night hike a few days before left me in much higher spirits because it was such a good time.

Jillane and I picked up Justin and Sarah on the way to the hike, and met on time in Carbondale at the shopping center at the south side of town, the area that was once ravaged by an underground mine fire. A lot of the group were running very late because of wrong turns or whatever. We ended up hanging around near the Burger King for a while waiting. I resisted the urge to go and pig out this time.

Gregg, Serious Sean, Wilma, and Marion were all in one car running late, and Eric and Mr. Buckett would meet up with us later in Forest City. I had the other four meet us up the street in Carbondale at the corner of Dundaff Street and Enterprise Drive. The rest of us headed across the parking lot on the route of the Lackawanna Heritage Trail. The former New York, Ontario, and Western Railroad branch that once served this part of the town was once on a high elevated trestle and fill line over the town, something to do with the town not allowing for grade crossings as I recall. The entire right of way is pretty much gone, excavated away because of the mine fire area.

The loaded track of the Delaware and Hudson Gravity Railroad's 28th inclined plane also would have occupied about this site.

We followed a short trail piece out to Clidco Drive where there were signs denoting this as the site of the first underground coal mine in America, opened in the 1830s. We continued onto the railroad tracks to the right, the former Delaware and Hudson Railroad. There was a nice station across the tracks to the right, but not an historic one. It was made to look older, but the original station was burned in 1970, built in 1895 on the Honesdale Branch.

We continued a bit ahead to a path that went off parallel with the tracks to the left. There was a little camp site there, and so we walked on through. I found a set of abandoned tracks beyond this, just separate from the D&H line. This must only have been a spur line to an industry.

Jillane on abandoned rail

The other line, the Scranton Branch of the New York, Ontario, and Western, constructed in 1890, crossed over this line a bit further to the south. We continued on the abandoned tracks for a bit until they became impossible to follow. I found a shopping cart in there and began to push it for a while, but couldn't get it far because there were too many rocks and weeds and such.

D&H tracks with old O&W pier

When we got out of the weeds, I could see piers further back down the active tracks which at the time I did not know what they were for. I know now that this was the O&W (New York, Ontario, and Western) line heading south that had been mostly excavated away. We met up with the four at this point to continue ahead on the hike. There was a switch in the D&H tracks here (the round house used to be just to the east of us) and so we turned right following an ATV path around the back of a warehouse building.

As we passed by, there were two guys loading beer kegs into a pickup. I said hello, and they asked what we were up to. I told them about the hike and where we were going. In conversation, he asked when we were coming back through. I told him maybe six, not knowing what we were in for, and he said "I might be here...". It turns out this was Matt Zuck, head brewer of the 3 Guys and a Beer'd Brewing Company, the only brewery in Lackawanna County. I asked him if he wanted to sell us some, and after chatting a bit more he offered us a tour. I hollered for everyone to come back, we were getting a tour!

We headed into the warehouse, which was half used for the brewery, and the other half for making fighter jet helmets! In the room with the beer vat, we were treated to delicious samplings of all they had to offer. They had colorful names like the "Carbondalien", and some Chewbacca themed IPA, which I thought was the best they had to offer and maybe the best IPA I've ever tasted.

Group shot in the brewery with head brewer Matt Zuck!

We chatted for a bit and got some stuff to go. We then made our way back to the ATV path that we'd been following. Matt told us that it came out to the road, and we'd have to turn left briefly, but that the trail would begin just ahead from there. Sure enough, the trail was there, a narrow but paved older path, perhaps one of the oldest sections of what is now Lackawanna Heritage Trail.

Lackawanna Heritage Trail

The path went to the edge of the river and then turned left on what appeared to be another rail right of way. If it wasn't a rail bed, it was definitely a flood prevention berm. It was most certainly built up. The right of way of the former O&W line was clearly visible across the river to the right of us. We continued up the trail, and the pavement became broken up and ended. The trail was heavily used by ATVs which might be why the pavement is all missing now. The river to the right of us became narrow at one spot and moving really interestingly fast. This whole stretch of river was channeled many years ago, before which it was known as Ragged Island, for the many bars of stones that laid in it's formerly wide course. The industry of the area necessitated the narrowing of the river here.

