8/16/15 Emmaus Area to Bethlehem with Scott "Tea Biscuit" Helbing, Amanda Lance, Commando Tom Petrucci, Laura Allen Cunningham, Serious Sean Dougherty, Dan Lurie, Christian Alexander, Sarah Jones, Dan Asnis, Helen ?, John Spiridon, Dan Asnis, Steven Smith, Grant Tamatus, Anti Wang, Ken Lidman, Alyssa Lidman, Mike Heaney, Nick D'Allesandro, Marion Barbato, Steve Sanbeg, Vicki ?, Ron Stevenson, Ron Lozowski, Yie Chen, ?, ?, Jack Lowry, and Susie Duncan.
Group shot
Our next hike would be out annual March on Musikfest.
It's hard to believe that this particular series of hikes has been going on for ten years. The first time I organized this such event was in 2005 with a trip from Easton to the Musikfest, mostly on the old Lehigh Canal. On that date, I only had two others show up, but every year since then, it's become something very huge.
The second year we did this one, my old friend Randy Melick coined the term "March on Musikfest" which sort of stuck. They went so well that for several years I hosted hikes both weekends of the event. What amazes myself and others most is that for a decade I have been able to put together non repeat hikes each year ending at the festival, and still have not exhausted all of the open space in the area.
It feels like only yesterday I was celebrating ten years of hosting these hikes altogether, now I am celebrating ten years of Musikfest hikes, and I'm closing in on twenty years of the hikes in general. It's such a strange feeling not to feel at all old or even aging, but to recognize the number of years I have invested in this. My mind feels like it is constantly spinning with happy thoughts of where I've been, remembering the history of the places I've come to love, and excitement of seeing and experiencing what is next. If I idle at all, there are the horrible feelings that I've burst far beyond anyone's common frame of reference, to a place where I am the lone victor in a race only I am running.
I still consider it worthwhile to host the March on Musikfest annually, even if we do get to the point where we are repeating something. It is, after all, the largest free outdoor music festival in the country, and is held in a beautiful Moravian neighborhood which dates back to 1741. The festival started in 1984, with the central theme being the German roots, with all of the areas of entertainment ending in "platz", from the German word for "place" or "square"; the Festplatz area always has seating and generally polka type things nightly, but the rest of the festival is intended to be a celebration of diversity more than anything else, with music of all genres in various venues throughout a large part of town.
I have countless amazing memories of marching on Musikfest even in the confines of a decade, and this trip was just another great experience to throw on top.
Camper ride to the start!
We met at the Martin Tower, which has become our usual meeting point since 2007, and shuttled with as few vehicles as possible to our start point, which was South Mall in Allentown, right at the border to Emmaus. I had done a close variation of this hike in the past, following the Little Lehigh Creek from there to Allentown, then then on through Walking Purchase Preserve to Bethlehem, on the south side. This time, we would do the Little Lehigh greenway, following the opposite side of the creek we did the previous time, and then take the Lehigh Canal back to Bethlehem for the only real re-do of a previous one. Some of us piled into Tea Biscuit's camper for a fun and sometimes scary ride to the start of the hike.
Tea Biscuit's party camper
Before the hike even started, Serious Sean offered us some beers left over from his party the week before. This wasn't junk beer, it was some of the best, like Storm King Stout and more. We had some of that in the party camper on the way there. Needless to say, I started the hike pretty happy.
We all got to the start point pretty easily, and half the group went into Starbucks for coffee and restrooms. It took a while before we finally got moving, and when we did Tea Biscuit fell behind a bit. We followed along the mall, then out the west side of it onto Regent Way, and shortly to Devon Drive. From here, we went straight across into Devonshire Park, which is a little ball field park we had crossed the last time we went through a couple years ago. I found my way to the pathway that cuts across a dry creek bed, then to mowed pathways. We turned left to a parking spot next to Little Lehigh Creek and crossed the bridge to the other side. Tea Biscuit went the wrong way here, but was able to catch up because we were just following the creek the entire way down stream.
Serious Sean brought with him his electric guitar this time, with a small map stuck to his side for something different. We were hoping Jack would show up sooner so they could jam out together, but he didn't come till near the end. The machine gave a lot of feedback at first, but then it got much clearer and we got some good music out of it. Sean climbed a pole early on, which looped epic with the electric guitar.
