Hike #874; Pen Argyl to Phillipsburg

Hike #874; Pen Argyl to Phillipsburg

8/20/15 Pen Argyl to Phillipsburg with James Quinn, Sarah Jones, Michele Valerio, and Dan Asnis.

Bushkill Creek crossing on Plainfield Township Trail.

Our next hike would be another point to point hike, this time much of the way a repeat of one that I had posted back in 2011, following a lot of the former Lehigh Valley Railroad's Easton and Northern line, a lot of rail trails that sort of interconnect from Wind Gap area down to Easton. We had had a great time with it when we did it back then, and I wanted to try to do something similar. The problem was there was rain in the forecast that scared a lot of people off who otherwise might have attended. We still had a good time anyway.

We met in Union Square, Phillipsburg and Dan shuttled us to the starting point, at the northern end of the Plainfield Township Trail off Buss Street in West Pen Argyl. It was already raining when we arrived, so we just got out and pushed onward. At first, the trail doesn't follow the railroad, but rather a new path that connects to the parking area, which is on the southern of two branches of the Lehigh and New England Railroad that ran through the towns.

We headed south on this path, and it led us out across a quarry access road, then eventually to the railroad bed heading south. We turned right on it, and I pointed out to everyone the small streams on the sides that made up some of the Bushkill Creek. It breaks into three branches south of town, an east, west and middle. The middle branch was tiny here. The rain stopped for a little bit, and we went across Grand Central Road and Delabole Road. The trail started off with a crushed stone surface, but then went to pavement which I don't care for as much.

On the trail

The creek grew quite a lot as we crossed it a few times. I kept pointing out how it was gaining size as we went. One of the things that makes this hike special for me, from an ecological stand point, is the fact that we were following an entire tributary from it's start as springs all the way down to it's confluence with the Delaware.

Bushkill crossing

The rain stopped for long enough, but always started back up again until eventually it rained steadily without stopping at all. Larry was going to possibly meet us, but he changed his mind, and if he hadn't my phone was buried in my pack rather deeply as not to get it soaking wet.

We crossed Jones Hill Road, Knitters Hill Road, and Getz Road before getting to the underpass of Bangor Road. I went for a dip in the creek at this point, under the bridge where we had a nice break spot. We continued south from here on the high hill above the Bushkill Creek, crossed Engler Road, then Gall Road, before getting to the southern terminus of Plainfield Twp Trail at former site of Belfast Junction, where tracks went both south and west toward Nazareth.

There used to be a sort of wooden arch thing to walk through from this trail head, but it was now gone and I saw it moved to a new parking area further to the north. My buddy Commando Tom is now town manager there, so he probably had something to do with it.

Rail trail at Belfast Junction

We headed across the road onto the continuation of the trail; last time I was there none of it was done. It was just a clear grassy path, but now it was complete. 

It was weird to see this place I was familiar with finished up in such a way. I was just glad it wasn't paved like the rest of it. That'd have saddened me. It was a good and soft crushed stone surface.

We continued on into Stockertown, and then turned right when we got to Bushkill Street. I should have just had everyone walk down Bushkill Street and continue from there on road, but instead we turned onto the tracks to follow them south to the abandonment, where the former Easton and Northern line was washed out in the flood in 2004.

Van on a container.

We reached the junction spot, with the frog where the former Uhler Branch of the Lehigh and New England Railroad, which we were following at this point, crossed the Easton and Northern. We turned right to follow that line south, and crossed the rail bridge over the Bushkill Creek. Just beyond, it became very very overgrown and we had a tough time fighting through some of it. It was getting pretty dark, and just then I realized I should have just had everyone go the parallel road.

Late 2004 after the flood that destroyed the line

I had walked this section of the line before, on another hike, before it was washed out. There were even freight cars on it when I had walked it. They serviced the business down in Tatamy that was still open along the right of way. But in September, 2004, one of the largest floods we'd seen had hit the Delaware River valley. It nearly reached the point that the great Flood of '55 reached, but our better infrastructure in most places protected things. This section of the old Easton and Northern, by that time already only a spur since I believe the 1980s, was of no consequence when it was destroyed.

On one of my hikes before the flood that destroyed it in 2004.

We walked on into the weeds, now with rather large trees growing through the old tracks to a degree that I'd never have expected in such a short period of time. The washouts were exactly as they were when I first walked over them, only now overgrown. We fought on through, and eventually went off into the fields to the right to avoid more weeds. We walked to the south, then crossed the tracks again to get behind the business, and headed out through their gate to Tatamy, at Main Street where we stopped at the pizza place. I helped James eat a slice he couldn't finish. Sarah also gave me a sack of trail mix that lasted me a long time.

After the pizza (the guy didn't seem to recognize us, because the last two times we were there he told us we were too loud), we headed onto the trail south. The trail followed the rail bed but curved away at at industrial site before crossing Bushkill Street. After that, we went into a more secluded area along Bushkill Creek.

Before development off Newlins Mill Road was finished in 2004

We emerged into the somewhat new development along Newlins Mill Road heading south. There was a pavilion and tons of houses around. I remembered back to walking through when it wasn't there, just open fields, and seeing it when only the first couple houses were in place, the black railroad cinder dirt still showed the way of where the railroad used to go. Now we simply follow the paved path on through.