The trail took us out to Morse Ave where there were large abandoned industrial buildings to the left. Jillane, Justin, Serious Sean, John, and I all went in to have a look around. It was quite large inside and in very poor condition.

Inside the ruins

We wandered all through the thing, inside the door and then to the right. There were large side opening doorways inside, probably to move large equipment in. There was a giant metal gear thing in the next room to the right, and we all wandered down into a narrower hallway heading north. I spotted a ladder thing going up to another level, so I went up to have a look around. I could see the rear of the building had most certainly burned down. The rest of it didn't bear as much fire damage. I came back down and we walked into two more warehouse type areas on the north side. There was a creek there and I figured we could wade across and then get out the entranceway further down the trail rather than be seen going out the obvious way we went in. I waded across while the others walked up to the railroad bridge over the Wilson Creek it was called. Once on the other side, I found that there was no way through the chain link fence! There was also no other easy way to wade back over the creek than the way I already came so I headed back out the front door to find everyone gone and my backpack missing. Someone had fortunately taken it rather than leave it discarded there. I headed up the trail to the north and the rest of the group was all waiting at the Rt 171 bridge overpass, now in the town of Simpson.

Serious Sean doing some serious hook pull-ups

There was a former junction at this point. The trail coming in at this point anyway followed the Belmont Connection of the O&W Railroad out of Northwest Junction. The Delaware and Hudson Line, which still had tracks at this point, continued ahead. The through O&W line was across Lackawanna River from us, but we were continuing on the D&H. The tracks stopped right about at the bridge, and we continued on a wide right of way north.

Everyone in the group were good sports about us taking the time to go exploring, not to mention all of the extra miles that would come later. We truly had a good group. It makes me feel all that much worse though for not double checking my route before starting this hike.

"Someone who is angry is someone who doesn't know how to handle their suffering. They are the first victim of their suffering, and you are actually the second victim. Once we can see this, compassion is born in our heart and anger evaporates. We don't want to punish them any more, but instead we want to say something or do something to help them suffer less." -Thich Nhat Hanh

First bridge over the Lackawanna River on the old D&H line

We continued to the north along the lovely rail bed, which now had a gas line under it, to the first bridge over the Lackawanna River. It was a deck girder bridge with a new surface on it. We took a little break here and I climbed down to the bottom to have a closer look at the river and get some photos. From here, we made our way further north along the rail bed to yet another very similar bridge, followed by another. Each were old deck girder bridges. I had forgotten that there were so many crossings. At these points, we were very close to the old O&W Railroad bed to the right of us.

Vehicles started appearing on the right of way beyond this bridge. It was apparently fishing season and during this time portions of the right of way are open to them to park. There was another old rail bridge off to the left, this one going directly over to some mining area to the left. It was not gated or posted in any way, but only ties were in place. Justin, Sarah, and I walked over it.

Abandoned rail bridge

We continued from here along the D&H line to one final bridge it took over the Lackawanna River, this time a through girder structure. Jillane, Justin, Sarah, John D, and I went down to the rocks along the creek to the right, a lovely location. The thing that really attracted me to doing this hike to begin with was the fact that this one represented the transition between the industrial and mining areas of the Scranton/Wilkes Barre area and the natural areas of the valley further to the north. It was already so much different than what we'd seen.

Sarah said something to Justin in conversation about "why don't you jump in?". I was already thinking about it at just that moment, and decided to just say "ok!" and threw myself off (first making sure my cell phone and stuff was out of my pockets). It was cold but very very refreshing. I was wearing a heavy vintage Air Force shirt that took a while to dry, but it actually felt nice to have it.