Serious Pole guitar
Right after the bridge, we could go right down to the creek on a nice and grassy swath. I went in for a dip early on at a nice little access point, where there was the remains of an abutment where a foot bridge must have at one time crossed. We moved along from here and the grassy area got closer to the road again. Devonshire Road came in from the right over a beautiful three arch stone bridge, the way we went the last time I was on the Little Lehigh Greenway. This time, we would continue straight on Keystone Road beside the creek, which is small and doesn't get a lot of traffic. We wouldn't have to walk the road for very long because a nice path along the creek came into view below to the right, so we all climbed down and took another break there.
We passed a parking area and then crossed a wide grassy area with Weeping Willows out in them, one of them with a giant trunk for such a small tree. We came out across Keystone Road into the Allentown Fish Hatchery, a property we'd not yet visited on the hikes. We walked along the breeding ponds and a narrow trough with both trout and coy in it.
Grant carrying his crazy thing at the hatchery
As if we didn't look crazy enough walking through this area with a lot of public, Grant was carrying his sixty pound training weight over his shoulders. I can't believe he did the entire hike with that. I suppose that's just another extreme character to add to the melting pot of them that we are!
From here, we turned left on a slope, on an access road to a building along the creek from which the trail on the north side headed up hill. We had followed the trail on the other side on the previous trip. I chatted with John S for a while here; he hadn't been out for one of our full hikes in quite a long time, so it was cool to have him back out and doing so well on the distance.
The trail went up to the top of the hill, then came back down a bit to where a road crossed the creek. We remained on the north side of the creek and soon passed underneath the Rt 78 bridge, a handsome arch structure.
Bogert's Covered Bridge
I chatted with newcomer Ron Stevenson for a while as the grade leveled off and we passed Oxford Drive to Bogert's Covered Bridge. Here, we turned right ot pass through the bridge, because the last time here we crossed the bridge to walk the other side.
Once on the other side, two gentlemen, part of a non profit or something who managed the park, were happy to see such a big group of people coming through. They were good enough to take photos for us. Unfortunately, he held my camera backwards and took a photo of his own eye, but Ken's camera came through and we got one good shot out of three he attempted to take!
Bogert's Covered Bridge
Bogert's Covered Bridge
The bridge takes it's name from the Bogert Family who began farming the area in the mid 1700s. This was the historic crossing that began with stepping stones, then a rough log bridge and plank bridge predated it. As the story goes, Native Americans complained that the bridge was too low for them to get their canoes under, and so Mr. Bogert replaced the bridge with one that was amenable to passing boats, which earned him the name "peace maker".
The covered bridge that exists today was constructed in 1841-42, and is the oldest covered bridge in Lehigh County, and among the oldest in the United States. It is what is referred to as a Burr Arch Truss bridge, with bent wood construction named for it's creator Theodore Burr. The bridge was nearly destroyed, but like so many other historic covered bridges, it was saved through the efforts of petitions and letter writing campaigns, and the bridge to the upstream side was built to replace this as a road bridge.
The guys at the bridge told us some of the history before we moved on. It was nice having such a positive experience already. We walked on along the south side, through a nice shady area, then an open area where the paved path turned right but a grassy one continued. We stopped at a shady access point to Little Lehigh Creek to take a dip, which felt awesome.
Little Lehigh Creek
We moved on to a shadier area not too far away and sang some songs including "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" by CCR, and "Jet" by Paul McCartney and Wings. We continued on the creek from here to the next foot bridge across. On the last hike we crossed here, so of course we crossed again and headed to the trail on the other side for a new route. This one turned right and went up hill a bit more, but it wasn't too bad.
Kilns
The path took us through an open area and a parking area, and then through more lovely woods. We also passed some sort of an old kiln on the left of the trail that I don't know what the use was. It could be some of the Portland Cement that first came about at nearby Coplay PA, but I'm just not sure.
We chatted as we walked about a plane that had just gone down directly into Little Lehigh Creek. The small Cessna style plane had taken a nose dive right into the creek, and fortunately the pilot lived. However, we were told some of the parkway would be closed as we walked through because of contamination or investigation or something or other. Fortunately, or unfortunately, not sure which, we never came across this thing.