We continued across Newlins Mill Road and followed a shelf along the Bushkill Creek, across Penn's Grant Path, then eventually down to Penn Pump Park. We took a break there on a bench and took a dip in the creek. I was worried being there because the park had just been in the news for hundreds of city people descending upon it with busloads, leaving garbage and just making a mess. The city had to impose a pass only system for residents because of this.

To get back up to the rail bed, we cut across Penn Pump, then climbed up through weeds which sucked to get back on the rail bed. I ended up cutting up my shins a bit more than anticipated here. We got through and over the fence at the top to continue south. There were two bridges over Bushkill Creek somewhat close together, and we made our way out to an industrial site that was pretty well lit.

From here, we crossed Edgewood Ave, and the official trail went up hill to the right. Rather than follow this, we continued ahead on the abandoned Easton and Northern right of way, a narrow foot path through woods here but very very pleasant to walk. This one led to another paved trail section at apartment buildings built into old industry. As we walked up, one of the old abandoned buildings was opened in the front.

In a building

We couldn't resist the urge to go in and have a look around. It didn't have much in it, but it was still interesting enough to wander around a little bit.

We headed out of the building and across Bushkill Creek to Bushkill Drive where we turned south. The road has a very wide shoulder at this point and is easy to walk, so we took it to 13th Street and turned right.

Simon Silk Mill

While we were walking, I looked on at the old silk mills. The Simon's Silk Mill has always been a well recognized structure on 13th Street. I've been walking by it for so many years, and just beyond is the old Grist Mill. The area is undergoing a great revitalization, with the development of the Easton Arts Trail, partially on the old Lehigh Valley Railroad bed, and reportedly the old grist mill is now sold too. I had already been inside that once, but I always looked on at the Simon Silk Mill wanting to get to the top of it.

Silk 2007

James and I were walking together and chatting at this point, and I told him about the only time I had been inside, on a hike back in the beginning of 2007. I mentioned that I'd wanted to go in, and there was this giant receiving door in the side facing 13th, and that it was usually closed off, but one day it wasn't and a few of us just dashed in.

Simon Silk

I had wandered through the grounds and could only get to first floors of places that wouldn't take me to the top. I went back some short while later and the area facing the street had been well covered off with chain link fences. I figured I'd never get inside until after the building was refurbished and maybe open to public.

Just as I was finishing telling James how it was never opened, those very words were nearly stifled by the shock of seeing that same bay door wide open. I looked at James, but in the dark I don't know if he could see the look of shock in me. Of course, we dashed in. The others turned off with me. We made a corner and stood in the dark.

Building

Around the corner, we found what I had been looking for: a way in to the building that would take us to the top. We had to follow the walls a little bit, but it was easy to find. Michele and Dan hung out outside the place while James, Sarah, and I went inside. We pulled ourselves up and into a warehouse room with stanchions holding up the ceilings. We walked all the way from one end to the other looking for stairs until we found it in the close wall.

Steps

The building wasn't in too terrible shape, and there were carpets rolled up all over the place. There wasn't much evidence of work being done on this level, but I know stuff had been done. Windows were now mostly boarded up, which surprised me. Jillane and I had driven by the place a few weeks back and the entire inside was something at the time you could see through completely, because windows on both sides were open.

Hole in the floor

The building is currently being worked on, mostly in the rear portions from what we saw, as part of a ninety million dollar project to turn it into some sort of an arts center. I also heard it would be condos. I'm not sure really, but it's soon all to change.

The building was built as the silk mill in 1883 and was used at least to some degree within the past few decades, but it's sat pretty much abandoned for maybe even twenty years.

The bottom of the stairs looked bad. There was a giant hole to the basement at the first floor, and the woodwork of the floor was bad at the base. We had to hold onto the walls and climb around to the stairs to make our way up. We didn't have the time to explore every floor. We just kept climbing flights of stairs until we got to the upper level. There was one window up there open where we could look off to the dim lights of the buildings across from us. I was happy I'd made it to the highest point I'd get a view from. There was one more flight of stairs, smaller ones, that led us into an attic area. I started going up, but the stairs started giving way and I was afraid they might fall down, so we just went back down. It looked like just an attic anyway, and it was insanely hot when I got my head up in there.

The top

After getting the view I wanted, we headed back down. I didn't want to get caught in this, and we picked the right rainy night to go in. There was only one way back down, so we followed those stairs to the bottom again, and out the window we came in at. We found Dan and Michele, and then followed the brick corridor back out to the truck receiving opening to get back to 13th with no problem.

Corridor

From here, we simply went left on the Easton Arts Trail, on the old rail bed. There was a guy of some sort of authority backing a boat in next ot a police car on the rail bed on the other side, but he didn't seem to care what we were doing. When he kept doing his work, we quickly moved on along the path. It didn't take too long before we made it to the cemetery, and then we continued on the Carl Sterner Arts Trail route heading along Bushkill Drive beyond where the railroad ended, out to the steps at the base of Lafayette College.

From here, we just headed along the Delaware through Columbus Park to the free bridge at Northampton Street to close out the hike.

This was a really good hike for feeling alive. The rain didn't seem to bother any of us THAT much. We did the entire trip and added some great new experiences we might not have had otherwise. I'm also inspired to do a variation of just this same hike, or even several variations because of how well I felt it worked out. There is a wealth of rail trail stuff in the area, and it makes me sad to think we can't develop something even better in Warren County, because we certainly have the infrastructure.

We'll have to make that happen.