We continued on the trail north, still open to vehicles at this point to Forest City. To the left of the trail was an old mine outfall pipe installed by the D&H Railroad years ago to drain off the mines. Ugly sulfur seepage was flowing into the stream down from us. There was an interpretive sign to tell us about this particular site. It was kind of annoying that they'd spring for a sign and not try to do any remediation until the next one, where it described that there was stream restoration work done to divert water of the main river away from the mine shafts nearby. We also found one old coal mine going directly from under the right of way. Jillane spotted it and mentioned it to me, so I climbed down for a better look.

Old coal mine

I got on the water flowing out of the mine hole directly beneath the railroad fill, and the toxic fumes emanating from the tunnel were nearly enough to knock me out. It was horrible. I had a headache from being close to it almost immediately. I climbed back up and we moved on, and were met by Eric and Mr. Buckett who began following the trail back from Forest City to meet up with us.

We reached the parking area next to a giant coal refuse pile to the left, and then we decided to take a side trip up into Forest City to get some food. A few decided to stay down on the rail bed rather than make the climb.

Piles in Forest City PA

There were signs, specifically for ATV riders, on side trails showing the way to go up to the hills and make their way to stores and restaurants. It was kind of neat that the restaurants and such were allowed to advertise occasionally along the trails. We followed one huge hill up a rocky coal pile with a nice view from the top, then out to Rt 247. There was the option of a pizza place or a mini mart there, and so I went for the mini mart. I think it was Tamara or Terri couldn't finish their wrap and so I had part of that. There wasn't much there that I was interested in so I just hung out.

Serious Sean went with a few others to the pizza place. When he came out he announced that the pizza looked like it was really going to suck, and that you can usually tell if pizza is going to suck by the look of it, but that this place was actually really good!

No one had cell service up at this point except for me. I wanted to call Jillane to see if she wanted some food, but there was no answer from her, Eric, or Buckett, so we headed back down. We used the direct path across the street from the stores rather than the way we'd come up, and got back to the rail bed about the same way to head north.

Marcello mentioned the mileage but I didn't quite believe it at first. I thought for sure that the hike would need to be farther north before turning around. We continued north and crossed Lackawanna River on deck girder bridges two more times, with the underpass of Rt 171 half way between.

Old trestle

It was really pleasant walking as we headed north. The miles just flew by for me. From Rt 171, I had already walked a short bit of this line with Jillane a few years before, to Stillwater Lake and a lovely giant Sugar Maple tree just off the trail. We continued north and took a side trip to the tree, which was unfortunately dying, with a lot of rot in the center of it. The Stillwater dam and view of the lake was lovely. Serious Sean went down to the bottom to mug for a silly playing dead photo, and Wilma and John H went across it to the other side to turn back. I think they must have had the right idea. This was where we were supposed to turn around at the latest, and more likely closer to Forest City.

Stillwater Lake

We continued north and it seemed to go by very fast the route to Uniondale. This was a tiny little town, probably never thought of other than by the people who live there or have to drive through it to get to somewhere in their routine. There was a deli just up the road, and we were hungry, so I called them up to see if they were open. When I found that they were, and only a block away, we headed over there. It was called Cable's, and it was the only thing really in town.

Cable's Store in Uniondale

I ordered a sandwich in side, as did some others. Serious Sean was looking into a cab, because at this point it looked like we had done 14 miles already. I let everyone know that Mr. Buckett and Eric had left the car in Forest City, and if they could make it back to there, Dan Asnis was willing to bring his car back to give more people a ride. It would work out okay.

After having some food, we headed on our way.

View of Stillwater Lake in Uniondale

We walked the road to get to the O&W Trail, which also seemed longer than anticipated. The views however were outstanding. We took Skyline Drive to Church Street, heading straight, which took us over Lackawanna River's west fork. The abutments to the older road bridge were visible below us. We continued on Church Street to East Mountain Road which took us over another branch of the river in a beautiful valley, then up hill slightly to the trail.

The trail was not developed like the other one at all, with no signs denoting a trail.