Plane
The trail made it's way through pleasant woods a little bit further away from the creek as it switched from east to north to west. We eventually came to a parking area where we re grouped. The paved path ended here, at Parkway Drive North. I led everyone from here directly across the road onto a nicely mowed section. At first I went the wrong way and ended up in someone's back yard, but then we backtracked and I found the footpath that led to the abandoned railroad bridge over the Little Lehigh.
Bridge
The bridge was of deck girder construction on a rail line that went on up the Cedar Creek, which had it's confluence with the Little Lehigh at this sharp bend. This looked like a good place to take a dip, so I hurried down and got in the stream again, taking time to take photos of the group still coming over. Dan handled the bridge crossing surprisingly well. Once on the other side, much of the group jumped in the water with me.
This photo belongs here because it's Dan handling an open deck bridge with ease.
It was such a refreshing stop. When I got out, we went over plans to split the group up. Dan was talking about burritos a lot, and of course I wanted them too. We started planning on where we could stop for such things ahead. There was a place just off the parkway that I'd really liked a while back, but it wouldn't come up on google search, so we had to find something else that would work. Allentown has a large Hispanic population so it shouldn't be hard to find the great food.
Lehigh Parkway East bridge
We split up when we got to Lehigh Parkway East. Dan brought the group ahead to meet up with us at the restaurant, while a few of the group headed on with me along the old railroad right of way to do some urban exploring. Dan's group would continue more on the proper greenway that was mostly on or parallel with the road for a little bit, and the place we chose was called El Rey Del Mofongo.
Rail bed
Those with me remained on the old railraod bed. There was heavy ballast rock which made it somewhat difficult to walk at times. It remained pretty clear for a bit, and we passed under the high underpass of Ward Street, which was under construction the last time we walked the similar route on a Musikfest hike. After the bridge underpass, the rail bed got a lot more weedy, but we still pushed through.
Abandoned
Jillane and I had discovered we could get in this place a while back, and I knew I wanted to come back with a safer number of people, but not too many. We only had a small group as we approached the buildings, and I told each to be prepared for heavy weeds, running, climbing, etc. We got out and around the building, but a couple of people were not moving fast enough at all when within sight, and one of their little dogs started barking. I knew it wasn't going to work out then. If we couldn't get in an easy way, we weren't going.
Building
We first went down a corridor of concrete tunnels under a former rail access trestle. I could get into the building through a ladder thing at the end, but the rest of the group would not want to do that, so we went back out. We walked around the outside, and the other access point I had used was now well boarded off. The final one was a set of steps, which led me into a room with mechanical stuff. There were definitely more ways to get far further into the building, but again we didn't have the group that was ready to go through the craziness, and it wouldn't be easy at all with a little dog, so I decided we'd just head back out.
We got to a little park area with old steps leading down to Little Lehigh Creek. There was another old rail bed down here, apparently the main line through that we were following before, and tried to follow it. It was alright at first, but then got extremely weedy. Those who had hiked with me before knew what to expect, but of the newcomers I think only Nick was handling it happily and without too much problem.
Nick was the guy we had found in bad shape on the night hike a couple weeks back in Washington Valley, who we helped by giving water and such to. I had left him with my business card, and he actually reached out to us to join! He of course handled the hike great and was a great addition to the group.
After fighting through the weeds for a bit, it was getting to be much for even me. We opted to climb back up closer to the building and take our chances walking back out nearer to the road. Fortunately, we were able to hug the tree line and found a path that led right out to 10th Street.
Steps
We crossed Little Lehigh Creek on 10th and walked up to a lovely set of stone stairs built up the slopes in the 1930s. The steps split in two on the way up, and I took the left fork to lead up to Union Street. We turned right, then left on 9thth heading north. We turned left on Hamilton Street, and soon reached the restaurant. Ironically, as we walked down the street we could see Dan and the rest of the group coming straight toward us from the other way!
We went in and had a seat; we were able to order at the counter if we wanted instead of being waited on which helped. The place was a Dominican restaurant, not Mexican as I had suspected. I didn't know what to expect and at first did not have high hopes. I chose to rather than order a dinner, guy lots of what appeared to be Empanadas, but they called them Pastelitos or something I think. They were pretty good sized for something that ends in "ito", because that usually means small.
So I ordered about ten of these things to pass out to the group in case I didn't care for them, and so that they could have something to eat faster. I figured not everyone would like the stuff and at least then they could eat something.
I was told there were three different kinds, and so I asked for a few of each. The beef ones were not impressive to me. They seemed a bit dry. At first, I was really hungry and they were alright, but it needed sauce or something. The second I had was chicken. These were quite excellent, with the consistency of pulled pork, and seasoned like other latin foods. Really enjoyed these. I passed out several to the others, and I think Nick ended up with the only one that had cheese in it. He said it was pretty good.
I broke most in half and was offering the halves to everyone to try, and it seemed to go over well. It paid off for me too, because when everyone else was done, I was offered samples of other stuff that everyone else had gotten. For the first time in my life, I tried goat. It actually wasn't bad at all, but it did have a lot of bone to it. The best tasting thing I tried from this place was someone's dish of fish. It was cooked in a red sauce that was light yet slightly spicy. This dish was absolutely delicious and hard to stop eating, even after stuffing myself on all of the other stuff. I really want to go back and order a dinner of this.
While here, Ron Lozowski joined us for the remainder of the hike. Tea Biscuit, Amanda, and a few others went over to Allentown Brew Works to have some food there because they had outdoor seating for the dogs. Tea Biscuit said it would be the last Summer hike he brought Chance on because he was so tired from the walking. He'll be better off in cooler weather.
I stopped in there, and Delotto had found the group and was hanging out too. I chatted for a bit, but we had to reconvene soon. We headed on to the other place from there, and started getting together to go. From here, we followed 10th Street back down to the steps we had come up on, which led us down hill to the Little Lehigh Parkway again.
Bridge
We headed out through Fountain Park, with the paved pathway continuing along the way. We went under another tall bridge for I forget which street, then crossed Lehigh Street. Rather than stay on the path out in the sun, we kept to the right, along the creek for a bit. Eventually, this path led us to an abandoned railroad bridge over the creek to the right. We crossed here.
Bridge
The bridge was an interesting through truss bridge, which looked like a pony truss style, over the Little Lehigh Creek. Once across, we followed this rail bed to what appeared to be just a regular foot path through woods. I'd been in this area before, but not on this exact route. We came to a clearing, and at the end of it turned left on another informal path. I had been on part of this section before as well, but we were connecting in a different way.
Another bridge: "GAAAAHHH!"
At the second bridge, Dan opted to take a different way out and around, so Serious Sean went with him to be on the safe side. The rest of us came out on a mowed path, then headed over to Union Street where we could take a break in the shade of a building there.
I called up Dan when i started to get worried, and he was on his way to where we were. When we finally saw he and Sean, they were coming from further down Basin Street, which wasn't where I was expecting to see them from.
Well we're layin here in Allentown
Once together, we turned onto Union Street heading east toward the Hamilton Street bridge over the Lehigh. Along the way, there was a little bird I was able to pick up briefly sitting in the railing in the weeds to my left.
Bird
We made our way out and across the Hamilton Street Bridge, with views of the dam across the Lehigh and the ruins of the Lehigh Canal lock. Once on the other side, we climbed down the steep grassy slope to reach Albert Street. We crossed this and the active railroad tracks to reach the Lehigh Canal. We crossed the canal on the foot bridge at the former lock site, then descended to the river at a nice spot with rocks.
Back in 08, we discovered that we could climb into the fish ladder, using a lot of upper body strength, and then use the current to jettison us out like a torpedo.
Ladder
I pulled myself in with some difficulty, and Tea Biscuit and Commando Tom managed to follow me in. Steven also made it in next, and I was surprised that Grant, by far the most muscular and in shape guy on the trip, had the toughest time getting in. I would say he was probably already fatigued because he'd been carrying that sixty pound bag for the entire trip!
The fish ladders are intended to allow for Shad and other spawning fish to head up stream beyond the dam, but we end up using them for silliness.
Overgrown Lehigh Canal
We made our way on along the canal briefly, but I found it to be insanely overgrown. The first time I hiked this section it was clear all the way through, but now it was not walkable really at all here. We had to go back across the canal on the foot bridge and parallel the tracks on Albert Street.
When we got to the next foot bridge, we crossed to continue on the canal. This too was badly overgrown but at least barely passable.
As we walked, we went over this fallen tree covered over in stuff. I figure it must be like it is at my work, a tree falls or something of that sort happens, they stop mowing it and just forget it.