O&W Trail south of Uniondale

As we walked, there were "trail under construction" signs, but that was it. It was a very pleasant walk back to the south, and it didn't seem to take long before the trail came right up to the edge of the highway parallel with Stillwater lake. As per the maps, I thought this was going to be a road walk, but it wasn't. There was a sign stating the history and purpose of Stillwater Dam. This was for flood control because the river flooded so badly through the valley below.

We continued along and there were signs saying "Use of this trail is a privilege, not a right". This led me to believe it may be privately owned but only open to public somehow. Eventually the trail did disappear onto the highway, or rather the railroad bed was turned into the highway for construction of Stillwater Lake. Some of the old highway was walkable just below the former rail bed/current highway, so we headed down to that for a bit.

Old Rt 171

When the road disappeared under the current road, we climbed up to follow that. It wasn't a far walk though, pretty soon the right of way of the O&W could be seen turning off to the right, but overgrown. It wasn't there for long before crossing the present road again on a trail section. There was a cut over trail to the D&H Trail, and I told everyone going to Forest City they could cut over at this point if they wanted to for the early out. Only Jillane, Justin, Sarah, Tim, John, and I continued on along the O&W Trail. It was very wide, but not as developed as the other side so I sort of liked it better. It was basic black cinder dirt most of the way. It wasn't always as wide, but often was.

O&W Trail

It was a nice, natural surrounding overall. We moved along quickly and it was enjoyable. There was an old stone culvert carrying a creek under the right of way I had to go down and have a look at, and ended up going through. By the time we got near the town of Browndale, which is across the Lackawanna River from Forest City, John was already far ahead and out of sight. On the approach to Forest City, I started hooting and making crazy noises, to which we heard replies from the rest of our group. Particuparly the signiture "Oi Oi!" that is the call of Serious Sean was both audible and recognizable!

O&W bridge in Browndale

There was a nice undecked bridge over a creek as we passed through Browndale, then we were back in more woods. The right of way got a little narrower, and at one point the trail jogged slightly away from the rail bed where there was some sort of washout or something. It got quite a bit darker, but was still very nice. We walked on to Simpson where the official trail ended.

We took Homestead Street to Main Street south, and stopped at an old army tank on display beside Lackawanna River. This was right across from the industrial buildings we were in earlier. The right of way was much in people's yards or houses built right on it. After climbing on the army tank we continued down the main street. We could have gotten a little closer to the railroad bed on side streets at this point, but there'd have been nothing to see this late.

As we walked through town, there was a building to the left. I was in a daze and decided to walk in. The door was unlocked and nothing said not to. I went in and  had a look in the fridge inside for snacks, but it was empty. Just as I was walking out a guard came up to me and asked what I was doing there. I told him I was just looking for a restroom and he told me I can't be in there. I apologized and kept walking. We soon came to a Turkey Hill store I think it was anyway. We continued on Belmont Street to Canaan Street to Main Street in Carbondale.

We continued down to 8th Avenue, which crosses Lackawanna River back to where we started. There were historical markers about the first mine in 1831, and about an interesting UFO crash sighting in the area reported in 1974. We hung out for a few minutes at a nice little pavilion at the corner before making our way across the 8th street bridge and back to where we were parked.

Chicken Fries are back, but we didn't get any

We went into the Burger King at the very end. I was feeling totally hungry, and so ordered the 2 for $5 deal of the new chicken sandwich (I think it was buffalo?) and the Yumbo.

We were exhausted after this one, but it was cool to have otherwise had a positive experience and the feeling of accomplishment having covered 28 miles. The epic failure in my scaling of this hike forced me to have a look at other hikes I'd posted to make sure things were closer to how they were posted. It was also a wake up for me, a realization of what I'm going through when it comes to my apathetic and dismal attitude resulting from my work situation, and how it's now negatively effecting my hikes that I love so much. With my vacation just one week away and plans of backpacking out near Altoona PA, I hope that I can clear my head and return feeling much better than I have the past few months. My life had come to a point where I was again living it solely for hike days and dreading everything.

The fact that something can go so wrong for me as the mileage for this hike, yet still be such a great thing reminds me that such can be true of anything if I can put the right spin on it.