We came to an opening and watched a train pass over the Lehigh on a rail bridge, then got to a good clearing. From that point, it remained pretty good to the next road bridge across. We got on good and clear towpath trail from there to the end.
Lehigh Canal
From this point, I was feeling tired and not particularly excited about the remainder of the trip. I had already hiked this section of the canal many many times and knew it very well. It's really a nice secluded area, but at this point there isn't much interesting for me in it compared to the rest of the day.
The one thing I wanted to see was the old picnic shelter that sat between the river and canal. We used to always take a break there, swim and let some of the group sit in the shade, but recently vandals had burned the thing, and I wanted to see what was left. I figured we'd at least stop there and swim.
When we got to the site, all that remained of the building was the stone sides and back. The roof was completely gone and the entire area that was formerly mowed was now overgrown and almost impassable. Even the river access point was no longer accessible, completely grown in with weeds. It was sad to see such a nice spot left in ruin.
We continued on along the trail until we got to another foot path that led to a good river access. I tended up looking a little stagnant, but it was so hot out I didn't care, and neither did Ken because he was in right after me.
Much of the group went ahead at this point. I had talked to them ahead of time about how everyone could break off at around this point, and that it usually happens. I wanted to make certain that everyone had rides back to their cars, so before cutting them all loose I had them start talking to each other about the rides. I was staying for the fireworks, so only those who were doing that could rely on me for the ride.
After swimming, we moved on along the canal towpath, past the giant railroad yard on the other side with constant shrill sounds of breaks on the wheels, sometimes deafening when we weren't ready for them.
Shreddin'
Before we got to the fest, Jack and Susie walked the towpath to us. They turned around to walk with us to and around Musikfest. Once at the entrance, we started walking in, and an officer came up to us presumably because Tea Biscuit and Amanda had the dogs. He was a really nice guy and just hung out and chatted with us for a while. He told us he'd been doing the festival for decades now, I forget exactly how long. He was helpful and basically let Tea Biscuit tell him that these were "service dogs" and that we might be able to get them on the bus. He was a K9 unit guy too, and had a German Shepherd he brought home as part of his work.
I gave Tea Biscuit my car keys, because he would take my car back to his camper, then have Amanda drive my car back. That worked out fine for me, and they and some others took off. Some of us that remained headed on through the festival, and then up through the main street to see what was going on. Usually, we stop to see Cast in Bronze, a guy who plays a special instrument of bells, but this would be the first year he did not attend Musikfest. We wandered around and down along Monocacy Creek, then headed over to the music tent where there was a band playing I think called "UUU". They had a lot of covers and actually didn't even play one full song alt all save for one: "The Devil Went Down to Georgia". Why they chose to play that song of all others, with a silly sounding synthesizer for the fiddle parts I will never know. If anything, that song should have been part of their never ending medleys.
We met up with Michele here, who was hanging out with her friends who do not hike. We basically just stood around and listened to the band until Jack suggested we go off and check out another one. I was so tired at this point that I don't even recall a lot. We got to the grassy area around the Latin band that was playing and I fell asleep using my backpack as a pillow. Tea Biscuit came back and parked my car across the Lehigh near the University, so it'd be an easier walk to get to it (except the Fahy Bridge steps were closed off). It was easy to get back from the festival after the fireworks were over.
I didn't really wake up until the fireworks started, and we couldn't totally see all of them because of the trees in the foreground. I probably should have gone onto one of the bridges to watch, but I suppose this time of night I didn't care too much out of fatigue. My former landlord Brian was setting them off somewhere, and it'd have been nice to go and find him, but couldn't get anywhere near that area.
Fahy Buckett!
We also had the pleasure of running into Mr. Buckett on his way back from seeing Alice in Chains over at the main venue area, which was moved two years back from the old area along the river to the casino at Bethlehem Steel on the south side.
While I was laying down, my head was reeling, and my feelings on all of our events past and present really came into perspective. It seems like so many people settle into a way of life, and the world them spins around without them as they build their own routine reality. They step out of the action and retrospectively look on the past as the "good old days", but that is not me. I feel both part of the present action, but also like a relic. I am, and am destined to be like a powerful classic muscle car, feeling relevant and loved, separate from that which is new, but alone in that no one but me has the same mileage on their odometer.
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